The United States political system is a rote binary one: there is no nuance, no spectrum. It is 1 or 0. There is zero empathy and people cannot just say This leader is wrong. They will attack everyone and everything associated with it.

When I wrote my book The Sport of Presidents: The History of US Presidents and Golf, I had a hellacious time finding a publisher: my notes predated Donald Trump’s presidency, but because Trump golfed, publishers didn’t want to touch it.

Never mind it was how presidents on the left and right played golf. Getting any media outlet to discuss the book was a nightmare, but a few outlets were reasonable and I was grateful. They understood this was a psychological study, not a political endorsement.

And now we come to 2026.

There is no doubt that there are too many birds on Donald Trump’s antenna. It’s also true he behaves and speaks like a self-indulgent narcissist who goes beyond being thin-skinned when it comes to criticism: the man has no skin.

And it’s not a good look on him. He surrounds himself with sycophants, and his personality, which was well-suited for the narcissistic cesspool known as social media, is becoming passé and cringe and his solution is to amp things up, not tone it down. There is an excellent chance a convincing argument can be made that a possible personality disorder makes him unfit to run for office, and many middle-class people, who cannot cash right now in like billionaires, will be more than happy to see him go.

If it were left at that, that’s one thing.

But someone has to use rote binary thinking to push things into darker assumptions.

Now the supporters are crazy, too.

The headline is deceptive, however, but the article, and the flawed two research studies it quotes all suffer from a severe case of confirmation bias.

Why do Trump supporters stand by their man? Simple: because he is their fantasy stand-in: flawed, roguish, antagonistic, but larger than life and defying the odds. They want their man to “get away” with it, always win, always be in charge, and never have to bend or bow down to another.

The same reason you stayed with the sweetie your long-suffering parents found vile and cringe. The same reason the Democrats stuck to Joe Biden and denied the obvious. People find their organic avatar, publicly support the person, and then never back down regardless of the evidence. This isn’t a MAGA problem or a conservative problem: this is a people problem. Once people select an option, rote binary impulses dictate that they insist that they not only made the right decision, but also the best one.

There is nothing different with these people. In old game show terms, they picked a suitcase, hoping it has the million dollar answer, and aren’t going to switch it on any account. People don’t like to admit they were or wrong, or, more accurately, like to admit their fantasy stand-in is flawed and the trajectory will lead to ruin.

It’s easy to spot the shortcomings in other people we don’t agree with. The true test of characters happens when we can see it in our stand-ins and ourselves, and then admit it and do something about it, and not marry a jerk because your parents and friends were being open and honest with you and didn’t applaud your lack of foresight.