Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A psychoprotologist explains how to strategically engage MAGA friends without sympathy, sneering, or losing yourself. This video explores the dynamics of "MAGA" identity within the landscape of american politics, examining how political partisanship can influence personal relationships. We consider the concept of cognitive dissonance when core values clash, and offer a political analysis of how such identities can become a central part of us politics. It's a look at the complexities facing republicans and democrats alike.
I'm Jeremy Sherman, PhD, a strategic consultant since 1997, specializing in dealing with jerks and doubts.
For a free trial session, email me at js@jeremysherman.com
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤: facebook.com/jeremysherm
DEALING WITH JERKS
jerkology.net
BLOG: psychologytoday.com/us/blog/jerkology
BOOK: What's Up With A**holes? How to spot and stop them without becoming one.
https://a.co/d/6QDQwrY
AUDIOBOOK: youtube.com/watch?v=iLerthdU4Jw&t
DEALING WITH DOUBTS
adaptivestrategies.net
BLOG: psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ambigamy
BOOK: Negotiate with Yourself and Win: Doubt Management Skills for People Who Can Hear Themselves Think: https://a.co/d/brJpNli
Though informal, I'll argue that my approach is more scientific than a lot of what passes for big picture science. It is really abstract engineering researchers claiming we've got this or that add-on feature without explaining how we got it. That makes for excellent engineering, but it's no more rigorous than supernatural explanations.
For 30 years, I've worked closely with Harvard/Berkeley biologist/neuroscientist Terrence Deacon on developing fully scientific explanations for phenomena assumed by other researchers.
Some examples:
LIFE'S STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE: DNA and natural selection don't explain it. We have an entirely natural explanation for how self-regenerating beings (like us) could emerge from chemistry and evolve (by natural selection) the capacity to use DNA molecules.
MOTIVATION: Psychologists just assume it. When they see effort, they assume a motivation, which is like assuming a "soul." We have an explanation for what effort and motivation physically are: Not something added to chemistry but the way chemistry can limit itself by channeling energy into work to regenerate itself.
NARCISSISM: Psychologists say that if you've got these symptoms, you have a thing called Narcissism. I explain how humans, having evolved language, can imagine the ideal, see where we fall short, and self-idealize to compensate. It's something we all do. I study how it gets out of hand and becomes addictive.
My book on our research: Neither Ghost Nor Machine: The Emergence and Nature of Selves (Columbia University Press, 2017) https://a.co/d/9ZNyT7E
My PhD is in decision science. I'm a soulnerd with a deeply connected heart and head. This stuff is my non-spiritual path. I live and breathe my work. It's not some abstract intellectual exercise.
Nor is it art. Science is a campaign to find natural explanations for all natural phenomena – natural, not supernatural - about which you can believe anything.
Still, I try to make this stuff fun, intuitive, and useful. I've written over 1,100 blog articles for Psychology Today on practical decision-making and everything we all go through (11 million views). Their editor-in-chief calls it, "Mind candy for people who aren't afraid to think."
#Psychoprotology
#PoliticalPsychology
#MAGACult
#PoliticalTribalism
#DeprogrammingCults
#TrumpSupporters
#IdentityPolitics
#PoliticalPolarization
#NarcissismAwareness
#LipServiceEpidemic
#CultPsychology
#PoliticalAddiction
#HowToTalkToDivide
#FamilyConflict
#TrumpPsychology
Video Chapters
0:00
Intro — Can you love someone whose politics you despise?
1:45
My background: from positive optimist to psychoprotologist
4:10
What is psychoprotology and why it matters now
6:30
MAGA as a lifestyle brand addiction — not a belief system
9:15
The lip service epidemic and the rise of scornography
12:40
Why sneering doesn't work — and what does
15:55
Insulated, innocent, insolent — America's three blind spots
19:20
Empathy vs. sympathy vs. compassion — why the difference matters
22:10
How to plant a seed of doubt without moralizing
25:00
Admitting we're all capable of superfly paper traps
27:30
Join the biweekly study group — open to everyone
A psychoprotologist explains how to strategically engage MAGA friends without sympathy, sneering, or losing yourself. This video explores the dynamics of "MAGA" identity within the landscape of american politics, examining how political partisanship can influence personal relationships. We consider the concept of cognitive dissonance when core values clash, and offer a political analysis of how such identities can become a central part of us politics. It's a look at the complexities facing republicans and democrats alike.
I'm Jeremy Sherman, PhD, a strategic consultant since 1997, specializing in dealing with jerks and doubts.
For a free trial session, email me at js@jeremysherman.com
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤: facebook.com/jeremysherm
DEALING WITH JERKS
jerkology.net
BLOG: psychologytoday.com/us/blog/jerkology
BOOK: What's Up With A**holes? How to spot and stop them without becoming one.
https://a.co/d/6QDQwrY
AUDIOBOOK: youtube.com/watch?v=iLerthdU4Jw&t
DEALING WITH DOUBTS
adaptivestrategies.net
BLOG: psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ambigamy
BOOK: Negotiate with Yourself and Win: Doubt Management Skills for People Who Can Hear Themselves Think: https://a.co/d/brJpNli
Though informal, I'll argue that my approach is more scientific than a lot of what passes for big picture science. It is really abstract engineering researchers claiming we've got this or that add-on feature without explaining how we got it. That makes for excellent engineering, but it's no more rigorous than supernatural explanations.
For 30 years, I've worked closely with Harvard/Berkeley biologist/neuroscientist Terrence Deacon on developing fully scientific explanations for phenomena assumed by other researchers.
Some examples:
LIFE'S STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE: DNA and natural selection don't explain it. We have an entirely natural explanation for how self-regenerating beings (like us) could emerge from chemistry and evolve (by natural selection) the capacity to use DNA molecules.
MOTIVATION: Psychologists just assume it. When they see effort, they assume a motivation, which is like assuming a "soul." We have an explanation for what effort and motivation physically are: Not something added to chemistry but the way chemistry can limit itself by channeling energy into work to regenerate itself.
NARCISSISM: Psychologists say that if you've got these symptoms, you have a thing called Narcissism. I explain how humans, having evolved language, can imagine the ideal, see where we fall short, and self-idealize to compensate. It's something we all do. I study how it gets out of hand and becomes addictive.
My book on our research: Neither Ghost Nor Machine: The Emergence and Nature of Selves (Columbia University Press, 2017) https://a.co/d/9ZNyT7E
My PhD is in decision science. I'm a soulnerd with a deeply connected heart and head. This stuff is my non-spiritual path. I live and breathe my work. It's not some abstract intellectual exercise.
Nor is it art. Science is a campaign to find natural explanations for all natural phenomena – natural, not supernatural - about which you can believe anything.
Still, I try to make this stuff fun, intuitive, and useful. I've written over 1,100 blog articles for Psychology Today on practical decision-making and everything we all go through (11 million views). Their editor-in-chief calls it, "Mind candy for people who aren't afraid to think."
#Psychoprotology
#PoliticalPsychology
#MAGACult
#PoliticalTribalism
#DeprogrammingCults
#TrumpSupporters
#IdentityPolitics
#PoliticalPolarization
#NarcissismAwareness
#LipServiceEpidemic
#CultPsychology
#PoliticalAddiction
#HowToTalkToDivide
#FamilyConflict
#TrumpPsychology
Video Chapters
0:00
Intro — Can you love someone whose politics you despise?
1:45
My background: from positive optimist to psychoprotologist
4:10
What is psychoprotology and why it matters now
6:30
MAGA as a lifestyle brand addiction — not a belief system
9:15
The lip service epidemic and the rise of scornography
12:40
Why sneering doesn't work — and what does
15:55
Insulated, innocent, insolent — America's three blind spots
19:20
Empathy vs. sympathy vs. compassion — why the difference matters
22:10
How to plant a seed of doubt without moralizing
25:00
Admitting we're all capable of superfly paper traps
27:30
Join the biweekly study group — open to everyone
