The Totality of Allegiance

Inside the Hearts and Minds of Trump Supporters

Focus group research from across the country sheds light onto the Trump phenomenon, and what we can do about it.

In an era when facts are challenged, and the truth is blurred, The Totality of Allegiance offers a vital exploration of the unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump. This book examines a critical and timely question: How can otherwise good, decent, and respectable people become so faithful to this leader?

Authored by scholars Travis Ruddle, Ph.D., and Brad Agle, Ph.D., the book draws from extensive focus groups conducted nationwide. Through these candid and respectful exchanges, the authors reveal how personal and political identities become deeply intertwined with a commitment to a dominant strongman figure in a time of widespread distrust in institutions and even fellow citizens.

Inside the Book

Endorsements

"Political progressives and traditional conservatives (like me) are baffled by the mass appeal of Donald Trump to our fellow citizens because he violates so many of the norms that we cherish and regard as indispensable to the common good of the nation. In this important new work based on meticulous research, Travis Ruddle and Brad Agle help people like us better understand our fellow citizens. Understanding one another is essential to strengthening the “bonds of affection” that Abraham Lincoln, the greatest American, taught us, which are what make us a nation. If we are going to succeed as a nation, if we are going to create “the more perfect Union”, which is the aim of the Constitution, we need to do the hard work of understanding one another. This book is a major contribution to that work."

– Judge Thomas B. Griffith (ret.), U. S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (2005-2020)

The research uncovers a powerful psychological force: a fervent devotion that blurs the boundary between perception and reality—a phenomenon that can be termed the “totality of allegiance” in which the capacity for critical thinking deteriorates and consistently prioritizes allegiance in opposition to truth itself.

The Totality of Allegiance provides a crucial lens for humanely examining the deeper forces behind Trumpism and its implications for the future of democracy, while offering a path toward connection and understanding without hostility and alienation.