Explaining Trump and Sanders

Writing for Politico, Troy Campbell describes the social psychological processes underlying the related phenomena represented by Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. He describes these two as legitimizing beliefs that heretofore have not been PC. Campbell labels them "enabling dissenters."

Both candidates succeed because they draw out popular feelings of dissatisfaction. But their effect is more than that: They have legitimized for discussion “fringe beliefs” that millions of Americans beforehand had been unsure of or too shy to fully embrace, but nonetheless felt strongly about. They do not create new beliefs; instead they appeal to unspoken feelings often held by people who have recently felt increased economic strife and political disenfranchisement.

Social psychologists call the process by which enabling dissenters operate "social facilitation." Actually, we can go beyond Trump and Sanders to apply this rationale to the rise of Marine Le Pen in France, Nigel Farange in the U.K., Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Viktor Orban in Hungary, and others. All speak for the formerly "voiceless."