Of course you are right, but it doesn’t matter. As history has repeatedly shown, most people are motivated to action far more effectively by emotional appeal—especially appeals to tribal loyalty and to the dangers posed by “the enemy”—than by anything resembling reason or judgment of character. I call this the “alpha male” syndrome. Despite our big brains, norms of civility, and intellectual heritage, most people are still basically apes, and will follow the guy who struts and threatens and beats his breast most emphatically. Norms like truthfulness, decency, and civility mean nothing to “trumpanzees”