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Birtness: scapegoating and single-issue priorities help demagogues build coalitions
Summary
The guests argue that scapegoating (against migrants) and single-issue priorities (guns, immigration) let demagogues assemble diverse supporters who tolerate other problematic leader traits.
Jay Fidell and Ken Birtness discussed how single-issue priorities and scapegoating can pull otherwise disparate groups behind a single leader. Fidell cited historical scapegoating and European anti-immigrant movements; Birtness agreed that replacement narratives and scapegoating are powerful mobilizers.
"He is attracting people for one issue even if they don't agree on the other issues," Fidell said, describing how a leader can build a coalition by prioritizing an issue that matters to each subgroup. Birtness linked the phenomenon to historic examples and said it27s a recurring political dynamic: "You have this kind of social priority...you are attracting people to scapegoat." The discussion included references to migration, misogyny and gun politics as attracting different constituencies to a single leader.
Both speakers framed these dynamics as social and political strategies used by charismatic leaders rather than as legal or administrative actions.
