The Outlaw Switch: How “Rooting for the Bad Guy” Rewires the Brain...and Powers Trump

From Theory to Bloodshed: Outlaw Psychology After Charlie Kirk

The Outlaw Switch: How “Rooting for the Bad Guy” Rewires the Brain…and Powers Trump

From Theory to Bloodshed: Outlaw Psychology After Charlie Kirk

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #536: Wednesday, September 10th, 2025.

*If you picked up something valuable from this morning’s FREE article…wait until you see what’s inside this one. The free version gave you the surface. This one rips the lid off and hands you the wiring diagram…the deeper psychology that turned Charlie Kirk’s assassination from a headline into a flashing red warning sign for America.

Read This Like a Field Manual, Not an Essay

This isn’t a movie list. It’s a decoder ring. You already know Americans love anti-heroes…Smokey and the Bandit…Macon County Line…Goodfellas…Scarface…Joker…Breaking Bad…The Sopranos.

The new ground here is why the worse the character behaves…the more the attachment grows…and how that attachment mutates into political loyalty.

The punchline you need to hold tight:

People don’t just forgive the outlaw’s sins; under certain conditions they experience those sins as proof of the outlaw’s power…authenticity…and loyalty to “us.” That’s the switch.

We’ll flip open the casing in nine parts:

1. Transgression → Power Signal

2. Threat → Dominance Preference

3. Reactance → “Tell Me I Can’t and I Will”

4. Narrative Transport → Facts Lose Gravity

5. Identity-Protection → Corrections Bounce

6. Negativity Bias → The Villain Steals the Frame

7. Parasocial Outlaw → Intimacy at a Distance

8. BIRGing & Victimhood → “We” Win and “We” Suffer

9. Affective Polarization → Hate Glues Harder than Love

Then I’ll lay out message architectures that actually disrupt the circuitry (no fairy dust, no “hope and vibes”), including scripts you can use in eight seconds flat.

1) Transgression → Power Signal

In outlaw cinema…the hero’s first real “like” moment is almost always a clean violation. Bandit floors it. Henry Hill pistol-whips the neighbor. Tony Soprano snaps a guy’s arm.

The camera is telling you, This one’s not bound by rules. Your gut converts it into a dominance cue: “This person has power.”

Social psychology backs the intuition:

People who violate norms are often perceived as more powerful…they’re signaling freedom of action when others are constrained. It’s costly…risky…visible… and for many observers…impressive. That perceived power can become self-reinforcing. SAGE JournalsPure

Trump’s public life is a stacked reel of norm breaks. The point isn’t each transgression; it’s the cumulative signal: “I do what I want.” In the psychology of status, that’s a rocket flare.

Counter-move (practical):

Don’t moralize the violation first.

Reframe the cost:

“He’s not breaking the rules for you. He’s breaking them on you.” Shift it from daring to taxing…from “our Bandit” to “our bill.”

2) Threat → Dominance Preference

Under normal conditions…groups often prefer prestige leaders (competent, prosocial, respected).

But under threat…preferences tilt toward dominance…strong…punishing…rule-bending figures who promise to smash enemies. Multiple lines of research show that perceived uncertainty or threat increases support for dominant leadership. PNASPsychology at UBCJoey T. Cheng

Translation:

If the background music is sirens and doom, the audience wants Scarface, not Atticus Finch. Part of Trump’s design is manufacturing permanent threat: caravans…crime waves…collapsing borders…stolen elections.

Keep the lighting dark and the score ominous; the casting choice becomes inevitable.

Counter-move:

Lower ambient threat without sounding placid. Replace “It’ll be fine” (which triggers disgust) with targeted competence: show specific protection moves you’ve already done (or will do) that work. Dominance hunger shrinks when credible safety is felt.