Turning One's Coat Quickly

One interesting consequence of Donald Trump's election is some prominent media Republicans flipping to supporting the Democrat party.  Perhaps the best known are Bill Kristol and Max Boot.

Even though I've had coursework in psychology and social psychology, that was decades ago so I'm out of touch with that field.  Plus, I'm a bit skeptical of most "social science" research.  That's because I have a Ph.D. degree in a so-called social science.

Personal quirks aside, I imagine that there have been studies made regarding drastic switches in political beliefs -- even switches such as Kristol's and Boot's that appear like instantaneous religious conversions.  But since I am ignorant of such research, I'll simply forge ahead with some seat-of-the-pants speculation of the sort often found on blogs.

The impression I have is that, for mature adults, such belief flips are actually the result of the accumulation of many small events affecting one's belief system.  Any suddenness is caused by a triggering event such as the 2001 destruction of New York's World Trade Center towers, a straw that breaks the camel's back.

As for my own political shifts, the first was when I was in college and trying out new ideas for size, especially ideas that the "cool" crowd believed.  That was fairly rapid, though there was no obvious triggering event.

My second shift was gradual, taking place over the better part of a decade.  It was influenced by changing policy support by the main political parties plus my experience working in government.  Again, there was no trigger, though the 1980 presidential election might have pushed my conversion more rapidly.

As for the likes of Kristol and Boot, it's quite possible that there were accumulations of dissatisfactions with mainline Republican beliefs.  But there seemed to be limited evidence of this in their writing until Trump announced his candidacy.  Since I can't read minds, I have no idea as to the mental processes of their changed beliefs.  So I hope they and other turncoats eventually honestly explain their conversions.