I have had people point out to me that the data shows liberals have smaller Amygdala’s but larger ACC’s (Anterior Cingulate Cortex) and that a larger ACC is a good thing, the ACC is involved in a wide variety of neurological tasks, though it is often described as a neural alarm system. In this role, it signals when something is wrong, or some perceived stimulus is ambiguous and requires more detailed analysis. If the amygdala identifies a reason to panic, the ACC is the button it pushes which triggers the panic.
The ACC has been noted as being activated very strongly during periods of physical pain, http://sci-hub.io/10.1038/nrn894 and is shown to be very strongly activated during the psychological stress of social exclusion,http://sci-hub.io/10.1038/nrn894 , http://sci-hub.io/10.1016/j.tics.2004.05.010 ,http://sci-hub.io/10.1126/science.1089134 (perhaps explaining the liberal’s preoccupation with social discrimination in society, or their inability to perceive their own in-group). It is also activated by perceptions of un-fairness,http://sci-hub.io/10.1126/science.1093535 a stimulus very similar to social exclusion, at least to those of narcissistic tendencies who are socially excluded. The ACC has also been noted as being highly active during the production of envy, when viewing others with access to superior quantities of “self-relevant resources.” http://sci-hub.io/10.1126/science.1082976
More easily engendering a state of envy would also increase the willingness of such an individual to violate rules, and pursue a more direct, less honour-driven path to competitive success. That individuals, unsuccessful in the competitive environment of childhood play, would tend to be socially excluded, might explain this neurological linkage between envy and the psychological pain of social exclusion. Additionally, one who had well developed their ACC (which appears to create a perception of social exclusion) in childhood, might tend to carry an underlying, constant, subtle perception of being socially excluded from their in-group as an adult, thereby diminishing their drive to exhibit loyalty to their in-group and tolerance of differing ideology in the face of the alternative(social exclusion).
ACC activation is also seen during the exhibition of empathy, probably due to it simulating the pain of others. Interestingly, given the ACC's role in fostering feelings of empathy, and the amygdala's role in detecting empathetic cues, and then forcing one to behave in an empathetic fashion, this may point to neither political psychology as being optimally designed for true, selfless empathy.
Due to their larger amygdalae, conservatives have a more compelling psychological force motivating them to act on empathetic feelings, through empathetic behaviours. However their smaller ACC will lead them to feel less empathic sensations of psychic pain. Liberals due to diminished amygdala volume, could be expected to be less capable of correctly flagging cues and perceiving when to feel empathy. They will also have less psychological force motivating the personal sacrifices consistent with true empathetic behaviour. Thus liberals support higher taxes in principle, yet seek to lower their own personal taxes, regardless of their stated stance. A combination of strong feelings of empathy for anyone, regardless of merit, combined with a lack of aversive stimulus driving them to sacrifice personally, would produce this conflict between ideals and behaviour.
Given that altruism requires a certain willingness to endure personal harm, it is interesting that volumetric measurements of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex are also positively correlated with personal harm avoidance. Thus a larger ACC might further deter liberals from both displaying altruistic, pro-social tendencies, and embracing the risk of harm inherent to free competition with peers. http://sci-hub.io/10.1006/nimg.2001.1004
This is consistent with the evidence that liberals give less to charity https://www.gordon.edu/ace/pdf/Spr07BRGrinols.pdf
Trump is appealing to the base impulses of the K-selected individuals in society, so I guess you could call him a demagogue in that respect. The argument could easily be made that the rest of the politicians are the same but on the other side, however the Conservative establishment politicians with the lone exception of Ron Paul espouse r-selected values with their fiscal irresponsibility and pandering to political correctness and their lack of in-group preference in regards to immigration and in policing the world to make things “better” or bring “democracy”.
That’s how far the pendulum has swung due to an unparalleled increase in prosperity in the west over the last 70 years or so. As humans we’re the most K-selected species on the planet, that is largely how we got to where we are. The r-selected ideologies will bring what we know as civilized society crashing to the ground if left un checked...