Megyn Kelly Floats Theory About Why Trump Is 'Occasionally Nodding Off' - HuffPost
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Megyn Kelly's defense of Trump's courtroom drowsiness is a textbook case of motivated reasoning — where loyalty rewires how we interpret the same facts.
Motivated ReasoningConfirmation BiasSocial Identity Theory
Theory Briefing
- Kelly floated a benign explanation for Trump nodding off in court, days after accusing him of cheating — a classic motivated reasoning flip.
- Selectively interpreting ambiguous behavior to protect a preferred figure is the core mechanism of confirmation bias in political media.
- Kelly's shifting stances illustrate how tribal loyalty can override consistency, a pattern social identity theory predicts in partisan commentators.