Connect with us

On the Trump Effect: Breaking Our Traumatic Bond

Published

on

Donald Trump is creating a “traumatic bond” with our country, as all narcissists do. He wounds us and then he pretends to have the answers that will heal that wound. He offers to “make American great” while he is currently ripping it apart.

On February 7, 2016 I wrote a piece for this site entitled, “The Cult of Whiteness: On #OscarsSoWhite, Donald Trump, and The End of America” That was only a month ago, before a black protester was punched in the face at a Trump rally, and another rally was canceled in Chicago for fear of even greater violence. Now I, like most of the people I know, are watching what is happening in this election with increasing horror, sometimes feeling powerless over the phenomenon that is Donald Trump.   

And let be clear: when Donald Trump talks about the “good ol’ days” what he is referring to is the Antebellum South or pre-Civil Rights Movement America. When he says “these people are bringing us down,” “they contribute nothing,” and they are “disruptive” and “troublemakers”, that is code for “welfare queens” and “uppity niggers.”

When he speaks about people being “carried out on a stretcher” or “ripped out of that seat before all this political correctness” and that once upon a time “they were treated rough and when they protested once, they wouldn’t do it again” he’s talking about the lynching of black Americans, apartheid, crosses burning on front lawns, and the use of racist terror and retaliation to control resistance.

I would love to see a panel or news program that brings together both survivors of the Holocaust and Southern Jim Crow to talk about what is happening in our country right now and to guide us. We can’t go backwards now, and we may have to take to the streets.  And yet, I was thinking today: if this is how Trump The Candidate responds to those who demonstrate at his rallies, how will a “President Trump” respond to those who publicly protest his policies?

What we are witnessing with Donald Trump and his relationship to his followers is a textbook example of pathological narcssism in action. This has moved beyond simply casting a vote for a political candidate. Something is happening at these rallies that is both mesmerizing and deeply fascinating.

Donald Trump is creating a “traumatic bond” with our country, as all narcissists do. He wounds us and then he pretends to have the answers that will heal that wound. He offers to “make American great again” while he is currently ripping it apart. He uses grandiose generalizations on his audiences and they get high on his bromides and promises, as he talks about winning and how everything is going to “terrific”. It is a corrupt love affair – the kind that is always too good to be true.

If you’ve ever been in a romantic relationship with a pathological narcissist then you know that they are incredibly charismatic, that the relationship gives you a “lift” that is almost like a drug and it is wonderfully exhilarating – until it isn’t.

Then one day you assert yourself, you disagree, you criticize his behavior and he turns on you. His reaction may range from ridicule to abusive language to outright violence. Pathological narcissists will do anything, ANYTHING, to keep from feeling the deep shame that is at the core of all narcissistic behavior. This is one of the reasons why Trump is so dangerous as a leader. We can’t have a president who sees disagreement of any kind as a personal affront. This will be the end of American diplomacy – what little we have left.

What Trump is offering his audience is very similar to what Jim Jones preached to the People’s Temple before they moved to Guyana in 1978 and were mass murdered by him (I will not call it suicide). The Guyana tragedy, over 900 people, was the largest single loss of American life due to a deliberate act until 9/11 in 2001. Before the tragedy, unspeakable things occurred in Jim Jones’ “church” and in Jonestown because people were under his hypnotic control and as a result of his encouragement.

The man who punched the protester at Trump’s rally is responsible for what he did and I hope he is punished, but Donald Trump threw that punch – it was absolutely his force and rage behind it. And we are going to see acts that are similarly out of control in proportion to Trump’s megalomania if he isn’t stopped through voting.

My point is, Trump is not offering political ideology, like Clinton, Sanders, or even, to a very limited extent, Cruz. He is creating a religion, with himself at the center, as both God and Jesus Christ (as martyr). When we compare Trump to Hitler, it is not Hitler “the politician” we should focus on, but the charismatic leader who moved and excited audiences with his nationalist pride while using military force to act out his nefarious and genocidal plans. Some were delighted in Germany when Hitler came to power (“winning” “stability” “leadership” “strength”), others were indifferent to the plight of the Jews, but there were also many that were bewildered by what was happening around them until it was simply too late. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Donald starts initiating children’s groups soon on his behalf – Trump’s Youth.)

We’ve come too far, even with all of the disappointments and setbacks we face on this planet, to have to live through this again. The only way to end a relationship with a pathological narcissist is to stop returning his calls.

#WeveBeenHereBefore  #NeverAgain  #WeShallOvercome  #Silence=Death

 

More By Max S. Gordon:

Bill Cosby, Himself: Fame, Narcissism and Sexual Violence

The Cult of Whiteness: On #OscarsSoWhite, Donald Trump, and The End of America

Maybe Yesterday, But Not Tonight: A Black Homosexual Speaks To Governor Mike Pence

 

Image by Darron Birgenheier via Flickr and a CC license

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Grifters’: A MAGA Civil War Is Eating Away at Its Own Power

Published

on

A MAGA “civil war” is playing out across the right-wing ecosystem, sapping attention from the ideas that once powered the base and held GOP leaders to power. Now, the movement appears more consumed by infighting than achieving political goals.

MAGA is being drained of “its political muscle, leaving it defenseless as the Trump administration revisits policies previously opposed by the base,” according to Axios. The strength of MAGA “lies in its ability to rally influencers, politicians and activists behind a hard-charging conservative agenda.” But that “superpower is faltering amid a cascade of bitter personal feuds.”

The National Pulse’s editor-in-chief Raheem J. Kassam told Axios, “There’s no focus on anything philosophical or even ideological right now.”

READ MORE: ‘Where Is Antifa Headquartered?’: FBI Official Struggles Defending Top Threat Label

“It’s all just a cacophony of grifters tussling over audience and ego,” Kassam said. “So, corporate America gets to wield power with the admin virtually unencumbered by scrutiny from the base.”

Serving up a series of examples, Axios reported that on issues such as artificial intelligence, marijuana, Venezuela, and redistricting — all of which “would have triggered significant MAGA backlash” earlier — there has been “mostly crickets.”

Trump reportedly will loosen federal regulations on marijuana soon — an act that once would have attracted MAGA influencers to scream about “pothead culture,” Axios noted. This time, however, the news “barely made a ripple on right-wing social media.”

The “America First” president seizing a tanker loaded with Venezuelan oil and refusing to rule out boots on the ground to overthrow the Maduro regime “barely pinged on MAGA’s radar.”

MAGA influencer CJ Pearson told Axios that “the movement is wholly consumed right now on personality clashes. That is a recipe for electoral doom, and it’s unfortunate to see the unity that we saw after Charlie [Kirk]’s death dissipate so quickly.”

READ MORE: ‘His Heart Just Ain’t in It’: Report Reveals Trump’s ‘Achilles Heel’

 

Image via Reuters

 

Continue Reading

News

‘Political Vendetta’: DOJ Blasted for Suing Fulton County Amid Debunked Fraud Claims

Published

on

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Fulton County, Georgia, demanding records related to the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden.

Trump “has increasingly pressured his administration to find widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, despite those claims having been debunked and dismissed in dozens of cases by the courts,” The Washington Post reported.

The lawsuit calls for Fulton County to hand over to DOJ “all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County.”

READ MORE: ‘Wall of Resentment’: Trump’s ‘Affordability Weave’ Isn’t Working Says Columnist

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, according to the Post. “indirectly and without evidence accused Georgia officials of ‘vote dilution'” in a statement.

“States have the statutory duty to preserve and protect their constituents from vote dilution,” Dhillon said.

“At this Department of Justice,” Dhillon added, “we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws. If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will.”

Trump in a recorded telephone call told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

READ MORE: Trump Is the ‘Biggest Security Threat’ Facing America: Columnist

Two years later, a Georgia grand jury indicted Trump on racketeering charges. The case ultimately was recently dismissed after setbacks and that Trump, having since become a sitting president, could not be indicted.

Democracy Docket, which covers voting rights, elections, and the courts, called the move “a major escalation in the Trump administration’s dangerous effort to revive President Donald Trump’s fraudulent claims that the election was stolen.”

The news site also reported that Kristin Nabers, the state director for All Voting is Local, said in a statement: “This administration’s unending obsession with the 2020 election results in Georgia uses outright lies to compensate for the fact that they lost.”

“With this terrible overstep of power, the DOJ is now weaponizing laws meant to protect voters for their political vendetta,” Nabers added.

Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics called it “More insane nonsense.”

READ MORE: ‘Where Is Antifa Headquartered?’: FBI Official Struggles Defending Top Threat Label

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

‘Wall of Resentment’: Trump’s ‘Affordability Weave’ Isn’t Working Says Columnist

Published

on

President Donald Trump’s “signature” weave — where he goes off-script and off-topic — is not working for Americans when it comes to affordability.

That’s according to CBS News correspondent John Dickerson, writing at The Atlantic.

His weave was “on display” this week during a speech that the White House promoted as focused remarks on the economy, but his comments included, Dickerson noted, “the topics of tariffs, U.S. Steel, fracking, wind turbines, electric-vehicle mandates, immigration, crime, gender policies, Obamacare, the Fed, his election victories, rare-earth negotiations, a D.C. terror attack, and ‘the lips that don’t stop’ of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.”

READ MORE: Trump Is the ‘Biggest Security Threat’ Facing America: Columnist

The problem, he noted is, “now that the engine of the U.S. economy is smoking, the American people are looking for a technician, not an improv comic.”

Trump is hitting “a wall of resentment,” according to Dickerson, who pointed to a Politico poll which, he noted, found that “nearly half of voters—including 37 percent of Trump’s own 2024 coalition—said that the cost of living is the ‘worst they can ever remember.'”

There’s more.

“Only 31 percent of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, a new AP/NORC poll found, down from 40 percent in March,” he reported. “It’s the lowest economic approval that AP/NORC has registered in either of Trump’s two terms. In a recent CBS News/YouGov survey, a majority of respondents said that his policies are driving up food and grocery prices.”

During times of crisis other presidents have worked to get results:

“Franklin D. Roosevelt passed 15 major bills in 100 days. Ronald Reagan, in the teeth of double-digit unemployment, pushed for sweeping tax cuts week after week. Bill Clinton built an economic ‘war room’ before he even took office, and his team introduced what has now become a political cliché: focusing ‘like a laser beam’ on the economy. Barack Obama instituted a morning economic briefing that put the issue on par with national security. Each practiced the same principle: If you can’t solve the problem fast, at least get caught trying.”

READ MORE: ‘Where Is Antifa Headquartered?’: FBI Official Struggles Defending Top Threat Label

He say that now, Trump is trying. “Kind of.”

Despite talking about “affordability” during his Pennsylvania speech, he also knocked it.

“The president’s most focused message on affordability is that affordability concerns are a hoax. He used that word, or an equivalent, several times on Tuesday, as he has in Oval Office remarks, in a Cabinet meeting, and on social media.”

The “unavoidable truth, no matter how hard you weave,” Dickerson wrote, is that “his argument is weak because he has to overcome people’s lived experience.”

READ MORE: ‘You’re a Loser Dude’: Carville Scorches Trump as ‘Done’

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.