The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Threat to American Democracy and All Humankind, Chapter Seven

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Chapter Seven

‘Narcissistic Symbiosis’ and an Epidemic of ‘Sociopathy’

Shortly before Easter 2024, Donald Trump posted a video that featured an image of President Joe Biden tied up in the back of a pickup truck.  It was a recurring glimpse into his violent state of mind that reflects an overwhelming drive for attack and revenge.  A few weeks later, he stated that Biden deserved “the electric chair.”  Psychologically incapable of seeing his political opponents as people but only as his obstacles, he defined that his goal for a second term would be, “retribution”.  The violent rhetoric did not stop with his rivals.  In the months leading up to the 2024 election, he warned that if he lost, there would be a “bloodbath”.  He also said some undocumented migrants were “not people,” and “they’re poisoning the blood of our country.”  He also said: “We will root out the … vermin within the confines of our country,” and: “This is not a nation that belongs to them.”  He raised the possibility of “bedlam” for his legal challenges and “death [and] destruction” for the Manhattan district attorney.  Furthermore, he has a vast national audience that responds fervently—if not literally—to his inflammatory rhetoric and calls for violence (Edsall, 2023).  The nation’s continual inability to contain him was the reason I rapidly wrote, Profile of a Nation: Trump’s Mind, America’s Soul (Lee, 2020), anticipating a violent incident after the 2020 election and then warning that the Trump “presidency” would not end with an election loss.  A poor state of societal mental health, whether resulting from socioeconomic stress or political corruption, has allowed Trump Contagion to take hold—but once a severely mentally-disturbed person such as Trump takes charge of a nation, the contagion spreads exponentially.