The What, Why, and How

Underneath the Spectacle of Donald Trump

I and my colleagues in the mental health profession have always emphasized that the dangers of Donald Trump were a public health problem—that, if left unmitigated, his psychological dangers would spread into becoming social, cultural, civic, and geopolitical dangers, by virtue of his position.  We have seen what has happened over the last seven years: through unbridled abuse of the U.S. presidency as a channel for propagating his pathology and criminality, these dangers have had no small part in destabilizing norms and institutions to the point of threatening the existing World Order.  This is not an exaggeration, and I will try to explain the What, Why, and How.

What: What we are currently facing is a worldwide crisis where the empowered political leadership, both at national and international levels, is not only unable to deal properly with today’s increasingly dangerous geopolitical, military, planetary, and health situations but is actively fueling the dangers.  As a result, quite literally, Doomsday is looming with unprecedented suffering and death, if not extinction.

Why: Since 1980, the top 1 percent richest individuals in the world captured twice as much growth as the bottom 50 percent, and they are increasing in political, military, and exponential material power.  Competition between nations is not as important as keeping the oppressed classes distracted and disempowered.  We see this in the U.S. in a new kind of civil war.

How: The majority of the population is not well-educated about the psychological dynamics that govern either themselves or the public at large—indeed, such information is actively suppressed in public discourse.  However, those who desire to dominate are very well-aware.  Indeed, dominance and control themselves are forms of psychological abuse.  Donald Trump’s psychopathology works extraordinarily well for both distraction and disempowerment: even for his indictment, he could not resist maximizing the theatrics—flying in from Florida to stay overnight at Trump Tower, parading his Secret Service motorcades, and wall-to-wall coverage on all the major networks of his every move.  But consider Nancy Pelosi’s extreme delay and attenuation of the first impeachment; Robert Mueller’s ineffectual testimony and abortive report; and Jamie Raskin’s heroic efforts being suppressed during the second impeachment, so that no witnesses could be called.  The reason nothing has worked is because nothing has been allowed to work: psychological warfare is an even more powerful weapon than bioterrorism.

There is a need for a psychological analysis of society as a whole and not just in parts, especially when psychology is the chief means by which the health of a society is undermined.  There is a connection between dangerous leaders, their structural support, and the need to armor ourselves with relevant knowledge.