Trump Contagion

Alert on Non-News Sources such as Newsmax

In a Scientific American interview shortly after January 6, 2021, I outlined three mechanisms by which the Trump contagion, or the “psychological pandemic” Donald Trump began, could be contained: (1) removal of the offending agent, or the influential person with severe symptoms; (2) dismantling systems of thought control, such as cultic programming; and (3) fixing the socioeconomic conditions that gave rise to a poor state of collective mental health in the first place.

As the megastar of “talk radio,” Rush Limbaugh was once the pre-Trump source of contagion of dangerous ideas.  Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump gave him much praise, along with an unprecedented awarding of the highest civilian honor, the medal of freedom, with Melania Trump personally putting it on him to a standing ovation before the entire nation during a State of the Union address.

Now, Newmax, surpassing even Fox News in fanatical propaganda or programming of the mind, has been using the spread of symptoms to expand rapidly with fast-growing impact, viewers, and influence.  Newsmax has used post-Limbaugh streaming technology to become, essentially, “talk television.”  Now, dozens of previously unknown, “would-be Limbaughs” compete, alongside Dick Morris, Greta Van Susterin, Mike Lindell, and Alan Dershowitz, as to who can be the most Trumpesque, sensationalist, and outrageous.

The result is considerable factual and psychological harm flowing daily from this Newsmax “talk television” streaming network, already claiming to be the fourth largest in viewership, even though it cannot be watched on any legacy channel.  A result is that this manifestation of the Trump contagion is more and more undermining the political and mental health of the nation, along with the foundational structure and the institutional stability of American democracy, thus setting the stage for Donald Trump’s protégés to return to the presidential, as well as legislative and judicial, authority and power.

We continue to fail to fix the conditions that gave rise to a mentally-impaired leader. Just as we once cleaned up the sewer system, we need to dismantle the systems that emit “psychological toxins” for the purpose of thought control, such programs that masquerade as “news”—of which Newsmax is only one.