A psychiatrist explains why Donald Trump is a selfie of America’s worst side

[applegrove]

A psychiatrist explains why Donald Trump is a selfie of America’s worst side

by Thomas Singer, Moyers and Company

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/a-psychiatrist-explains-why-donald-trump-is-a-selfie-of-americas-worst-side/

"SNIP..............


As a selfie of our own worst side, Trump is the modern incarnation of Narcissus, the Greek beauty who is oblivious to everything but himself. Trump’s self-interest and grandiosity appeal to his followers in their desperate need of something grand and powerful to help them avoid confronting the phenomenon of “extinction anxiety.” This is not just what Freud called the “death instinct” in individuals, but a fear that everything we care about will ultimately vanish. My work has convinced me that all of us at some level fear that “our people” — white, black, Muslim, Latino, whatever the group to which we belong — are in danger of extinction. Certainly many people sense that America itself is threatened with extinction. Somewhere in our unconscious, if not our consciousness, we even feel that life on the planet is in danger of extinction.


Thus, my core conclusion is that there is a perfect fit between Trump’s projection of largeness and greatness and the narcissistic injury to many Americans of their essential notion of who we are as a people. It was his particular, if malicious, political genius to launch his campaign with an attack on political correctness: “Get ’em outta here!” That injunction made its first appearance at his early rallies when he urged the faithful in his crowds to get rid of protesters. It was the precursor of his pledge to rid the country of Muslims, Mexicans and others who were portrayed as dangerous threats to the American Way of Life.

We must not underestimate what a tremendous relief it is to many people to be liberated from the handcuffs of political correctness they felt they were being forced to wear and to give vent to its nasty underbelly of racism, sexism and hostility to others not like us. “Get ’em outta here” is Trump’s promise to the faithful in protecting the country against further injury and decline. It is the foundational defensive premise of his campaign. Defend, bully and attack — this is what Trump does best. By identifying with him, Trump’s followers have found in his grandiosity the cure for their own sense of powerlessness and inferiority and the power to fight back against their own extinction. Once the enemy is expelled, they join their Maximum Leader in his righteous crusade to “Make America Great Again.”

Magically, they will have found immortality — they are in the selfie with him as is some part of all of us.


...............SNIP"

[George Eliot]

1. My one disagreement is that it is all about race/ethnicity. Meaningful lives are disappearing.

When jobs are gone and people can't support families by providing food and shelter, they are truly afraid of extinction. We tend to see all of this through a single lens but it is a huge problem having much more to do with our economy in my opinion. During the period of civil rights, we were all working and diverse work places and programs for minority kids were on the rise. Nobody complained. But when our purpose is taken away from us - the purpose to have a job and a meaningful life - we blame anybody and everybody. That's what we've lost. We have hopelessness and despair and those feelings bring out the meanness and blame that we express toward people who are different.

Many European countries pay huge taxes because they have a future they can believe in and one that is secure. Life for them is better. They are happier. Too many Americans everyday live in fear that they will lose what they have. Basic insecurity. I think Trump really plays that card.

[applegrove]

2. I totally agree. When people have their backs pressed against a wall, as 30 of neoliberal

policies have done, they go tribal and look for a scapegoat. Just look at Canada. Our conservative government did keynesian spending during the recessiom so we did not suffer so much. Indeed we have not been as neoliberal as the USA over 30 years. We need more immigrants and canadians can't get enough of Syrian refugee stories in the news. We are even in an oil recession and we still are forward - future hopeful. And open.

[ailsagirl]

3. Narcissus was beautiful

Other than that, excellent article