Donald Trump and His Supporters Part 3

Briefly, Donald Trump presents a person that is powerful per his billions. Trump also says that he says no to the super PACs for the elections and that has no difficulty being politically incorrect. He is saying that he is bigger than the traditional Republican establishment. He offers simple solutions such as building a wall and having someone else pay for it. He also projects his anger and taps into the anger of others by vilifying that he wants to keep out the Syrian refuges” until we figure it out,” “make better trade deals” etc. In his speeches, he likes generalizations like “amazing,” “ love,” making America great,” “unbelievable”, “fantastic, and talks incessantly about his lead in the polls.” He also has no difficulty putting down his opposition in one sentence, and then later rationalizes saying how much he likes them, and how great they are. Don’t forget about his use of an inordinate amount of angry rhetoric, there will be riots at the convention if he’s not the nominee; wanting to punch somebody in the nose etc. He not only takes no responsibility for his inflammatory speech, he and his puppets denies the implications of his messages. Trump blames others employing scapegoating techniques saying they are stupid, negotiating bad deals, causing trouble and are the blame for the violence at his rallies etc. He seeks attention and is in the news daily. His personality characteristics are most certainly authoritarian and narcissistically based. Further, his supporters, many of which have authoritarian traits with excessive amounts of passive aggressiveness, and have identified with his hollow boisterous self-serving rhetoric. Either he is psychologically unaware of his blind spots in his use of defense mechanisms or he is just a master manipulator and knowledgeable regarding playing to anxiety and fears. A few words about narcissism follow. Briefly, the myth portrays a young, handsome lad, after seeing his reflection in a pool, falls in love with himself. The theory states that a narcissistic individual is more concerned with himself than with others. This means that his person, his body, his needs, his feelings, his thoughts, his property, or everything that pertains to him, his experiences are simply perceived by him as his own reality. Psychologically speaking, his unconscious sense of security is achieved by his “perfection -I’ll be the greatest president,” “his superiority over others-I’m the best negotiator, everyone else is stupid,” “his extraordinary qualities or achievement-I’ve made billions.” One’s identity and self-image are based on these illusions. If slighted or if criticized, the individual’s usual response is anger. However, the individual may or may not be aware of it. Does this description remind you of anybody? Now ask yourself, even though you might be dissatisfied and disillusioned with the local and Washington political establishment, are ready to follow this man? And, can you, for a moment, sever your identification with that political party? If this was a rational decision, and man was a rational animal, the decision and act would be easier to accomplish. However, because of our emotions, underlying dynamics, our drives and needs, the decision-making, thinking and change of behavior can be and is very conflictual. Likely, even reading this material is more than likely uncomfortable.