Stop the Virus

 

 

President Joe Biden set July 4 as a date for 70% of our country to have been vaccinated. As of that date, 67% of the country met that request. 20 states have exceeded that number. However, a few states have not reached a 50% level for at least one vaccine shot. Not surprisingly, those states under 50% were those that Trump carried in the 2020 election.  Even today, Trump’s message, to his group, is to not get the vaccine. I take the position that refusal to follow current CDC recommendations such as social distancing, mask wearing, vaccine etc. are examples of passive aggressive violence against self and others. I’m not referring to those individuals that have dementia or some other cognitive impairment. Per the New York Times, cognitively impaired individuals have made poor financial decisions and “Online Trickery in Fund -Raising Entraps Seniors.” The GOP leads in the dollar amount for online refunds. This disquisition classifies forms of violence and Trump’s responsibility for illness and death from Covid -19.

First, let’s take a look at the nature of man per Judeo-Christian beliefs. In the Old Testament, Adam and Eve demonstrated an act of disobedience. However that act of disobedience was neither considered a sin nor part of man’s nature. According to the prophets, man has the opportunity for displaying good as well as an opportunity for displaying evil. Yes, man displayed evil in the Old Testament, however man had the ability to choose between good and evil.

In the Christian development, Adam’s disobedience was considered a sin and thus it corrupted his nature as well as his descendants. Man could not by himself rid himself of sin. It was only God, or the appearance of Christ that could rid man of his corruption and offer him salvation. Then, Luther and Calvin righteously reinforced the belief in man’s evilness and corruption.

Now, let’s turn to Trump. On a positive note, Trump didn’t destroy the world by unleashing our nuclear arsenal. However, his handling and stance and his sycophants on the Covid-19 virus exhibited Trump’s malignant and pathological acts of death. The malignant narcissist employed the power of the presidency, press conferences, social media, and TV rallies to propagate lies and harmful misinformation. His words were authoritarian, the law, god like and unchallengeable. His followers, without rational judgement, believed it all and thus were easily duped. He was the Pied Piper, as in the fairytale, and they devotedly followed. Thus, the passive aggressive behavior of Trump and followers led to an inordinate amount of Covid-19 deaths.  They were responsible and they spread the deadly virus. Yeah, open up the economy and spread the virus. To illustrate, there were 117,000 American soldier deaths in World War I, 291,567 American soldier deaths in WW 11while Covid-19 deaths currently total 621,946. On the other hand, there is a rise in life expectancy primarily because of the many lifesaving vaccination discoveries.

 Our country had never experienced, in one year, the severity and toll of economic hardships, social stresses, alcohol, drug, suicide, divorce, and low birthrate statistics demonstrating an enormous threat to security and well-being. Current stories in The New York Times of the continued threat include: “Even as the pandemic seems to have made childhood obesity worse, it points the way to some possible means of fighting it,” “The pandemic is not over yet,” “Even as the pandemic seems to have been bad for our teeth and gums, it has highlighted ways to fix some disparities in oral health.”

Trump’s sadism, incompetence and propensity for evil were in full view. He called it the Chinese virus, stated it was no big deal, could be treated with disinfectants and non-effective drugs. He also said it would go away in the summer. He didn’t wear a mask and modeled that disgustful and irresponsible behavior to his group of narcissist followers. Moreover, and significantly important, Trump and the fanaticism of his cronies distorted, muzzled, sabotaged the credibility of the CDC and rational public health information about the virus.

With that being said, there are numerous factors accounting for violence. First, violence can be called reactive violence. This form of violence is rooted in fear. Fear can be real, imagined, conscious or unconscious. However, it is not necessarily irrational.

Reactive violence is often based upon reality along with the manipulation of man’s mind. Trump repeated numerous lies, did not wear a mask and flaunted the dangers of the deadly virus. This messaging appealed to too many with their lack of independent thinking and feeling. They were also emotionally dependent on him. Their rationalizations behind their malignant narcissism included “don’t infringe on my right; do not tell me what to do; it’s false propaganda; inaccurate statistics, contradictory CDC recommendations and it’s a deep state lie.”

Violence also occurs with frustration and then followed by aggression and violence. Often, this hostility reaction is the result of envy and jealousy within a narcissistic character.  “Look at the rise and favoritism toward people of color. We see too many of them on TV, especially in the entertainment industry. Our movies, music, sports are just full of them. We even had a black President and now a black VP. Why are they getting ahead?”

Revengeful violence occurs even though the “injury” had already taken place. Revenge has an irrational function of undoing magically of what realistically happened as in the Hatfield’s and Mc Coys. Psychologically, it restores the crippled sense of narcissism and magically attempts to overcome injury to one’s self-esteem. “I’m falling behind so many people of color; my wages are stagnant; my family’s been crippled by divorce, alcohol, drugs, falling marriage rate except those girls under 18 years of age, my leaders Romney, McCain, and Bush have failed me.” Revenge becomes the devotion. It is supposed to restore and reverse feelings of inadequacy and/or loss. Too many times one hears from a narcissist “I’m not a racist.” Too many have spread the hate that Hillary Clinton is a witch and George Soros is the devil.

This man, for four years, was the most powerful  eidolon on the planet. With a malignant narcissistic diagnosis, he experienced, this past November 3, a narcissistic injury. The fraudulent election lie along with the 62 phony lawsuits were established to create, the fiction, of a stolen election. Then, he orchestrated, with the help of others, a plan to attack the symbolic transfer of presidential power during the January 6 ceremony. In his mind he was justified, to lie and discredit his VP. Some members of his group of narcissists also had a malignant narcissistic diagnosis. They believed the lies and attempted to avenge both his and their defeat. They even rationalized, in the righteousness of their cause and that they were patriots. As far as Trump’s attorneys, and their phony lawsuits, they are now receiving the consequences like sanctions etc.

Violence is also rooted in life’s beginnings, the opportunity to develop trust and have faith. Early upbringing provides opportunities for care, and unconditional love. If early needs are not sufficiently met neither does the development of trust and faith .Much too often early loss is followed by subsequent losses, disappointments and other betrayals. These betrayals can occur from religious figures, teachers, coaches, loved ones etc. The numerous betrayals reinforce the difficulty in developing a sense of faith and trust. Mistrust generalizes to other humans. One can’t trust or have faith. With this impairment, these individuals turn to a “powerful” leader to regain that faith. These mistrustful individuals also turn to the pursuit of power, possessions, control and privilege. These pursuits are about things, not people. Things can be controlled, replaced, discarded etc.

With mistrust and loss of faith sets the stage for turning psychic energy against people in negative ways. According to them, people can’t be trusted and this corresponds to the Christian religion teachings. Violent behavior can be justified and rationalized because these other individuals are inherently evil. So, mistrustful individuals embrace conspiracy beliefs which is in line with their psychopathology which is paranoid thinking. With paranoid thinking and lack of faith in humans, these individuals turn to electronic gadgets and things that are not alive.  They can’t be separated from their phone, iPad etc. In other words there’s a tendency toward the nonliving .Destruction and violence toward “others” can easily occur. Kill Mike Pence, attack Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, Stacey Abrams, AOC, etc.

Compensatory violence relates to individuals being emotionally impotent. Their activities become tendencies to overcome this weakness, anxiety and incompetence. Difficult to tolerate, these impotent individuals transform this disequilibrium state in their mind .It’s an attempt to rescue the lost competency of the impotence. Therefore, these individuals are drawn to the power of Trump, the Republican Party, automatic rifles, alcohol, white supremacy groups, the military, police force etc. Of course the emotional and cognitive identification is only symbolic, and an illusion of power. These individuals submit and become part of those who act. Thus, the impotent man, with identifications can transform his life by destroying it in others or to himself.

In essence, by not following the CDC and public health recommendations, especially vaccination is based on fear, insecurity and powerlessness dynamics. The behaviors express a tendency for passive aggressive violence turned toward self and toward others. No one can “make” another wear a mask, vaccinate etc. and there is no mandatory law to make that happen. One does not have to obey public health recommendations and therefore they transmit the virus to others whether symptomatic or not. This permits these individuals to have absolute control over others. This drive is “sadistic.” Sadism is the wish to inflict pain or death on others. Sadism, in this way, makes others helpless objects. These sadists are the masters by exerting power over helpless others. It also is a humiliation tactic by making another suffer. This results as a means toward an end. Having control over another is pleasurable.

Perhaps, the most historical example of sadism occurred in the Roman Coliseum. Thousands of impotent Romans received their greatest pleasure by seeing men devoured, slaughtered, wounded and killed. This was glory?

In summary, Trump sadism was well communicated to his sycophant’s dependent followers. He was, at the time, the most powerful individual on the planet. He mastered the sound ways effectively with his flagrant lies and other propaganda. Trump is a weapon of mass destruction. Jefferson wrote “the pursuit of happiness.” Trump masterminded the pursuit of violence, death and destruction. Stop this virus.