Sigmund Freud provided us with a psychodynamic understanding of man. The following post applies Freud’s motivational postulates of repression, resistance and transference to explain some of Trump’s behavior .
Repression is an unconscious defensive mechanism that banishes unacceptable ideas, affects ,impulses from consciousness and keeps them out of consciousness. And, repressed material may emerge in a disguised form while in a state of consciousness.It’s the anxiety that causes repression because it's a signal of potential danger to which the ego tries to avoid.
The young child developmentally , does not have the necessary "means" (ego) to deal with complex and scary psychological issues like the oedipal complex. As a result, those primitive defense mechanisms and methods of dealing with emotional pain become institutionalized as unconscious defense mechanisms . In a sense it's not surprising that ,when an adult, the individual doesn't remember those early conflictual and hazardous emotional events. But, they are expressed in dreams, myths, delusions and symptoms with modifications.
The mechanism of repression ,with its early frustrations,conflicts and gratifications ,remains throughout lifetime . .It's not unusual for an adult to direct anger at an individual, even though they are not angry with them. For example, a reporter asking Trump an Epstein question receives an inappropriate aggressive response like "you're stupid “ is an overreaction and likely related to infantile conflicts.not realized. And, were the ICE characters so emotionally angry with hate with Renee and Alex that they just had no other options but murder ? Their was no shame or remorse but immunity.
The second concept is resistance. It’s an individual's unconscious psychological defense against bringing repressed unconscious thoughts or impulses to consciousness. Simply , everyone’s a psychologist as far as explaining self or other people's motivations. With that being said, resistance is a refusal of the individual to interpret his behavior and motives correctly. With resistance,one's motivational arguments are absurd and shallow in the interest of keeping one's self convinced of perhaps the belief they are intelligent, righteous, perfect , good and moral. However, in doing so, one actually omits many reality and contradictory items. I recently heard that a Trump supporter does not like him but likes his policies.That response is an example of the individual not admitting he shares a similar character orientation with Trump, the narcissistic authoritarian, which is to obey, submit, and exploit others(power).
Developmentally, with origins in childhood ,the immature ego begins establishing primitive defense mechanisms to mask pain , non gratification of impulses and desires that become established and then consequently employed during the life span. As an adult, the multifaceted behavioral and motivational issues and responses are irrational along with both the behavior and thinking being resistant to acknowledge reality and change . For instance, repression and resistance can be exhibited like when the pursuit of power, possession, status and domination become significant character orientations These emotional and behavioral expressions are the ego’s attempt to mask’repressionand the resistance to acknowledge the unconscious feelings of inferiority,inadequacy and weaknesses . It's the ego’s battle against the disaster of having to face the fact that reality and repression and resistance are those protections.
Therapeutically, it was Freud's attempt for his patients to become more fully aware of their motives and emotional conflicts and actions so they could resolve their issues and know themselves . Freud found that it was extremely difficult for his patients to become aware of the workings in the unconscious as they had difficulty incorporating their troubling reality .And in essence created and established fiction regarding their self image . It’s no surprise that Trump has to surround himself with “yes’ men to reinforce his contradictory narcissistic beliefs and illusions in order to prop up his fragile ego. These “yes” men are not his friends .However, he desperately requires their loyalty to feel strong and powerful.
A typical reaction of resistance is anger, rage , threats, and aggression when Trump hears what he does not want to hear. He responds with hate and anger . Trump can't “personally” l or physically act out his anger. So he blows up and responds with “They hate me”, “They're out to get me,” “They're conducting a witch hunt” and recently in response to Jack's Smith’s congressional testimony, a Trump tweet "Jack is a deranged animal.... He should not be allowed to practice the law...... the whole thing was a Democratic scam..... For what they put our country through." There are numerous reactionary tweets that follow from what he's heard on television whether it's a comedian, TV commentator, journalists and especially from former members of his cabinet.. His nasty words are typical , common and define what’s going on within his unconscious mind. He is unable to ignore any negative about himself. And, he’s unable to coherently answer a question pertaining to Epstein without attacking the reporter.
Transference, the third concept, is when there's a conscious assignment or incorporation to others' feelings and attitudes that were originally associated with important early childhood figures . The transference object could be related to one's parents, siblings, mythological, religious,political, sports , entertainment figures and so forth. Essentially it's attributing either or both "godlike" or “devillike’ characteristics ,features, quirks, prejudices, animosities and obviously not an objective judgment at all . It’s based on emotional aspects occurring in those early childhood experiences. It's a reliving of the past and rooted in the unconscious .Further, these buried feelings become available, making the person extremely available to manipulation, blind loyalty with submission .
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Again, with transference, the danger, the anxiety becomes a distortion of reality that’s difficult to understand and/or dislodge.The wild enthusiasm was evident in the 2024 election with the millions that voted for Trump. The response of these voters was a deep longing for someone to save them in this anxiety uncertain world, to speak the truth, make our country safe and take care of our economic inequities. Trump , the actor, came along and played the part again with all his promises as he was the only one to fix things -MAG, an idolization of a white dominated past.Submit to him and his power will be the savior. He’s this well-meaning leader. These voters transferred their expectations to him and were convinced that he was their magic helper,their savior and redeemer. He's the one that would close the boarder, deport the illegal criminals and restrict immigration, silence the dems , release the Epstein files and end all wars on day one ..Trump was a skillful manipulator,he told them what they wanted to hear, pandered to them,ignored the truth and was able to turn human gullibility to his advantage .Power ,and eagerness to submit exemplifies the transference to an authoritarian.
To be continued.
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