Kevin Lamarque; REUTERS Since he claimed that Barack Obama was not an American citizen, we have known that Trump is a liar. I wondered whether Trump lies to manipulate others or because he is delusional. In either case, I underestimated just how much of a liar Donald Trump, is. I think we all did. But a November 28 story in the Washington Post (20 Days of Fantasy ad Failure: Inside Trump's Quest to Overturn the Election) clarified how Trump's lies serve his mental disorder. Sequestered in the White House and brooding out of public view after his election defeat, rageful and at times hysterical in a torrent of private conversations, Trump was, in the telling of one close adviser, like 'mad King George' muttering "' I won. I won. I won."' Trump, haunting the White House and claiming to have won an election he lost, does not manipulate an audience. Trump has a mental disorder – delusional psychosis (DSM-V, 297.1, [F22]). It is a disorder that causes him to believe with absolute certainty that he is a superior human being, always destined to be a winner. He persists in these beliefs despite the accumulation of a massive amount of evidence to the contrary. And the persistence of these beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence is a symptom of his delusional psychosis. Besides the inability to change provably false beliefs, his other symptoms include (1) the number of lies he tells to support his delusional beliefs, (2) his view of every event and circumstance in terms of its impact on him his sense of universal persecution.
Trump's delusional psychosis renders him mentally incapable of acquiring or fully understanding information or advice. Trump's inability to acquire information is shown by how he filters his sources of information. When Trump was considering whether to fire the FBI director, James Comey, he consulted several people in his administration. Except for one advisor, they recommended that Trump should not fire Comey. The one advisor who recommended firing Comey was his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Compared to the other advisors, Kushner knew the least about government and the possible consequences of firing Comey. Trump took Kushner's advice. And the result was the appointment of a Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, and a two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump fails to see how his actions led to the troubles that eventually confronted him.
Trump's delusional psychosis renders him mentally incapable of acquiring or fully understanding information or advice. Trump's inability to acquire information is shown by how he filters his sources of information. When Trump was considering whether to fire the FBI director, James Comey, he consulted several people in his administration. Except for one advisor, they recommended that Trump should not fire Comey. The one advisor who recommended firing Comey was his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Compared to the other advisors, Kushner knew the least about government and the possible consequences of firing Comey. Trump took Kushner's advice. And the result was the appointment of a Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, and a two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump fails to see how his actions led to the troubles that eventually confronted him.
One example of Trump's inability to fully understand information is Bob Woodward reported in his book Rage. Trump accurately relayed to Woodward the danger and exponential spread that scientists told him to expect from the coronavirus. But Trump did not understand what the reach of this disease would mean for the country. As the disease spread, Trump believed that only states governed by Democrats would suffer from the disease. He thought that red states, his base, could escape harm from the disease if the people in those states ignored it. But as it became tragically clear, Trump did not understand the implication of this disease's deadliness for either the American people or himself. Trump did not understand the toxic effect the coronavirus would have on the economy, and thus, the extent to which it would undermine his campaign. Trump's delusional psychosis made him incapable of flexibly processing information that does not fit his beliefs and hindered his ability to understand information fully.
Understanding whether voters see in Trump is, of course, more important than knowing what Trump's mental capabilities are. Millions of people voted for Trump to become President in 2016 and more than 70 million voters were disappointed that his re-election bid was unsuccessful in 2020. Trump's successful election in 2016 may have been the result of voters willing to take a chance and vote for a candidate they did not know compared to a candidate they knew and did not like. But Trump's performance in addressing the health catastrophe of Covid-19 and the following economic recession was worse than any other industrialized country. The U.S. has a death toll of nearly 350 thousand, rising exponentially primarily due to Trump's inability to establish a comprehensive national plan.
Moreover, measured against the promises Trump made to win the election, his performance as President came up short. Trump promised to address the problem of growing inequality by reinvigorating manufacturing, coal mining, and the U.S. infrastructure. During his term in office, manufacturing and coal mining have decreased; and Trump failed to initiate any new infrastructure programs, despite Democratic willingness to collaborate with them. Trump was also unable to keep his pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with "better and more affordable health care." The only economic policy Trump implemented a tax cut in which 80 percent of the benefits went to the upper 10 percent of taxpayers. Tax increases will be levied on the bottom 90 percent of taxpayers in the coming years. As a result, inequality has grown under Trump; the rich have gotten more affluent, and the poor have gotten poorer.
Trump's performance in foreign policy has been almost as dismal as that domestically. He has antagonized U.S. relations with our allies and our adversaries and failed to slow North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Trump's erratic behavior toward our European partners has weakened our alliance with Europe. Our relationship with adversaries like China and Iran has also worsened under Trump. His imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods and products has wrecked the burgeoning Chinese agricultural market for U.S. farmers. And Trump's revocation of the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) has put Iran on course to have nuclear weapons in a few years.
Most importantly, Trump has failed to push back against Russia's aggression and thus encouraged Russia to engage in the world's biggest computer hack against the U.S. (The damage caused by that hack is still being assessed.) While Trump may have had some success in getting some Arab states to recognize Israel and lower the temperature in that part of the world, it is not clear if those gains will last past the Trump Administration. The cumulative effect of these failures will have a devastating impact on the U.S. The refusal of Republicans to enforce any boundaries on Trump will further undermine a bipartisan Congress's ability to function. Most, if not all, government agencies have been hollowed out and will require extensive effort to rebuild. And the faith of the American people in institutions like the press and democracy will also have to be restored.
Why would any voter, including a Republican, continue to support a delusional psychotic who has so clearly failed in executing his duties as President? Of course, different groups of voters had their reasons for supporting Trump. White nationalists view Trump as the most overtly pro-white President since Woodrow Wilson. Like QANON and the Proud Boys, various conspiracy theorists support Trump because he has accepted many of their conspiracies. Many affluent taxpayers support Trump because they have benefitted from his tax policies and deregulatory. Former Democrats and Independents voted for Trump because they identified with what they thought were his policies, style, or identity. And some traditional Republicans continued to vote for Trump because he was the candidate of their party.
Apart from voters who have these preexisting reasons for supporting someone with Trump's profile, voters may also be attracted to Trump because of his psychosis. Psychological studies (see Bandy X Lee; and Jerrold Post) of followers who give their undying loyalty to leaders show an essential link. Followers believe they are missing something that the leader can provide. Some followers are submissive and are attracted to leaders because they think he will protect them, even if it means suffering his abuse and manipulation. And like battered spouses or partners in personal relationships, it is difficult for the abused partner to leave the relationship. This need for a leader who will take care of them is powerful when a group of followers believes they are facing a crisis. One of the reasons Trump's psychosis has attracted submissive followers is because the certainty of his delusions leads some people to believe that Trump is superhuman. These people accept his worldview and offer him unqualified support, and are likely to be submissive.
Trump's mental disorder attracts other followers. Mental diseases, like other diseases, are contagious and can be transmitted within families or groups. Trump's mental disorder is more likely to be contagious because (1) they are severe, (2) the followers are highly invested in their relationship with Trump, and (3) the follower is psychologically isolated from information that questions Trump's worldview.
Trump needs his followers as much as they need him. Approval from his followers can help counter any facts that assault his delusions. But Trump must also cater to his follower's beliefs about him and their world. Between his delusions and catering to his followers, Trump cannot make rational decisions to consider the pros and cons. For example, Trump recognized the coronavirus as a threat to his image as a superhuman who can overcome the virus. He failed to see the virus as an opportunity to enlist the support and favorability typically given to presidents leading the country against a threat. Instead, Trump sought to ignore the disease. Trump failed to develop a national plan for addressing the pandemic. Such a plan would have included (1) national standards for closing and re-opening businesses, (2) use of the Defense Production Act to ensure the availability of protective equipment and the reagents needed for producing tests, and (3) a distribution strategy for ensuring that the hardest-hit areas of the country were first to receive needed resources. Then, fearing that the disease's increasing spread reduced economic activity and thus, damaging his re-election chances, Trump chose to pretend the virus did not exist. Even after contracting the virus, Trump refused to wear a mask, held super-spreader rallies and events, and encouraged people to ignore the virus. As with the self-inflicted pain caused by Trump's inept decision in firing Comey, Trump defeated himself for re-election through bravado and intransigence over a rational response.
Between Trump's delusions and his need to satisfy his followers, he cannot make reasonable decisions. Consequently, Trump poses a clear and present danger to the U.S. as the number of dead from COVID-19 and the ever-worsening state of the economy makes clear. Moreover, as Trump's days in office shrink, too many people blinded by hope of a quick return to normalcy, tend to blame Trump for everything. And yet, Republicans in Congress, on the one hand, enabled and protected Trump and, on the other hand, delivered their savage blows to the American people. The Republican-controlled Senate delayed and then failed to quickly announce and approve an increase in relief from $600 to $2000.
Even with these psychotic based failures, Trump's followers cannot let him go. Of course, history and psychology are replete with examples of people continuing to cling to ideas of people who ill-serve them and even contribute to their destruction. But now, the U.S.'s fate depends on how many Americans are part of this psychological epidemic.
Understanding whether voters see in Trump is, of course, more important than knowing what Trump's mental capabilities are. Millions of people voted for Trump to become President in 2016 and more than 70 million voters were disappointed that his re-election bid was unsuccessful in 2020. Trump's successful election in 2016 may have been the result of voters willing to take a chance and vote for a candidate they did not know compared to a candidate they knew and did not like. But Trump's performance in addressing the health catastrophe of Covid-19 and the following economic recession was worse than any other industrialized country. The U.S. has a death toll of nearly 350 thousand, rising exponentially primarily due to Trump's inability to establish a comprehensive national plan.
Moreover, measured against the promises Trump made to win the election, his performance as President came up short. Trump promised to address the problem of growing inequality by reinvigorating manufacturing, coal mining, and the U.S. infrastructure. During his term in office, manufacturing and coal mining have decreased; and Trump failed to initiate any new infrastructure programs, despite Democratic willingness to collaborate with them. Trump was also unable to keep his pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with "better and more affordable health care." The only economic policy Trump implemented a tax cut in which 80 percent of the benefits went to the upper 10 percent of taxpayers. Tax increases will be levied on the bottom 90 percent of taxpayers in the coming years. As a result, inequality has grown under Trump; the rich have gotten more affluent, and the poor have gotten poorer.
Trump's performance in foreign policy has been almost as dismal as that domestically. He has antagonized U.S. relations with our allies and our adversaries and failed to slow North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Trump's erratic behavior toward our European partners has weakened our alliance with Europe. Our relationship with adversaries like China and Iran has also worsened under Trump. His imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods and products has wrecked the burgeoning Chinese agricultural market for U.S. farmers. And Trump's revocation of the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) has put Iran on course to have nuclear weapons in a few years.
Most importantly, Trump has failed to push back against Russia's aggression and thus encouraged Russia to engage in the world's biggest computer hack against the U.S. (The damage caused by that hack is still being assessed.) While Trump may have had some success in getting some Arab states to recognize Israel and lower the temperature in that part of the world, it is not clear if those gains will last past the Trump Administration. The cumulative effect of these failures will have a devastating impact on the U.S. The refusal of Republicans to enforce any boundaries on Trump will further undermine a bipartisan Congress's ability to function. Most, if not all, government agencies have been hollowed out and will require extensive effort to rebuild. And the faith of the American people in institutions like the press and democracy will also have to be restored.
Why would any voter, including a Republican, continue to support a delusional psychotic who has so clearly failed in executing his duties as President? Of course, different groups of voters had their reasons for supporting Trump. White nationalists view Trump as the most overtly pro-white President since Woodrow Wilson. Like QANON and the Proud Boys, various conspiracy theorists support Trump because he has accepted many of their conspiracies. Many affluent taxpayers support Trump because they have benefitted from his tax policies and deregulatory. Former Democrats and Independents voted for Trump because they identified with what they thought were his policies, style, or identity. And some traditional Republicans continued to vote for Trump because he was the candidate of their party.
Apart from voters who have these preexisting reasons for supporting someone with Trump's profile, voters may also be attracted to Trump because of his psychosis. Psychological studies (see Bandy X Lee; and Jerrold Post) of followers who give their undying loyalty to leaders show an essential link. Followers believe they are missing something that the leader can provide. Some followers are submissive and are attracted to leaders because they think he will protect them, even if it means suffering his abuse and manipulation. And like battered spouses or partners in personal relationships, it is difficult for the abused partner to leave the relationship. This need for a leader who will take care of them is powerful when a group of followers believes they are facing a crisis. One of the reasons Trump's psychosis has attracted submissive followers is because the certainty of his delusions leads some people to believe that Trump is superhuman. These people accept his worldview and offer him unqualified support, and are likely to be submissive.
Trump's mental disorder attracts other followers. Mental diseases, like other diseases, are contagious and can be transmitted within families or groups. Trump's mental disorder is more likely to be contagious because (1) they are severe, (2) the followers are highly invested in their relationship with Trump, and (3) the follower is psychologically isolated from information that questions Trump's worldview.
Trump needs his followers as much as they need him. Approval from his followers can help counter any facts that assault his delusions. But Trump must also cater to his follower's beliefs about him and their world. Between his delusions and catering to his followers, Trump cannot make rational decisions to consider the pros and cons. For example, Trump recognized the coronavirus as a threat to his image as a superhuman who can overcome the virus. He failed to see the virus as an opportunity to enlist the support and favorability typically given to presidents leading the country against a threat. Instead, Trump sought to ignore the disease. Trump failed to develop a national plan for addressing the pandemic. Such a plan would have included (1) national standards for closing and re-opening businesses, (2) use of the Defense Production Act to ensure the availability of protective equipment and the reagents needed for producing tests, and (3) a distribution strategy for ensuring that the hardest-hit areas of the country were first to receive needed resources. Then, fearing that the disease's increasing spread reduced economic activity and thus, damaging his re-election chances, Trump chose to pretend the virus did not exist. Even after contracting the virus, Trump refused to wear a mask, held super-spreader rallies and events, and encouraged people to ignore the virus. As with the self-inflicted pain caused by Trump's inept decision in firing Comey, Trump defeated himself for re-election through bravado and intransigence over a rational response.
Between Trump's delusions and his need to satisfy his followers, he cannot make reasonable decisions. Consequently, Trump poses a clear and present danger to the U.S. as the number of dead from COVID-19 and the ever-worsening state of the economy makes clear. Moreover, as Trump's days in office shrink, too many people blinded by hope of a quick return to normalcy, tend to blame Trump for everything. And yet, Republicans in Congress, on the one hand, enabled and protected Trump and, on the other hand, delivered their savage blows to the American people. The Republican-controlled Senate delayed and then failed to quickly announce and approve an increase in relief from $600 to $2000.
Even with these psychotic based failures, Trump's followers cannot let him go. Of course, history and psychology are replete with examples of people continuing to cling to ideas of people who ill-serve them and even contribute to their destruction. But now, the U.S.'s fate depends on how many Americans are part of this psychological epidemic.