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ABSTRACT AND SUMMARY, PART IV
The grandiose bond between Trump and his base of followers is strengthened when there is an Other to be blamed, often for developments for which Trump is in fact culpable. Retaliatory rage is provoked and directed at the enemy as the base rallies round the hero president, as he repeatedly targets the frequently innocent person or institution.
As we have noted, the identification of enemies is essential to the maintenance and strengthening of the grandiose bond. In this way shame is deflected onto the hated “other” and rage is justified and channeled outside the domain of the leader and his followers.
Donald Trump seeks to intensify political and social divisions by praising his base (hard working people, patriotic Americans, freedom loving folks, etc.,) while denigrating and mocking liberal elites, socialists, foreigners, Democrats and even fellow Republicans.
Using demeaning nicknames he targets other leaders and competitors as he fans the fury of disdain among his base. The more he leers and insults the “other groups’ the more the faceless mass of followers rises up to meet his scorn with passionate jeers and contempt. The leader and his base are fused in a state of joyful outrage, as the charge of grandiosity fires up the crowd – yes, we are great again!
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There are signs that Trump’s followers are claiming that the pandemic is fabricated, that it was created by Bill Gates to make a profit on a vaccine, or that it just didn’t happen as the media and liberal doctors claimed – another instance of “fake news.”
Recently a video went viral online, titled “Plandemic,” touting a conspiracy theory regarding a collusion between the deep state and private industry to create and profit from the epidemic. (Trump’s gaslighting is enhanced with the aid of fringe groups and conspiracy theorists).
When confronted with failing poll numbers in the fall, Trump may simply claim that pandemic simply didn’t happen. That the grim facts of disease and death were ploys of the liberal media and Democratic party to “steal” the election from the American People (e.g. using the excuse of the pandemic to promote unlawful mail-in voting).
With Donald Trump, truth is fair game, any lie, no matter how grotesque can be a tactic to manipulate the public into doubting their own perception of reality – to protect his hold on power, and his hunger for success.
Blame someone whenever advantageous: The grandiose bond between Trump and his base of followers is strengthened when there is an Other to be blamed, often for developments for which Trump is in fact culpable. Retaliatory rage is provoked and directed at the enemy as the base rallies round the hero president, as he repeatedly targets the frequently innocent person or institution.
This has been a Trump tactic for many years, but now, during the Covid-19 epidemic, its use is especially odious. For example, Trump has been rightly accused of denying the looming epidemic for weeks as it spread through the country. Even when every authority confirmed the spread, Trump minimized the risk and predicted it would be “no big deal.”
Soon, as increasing numbers of people became sick and dying, he changed his tune, blaming the Chinese government and the World Health Organization for hiding essential information and thus delaying the American response.
Despite the fact that this was an obvious lie, Trump has continued to blame and accuse the WHO, which he is defunding in retaliation. He has also blamed responsible (and popular) governors for infringing on their citizen’s liberties by issuing protective orders to shelter in place, egging on his followers to take arms against their states in defense of “liberty.”
Finally, as always, Trump had turned on his predecessor, Barack Obama claiming that the prior administration shirked responsibility and failed to alert the country to the risk of epidemic, even though the Obama White house wrote a detailed warning and plan for just such a contingency.
Trump recently broadened and escalated these attacks by claiming Obama was a criminal who committed, “the biggest political crime in American History, by far!” The crime? The investigation of the Russian effort to undermine our democracy.
Exacerbate political and social divisions: As we have noted, the identification of enemies is essential to the maintenance and strengthening of the grandiose bond. In this way shame is deflected onto the hated “other” and rage is justified and channeled outside the domain of the leader and his followers.
Donald Trump seeks to intensify political and social divisions by praising his base (hard working people, patriotic Americans, freedom loving folks, etc.,) while denigrating and mocking liberal elites, socialists, foreigners, Democrats and even (if it suits his purpose) fellow Republicans.
Using demeaning nicknames he targets other leaders and competitors as he fans the fury of disdain among his base. The more he leers and insults the “other groups’ the more the faceless mass of followers rises up to meet his scorn with passionate jeers and contempt. The leader and his base are fused in a state of joyful outrage, as the charge of grandiosity fires up the crowd – yes, we are great again!
Declare victory as the situation worsens: Despite the fact that Trump lost the popular vote, he has repeatedly touted the fact that he won the Electoral College in a landslide. Despite having a low turnout at his inaugural, he asserted it was the largest crowd ever in American history, and he has his press secretary echo his lie.
This claim of victory despite obvious defeat has been a familiar strategy of Trumps throughout his career. In fact several weeks ago, as the Covid-19 epidemic raged on, Trump and Jared Kushner organized a victory celebration on the South Lawn of the White House to declare victory over the virus and to assert the splendid success of the Corona Taskforce and federal response.
Since in the minds of his followers the truth has never been trusted, let alone valued, the gaslight has never burned brighter – the a priori belief in Trump as a winner is held to ever tighter when contradicted by facts, and any attempt to hold up the light of truth to the lie is ridiculed and attacked.
The frenzy of the Trump base is heightened to a fever pitch in direct proportion to the obviousness of the lie and the irrefutable evidence of mediocrity and failure. Truth does not matter, the glory of winning is everything, even when (especially when) all is lost, which leads us to a discussion of the upcoming campaign.
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