Projection - Lock Him Up

Projection
Lock Him Up

Trump’s presidency provides SNL with a long list of funny parodies. However, what is comedic on Saturday night is not so funny in the real world. Donald the Dumb can do or say things that could result in Armageddon. He is the leader of the Western world with list of psych orders. I have written about Trump’s narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).

Narciccus

However, this essay deals with his projection, which is a defense mechanism employed by a person that projects unto another person behavioral characteristics that the person sees in him or herself. Projection is done so often by Trump that one could get a very clear picture about how he views himself by what he says about others…a long list of others.

Trump is so fearful about colluding with the Russians that he tweeted a statement about what one of his supporters wrote in the Washington Times: @WashTimes states, “Democrats have willfully used Moscow disinformation to influence the presidential election against Donald Trump.” That is precisely what people are accusing him of doing.

Another projection repeated many times in Trump’s speeches or on Twitter is, “Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.” On either of his projections regarding his mental state or being smart, Trump doesn’t believe that.

Albert Einstein, who was both stable and smart, said, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” If someone, like Trump, needs to trumpet mental stability and being smart, it is a clear indication that person is neither. Trump remains the fool on the hill.

The fool on the hill

Donald the Donald projects himself on to being like Abraham Lincoln when it comes to being presidential.

If Trump likes comparing himself to other presidents, he is worse than Warren G. Harding. People called Harding either Wobbly Warren or President Hardly. His cabinet and administration were filled with scandals like Teapot Dome and Elk Hills. He was probusiness, anti-immigration, for increased tariffs, and was said to have had several affairs as president. Trump seems to be more like Harding than Lincoln.

There have been many people that have attempted to diagnosis the Donald’s psych disorders. Ted Cruz said of Trump, “This man is a pathological liar. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.” Then Cruz adds that Trump’s behavior is “a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.”

Nevertheless, there are others who would diagnosis Trump for projecting. Sigmund Freud said that people project their own feelings that they don’t like on others. That should be clear to everyone, including Trump.

Erick Erickson wrote that projection is often a response to troubling situations, which results in or creates an overwhelming sense of imminent disaster or stress. While I don’t possess the credentials of either Freud or Erickson, I certainly buy into their definitions of projection.

If one were to combine projection and narcissistic personality disorder, one can see how they interface with racism. Trump has issues about anyone who isn’t white. President Obama is the most obvious. Trump feels threatened and projects his feelings onto those to which he feels inferior. He spent years claiming that Obama wasn’t an American. He demanded a birth certificate, and, when he got it, he didn’t accept its authenticity. Finally, he yielded to the obvious.

Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet something that, if he were still alive, would apply to Donald the Dumb. Our fake president is protesting too much.