by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Many of us can remember studying about the defense mechanism of "projection" in high school and college psychology courses. The theoretical construct was identified early in the last century by Anna Freud and it suggested that sometimes people dealt with their own issues by attributing them to others. The Urban Dictionary puts it this way:
As an example, if I were to refer to radio noisemaker Rush Limbaugh as a "porkchop," I might really be indicating my discomfort with my own weight issues as I project the whole matter onto poor Rush. Or, if I compared Sarah Palin to Norman Bates' mother in Psycho, I might really be questioning my own parenting abilities.
Donald Trump is a man of many failings, though he, himself, fails to recognize any of them. From his laziness, to his weight, to his near-illiteracy, the man is a walking catastrophe who thinks that the whole world holds him in high, and well-deserved, esteem.
Trump deals with many of his own flaws by simply assigning them to others - he projects his negatives onto people whom he sees as enemies. Here are a few major examples from just the past couple of weeks:
Trump, who has never gotten over the mathematical fact that he actually lost the 2016 election to Hillary Clinton by over three million votes, loves to label others as "losers." This week he singled out the Pakistani Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as a "stone cold loser." He has also used the word "loser" in connection with Joe Biden and attorney John Dean as recently as yesterday.
"Nasty" is another favorite word of Donald Trump, a man who has bragged about his provocative and obscene behaviors toward women. He recently referred to Prince Harry's wife, the Duchess of Sussex as "nasty," and he also tied that same appellation to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when he described her as a "nasty, vindictive, horrible person." Within the past few days Trump has also labeled Pelosi as "a mess" and "crazy," all terms that others have used in describing him.
While Donald Trump was in Europe last week and supposed to be acting presidential, he took time out from his busy schedule to verbally spar with entertainer Bette Midler over Twitter. Trump called the star of the recent Broadway production of "Hello Dolly" a "washed up psycho." Some saw an ex-reality television showman calling a contemporary Broadway star "washed up" as a bit of obvious projection.
It may not be clear whether Donald Trump actually sees Joe Biden as the most formidable Democratic presidential candidate - or if he is just trying to promote Joe to that spot, but either way, Trump sees some political advantage in attacking Biden early in the process. Not only is he already railing about what a "loser" Biden is, but he has also taken to referring to him as "swampman." That, one must assume, is a reference to the many years that Biden has been a political fixture in Washington, DC. Trump, however, has quickly become a part of DC himself, and he is becoming known for recycling many of the oldest and toughest alligators into positions in his administration. Calling Biden "swampman" looks like Trump may be trying to deflect the same criticism from himself.
But my favorite Trump projection from the past few days has to be his attack on Nixon's former attorney, John Dean, when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee this week and made some obvious comparisons between the Nixon and Trump administrations.. Not only did Trump tag Dean with his standard insult of "loser," he also added, quite loudly, that Dean was a "sleazebag."
Donald Trump calling someone else a "sleazebag!" Projection just does not get any better than that!
Citizen Journalist
Many of us can remember studying about the defense mechanism of "projection" in high school and college psychology courses. The theoretical construct was identified early in the last century by Anna Freud and it suggested that sometimes people dealt with their own issues by attributing them to others. The Urban Dictionary puts it this way:
Projection is an unconscious self-defense mechanism characterized by a person unconsciously attributing their own issues onto someone or something else as a form of delusion or denial.
As an example, if I were to refer to radio noisemaker Rush Limbaugh as a "porkchop," I might really be indicating my discomfort with my own weight issues as I project the whole matter onto poor Rush. Or, if I compared Sarah Palin to Norman Bates' mother in Psycho, I might really be questioning my own parenting abilities.
Donald Trump is a man of many failings, though he, himself, fails to recognize any of them. From his laziness, to his weight, to his near-illiteracy, the man is a walking catastrophe who thinks that the whole world holds him in high, and well-deserved, esteem.
Trump deals with many of his own flaws by simply assigning them to others - he projects his negatives onto people whom he sees as enemies. Here are a few major examples from just the past couple of weeks:
Trump, who has never gotten over the mathematical fact that he actually lost the 2016 election to Hillary Clinton by over three million votes, loves to label others as "losers." This week he singled out the Pakistani Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as a "stone cold loser." He has also used the word "loser" in connection with Joe Biden and attorney John Dean as recently as yesterday.
"Nasty" is another favorite word of Donald Trump, a man who has bragged about his provocative and obscene behaviors toward women. He recently referred to Prince Harry's wife, the Duchess of Sussex as "nasty," and he also tied that same appellation to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when he described her as a "nasty, vindictive, horrible person." Within the past few days Trump has also labeled Pelosi as "a mess" and "crazy," all terms that others have used in describing him.
While Donald Trump was in Europe last week and supposed to be acting presidential, he took time out from his busy schedule to verbally spar with entertainer Bette Midler over Twitter. Trump called the star of the recent Broadway production of "Hello Dolly" a "washed up psycho." Some saw an ex-reality television showman calling a contemporary Broadway star "washed up" as a bit of obvious projection.
It may not be clear whether Donald Trump actually sees Joe Biden as the most formidable Democratic presidential candidate - or if he is just trying to promote Joe to that spot, but either way, Trump sees some political advantage in attacking Biden early in the process. Not only is he already railing about what a "loser" Biden is, but he has also taken to referring to him as "swampman." That, one must assume, is a reference to the many years that Biden has been a political fixture in Washington, DC. Trump, however, has quickly become a part of DC himself, and he is becoming known for recycling many of the oldest and toughest alligators into positions in his administration. Calling Biden "swampman" looks like Trump may be trying to deflect the same criticism from himself.
But my favorite Trump projection from the past few days has to be his attack on Nixon's former attorney, John Dean, when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee this week and made some obvious comparisons between the Nixon and Trump administrations.. Not only did Trump tag Dean with his standard insult of "loser," he also added, quite loudly, that Dean was a "sleazebag."
Donald Trump calling someone else a "sleazebag!" Projection just does not get any better than that!
1 comment:
Projection theory is a serious element which points to more serious underlying issues when it comes to Donald Trump's fitness to serve. In severe cases projection is indicative of paranoia.
According to an entry in psychology dictionary, https://psychologydictionary.org/projection/, by By N., Pam M.S. - April 28, 2013.
That contribution asks and answers the question of "What is PROJECTION? definition of PROJECTION" (Psychology Dictionary) By N., Pam M.S. - April 28, 2013. The entry says
"A psychoanalytical theory, projection is the process whereby one subject believes they see attributes (both good and bad) in another. The theory views this tendency as a defense mechanism whereby unenviable or unpleasant traits, impulses or ideas are attributed to another. In this way, the projector is able to avoid the unpleasantness in themselves. However, the theory goes on to explain that in severe cases of projection, the condition of projection may degenerate into paranoid delusions to the point that the projector believes others are responsible for the projector's problems and are secretly plotting against them. The projection basically allows a subject to ignore faults within themselves.
PROJECTION: "Andrew's mistrust of his neighbors turned out to be a classic case of projection."
With Trump the negative projection has ranged from Rosie O'Donnell to Hillary Clinton to Joe Biden, from Arabs to Mexicans to all "shit hole" nations. Meanwhile our Paranoid-in-Chief sings the praises of Russia's Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong-un. It is reported that he has repeatedly compromised our national security.
The signs point to a paranoid President. America hasn't had one of those since Nixon.
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