There have been a thousand warnings about former President Donald Trump. If polls are to be believed these warnings have fallen on deaf ears. What accounts for this imperviousness despite clear evidence of his dangerous and egregious flaws? This question has stumped many. As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has long worked with complexities of mind, let me offer psychological explanations then suggest remedies that could help permeate this apparent impenetrability.
He offers a sense of omnipotence. Trump makes it seem like nothing is hard, meaning it’s easy to be all powerful. The Civil War? Piece of cake. He would have settled it. Same with Ukraine. Never mind that he would have given away the nation with the former and imperiled the free world with the latter. He’s the strongman who can handle anything. By extension, you can, too.
He helps people deny painful realities and threats, instead trivializing them. He pulls for living in a fantasy world where the true existential threats don’t exist. Climate change? Just a big scam. The promise and peril of artificial intelligence? Outsource the techno-state to one man, Elon Musk, who surely will handle it in the nation’s best interests not his own. The real enemies are “out there” (illegal immigrants, cancel-culture, trans people) or “within” (Democrats, political opponents, radical left lunatics).
A woman wearing a trash bag listens as Republican Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, surrogate for former president Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign event on Oct. 31, in Atlanta, Georgia.
ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images
He resonates with universal experiences of feeling abused and aggrieved. Trump and family appear to be no strangers to abuse. Donald J. Trump Jr. told a chilling story at his mother Ivana Trump’s funeral. When as a young child he misbehaved in a restaurant, she took him to the restroom to show him “what eastern European discipline was really all about.” When finished, she said: “And if you cry, we’re going to come back in here and do this again.” Families with abuse histories either break the cycle or perpetuate it. Adolf Hitler’s father allegedly horse-whipped him every day. Trump allows his supporters to identify with the abuse experience, his implicit promise being that, in his hands, it will be no more if you’re on his side. He’ll whisk it away and protect his followers.
He appeals to simplistic, half-baked thinking. Immature thinking that blames others and denies personal responsibility is appealing. It means rules don’t apply and you can do as you please. If you lose an election, insist it was stolen and incite an insurrection.
He provides pleasure in being a provocateur. Perpetually putting your thumb in the face of those who don’t agree with you is enjoyable. Retaliation feels good. Reconciliation and coming to terms with vexing or enraging issues is hard work. The perpetual provocateur never has to face this.
How might using an understanding of these dynamics diminish Trump’s hold? They are, at least in part, a response to deep-seated psychological resentment and yearning for protection. While they provide temporary relief and short-term pleasure, they are rooted in illusion. Here’s a sampling of concrete steps:
Speak to the underlying rage. Acknowledge that changes in society have torpedoed livelihoods and left too many struggling while others thrive, with threats abounding that could make it worse. Acknowledge this: “Of course you’re angry. You feel like you’re being trampled by forces beyond your control.”
Recognize a yearning for protection. Trump is the recently Tucker-Carlson-dubbed-Daddy who will spank those who are bad while protecting those who offer adulation. Attunement to the longing for an all-knowing strongman who ensures safety helps sharpen the warnings about his abuses and violations. Wait until you pay the price for your “protector” and go to jail for Jan. 6, or have your social safety net threatened, or face consequences of Project 2025, or die unnecessarily from the pandemic, or are conned by Trump University, or have your abortion rights taken away, to name but a few actual or potential consequences of his sloppy, reckless, and dangerous ways.
Emphasize enlightened self-interest. While the psychological approaches above provide temporary relief and short-term pleasure, they are rooted in illusion and won’t solve problems. No one can solve hardships with empty promises, and strongman tactics ultimately tear down institutions. It takes hard work, frustration tolerance, and considerable thought to reach solid solutions born of collaboration and compromise.
One could argue that Trump told a big truth to those hurt by globalization, while telling a big lie that solutions would be easy. Those who worship him must be helped to see that their rage and longing for protection blind them to reality. He does little for them except make them feel good while posing major threats. It is dangerous to worship false gods.
Dr. Jacobson is Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine; Training & Supervising Analyst, Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute; and Board Member, American Board of Psychoanalysis. She is in private practice in Atlanta, GA.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
