We wanted to look a little at the psychology of Donald Trump and attempt to understand where he’s coming from. Naturally we may veer into judgement and condemnation here, but the idea is to look at him objectively and see him as he is. We do this in the wake of his assassination attempt, which too revealed various facets of his character.
The first thing that strikes us about Trump is that he is pre-truth. He seems to be unaware of objective reality in the way that other politicians are. What’s true isn’t so much what everyone agrees to be true or who at is established by subject authorities, but what Big Daddy or the warlord says is true. To Trump, there is no objective reality, or at least he doesn’t believe in it. He creates reality with his words, weaving webs of meaning and constructing other semi-real worlds that leave us both mesmerized and shocked.
Trump also embodies a warrior energy. It’s him against the world. He schemes and plots and creates chaos, hopes not to get caught, then when he does, says, “fuck you” and won’t leave until he’s forcibly removed. We saw this energy moments after the attempt on his life a few days ago: with blood pouring from his wound and the world watching, Trump defiantly faced the crowd and held a clenched fist in the air, as though saying: “I win this round, motherfuckers.” He enjoys the limelight and being the pantomime villain. The fact he’s the first US president to be convicted of a crime tells you a lot. He didn’t commit just one, but a string, and he still has others to be tried for!
You can compare him to a Greek God or superhero, with his endless conniving, fighting, scheming and power games. If the shenanigans were to stop, you sense Trump would lose his verve and no longer be interested in politics. He lives for the hunt, for the fight, for D-day. His planned march on the Capitol is the epitome of this. It was like something from the Odyssey or the Old Testament.
On this track, psychologically Trump is pre-law and order. He does his best to beat the rules and get his way in spite of them. He’s like a rebellious teenager: he simply doesn’t want to be penned in by conformity and civility. It stifles his wild impulses, law-breaking tendencies and bullish energy. That said, he has at least been competent enough at law obeyance to maintain his financial empire and keep out of trouble for decades.
On that same track, experts have noted that Trump suffers from a personality disorder, in particular he has a chronic lack of empathy for other people. This isn’t surprising given the traits we’ve outlined above. What’s more, it seems he is fundamentally racist, what with his slurs against immigrants and the infamous “we’re going to build a wall” slander.
We wonder where Trump’s first and possible second term will leave us as a country. We wonder how exactly Trump’s time in office will prove to be evolutionarily valuable. That remains to be seen, but nevertheless, as post-progressive political activists, we trust that ultimately everything is working for good, even if in the short term it appears degenerative and virulent. Let Trump the bull continue to wreak havoc in the Whitehouse china shop, I say.
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