The Perversion of Myth in America – Part 4 The Trumpian Myth

So far we have explored the nature of myth in a positive sense, various useful myths, and some destructive myths in America. Now we turn to the myth that some see as the cause of an American crisis, but that others see as the key to our salvation as a nation. We are talking about the Trumpian myth. Let’s see what Trump brings to the table.

Greek mythology contains the myth of Narcissus among many others. According to legend, Narcissus was known for his beauty. A long life was predicted to him as long as he never recognized himself. He rejected the love of a nymph and fell in love with his own reflection in the water and eventually died of frustration or possibly killing himself.

There have been many theories about what is happening with Trump. One is that he has a narcissistic personality disorder. Another is that he has an antisocial personality disorder. Both are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM 5). A third option is that you have a combination of the two.

A person diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder must show at least five of the following symptoms:

1. A great sense of self-importance.

2. Preoccupation with dreams of unlimited power, success,

physical attractiveness and love.

3. Belief that he or she (usually he) is of special or high status.

4. Need for excessive admiration.

5. A sense of entitlement and expectation of favorable treatment or performance.

6. Exploitation of other people to achieve personal goals.

7. Lack of empathy with the needs and feelings of other people.

8. Envy of other people or think that other people envy them.

9. Arrogant behaviors and attitudes.

A person diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder must show

at least three of the following symptoms:

1. Repeated breach of social norms that give rise to grounds for arrest.

2. Participate in the deception.

3. Impulsiveness and not planning ahead.

4. Irritability and aggressiveness.

5. Reckless carelessness or concern for the safety of others.

6. Chronic irresponsibility.

7. Lack of remorse for hurting others.

I had no difficulty finding all of these symptoms in both groups as present in Trump. Does that mean that it is necessary to choose one diagnosis or another? It clearly shows patterns consistent with both diagnoses.

Although there is no combined diagnosis in DSM-5, Arlin Cuncic at http://www.verywellmind.com discusses the idea of ​​a narcissistic sociopath with characteristics of the two personality disorders that we just reviewed. Here each of the two diagnoses intensifies and worsens each other. As with each of the separate diagnoses, the combined pattern first shows up during adolescence and is most likely due to genetic and environmental factors.

Cuncic describes a person with both as “seeking power and control, using the love and admiration of others as a tool to dominate and manipulate. There will be no blame, apology, or remorse on the part of the narcissistic sociopath.” “This also strikes me as a very accurate description of Trump.

All of this leads us to the Trumpian myth. Wikipedia describes A Big Lie as “a politician’s propaganda device used for political purposes, a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the facts.” He goes on to describe the term as one coined by Hitler in Mein Kampf as “such a colossal lie that no one would believe that anyone could have the nerve to distort the truth in such an infamous way.”

As I see it, there are currently three parts to the Trumpian Myth:

1. The first is MAGA. Paul Blumenthal describes the part of the myth as “predicting a great and cataclysmic future event where liberation will come through the effort and sacrifice of believers. The present order will be swept away.” This is the promise that Trump ran on and promised to continue if re-elected through the slogan “Keep America Great.”

as if he had achieved his goal during his administration of making America great.

In my assessment, he got off to a good start sweeping away our democracy by diluting and paralyzing many of the federal agencies that support democracy. It did this primarily through restrictive policies and the installation of agency directors who had no idea how to run their agencies or who had ideas how to cripple them. However, it deserves credit for supporting COVID vaccines, although it did undermine other aspects of containing the pandemic. Aside from supporting the development of the vaccine, I had trouble finding anything positive unless you were super rich and wanted a tax cut.

2. The second part of the myth is that the January 6 attack on the Capitol was not an attack but a “party of love” and that Trump did not incite it. Furthermore, any Republican who blames Trump for any involvement in the insurrection (or lack of insurrection) must be purged from the ranks.

3. The third part is that Trump actually won the 2020 election. The bogus votes were allegedly cast by Democrats or others acting in their interest. Seemingly endless stories and false stories have been the order of the day to expose the “Great Robbery” with more plans across the country.

Under the pretext of electoral fraud that must have taken place in your opinion,

Republicans are working hard in many states to reintroduce restrictive laws to limit the vote of undesirable people who could vote against Trump, such as blacks and other people of color, as well as poor and younger voters.

These aspects of the Trump myth are promoted by the strongest voices in the Republican Party with virtually full or at least no objection from Republican House and Senate congressmen.

The final post in this series will focus on what to do with all of this.