Fourth Reason to Wonder and Worry About Trump’s Psyche: Psychological “Projectioneering,” Weaponized

 Early on, in January 2017, I posted three reasons to wonder and worry about Trump’s psyche while he was in office as President:

 

1. It looks like he has a “hubris-nemesis complex” — a rare mentality whereby a leader not only has hubris (the pretension to be god-like) but also wants to play Nemesis (the goddess of divine vengeance) against another actor who is accused of greater hubris.

 

2. He is very adept at deploying “the scoundrel’s script” — a rhetorical strategy for first denying, then diminishing, and if that doesn't work, ultimately displacing blame for alleged misdeeds that have come to light.

 

3. He is prone to behave like a tribalist intent on tribalizing others — look at his rallies where he rails like a tribal chieftain or warlord — in a time when America is already turning evermore tribal to its detriment. 

(source: http://twotheories.blogspot.com/2017/01/three-reasons-to-wonder-and-worry-about.html)

 

These may all be aspects of extreme narcissism. Indeed, every writing I’ve seen by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists about Trump’s psyche emphasizes his extreme narcissism and its malignancy. But I’m not trained in psychology or psychiatry, so I’d rather stick with simply identifying specific patterns of behavior, like the three above.

 

Now I see reason to add a fourth:

 

4. He is a master at “projectioneering” — the deliberately engineered use of psychological projection as a tactic.

 

As analysts have pointed out, Trump often engages in psychological projection. But in professional usage, “psychological projection” is “a defense mechanism in which the human ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others” (from Wikipedia page).

 

Trump’s behavior goes far beyond that. In his case, projection does not appear to be unconscious (not even subconscious); it seems thoroughly conscious — quite deliberate, even plotted out in advance. Moreover, it is not just a defense mechanism; sure, it serves to defend him, but his usage seems entirely offensive (in more ways than one).

 

He has weaponized psychological projection to such an extent, and so skillfully, that the standard term/concept “projection” is inadequate, too easily lost in the noise. Which is why I say he is engaging in “projectioneering” — rather à la the concepts of “reverse engineering” and “reverse psychology.” Trump looks like a deliberate, demonic, even diabolical practitioner of reverse projectioneering, especially when he is working to bully and cast blame on someone else, not only for alleged incompetence or irresponsibility, but for virtually any dark motive or behavior that Trump figures he himself might be accusable of and vulnerable to.

 

In late-July friends-only Facebook post where I first proposed “projectioneering” as a facet of Trump’s psyche, I noted several dire scenarios where it might come into play (e.g., blaming urban violence on Democrats, when he and cohorts fueled much of it). Today, since his bout with Covid seems to have thrown him somewhat off track, those dire scenarios look less likely. But the next few months, until at least February, still look quite unstable and fraught.

 

Whatever happens, his skill at projectioneering will play a role the entire way, as it has for the past five years, along with the first three patterns noted above. His “base” of supporters seem to idolize him all the more for his exuberant, vainglorious, demonic capacity to (1) radiate his hubris-nemesis traits, (2) deploy the scoundrel’s script left and right, (3) roar as a divisive tribalist skilled at tribalizing people, and (4) bully and baffle opponents through his weaponized use of psychological projectioneering — all the while making himself look virtuous, on the side of the angels, and totally forgivable to his base and other supporters.

 

A decade or so ago, as I recall, some Evangelical conservatives voiced suspicions that Barack Obama might be the “Antichrist” predicted by End-Times theology. Rubbish nonsense, I’d say — but even though this narrative never gained traction, it did circulate for a while. Today, I detect nary a concern among Evangelicals that Trump might be an “agent of the Antichrist.” But for an exception or two in out of the way places, such a narrative is evidently unthinkable in today’s conservative Evangelical circles. Trump’s skill at offensive (and defensive) projectioneering may help explain that, even more than may the other three patterns. What a terrible spectacle it could be, however, were such a narrative battle to emerge at some point.