Neurophysiologically, man is born helpless and is one of the most frail of all animals and yet in his quest for survival, becomes driven by passions to torture,destroy and kill without any rational gain. This essay refers to violence and terrorism pertaining to Trump’s character , and the character of his criminals.
Aggression can be viewed both from an internal and external point of view . For example, aggression can be considered playful or benign as pertaining to sports.Recently, Gary Payton 11, was injured in a NBA playoff game and left the game with a fractured elbow. While Peyton was in the air, on his way to making a basket, an opposing player aggressively knocked Peyton to the ground. The referee threw the opposing player out of the game for a flagrant foul 2. The opposing player was not trying to kill, torture or destroy Peyton, nor was he going to receive any short-term gain from the act. The opposing players' motivation, in blocking the shot, was based on competitive aggression.
Psycho-dynamically , aggression is instinctive with evidence of oral aggressiveness; sibling rivalry, and with sadomasochism . Freud, not content, added another instinct to more fully explain the insanity of violence, death, destruction and aggression seen in World War I. Freud postulated a drive of death called Thanatos. This drive was directed both inward and outward towards others.Freud's model depicted and described the interplay or struggle between the instincts for man's survival and for his death.
Henry Murray subsequently identified a number of man's needs. For him, aggression was a need: "To overcome opposition forcefully. To fight. Revenge and injury. To attack, injure or kill another. To oppose forcefully or punish another. “
Dollard and Miller Incorporated BF Skinner's Behavioristic model and suggested that aggression was learned. Employing rewards, punishment, ratios and concepts of extinction, they demonstrated that aggression occurred within a reinforcement schedule. Further, Albert Bandura's research demonstrated that an individual learns to imitate aggression from a physically aggressive model . Aggression can also occur with frustration. When goal accomplishment becomes thwarted, aggression frequently follows. For example, If the goal was to reach the Capital in order to stop the peaceful transition of power and that was stymied, the likelihood of aggression followed. While attacking the capital , the rioters were confronted with barriers of fences, capitol police and locked doors. We saw a Capital policeman being crushed inside the door as there was frustration and violence all around. Aggression can also be seen when being trained to plan, to kill , to attack and to obey orders as in the military.
Parental upbringing reinforces aggression with Insults of a verbal or physical nature by father with a permissive mother. Allowing the children to express anger towards their mother and others with a punitive father results in later aggression in adulthood.How the parents react to the aggressiveness of their children becomes important. An example follows: My friend was dating a woman with her adult children living at home. One occasion, she was at his place when her phone rang. She put it on speaker while her daughter yelled at her “ You didn’t turn the fu..ing oven off.” Permissiveness and anger was in full display as evidenced by mother-daughter interaction.
Trump’s armed terrorist followers didn't stop the vote count or hang Mike Pence. If the goal was to stop the transition of power and that was rewarded, more of the same can be expected. However, if that criminal behavior led to punishment like an indictment or jail sentence, then that behavior is likely to be diminished. Aggression can become a learned habit of attacking. If one joins the military or the police force,aggression becomes reinforced with muscle memory practice. Not too long ago, a police officer shot an unarmed man in the back of the head while he was the citizens back. One can argue that the attacking behavior was related to the habit of learned aggression with positive reinforcement. In the history of policing ,police have killed for minor offenses and have received little punishment.
On November 6, at the rally preceding the attack on the capital, the commander-in-chief gave a clear message to his unlawfully armed terrorists that already had their battle plan assignment drawn .Trump told his group to fight like hell and to take back the government. He told them to march to the capital, he loves them and he would be there too. Note, he did not command his armed crazies to stand down, at ease. leave your weapons here, protest peacefully and sing on the way “We shall overcome.”
Briefly, destructiveness can be vengeful as a response to intense and perceived unjustified suffering inflicted by or upon Trump. The lie that the election was stolen from him,was his manipulation strategy .He wanted to solidify his fame, power and money. Vengeful destructiveness was not a defense against current physical danger. Vengefulness that was cruel, amoral was exhibited by Trump in order to take back power that he lost. There was plotting, many fraudulent attempts like going to court etc. Without justice from the courts,Trump and his cronies, out of desperation, with one last attempt planned the January 6 attack.
Trump was the commander-in-chief, and he could order his sycophants to do anything because he justified it. Legally It didn't matter. He was master in charge. The followers believed in magic,irrational and illusion that he could do no wrong even though it was against the constitutional democracy.
Trump took justice into his own hands.He even attempted to take charge of the steering wheel and choke another. It was a violent gesture. His passion for vengeance became godlike. Maybe his greatest hour was this particular vengeance because he reached a height never seen before in our country? Likely his defense against this travesty of his own destructiveness was to use projection. They-not I- are fraudulent, destructive, cruel and cheat.
Briefly, this anxious, hoarder has to have money and material things. Love ,for him, is essentially a possession . He does not give love , he wants to retain it at any cost. He lies and cheats- his taxes,university, foundation etc. It is about possession. His exploitative nature is associated with pedantic orderliness. Can't touch dirt in the outer world as it threatens to break into his fortified position of orderliness. He has to keep everything in its proper place. Compulsive cleanliness is anything beyond his own frontiers that can be dangerous, as germs are examples. His narcissistic character displays anxiety, hate and hoarding . This means that even a slight damage to a fragile ego will arouse an intense craving for revenge by him. Vengeance is a persistent tendency, as evidenced by what he does to anyone not loyal. He attacks - calls them cheats, lowlife etc.His obsessive neurosis was in full view as evidenced by those late night hateful tweets. It was his attempt ,with activity, to reduce his discomfort and dreaded anxiety.
The severely changing economic conditions in our economy has exacerbated the inability of the followers to compete and succeed in today's socioeconomic political system. Rising disparities perpetuated their reality. One obvious way to compensate for the insecurities and threats to security and satisfaction is through education and acquiring prestigious economic opportunities. These mobsters chose military and police careers with weapons in an attempt to combat their insecurities. However, the elites, people of color, made successful strides in economic,political, sports and social advancement .This fact raised increasing doubts about the certainty for security, privilege,domination, safety and satisfaction for Anglo-Saxon rule. Even though they were militarily trained, they suffered economic exploitation,indignity and debt because ,in part, by greedy profiters while on military bases .They were primed, anxious and ready for combat against further government injustice. Election fraud was the excuse for violence and combat . It was simply the conscious vehicle to reduce their anxiety, insignificance and insecurity. In fact, it gave them permission to act out their anger with violence .It was an activity that masked their inadequacies.Prior, their hostility was repressed. However, with Obama and Trump ,it became fashionable to express hate,prejudice and hostility openly. Hate crimes and gun sales statistics rose by leaps and bounds.
Trump's messaging appealed to those thwarted socioeconomically. They were rapidly being left behind, unable to compete, were exploited and were hostile,jealous and envious of all those “ undesirables “ getting ahead. Salaries of the rich and famous exploded and out of reach and they were without pride and lacked dignity for the most part except when they were associated with Trump and his cronies.They were also ambivalent regarding authority in that they followed orders, directions, chain of command while in the military and yet they acted out against the capitol police and the rule of law. With love ,hate can follow as evidenced by those loyal staffers telling the truth. More will follow
The terrorists also had similar character traits with the leader. They believed Trump when he told them that the system was rigged and fixed, in a simple language and his fooling around with other women was normal within their moral code. So, to participate in the overthrowing of the government was something permissible, as they were following orders of their leader. They could then participate in his glory by being successful ,and why wouldn't they be successful? They believed in magic. Could the commander-in-chief rationally overturn the election results and overthrow the government? That's not rational at all. They followed the power of the commander-in-chief, based on their own emotional insecurity of being fearful, dependent and trained as killers. They followed his demonstrations of power. He nominated individuals to the supreme court; he withdrew from the Iran deal; withdrew from climate change ; and cozied up to authoritarians. He demonstrated all kinds of power and he belittled( his projection of hate and hostility) against all his political and media opponents . He couldn’t even be convicted of Impeachment.However, there were doubts. On one hand he would protect them and even pardon them for their crimes. If he was still the leader, they wouldn't have been charged with crimes.Thus, their hostility and hate was now being directed inward as they faced incarceration.
His terrorist followers did not critically evaluate the reality of Trump's terrorist behavior. These characters were willing to sacrifice, put up with hardships( go to jail) and do whatever it took because Trump had a right to demand their sacrifice. Trump's attitudes were incorporated by followers. His amoral conscience became like a mirror that resulted in an irrational submission to a tyrannical Trump. Ambivalence was also exhibited by initially being in “ love” but now a betrayal as some of these arrested types agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Stay tuned ,the story is not over. According to Hosea, "My people are destroyed by the lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.”
Reference
Fromm, Erich. The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
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