Today's disquisition relates to Trump, self-esteem and fiction . Self-esteem , not the ego, was formulated by notables such as William James ,G.H. Mead, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan, Erich Fromm, Carl Rogers ,Morris Rosenberg , Stanley Coopersmith and others. Our definition of self-esteem takes into account goal successes, values, ideals, expectancies or aspirations and defense mechanisms.
Self-esteem relates to an enduring attitude, belief or personal evaluation that's associated with emotional states towards oneself. Self-esteem is also associated with satisfaction and effective functioning. Research has suggested that individuals with low self-esteem have doubts of worthiness , can neither give nor receive love and have difficulty maintaining close emotional unions. They do not trust their ability to get close because it would reveal their inadequacies , thereby exposing their unworthiness. They are unable to deal with their inadequacies because they expect dreaded failure.
Threats to self-esteem results in fear or anxiety which leads to aggression and hostility. Also, one's perception of self may be counter to society's definition of success and worthiness. Because of that fact, often an individual is not aware because of that dissonance between their self-esteem evaluation and society’s. Because one cannot always count on the accuracy of one's reported self evaluation, verbal expressions- what they say, how they say it; their posture, facial and body gestures tells their story. It is believed that people with high self-esteem are happier and more efficient in meeting their environmental and social demands . While those of low self esteem , with conflicts, are troubled by more consistent feelings of distress, which speaks to weakness and feelings of inferiority. They falsely present confidence and self-assuredness to the public, which is essentially a façade , persona or social mask.
Some suggest that high self-esteem is associated with self-respect, superiority, pride, self-acceptance, dominance, assertiveness, possession , status and narcissism while others state that high self-esteem is associated with being capable, significant, successful . worthy , adherence to socially accepted values and ideals.
Achievement or success can be measured against one social group or others important to the individual. However, a continuous guarding against loss of self-esteem results with anxiety. Thus, one has to develop strategies to counter the potential loss of self-esteem. Conditions that produce anxiety relate to lack of domination ,indifference of others, loss of respect, disparagement, lack of admiration, lack of warmth and discrimination by others-the enemy. Coping with anxiety , one can create or inflate an idealized image of one's capacities and goals. It’s an attempt to bolster self-esteem. Weakness is inferiority ,and to be avoided at all costs . Inferiority can be physical, intellectual or emotional . To compensate, one can pursue athletics, learning or therapy .
Success is also the ability to influence others by controlling self and behavior of others ; economic success in the areas of competency related to high levels of mastery of performance , the areas of virtue - adherence to moral, ethical and religious values.
Self-esteem is related to the amount of respectful, accepting and concerned treatment that's received from significant others along with the history of integrated successes. Social approval is living up to the aspirations of significant others along with their values. Self evaluation can result in an attitude of failure. However, self-esteem can be maintained , with defenses, by distorting the catastrophes so they do not diminish a sense of worthiness or power .
Defenses and means of warding off anxiety are an interpretation to perceive that the event leads the individual to rally against feelings of incompetence, powerlessness ,status and so forth. High self-esteem individuals have confidence in their own judgments, feel capable of increasing the likelihood that they will be successful in dealing with adversity.
A few words about Trump and self-esteem . Like all Homo sapiens, Donald began life helpless. He was the apple of his father's eye, a prized possession for Fred. Fred’s character valued power, status and possession. Being Fred’s favorite, Donald was spoiled , pampered and enabled unconditionally. As a spoiled child, Donald did not develop appropriate ego boundaries, a well functioning conscience nor experience serious consequences for his aberrant behavior which was ignored and/or reinforced. These parental practices resulted in psychic consequences and influenced various character tendencies. First, baby Donald formed an expectation early in life that he will always be taking care of despite circumstances and his whim is the law. Second, baby Donald didn't have to contribute to the social welfare of others and to the society at large. Not paying taxes, imitating Jesse James , exploiting others and using others like Roy Cohn types to manipulate legal proceedings so as not to be held accountable. Third, baby Donald developed a grandiose view of being all-powerful with unlimited authority-omnipotent. This inflated view resulted in a non rational manner that he is a genius . Fourth, baby Donald did not learn appropriate ways to adjust to problems confronted. Unconsciously he was defending against helplessness, humiliation and destitution. These insecurities resulted in hostility with his characterological tendency to dominate, humiliate, and to deprive others.
Donald’s successes and failures are based on psychological dynamics reflected in his attitude ,values and behavior toward others and society. He attempted to compensate for his physical ineptitude. He was not athletic nor excelled at sports. To compensate, he attempted to buy an NFL franchise but was rejected. He then purchased the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.Subsequently , organized and started a lawsuit against the NFL for antitrust statutes. The USFL won the lawsuit, the jury awarded the USFL just three dollars. Was that a success ? He plays golf but cheats at that game too. Academically, it's been reported that school and college tests and papers were written by someone else.
Donald started with millions from inheritance, went bankrupt numerous times and inflates his assets when seeking a loan and deflates them when paying taxes. As far as prestige and power, he achieved the most powerful position in the world as a result of the nondemocratic electoral college. He didn't believe that he was going to win and thus defensively talked about the election being false ahead of time. As president, he had the power, possessions and prestige which are unparalleled to none. However, he was impeached twice, lost the popular vote twice and the first president to be indicted. Historically, he should've been the second. Nixon had that honor but was bailed out by Jerry Ford with the pardon.
In the 2016 election Donald didn't expect to beat Hillary. He squelched his Stormy Daniels affair. He then projected , "Lock her up," and declared the election was going to be fraudulent.
However, 2019 - 2020, he knew he was in trouble of losing his status and power . Again, talked about the fraudulent election-the Big Lie. He reinforced the Big Lie in his failed court actions ; he supported fake electors, called Georgia Secretary of State seeking more votes, pressured Mike Pence into manipulating the electoral college votes and had his cronies attack the capital on January 6. All these actions were based on the irrationality , illusion and fiction created between his ears by this genius . Irrespective of immorality or legality of actions, this behavior was predicated on the fictional idea that these behaviors were how he would retain the presidency.
Donald has worn a Teflon protection device for all of his life. Now , for the first time, he's been indicted. His future? Despite current reality, Donald would likely say he has a positive image of himself. Yet, if he looked into the mirror, he would see a tense , hostile, unhappy and obese human. One of his major life goals ,with excessive strategies, is to defeat and conquer the legal justice system. He said his arrest was imminent , and called for protests along with the picture of him holding a baseball bat as if to attack Bragg.. He referred to Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney as a Soros backed animal. Donald's attitude toward the criminal justice system reflects his destructive mockery of the irrationality and fiction of the slogan "Justice Is Blind" and his fictional belief when he stated, during his first campaign ,that he could shoot someone in NY and not get arrested. Furthermore, his disdain for the social interest of the society, with his neurotic ,malignant narcissism of his self-centeredness, makes him a dangerous and catastrophic threat to our Republic.”What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on” per Henry David Thoreau
References
Adler, A. Individual Psychology.
Coopersmith, S. The Antecedents of Self-esteem.
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