Thursday, March 10, 2022

No Matter How Hard Hannity Works At Guiding Trump To Say Something – Anything –
Bad About Putin Or Other Mass-Murdering Dictators, Trump Will NOT Do It

Dr. Justin Frank: Trump sees Putin as a superhero, loves "the power of his paranoid thinking"
Psychoanalyst and bestselling author on the dangerous bromance: Trump is a coward who worships Putin's ruthlessness
Chauncey DeVega, Salon, March 7, 2022

During one of our previous conversations, you warned that Donald Trump would only become more like his true self as he got older. It would appear you were correct. Trump continued to praise Vladimir Putin, right up to the moment of the Ukraine invasion, and Trump's rhetoric continues to suggest that he is trying to incite a "race war" and continuing to scheme about how to regain power.

What we are seeing now is Trump's true self. He is a paranoid, frightened man, driven by a lust for revenge. One of the things that he shares with Putin is that they both want to get revenge for the slights and hurts they believe they have suffered. And it's one of the things that the two of them have in common that is quite striking and startling to me. I believe that Vladimir Putin was humiliated by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He wants revenge against NATO and the United States. But Putin did not have to act while Donald Trump was still in office. As long as Trump was in office, Trump could damage the United States without Putin's direct help. Trump was already destroying many American political and societal institutions. Putin was able to sit back and enjoy it.

What about Vladimir Putin does Trump admire the most? For Trump, what is that relationship like?

When Trump looks at Vladimir Putin, he sees an older brother. Trump also sees in Putin a man who has the courage of his paranoid thinking. Trump would never lead an army into war; he dodged the draft with fake bone spurs. Putin is not like that. Putin is a former KGB agent who has likely killed people personally. Trump admires that. Trump looks up to Putin and sees him as a type of ideal. Trump likes the fact that Putin is a killer who has the courage to act on the things that Trump just talks and fantasizes about doing.

Trump is obsessed with violence. When he threatens violence and mayhem he is not kidding. None of it is hyperbole or some type of joke. So few public voices are willing to state that basic fact consistently and with clarity.

He is very sick and dangerous. He is the type of person who instigates the violence and then hides out in a bunker and watches it happen. Many of the Republican Party's leaders are cowards. But they do have people who act on their behalf, like those right-wing street thugs and the other people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. Those people are not cowards. They are dangerous and destructive people who are capable of killing and other violence.

Those street thugs and other people who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection represent the deepest wishes of who Trump wants to be. Trump wishes he could have that strength and that courage, or that capacity to be directly violent. He does not. Instead, Trump sues people and cheats them.

What is Trump's emotional relationship with Putin and these other strongman-type leaders?

It's an unconscious love of somebody who can be more violent than you are. It is the love of a person who can do the things you are afraid to do. Political strongmen also provide a type of illusory protection for feelings of hatred and violence. That's why Trump's rallies were so powerful. He told his followers to act on their hatred and violence and that he would pay their legal fees if they got in trouble.

How would Trump respond if his violent threats and fantasies were to come true?

Donald Trump does not feel guilt. He would say, "I didn't really say such a thing." Trump would deny his murderous threats, both to the public and to himself. Trump wants to overthrow the United States' system of government, but he also would deny those thoughts and behavior the same way.

Would Trump feign guilt? Would he be remorseful?

Again, Trump would deny that he ever wished such a thing. You could play a video recording of Trump saying such things and he would deny it. Trump would say it was all fake and not real. . . .

What about the Republican politicians and Tucker Carlson and other prominent right-wing figures who are enabling that relationship? They have been all in on supporting Putin, at least until now.

They love his violence and power. It is all an example of what is known as "identification with the aggressor." Tucker Carlson idealizes people who he can't be like in real life, but Tucker wants to be on the same side they are. The Republican Party's leaders are the same way. You can identify with them so you can hide your own aggression behind them and feel safe. It is the same reason why people ally with bullies: They don't want the bully to turn on them. In their minds, as long as you idealize Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump, they are never going to turn on you. Trump has the same dynamic with Putin. Trump feels stronger when he loves Putin. He feels stronger around dictators. It makes him feel like more of a man.
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