A Defense Mechanism—“Finger-Pointing”

Congress and the White House failed.  The government is in a partial shutdown as of about six hours ago.  A deal could not be reached in spite of the “stable genius” and the “best deal-maker ever” as our president.  Trump rejected a bipartisan immigration proposal last Thursday that could and probably would have cleared the way for an agreement on a continuing resolution  to keep government up and running.  Long before the infamous Thursday “bleep” meeting took place, however—on December 21, 2017—Trump twitter dumped, “the House Democrats want a shutdown…to distract from the very popular, just passed, Tax Cuts.”  Back in May 2017, Mr. Trump himself supported a shutdown of his administration as a pathway to repeal the Affordable Care Act, tweeting “Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!’”  Well, Mr. Trump, we have a “good shutdown” now!  But, as you say, Mr. President, it is all the fault of the Democrats because they “care very little about” our military and are not “interested in life and safety” and “what they are really doing is shutting down our military (this is not true, the military continues to function during a shutdown) at a time we need it most.”

Meanwhile, the Democrats are pointing their fingers at the President and at the Republican majority.  “The Republicans control all the levers of government.  There can be no disputing who ultimately is responsible for the grossly irresponsible act of shutting down the government,” said Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer.  House Speaker Paul Ryan sees it differently, “Senate Democrats have let down our troops, our children, and all Americans.” (Remember the GOP-led shutdown back in October 2013?).  “…Senate Democrats have brought us to a shutdown.”  

Who is to blame?  Is it “the Trump shutdown” or the “Schumer shutdown?” During a government shutdown Air Force One still flies and Congress still gets paid, while forty percent of the total federal civilian workforce is furloughed.  Federal workers essential to national security will show up and do their jobs.  That includes (contrary to Mr. Trump’s repeated assertions to the contrary) the military. These folks will not get paid, however, unless Congress authorizes, as they did in 2013, some kind of “Pay Our Military Act,” which I am sure Congress (Democrats and Republicans) will do immediately.

Psychological projection is called a defense mechanism, but it can really be quite destructive.  Projection is attributing thoughts, feelings, actions and ideas which are perceived as undesirable on to someone else (finger-pointing, scapegoating).  We are really good at it and getting better at it all the time!