Psychological Projection

Psychological projection occurs when persons defend themselves against their own unpleasant impulses by denying their existence and attribute them to others.  A person who is consistently rude, or dishonest, or angry, or petulant, for example, will accuse other people of being rude, dishonest, angry, or petulant.  Projection can be a form of blame-shifting.  “It wasn’t me,” is a ploy we’ve all used at one time or another.

Mr. Trump at a rally on Wednesday night called upon the crowd to notice “how nice I’m behaving today…Have you ever seen this?  We’re all behaving very well. And hopefully we can keep it that way.  We’re gonna keep it that way.” He said this after it was revealed that at least ten explosive devices had been sent to Democrats and his critics, whom he has lambasted over and over again. He urged “those engaged in the political arena” to “stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.”   Trump made a plea for “civility” earlier in the day, but rally attendants apparently had not heard as they chanted “Lock her up!”  Trump refrained from his usual personal attacks on certain Democrats (almost all of whom were sent an explosive device) but suggested, “The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories…” once again suggesting that journalists are the “enemy of the people.”  It is always somebody else’s fault or doing!

The following morning he tweeted, “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News…It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description.  Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”

At a Trump Rally in Houston on Monday, Trump said “The great Maxine Waters—that’s a beauty…Max-eeeeeeene Waters…You get that one?  You get that—Max?  She’s going to be in charge of your finances!  Maxine—good old Maxine.  Low-I.Q. individual! Low I.Q.”  He said George Soros was paying people to join the so-called “caravan.”  (This comment is totally unsubstantiated, but it doesn’t seem to matter to Trump).  The denigration of people is constant at his rallies and news conferences. Nothing is ever Mr. Trump’s  fault—it is all attributed to the media, Obama, or somebody else—but never Mr. Trump.  It is classical “psychological projection!”