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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Mon Jun 4, 2018, 10:20 AM Jun 2018

The president as the persecuted: Donald Trump's strategy of self-victimization

By Philip Rucker
June 4 at 7:00 AM

Unfair is one of his favorite words, and he has used it in 69 tweets. He calls the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election a rigged witch hunt. He accuses the FBI of infiltrating his campaign with spies. He insists the media is running a sophisticated disinformation operation to discredit him. And he demands apologies for myriad criticisms and slights.

Never mind that Donald Trump was born into extraordinary wealth, emblazoned his name on skyscrapers and golf courses across the globe and now is the elected leader of the free world. In President Trump’s telling, which can often be more imaginary than real, he is a victim — a long-suffering, tormented victim.

When ABC canceled its top-rated sitcom “Roseanne” last week because of racist tweets by star Roseanne Barr, who is a Trump supporter, Disney chief executive Bob Iger personally reached out to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is black and was compared to an ape in one of Barr’s tweets. But Trump said that he, too, was owed a personal apology from Iger.

“Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. He was at it again the next day, tweeting, “Iger, where is my call of apology? You and ABC have offended millions of people, and they demand a response. .?.?. Double Standard!”

For Trump, this posture makes and preserves political power. He has created around himself an aura of unfair persecution — by the nation’s elites, Democrats, the media and law enforcement — that inspires sympathy from and solidarity with his aggrieved supporters.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-president-as-the-persecuted-donald-trumps-strategy-of-self-victimization/2018/06/03/14bdd450-65b4-11e8-99d2-0d678ec08c2f_story.html

4 replies

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Highlight:

The president as the persecuted: Donald Trump's strategy of self-victimization (Original Post) DonViejo Jun 2018 OP

Ur-Fascism Characteristic #7 Thomas Hurt Jun 2018 #1

Donald J Trump, butt-hurt pResident. dchill Jun 2018 #2

Narcissistic behavior cpamomfromtexas Jun 2018 #3

Recall when he took that purple heart medal? He was given it and he took it. BSdetect Jun 2018 #4

Thomas Hurt

(13,903 posts)

1. Ur-Fascism Characteristic #7

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jun 4, 2018, 10:34 AM

Jun 2018

7. To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside: Jews are usually the best target because they have the advantage of being at the same time inside and outside. In the US, a prominent instance of the plot obsession is to be found in Pat Robertson's The New World Order, but, as we have recently seen, there are many others.