The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump

by Bandy X. Lee

  A bully’s actions are intentional: to cause emotional or physical injury to one or more people, usually on a repeated basis. Many readers might recall basic types of bully as portrayed in film or on television, such as Biff in Back to the Future or Eddie Haskell on the television show Leave It to Beaver. As the decades have unfolded and our technology has evolved, so have the numbers and types of bullies.

  • Physical bullying occurs when people use physical actions to gain power and control over their targets. It’s easiest to identify and most likely what people think of when they think of bullying.

  • Verbal bullying involves using words, statements, and name-calling to gain power and control over a target. Typically, verbal bullies use relentless insults to belittle, demean, and hurt others.

  • Prejudicial bullying is based on prejudices people have toward people of different races, religions, or sexual orientations. This type of bullying can encompass all the other types of bullying. When prejudicial bullying occurs, those who are somehow considered “different” are targeted and the door is opened to hate crimes.

  • Relational aggression, frequently referred to as emotional bullying, is a sneaky, insidious type of bullying that manifests as social manipulation. The goal of the relational bully is to ostracize others to gain social standing and to control others.

  • Cyberbullying refers to using the Internet, cell phones, or other technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person; cyberbullying usually involves a teen or tween. If an adult is involved in this harassment, it is called cyber-harassment or cyberstalking. This form of bullying has gained momentum, as there is much less risk of being caught.

  • Sexual bullying consists of repeated, harmful, and humiliating actions (sexual name-calling, crude comments, vulgar gestures, uninvited touching or sexual propositioning) that target a person sexually. It can occur in a group and can be considered a show of bravado among the perpetrators; when done one on one, it can lead to sexual assault.

  If you take into account the sexual harassment/assault lawsuits that have targeted Trump over the years, you will find that he has displayed every one of these bullying types. Bullying is not “normal” and is therefore unacceptable behavior—or, at least, it was unacceptable up until the 2016 presidential election. Culturally in the past, bullying was considered a normal rite of passage (while this line of thinking may never have been realistic); it is certainly not so today. With extreme bullying becoming increasingly pervasive, often with tragic results, we can no longer view it as simply a part of growing up, much less a part of being a grown-up.

  The Trump Effect

  I’m gonna bomb the shit out of them!

  Donald Trump during campaign rally in Fort Dodge, Iowa, November 13, 2015

  One person can affect an entire nation, and nowhere do we see this more clearly than with “the Trump Effect,” which was originally defined as an increase in bullying in schools caused by the rhetoric used by Donald Trump during his campaign. This particular definition of the Trump Effect—not to be confused with definitions that refer, for example, to the stock market, to Trump’s publicly skirting the truth, or to the uptick in populism in Europe—gained traction in the media as campaign season deepened and Donald Trump won the election.

  In short order, the bullying crept beyond schools to include religious and racial bullying by adults. At least four mosques were burned to the ground. Jewish cemeteries across our nation have been desecrated. Two innocent Indian engineers were shot while having dinner, as was a white American who tried to intervene. One of the engineers died, but not before his killer yelled racial slurs at him that culminated in “Get out of my country!” More recently, articles about the Trump Effect have largely been replaced by continuing coverage of Trump’s tweets, his odd behavior, and his campaign team’s possibly illegal ties to Russia. However bizarre it may seem, the Trump Effect exists, and is a growing phenomenon.

  A report from Maureen Costello of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) Teaching Tolerance project, “The Trump Effect: The Impact of the 2016 Presidential Campaign on Our Nation’s Schools,” lays out in no uncertain terms the dire consequences of Donald Trump’s behavior. It indicates that immigrant students, children of immigrants—close to one-third of pupils in American classrooms are the children of foreign-born parents—African Americans, and other students of color were fearful, while their friends worried for them and wanted to protect them.

  Yet, many children were not afraid at all. Rather, some used the name “Trump” as a taunt or chant as they ganged up on others. Muslim children were called terrorists; those of Mexican descent were told that they or their parents would be deported; children of color were afraid they would be rounded up and put into camps. The bullying caused some of these children to have panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.

  One consistent theme across grade levels emerged: the students understood that the behavior on display was not okay. Also, our research revealed that the great many people who witness such bullying do nothing, and many of these passive bystanders feel prolonged shame for their inaction against this injustice experienced by friends and classmates—another negative fallout of bullying, beyond its targeted victims.

  While the long-term impact of these noxious experiences on children’s well-being may be impossible to measure, the students were stressed and anxious in a way that threatened their health, their emotional state, and their schoolwork. It is common knowledge that stressed students have a more difficult time learning, and in fact, the report indicated that there were many instances in which anxiety was having an impact on grades and was affecting students’ ability to concentrate. All students, though, regardless of whether they are members of a targeted group, are vulnerable to the stresses of the Trump Effect.

  If we dive a little deeper, we realize that children are a reflection of their upbringing. More than likely, the angry acting-out of some students toward others in our schools is a reflection of what they observe in their homes. So, how has a small but active segment of our population been reacting to Donald Trump’s presidency? Statistics show that they have become even more emboldened and, in recent months, have taken to engaging in hate crimes against Jews as well as Muslims and Mexicans; speculation about Trump’s approval of white supremacist/anti-Semitic groups has emboldened them.

  According to the SPLC, in the two-week period between Election Day and February 9, 2017, there were seventy anti-Jewish incidents and thirty-one anti-Muslim incidents, the majority being bomb threats. These figures are proportional to the respective populations of Jews and Muslims in the United States, which means Jews and Muslims have a roughly equal chance of being victimized.

  The recent rash of desecrations of Jewish graveyards and places of worship, and the burning of mosques, should be extremely concerning to all of us as Americans, as we are a nation composed largely of immigrants. These insults against the identity of Jews and Muslims promote the dehumanization of our fellow human beings. Although the president was eventually forced to condemn the acts of anti-Semitism, in our research for this chapter, we could find little evidence of his condemnation of the attacks against American Muslims. This reluctance to serve and protect segments of his population is yet another sign for bullies that their behavior is acceptable to the man in charge.

  A Scary Venn Diagram

  In Donald Trump, we have a frightening Venn diagram consisting of three circles: the first is extreme present hedonism; the second, narcissism; and the third, bullying behavior. These three circles overlap in the middle to create an impulsive, immature, incompetent person who, when in the position of ultimate power, easily slides into the role of tyrant, complete with family members sitting at his proverbial “ruling table.” Like a fledgling dictator, he plants psychological seeds of treachery in sections of our population that reinforce already negative attitudes. To drive home our point, here are what we consider to be two of Trump’s most dangerous quotes:

  • “
If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people—maybe there is, I don’t know” (remark made during a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, August 9, 2016); and

  • “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue, shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters” (remark made during a campaign appearance in Sioux City, Iowa, January 23, 2016).

  Before Donald Trump, it was unfathomable for American citizens to consciously consider voting for, and then inaugurating, a person as unbalanced as this president. Admittedly, it’s possible, as Guy Winch points out in his February 2, 2016, Psychology Today article, “Study: Half of All Presidents Suffered from Mental Illness.” According to Winch, many of our previous presidents may have suffered from mental health issues, including depression (Abraham Lincoln), bipolar disorder (Lyndon Johnson), alcoholism (Ulysses S. Grant), Alzheimer’s disease (Ronald Reagan), and transient bouts of extreme present hedonism (John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton). We have also survived a president who blatantly lied to cover his criminal tracks before he was caught in those lies (Richard Nixon). In the past, Americans have pulled together and worked to overcome our differences. We moved forward collectively as one great country. Unfortunately, in more recent times, it appears we have become a bipolar nation, with Donald Trump at the helm as his followers cheer him on and others try to resist him.

  The Results

  In presenting our case that Donald Trump is mentally unfit to be president of the United States, we would be remiss if we did not consider one more factor: the possibility of a neurological disorder such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, which the president’s father, Fred Trump, suffered from. Again, we are not trying to speculate diagnoses from afar, but comparing video interviews of Trump from the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s to current video, we find that the differences (significant reduction in the use of essential words; an increase in the use of adjectives such as very, huge, and tremendous; and incomplete, run-on sentences that don’t make sense and that could indicate a loss of train of thought or memory) are conspicuously apparent. Perhaps this is why Trump insists on being surrounded by family members who love and understand him rather than seasoned political advisers, who may note, and then leak, his alarming behavior.

  Whether or not Donald Trump suffers from a neurological disorder—or narcissistic personality disorder, or any other mental health issue, for that matter—will, undeniably, remain conjecture unless he submits to tests, which is highly unlikely given his personality. However, the lack of such tests cannot erase the well-documented behaviors he has displayed for decades and the dangers they pose when embodied in the president of the United States.

  In line with the principles of Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California 17 Cal. 3d 425 (1976), known as the “Tarasoff doctrine,” it is the responsibility of mental health professionals to warn the citizens of the United States and the people of the world of the potentially devastating effects of such an extreme present-hedonistic world leader, one with enormous power at his disposal. On the whole, mental health professionals have failed in their duty to warn, in a timely manner, not only the public but also government officials about the dangers of President Donald Trump. Articles and interviews intent on cautioning the masses prior to the election fell on deaf ears, perhaps in part because the media did not afford the concerned mental health professionals appropriate coverage, perhaps because some citizens discount the value of mental health and have thrown a thick blanket of stigma over the profession, or perhaps because we as mental health professionals did not stand united. Whatever the reason, it’s not too late to follow through.

  When an individual is psychologically unbalanced, everything can teeter and fall apart if change does not occur. We wonder how far-reaching, in our society over time, the effects of our unbalanced president’s actions will be and how they will continue to affect us as individuals, communities, a nation, and a planet. We believe that Donald Trump is the most dangerous man in the world, a powerful leader of a powerful nation who can order missiles fired at another nation because of his (or a family member’s) personal distress at seeing sad scenes of people having been gassed to death. We shudder to imagine what actions might be taken in broader lethal confrontations with his personal and political enemies.

  We are gravely concerned about Trump’s abrupt, capricious 180-degree shifts and how these displays of instability have the potential to be unconscionably dangerous to the point of causing catastrophe, and not only for the citizens of the United States. There are two particularly troubling examples: (1) his repeatedly lavishing praise on FBI director James Comey’s handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and then, in early May 2017, abruptly and abusively firing Comey for the very investigation that garnered such praise, but in this case actually because of Comey’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia; and (2) his stating during the campaign that NATO was obsolete and then, later, unexpectedly stating that NATO was necessary and acceptable. As is the case with extreme present hedonists, Trump is “chumming” for war, possibly for the most selfish of reasons: to deflect attention away from the Russia investigation. If another unbalanced world leader takes the bait, Trump will need the formerly “obsolete” and now-essential NATO to back him up.

  We as individuals don’t have to follow our nation’s leader down a path headed in the wrong direction—off a cliff and into a pit of past mistakes. We can stand where we are at this moment in history and face forward, into a brighter future that we create. We can start by looking for the good in one another and for the common ground we share.

  In the midst of the terrorist attacks on places of worship and cemeteries mentioned earlier, something wonderful emerged from the ashes: a spirit of overwhelming goodness in humanity. In the wake of the attacks, Jews and Muslims united: they held fund-raisers to help each other repair and rebuild; they shared their places of worship so that those burned out of theirs could hold gatherings and services; and they offered loving support to those who’d faced hatred. By observing ordinary people engaging in acts of everyday heroism and compassion, we have been able to witness the best aspects of humanity. That’s us! That’s the United States of America!

  A final suggestion for our governmental leaders: corporations and companies vet their prospective employees. This vetting process frequently includes psychological testing in the form of exams or quizzes to help the employer make more informed hiring decisions and determine if the prospective employee is honest and/or would be a good fit for the company. These tests are used for positions ranging from department store sales clerk to high-level executive. Isn’t it time that the same be required for candidates for the most important job in the world?

  Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, is a scholar, educator, and researcher. Zimbardo is perhaps best known for his landmark Stanford prison study. Among his more than five hundred publications are the best seller The Lucifer Effect and such notable psychology textbooks as Psychology: Core Concepts, 8th edition, and Psychology and Life, now in its 20th edition. He is founder and president of the Heroic Imagination Project (heroicimagination.org), a worldwide nonprofit teaching people of all ages how to take wise and effective action in challenging situations. He continues to research the effects of time perspectives and time perspective therapy.

  Rosemary Sword is codeveloper of Time Perspective Therapy and coauthor of The Time Cure: Overcoming PTSD with the New Psychology of Time Perspective Therapy (in English, German, Polish, Chinese, and Russian); The Time Cure Therapist Guidebook (Wiley, 2013); Time Perspective Therapy: Transforming Zimbardo’s Temporal Theory into Clinical Practice (Springer, 2015); Time Perspective Theory (Springer, 2015); Living and Loving Better with Time Perspective Therapy (McFarland, 2017); and Time Perspective Therapy: An Evolutionary Therapy for PTSD (McFarland, forthcoming). Sword and Zimbardo write a popular column for PsychologyToday.com and contribute both to AppealPower, a Europe
an Union online journal, and to Psychology in Practice, a new Polish psychological journal. Sword is also developer of Aetas: Mind Balancing Apps (www.discoveraetas.com).

  References

  Associated Press. 2017. “President Trump’s Claim That Obama Wiretapped Him Basically Died This Week.” Time, March 24. http://amp.timeinc.net/time/4713187/donald-trump-obama-wiretap-fact-check/?source=dam.

  Kruse, Michael, and Noah Weiland. 2016. “Donald Trump’s Greatest Self Contradictions.” Politico Magazine, May 5. www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-contradictions-213869.

  “Mental Health Experts Say Donald Trump Is Unfit to Serve.” 2017. The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. MSNBC, February 21. www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/mental-health-experts-say-trump-is-unfit-to-serve-882688067737.

  Psychology Today Editorial Staff. 2017. “Shrinks Battle Over Diagnosing Donald Trump,” January 31. www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/201701/shrinks-battle-over-diagnosing-donald-trump.

  Schwartzman, Paul, and Michael E. Miller. 2016. “Confident. Incorrigible. Bully: Little Donny Was a Lot Like Candidate Donald Trump.” Washington Post, June 22. www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/young-donald-trump-military-school/2016/06/22/f0b3b164-317c-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html?utm_term=.961fefcee834.

  Stetka, Bret. 2017. “As Presidents Live Longer, Doctors Debate Whether to Test for Dementia.” NPR, February 17. www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/17/514583390/as-our-leaders-live-longer-calls-for-presidential-dementia-testing-grow-louder.

  Sword, Rosemary, and Philip Zimbardo. 2016a. “Bullies.” PsychologyToday.com, January 24. www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-time-cure/201601/bullies.