Although Trump is showing signs of Coronavirus fatigue, he may also be reaping certain psychological benefits from the epidemic. He is visibly upset about the decimation of his precious, Obama-inherited economy. Yet, at times, he seems to enjoy making sure he places the blame anywhere but on himself for the lack of government preparedness for the Covid-19 spread. There is a sense he is writing a script that makes him the victim of a plot to destroy his image to weaken his chances of re-election.
In truth, the Trump administration is nothing more than a well-produced reality show. Trump, the producer, has manipulated his presidency into a series of dramatic, chaotic, and scandalous episodes. It is well-known among people who know Trump that he thrives on divisiveness and conflict. Even his recent declaration of wanting America to get back to business by Easter might be a fabricated idea for his latest performance production. Trump is basically a performer who is always looking for ratings, and therefore, he is impossible to connect with or trust.
Some of the themes of his performance presidency are;
1. Loyalty theme by blatantly hiring unqualified, opportunistic people for government jobs who pledge their allegiance to him.
2. Creating a problem so he can orchestrate a heroic solution.
3. Firing people in humiliating ways to promote his “strongman” fallacy.
4. Compulsively holding rallies from the onset of his administration.
5. Flaunting his wealth with unnecessary trips to Mar-a-Lago and other Trump properties.
6. Fighting all requests for transparency to promote his “above-the-law” autocrat persona
7. Requiring all members of his staff and administration to continuously praise him during media appearances
8. Playing the victim to deflect revealing his own wrongdoings
9. Creating hostile rivalries to showcase a macho image.
10. Making appearances on Fox News to promote hatred towards Democrats and spread fake news.
11. Telling dramatic lies about people
12. Hiring sycophants and humiliating them in public
Trump cycles through these scripts intermittently based on the public persona he feels he needs to protect his image with his base. From a psychological perspective, he needs these scripted themes to guide how to function as president, as he lacks an official ideology to guide him. Aside from his personality and character flaws, he is entirely unqualified for the job. The Trump-as-President experiment has shown that electing a person who has no legal, governmental, foreign policy, or political expertise is a recipe for disaster for a democracy. We must vote him out of the office and elect a Democrat to lead America’s recovery.
