tRump's Sick Fantasy Of The Domination Of Women
Donald Trump continues to threaten violence against Democrats, journalists and anyone else he believes is plotting against him. Trump repeatedly calls reporters, journalists, Democrats, members of the Obama administration and other perceived enemies “human scum” who will “get what is coming to them.”
Trump has even suggested that Barack Obama was personally involved in a criminal plot against him. He fantasizes openly about putting Obama and other leading Democrats, along with former officials at the Justice Department and the FBI, on trial, as though the United States were Russia under Stalin.
Several days ago, Attorney General William Barr even went to far as to say that history is written by the winners and that therefore there is no empirical definition of truth and reality. These are the words and logic of tyrants. In Barr’s view of the law, there is one set of laws for Donald Trump and his cabal and another for everyone else.
On Twitter and elsewhere Donald Trump continues to write portentous proclamations as though he were God from the Old Testament. This part of a larger pattern of pathology in which Trump mentally “decompensates” on Twitter: Over the last few days he has posted hundreds of messages consisting of violent fantasies, conspiracy theories, self-praise and other exhortations of his greatness.
I recently spoke with Dr. Justin Frank about Donald Trump’s spiraling escalation in his apparent anti-social, authoritarian and dangerous behavior. Dr. Frank is a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center and a physician with more than 40 years of experience in psychoanalysis. He is also the author of the book “Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President,” as well as bestsellers about the previous two presidents, “Bush on the Couch” and “Obama on the Couch.”
In this conversation, Frank explains that Donald Trump is driven by “the unstoppable conviction of his neuroses” and explores the origins of Donald Trump’s lack of empathy, care or concern for other human beings, as well as his troubling appetite for confrontational exchanges with female reporters. He warns that Trump is engaging in a powerful and pathological act of psychological projection and self-deception when he accuses the Democrats of not caring about the coronavirus pandemic and suggests that they have failed the American people during this time of crisis.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
In a recent New York Post interview, Donald Trump talked about his longing for “1950s housewives” and the “good old days.” He also revealed that he loves fighting with the female reporters during his coronavirus briefings, and of course that he loves the TV ratings more than anything else. As a psychotherapist, what did you see in that interview?
First, Donald Trump loves obedient women. Trump’s love of obedient women is what broke up his first marriage. Ivana Trump worked at one of his hotels which meant that she did always have his dinner prepared on time — and it was him who wanted her to get a job. Trump would fly into a rage every time his dinner was not made on time. Ivana was an independent woman. This meant to Trump that she was no longer a woman of the 1950s, which is what he wants.
But understand that Donald Trump likes sparring with the female reporters at his press conferences and briefings. He likes the situation because he is safe because of the Secret Service, the television broadcast format and the expectations of how the reporters will behave towards him. It is not like Trump being confronted in private, where he doesn’t have those protections.
Trump loves sparring with the reporters who are women. For Trump, being combative with them is like a type of aggressive fighting and jousting. It is very sexual for Trump on an unconscious level. He is aroused by the female reporters who stand up to him. It is a great turn-on for Trump. Conflict in general is a turn-on and arousing for Trump, but conflict with a woman is even more exciting.
Trump has a fantasy of dominating these women. I also think that Donald Trump also has a deep desire, perhaps passive or latent, to be dominated by a confident strong woman. Donald Trump has a very complicated relationship with women where he likes to fight with them but also wants them to be submissive to him.
Donald Trump has even written about how women are more powerful than men because he believes that women can use their sexuality to get their way. Trump also believes that women are more comfortable being deceptive than men are.
Trump is constantly watching women. He can describe a woman’s body in great detail, and he likes talking about their bodies in those terms. The way that Trump talks about women dehumanizes them. Trump turns women into objects of lust, almost like they are a piece of meat. Again, this is a reflection of Trump’s core traits and values, because he is a man who hates regulations and limits. In his mind, he should be able to do whatever he wants.
What happens when a person like Donald Trump who craves power finally gets it?
Attaining real power is never enough because it is driven by a fantasy. The problem with a person like Donald Trump is that when they get real power they do not stop. The issue for them is not having the power. Instead, the real issue is going after power and then getting it. That is another example of the “courage” of Trump’s psychopathology.
No matter how much power Trump has, he will feel that at any moment he can be victimized and attacked. That fear keeps him alive and awake. I believe that is the real reason why Trump sleeps only for a few hours at night. Trump does not want to be in danger. Sleeping means that Trump feels that he is not going to be safe.
That is why he locks his bedroom door. He’s the first president in the history of this country to lock the door to his own bedroom. Even the Secret Service cannot get to him.
