lowenz on 1/12/2019 at 19:06
Quote Posted by demagogue
If you remember that prisoners of war who are executed or tortured are his sworn enemy (he likes soldiers that "win", not ones that are captured or tortured), it starts to make more sense.
Recall that he requested that the "McCain" name written in gigantic letters on the side an entire warship be covered up with some kind of tarp during his visit to a naval base, and he tried all he could to refuse to lower the flag half mast after McCain's death, if you want a reminder of just how much he hates them.
You know, "childish narcissism".
They literally can't cope with defeat.
'cause they are a CHILD.
And yes, democracy can get a CHILD elected as president.....ad not the "good" aspect of a child. The worst.
lowenz on 1/12/2019 at 19:07
Quote Posted by demagogue
Yeah, value and identity politics. If I were in grad school analysis mode, I'd go a step further and say rhetoric that squeezes people's existential fears so much their amygdala and HPA axis spike and pump out so much cortisol and adrenaline they literally can't sit still until they "do something about it".
+1
demagogue on 2/12/2019 at 04:17
That's on the cultists' side. I didn't even get to the narcissist cult leader's side. There our go-to hormones are oxytocin and dopamine (and cortisol by the constant paranoia of betrayal by the people close to them.) Oxytocin invokes that warm, calm feeling one feels from being "loved and accepted" we all know, which can be closely associated with cortisol (fear and paranoia) when one fears the acceptance will be rescinded (which for people with Cluster B disorders like Narcissist Personality Disorder is what mommy and daddy did to them growing up).
The defense mechanism a child with NPD develops (in combination with a rewiring of their amygdala/hippocampus, disrupting the HPA Axis) in the face of that early trauma and rejection is to create a false self (there is no real self underneath it) with a grandeous narrative to incessantly reassure themselves that they are worth not only of love but extreme adulation as the best human ever, protecting an incredibly fragile ego from the horror of the smallest hint of not only imperfection, but an inch less than perfection.
Of course oxytocin, that warm feeling (often combined with endorphins, that give a quick euphoria), is the wall they desperately need to fend off the constant horror under the surface, that their hippocampus keeps buzzing about, and the flood of cortisol and fear it invokes. But what anyone who's lived with a person with NPD (pwNPD) knows very intimately (whether they understand the endocrinology or not), is that the person also gets a dopamine hit in anticipation of an oxytocin and endorphin injection. And as we all know, anything that's associated with an anticipatory dopamine hit can be a source of hand-shaking, irresistible addiction (drugs, incessant masturbation, self-cutting, I mean the really affectively-charged addictions).
There's a term for the structure of an interpersonal relationship with a pwNPD as they manipulate and coax their poor partner/constituency into providing them that constant dopamine hit: supply. And if a pwNPD doesn't maintain an incessant flow of supply, they also suffer extreme withdrawal symptoms that will make them fly into rage and psychic collapse, particularly focused against their dealer that has started cutting off their supply.
And like any dope addict that is ready to prostitute themselves in the most humiliating ways, eagerly debasing themselves, their pulse surging, to get that next hit of dope, Trump will say
literally anything to get adulatory feedback, the more affectively charged, the bigger the cultist howls, the bigger the hit (hence the value and identity politics part). His rallies are supply orgies: Lock her up! Build that wall! Weakness is sickness!* Strength is power! Hail Trump!
To summarize from a (
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolution-the-self/201507/is-what-really-makes-narcissists-tick) nice article on this:
Quote Posted by "Psychology Today - This Is What Really Makes Narcissists Tick"
The narcissist's symptomatic need for admiration is all about propping up an extraordinarily fragile ego. So when they're unable to get outward adulation, they can collapse from within.
The PDM summarizes their dilemma this way:
“The characteristic subjective experience of narcissistic individuals is a sense of inner emptiness and meaninglessness that requires recurrent infusions of external confirmation of their importance and value. . . . When the environment fails to provide such evidence, narcissistic individuals feel depressed, ashamed, and envious of those who succeed in attaining the supplies that they lack.”
This vulnerability is also suggested by just how defensive narcissists can be when others negatively evaluate them. At the same time that they're super-critical of others (to regularly “remind” themselves of their superiority), their egos are so frail that when someone attacks their words or actions they can fly into what I've alluded to as “narcissistic rage.” As I explain it in “The Narcissist's Dilemma: They Can Dish It Out, But . . . ”:
"Although narcissists don't (or won't) show it, all perceived criticism feels gravely threatening to them. . . . Deep down, clinging desperately not simply to a positive but grandiose sense of self, they're compelled at all costs to block out any negative feedback about themselves.”
Edit: I'm still learning this stuff myself. I think I got it right, or parts of it, but you know, grain of salt, feel free to correct anything if you know better, speaking especially to people who have lived with someone with NPD. I was the victim of a partner with another Cluster B disorder; they're interrelated, but there's always things you would never even imagine until you've experienced it yourself.
* Edit2: Oh and I left out one of the big punchlines. The biggest affective supply kick comes from humiliation and shame play, especially the kind rooted in powerlessness, and that's how race and this business with a war criminal get involved. The biggest supply kicks come when there's an open reference to standing over the humiliation of absolute powerlessness. Emotionally, a pwNPD is back at 6 years old, completely powerless against the onslaught of their parents' rejection (the theory goes), humiliated and raging, and standing over the humiliating powerlessness of another person is pure projection of that rage into a kind of vicarious strike back at the heart of that inner turmoil.
The two examples that come to mind would be the humiliating feebleness and powerlessness of a person of color against the presumed "blatant incompetence" of their "shithole countries" and people that can't help themselves ("a spade is a spade"), and the feebleness and powerlessness of a torture victim to stop the most humiliating offenses against their body and soul. You don't even have to be literally standing over the humiliation to get that supply kick; just a vague reference to a "victim's powerlessness against their humiliating weakness & they can't stop it" will do. Maybe the most common type of reference you see all the time is a wording that on-the-side devalues the trauma of the other. To list a few: "not even Hitler used chemical weapons", the 14/88 reference on the DoHLS site, "see you on the TRAIL, Pocahontas", forcing Native Americans to stand under the portrait of Jackson, pardoning a soldier convicted of war crimes, throwing toilet paper in Puerto Rico, separating children & confiscating US passports at the border, the denigrations of McCain and the Gold Star family, "I don't even wait... [when you're a star] You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy"... I mean go down the list. There's an example almost every day. They all make sense in terms of the supply kick of devaluing or referencing standing in a position of power over the feebleness of the weak towards something "shameful" they can't stop. That's clearly his drug of choice.
Starker on 2/12/2019 at 05:44
And more whitewashing of atrocities coming right up:
[video=youtube;VC4sAaV1eBs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC4sAaV1eBs[/video]
Tony_Tarantula on 2/12/2019 at 15:42
Manufacturing PMI misses again. It appears we are in the middle of a recession. Add to the coming increases in tech censorship, the overt message from the GOP that the working class can go to hell, the complete lack of willingness to discuss entire regions going from red to blue, you have to wonder if the GOP is trying to lose. No longer running out the clock, but the clock has now expired and they want to lose going forward.
Renzatic on 2/12/2019 at 23:14
I've been wanting to call someone a spoony hooker for awhile now. I'm still waiting for that perfect moment.
Starker on 3/12/2019 at 05:03
Quote Posted by demagogue
That's on the cultists' side. I didn't even get to the narcissist cult leader's side. There our go-to hormones are oxytocin and dopamine (and cortisol by the constant paranoia of betrayal by the people close to them.) Oxytocin invokes that warm, calm feeling one feels from being "loved and accepted" we all know, which can be closely associated with cortisol (fear and paranoia) when one fears the acceptance will be rescinded (which for people with Cluster B disorders like Narcissist Personality Disorder is what mommy and daddy did to them growing up).
The defense mechanism a child with NPD develops (in combination with a rewiring of their amygdala/hippocampus, disrupting the HPA Axis) in the face of that early trauma and rejection is to create a false self (there is no real self underneath it) with a grandeous narrative to incessantly reassure themselves that they are worth not only of love but extreme adulation as the best human ever, protecting an incredibly fragile ego from the horror of the smallest hint of not only imperfection, but an inch less than perfection.
So what happens if someone like that is, say, booed by a stadium full of people? Pretend that they said, "Boo-urns" or extra long sessions with Hannity?
Renzatic on 3/12/2019 at 05:12
They'll make themselves out to be the victims in that situation. That they're hated only because of *insert conspiratorial explanation here*, and that the real, not-brainwashed think-for-themselves type actually love him.
Nicker on 3/12/2019 at 06:07
That's what I do.
Renzatic on 3/12/2019 at 06:12
It does help with the shame, doesn't it?