Diagnosing Trump is Totally Beside the Point!

[donquixote99]

So says Dr. Allen Frances, one of the principal authors of disorder-defining DSM. His opinion actually is that Trump has no disorder, because he functions well and is not in 'distress.'

Of course, in saying this, he as much as anyone is 'diagnosing from a distance.' A negative diagnosis is a diagnosis.

But I like his bigger point better. He says we need to stop Trump, who is a politician, with political methods. Trump should be impeached for bad behavior, not for a mental state.

He further observes the following:

American politics has become polarized in the last 40 years. I think the people of the US have also been polarized by the extensive and successful propaganda campaigns of right-wing talk radio, internet sites, Fox News.

The two people who most influenced advertising were a nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays, and the father of behavioral psychology, John Watson. Advertising basically is applied psychology — the ability to influence people without their being aware of it. Those techniques have been very successful in brainwashing a large proportion of our population and polarizing the political process.

So, what do you think should happen going forward?

The Democratic Party has its heart in the right place, but has a remarkable deficit in strategic savvy. During heat of the Trumpcare debate, they didn’t have an alternative policy. I don’t necessarily trust the Democratic Party at this point to be an effective opposition to the destructive climate, facts, and medical policies of the Trump administration. I think there has to be much more active public participation in pushing the politicians in the right direction.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/2/16...ality-disorder

Well and good, but I continue to wonder if, given the dangerous effectiveness of modern propaganda, more radical changes to our 'media order' will not be necessary to counter it.