Grievance politics and mental health

President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to "fight on!" and lashed out at his perceived enemies after the Supreme Court effectively ended his legal challenges to overturn the election.

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“So, you’re the President of the United States, and you just went through an election where you got more votes than any sitting President in history, by far - and purportedly lost. You can’t get ‘standing’ before the Supreme Court, so you ‘intervene’ with wonderful states that, after careful study and consideration, think you got ‘screwed’, something which will hurt them also,” Trump tweeted early Saturday morning. “Many others likewise join the suit but, within a flash, it is thrown out and gone, without even looking at the many reasons it was brought. A Rigged Election, fight on!”

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"I WON THE ELECTION IN A LANDSLIDE, but remember, I only think in terms of legal votes, not all of the fake voters and fraud that miraculously floated in from everywhere! What a disgrace!,” Trump falsely claimed.

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“Who is a worse governor, @BrianKempGA of Georgia or @dougducey of Arizona???,” Trump said of the Republicans he'd previously endorsed. “They allowed states that I won easily to be stolen. Never forget, vote them out of office!”

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"Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden. Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on - Press confirmed. Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls!" Trump tweeted.

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Supporters of the president on Saturday protested alleged voter fraud in the streets of Washington, D.C., in a "Stop the Steal" rally headlined by some of Trump's most outspoken allies, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

  Politico

What a lineup.

"Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA," Trump tweeted.

He didn't know about it. LOL.

Trump reportedly later circled above the rallygoers while aboard Marine One en route to the Army-Navy football game.

Yeah, THAT wasn't planned. LOL.

Twitter seemingly took a first-of-its-kind action against some of Trump’s tweets on Saturday, disabling likes and replies on ones that broke the company’s rules to mitigate the spread of disinformation across the social media site.

A spokesperson for Twitter later said that the company "inadvertently took action" on the tweets and had reversed the action.

President Donald Trump has made grievance a primary feature of his life and presidency, from the thousands of lawsuits he has filed to, most recently, his repeated claims of national election fraud.

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Recently, I’ve been researching the way grievances affect the brain, and it turns out that your brain on grievance looks a lot like your brain on drugs. In fact, brain imaging studies show that harboring a grievance (a perceived wrong or injustice, real or imagined) activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.

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Although these are new findings and the research in this area is not yet settled, what this suggests is that similar to the way people become addicted to drugs or gambling, people may also become addicted to seeking retribution against their enemies—revenge addiction.

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The hallmark of addiction is compulsive behavior despite harmful consequences. Trump’s unrelenting efforts to retaliate against those he believes have treated him unjustly (including, now, American voters) appear to be compulsive and uncontrollable. The harm this causes to himself and others is obvious but seems to have no deterrent effect. Reports suggest he has been doing this for much of his life. He seems powerless to stop. He also seems to derive a great deal of pleasure from it.

The science of addiction provides another cautionary insight: Trump’s revenge habit hurts not only himself and the targets of his retaliatory wrath, but the rest of us, too.

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Because of his unique position and use of the media and social networks, Trump is able to spread his grievances to thousands or millions of others through Twitter, TV and rallies. His demand for retribution becomes their demand, causing his supporters to crave retaliation—and, in a vicious cycle, this in turn causes Trump’s targets and their supporters to feel aggrieved and want to retaliate, too.

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We’ve recently held a nationwide electoral intervention with Trump, which has the dual benefit of helping to protect the country from further damage and shows him that his retaliatory behavior is no longer acceptable and needs to change. But addiction interventions are often risky and can backfire. That appears to be happening with Trump, who now seems even more aggrieved and more determined to use retaliation, raising the stakes.

There are no quick fixes with addiction. We’re in for a long haul.

  Politico

We noticed.

The brains of millions of Americans have spent the past few years essentially being primed for revenge-seeking, and it can manifest in areas other than politics. Retaliation in response to grievances is the primary motive in intimate partner violence, youth violence and bullying, street violence, lone-actor attacks, police brutality, and terrorism.

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Political parties and interest groups have come to rely upon inflaming grievances and stoking vindictiveness to generate donations and motivate voters. Media, entertainment and social networking giants also rely upon grievance and revenge-based content to attract viewers and users and increase advertising and sales. More people need to become savvy about how, why and for whose benefit they are being made to feel aggrieved and must decide to stop dealing in the drug of their own destruction.

Not likely to happen, though.

Firm steps are necessary to limit the damage Trump’s grievances are inflicting on this country. We all have a role to play in halting the cycle of grievance and retaliation. But in the end, he is a human being who needs help. It should be offered with the same care, compassion, and, yes, forgiveness, offered to anybody else whose life—or nation—is being torn apart by addiction.

That might work on someone who isn't a malicious narcissist.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.