@tammyleitzel Some observations: First we live in a resource society. Those who have resources obviously get along better than those who don’t. They eat better, have access to better health care, live in safer neighborhoods, get better educations at more prestigious schools,….1/
@tammyleitzel …which puts them in proximity to similarly-situated people, which results in better networking/career opportunities, which allows them to meet similarly-situated spouses, which allows them to have kids w/inherently built in resource-based advantageous, etc. 2/
@tammyleitzel And when they or their children get in trouble, or have their number called for the Vietnam draft, their resources can buy them the best lawyers…..or purchase five medical deferments for “bone spurs”. 3/usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
@tammyleitzel Essentially, it’s a self-reinforcing dynamic, and although it’s not an entirely closed ecosystem, as there is some movement of people in and out of it, it’s much more difficult to elevate/rise into this ecosystem, than it is to simply maintain your place in it. 4/
@tammyleitzel Our political system is designed to preserve this ecosystem. Most of the “blame” is attributed to the GOP, which has historically stressed the preservation of tradition, precedent, and institutions,…..and favored slow, methodical change (if at all). 5/
@tammyleitzel However, as @anadwrites points out, there’s also a resource faction on the Left that preserves this ecosystem. They just do it more duplicitously, which allows them to keep up appearances, or feel better about themselves for supporting the "little guy". 6/
https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1092965537909334022
@tammyleitzel Along these contextual lines, one contributing factor is how society/people will view the exact same presentation of disorders (behaviors) through entirely different lenses. I remember having a conversation about Trump in April of 2017 where, as I had for 18 months,…7/
@tammyleitzel … I was articulating the danger that Trump and his disorders presented to the country. The guy I was talking to not only dismissed my warnings, but he somewhat admiringly characterized Trump’s behavior as simply that of a “successful New York Businessman”. 8/
@tammyleitzel There are several implicit points in this glowing characterization of Trump. First, we live in a highly competitive, “individualistic” (in contrast to “collective”) society that measures & values people based on material success (job title, income, type of car, size of home). 9/
@tammyleitzel As a result,…..cold, heartless, “cut throat” behaviors and conduct are not only accepted, but they’re encouraged and applauded as long as these behaviors occur in the context of being a good “businessman”…10/
@tammyleitzel …or as long as those actions occur w/in the context of the resource ecosystem, by members of the ecosystem, for benefit of other ecosystem members (shareholders), or w/the implicit promise that other ecosystem members can get away w/similar actions (reciprocation/precedent)…11/
@tammyleitzel This incentive structure creates a fertile environment for anti-social (in the clinical sense) behaviors (egocentric grandiosity, deceit & manipulation, lack of remorse & empathy) which, when applied to the business world, are celebrated as cunning/shrewd methods of “winning”.12/
@tammyleitzel Now contrast this w/the fact that as many as 80% of incarcerated offenders “have behavioral histories that meet diagnostic criteria for anti-social personality disorder”. What are the distinguishing factors? A lack of membership in the resource ecosystem,… and their race. 13/
@tammyleitzel But even when the narcissism doesn’t rise to a clinical level, as @docivanhoe points out, the collective level of egotism creates a toxically pathological environment in the aggregate. 14/
https://twitter.com/docivanhoe/status/1125901079051292672
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe I have written about how ego/personal investment has played into the Trump phenomenon: 15/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1101822790317989888
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe From an institutional standpoint, I think Trump, or more accurately, his downfall, is viewed as an existential (ego) threat to and by the GOP, and even to our two party system, because if the GOP implodes, we are essentially left with a one party system. 20/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe Since the only thing worse than a two party system might be a one party system, a lot of Republicans hate Trump, & think he should be in prison, but still justify sweeping the investigation under the rug due to a self-serving, rationalizing belief in the “greater good”. 21/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe Basically it’s the application of the combination of both philosophical arguments that we see in criminal justice where the Left argues that some guilty people will unfortunately get off in order to safeguard against innocent people going to jail,….22/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe ….and the Right’s “tough on crime”/“law and order” acceptance of a certain number of false positives (wrongly convicted) as the cost of doing business (especially since “false positives” rarely are members of the resource class, and are disproportionately non-white). 23/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe In the Trump/Barr context, these 2 philosophies manifestly merge resulting in GOP’s willingness to allow a guilty guy to walk for the sake of infrastructural (resource class) & institutional (Republican Party…the only institution GOP still gives a f*ck about) preservation. 24/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe As far as the “system(s)” failures, the sociopath’s lack of shame, conscience, and fear of consequences results in a willingness to say/do things that “normal” people won’t say/do. Consequently, this gives the sociopath an inherent advantage over….25/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe ….principled competition because even a marginally intelligent sociopath can frequently “win” against superior competition due to the fact that the principled competition is bound by and adheres to rules, laws, and conscience. 26/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe Our political system presuppose a baseline level of adherence to the rule of law....essentially the system is built on a fragile, consumer confidence-like faith/belief in the people-conferred power of a constitutionally-based democratic system (even Nixon turned over tapes). 27/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe But as we’re seeing, when someone as pathologically self-preservational……and by extension, as pathologically destructive as Trump comes along.… 28/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe …it exposes the house-of-cards underpinnings of our governmental philosophy/theory, and it’s inherent weakness: that although it speaks in terms of “self-evident” truths and lofty, “God-given”, “inalienable” rights...because it is essentially a human “construct”, 29/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe …when someone as dangerous as Trump comes along, and is provided a sufficient amount of self serving/self-preservational Congressional complicity, our democracy can just as easily be humanly “de-constructed”: destroyed. 30/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe (Parenthetical aside: Ironically, some of Trump’s most sycophantic, cult-like supporters who cheer on his systematic castration of the constitution are the “God-given” crowd) 31/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1103256587391578112
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe Circling back to the problem of Narcissism…..I’ve written about “collective narcissism” in an in-group/out-group, political tribalism, research context. 32/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1101899370725691394
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe But one of apparent problems we seem to be dealing with is the collectively high levels literal narcissism in positions of power/authority/influence. 33/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe According to Oxford psychologist @TheRealDrKev the top three professions with the highest saturation of psychopaths is:
1. CEO
2. Lawyers
3. Media personalities. 34/
1. CEO
2. Lawyers
3. Media personalities. 34/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev This research is consistent with @nareducator’s assessment about the NRA (which could be applied to many soulless CEO-headed corporations): 35/
https://twitter.com/narceducator/status/1125902353100619777
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev …..and also with the fact that many of the biggest, most inflammatory media (#3 on the list) grenade throwers not only exhibit more than their fair share of psychopathy….. 36/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1089536655382372355
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev …..but with the fact that they also channel many of Trump’s authoritarian instincts: 37/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1101852013527105536
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev With regards to lawyers (#2 on the list), even when setting aside the coarsening effect of Trump’s rhetoric, when observing the political climate, one of the things that stands out is the “lawyer-ization” of the format or the structure of the discourse…..38/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev …which is intellectually dishonest, slanted, manipulative AND dismissive of facts. It’s difficult not to conclude that the gridlock isn’t directly affected by the number of lawyers elected to (2016) Congress: 167 Members of the House (37.8%) & 55 Senators (55%). 39/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev Another factor contributing to the dysfunction: the political climate has become so toxic that it seems the only people who would be drawn to it are those who are so inherently toxic (pathologically disordered) that they crave/need/feed off of the toxicity…40/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev …or those who possess unusually high altruistic impulses,…which results in most sane people having no desire to deal with the political cannibalism, deciding that it’s not worth the sacrifice, & instead opting for some semblance of sanity and functional family/life balance. 41/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev And even when someone does have an unusually high level of altruism, in order to get to a position of power where they can make a difference, they’ve often had to sell off a little piece of their soul/integrity at each step of the way in order to advance to the next level. 42/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev Basically, they justify these compromises in the name of the greater good, with the rationalization being that “I’ll sell a little now, so I can do a lot of good later”. The problem is, by the time they reach a position of power where they can do good,….43/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev ...they’ve sold off so much of themselves that they’re no longer the same person, don’t possess the same character/integrity, are owned by interest groups in the same way share holders own corporations…& as a result, they become another cause of the problem rather a solution.44/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev Incoincidentally, this same cognitive process is used to justify supporting/defending/protecting Trump (judges/tax cuts/preservation of party & sometimes democracy). But similar to the example above, in most cases they’ve become part of the problem rather than a solution. 45/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev When viewed through the lens of “personal” dealings w/Cluster B, the failure of systems (social/institutional) to contain Trump makes a little more sense. Anyone who’s had to personally deal w/Cluster B disorders understands the fatigue/exhaustion factor these people present. 46/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev “Fatigue” is one reason why “no contact” is often the best, & sometimes only option for dealing with Cluster B disorders. However, since “no contact” isn’t an option w/the POTUS, the GOP has meekly adopted an alternative strategy of “no confrontation”…47/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev …where the emasculated GOP (Ryan/Lindsey) metaphorically took on the role of a weak, passive, gutless “wife” who enables, excuses, and justifies the abusive behavior of the husband: “Your father loves you (the country) very much, he’s just an ‘unconventional president’...”. 48/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev Another aspect of the role that Cluster B fatigue/exhaustion has played in this: Trump clearly feeds off toxic conflict & chaos. We see this in his litigation practices where even if his opponents have the law/facts on their side, Trump wears them out/down until they settle. 49/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev Eventually, everyone experiences mental, psychological, physical, and/or financial exhaustion. Trump doesn't because the very process that causes exhaustion in others, is what invigorates him: Conflict fuels Trump….it’s a form of narcissistic supply. 50/
@tammyleitzel @docivanhoe @TheRealDrKev We’re witnessing this occurring in real time with attempted Congressional oversight. The law & the facts are on Congress’ side, yet Trump is effectively wearing down the institutions & the people, and, w/the help of a complicit congressional GOP, is holding relatively steady. 51/
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