In a Sunday piece for Salon , clinical psychologist Alan D. Blotcky argued that Donald Trump is turning the Republican Party into the “party of victimhood.”
“It is now in his image,” the columnist wrote. “Victimhood is its collective political belief system. It is central to the Republicans’ identity. And their primary belief is that Donald Trump is their supreme leader who can take them to the promised land.”
Despite this purported belief, Blotcky claimed that the GOP cannot “define or describe the promised land” and pointed to the lack of a platform this year at the Republican National Convention. Nevertheless, the psychologist believes Republicans are hoping that “united victimhood” will earn them “sustained power.”
According to the columnist, Trump’s victimhood, which he said is “false” and a result of his psychiatric disorder, is a danger to both Republicans and the rest of the world. The doctor pointed to Trump’s many tweets in which he paints himself as a victim of figures like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Robert Mueller.
In addition, he highlighted the RNC and argued that Trump and the other speakers “invoked victimhood” via narratives about their various enemies, such as the deep state, radical liberals, and Black people.
“No matter the facts or reality, Trump instinctively sees himself as the victim. He lives in an alternate universe of victimhood. And everything around him — political party and country — is negatively affected by his victimhood.”
As The Inquisitr reported, Blotcky previously claimed Trump is a malignant narcissist and argued that this pathology could lead to the destruction of American democracy. According to the doctor, this alleged narcissism is what fuels his tendency to engage in a leadership style that shows characteristics of autocrats and dictators.
Trump and the GOP’s purported embrace of victimhood has been touched on by others. In a piece for The Washington Post , Max Boot noted the presence of 18-year-old Nicholas Sandmann at the RNC. According to Boot, Sandmann has risen to prominence by embracing his victimization. He noted the teen used his time at the RNC to paint Trump as a “victim of unfair media coverage.”
Columnist Ryan Cooper opined that conservative victimhood is making the U.S. impossible to govern. In his op-ed for The Week , he painted the Trump administration’s coronavirus response as chaotic and linked this response to the alleged Republican effort to turn the pandemic into a culture war and use it to fuel their “screeching victimhood complex.”
