The title of David Brooks’ recent column was Why We Got It So Wrong. It makes no sense to him that that Harris attracted only white affluent men and women. Practically everyone else went for Trump. His article is based on a quotation from sociologist Musa-al-Garbi, “Democrats lost because everyone except for whites moved in the direction of Donald Trump.” In essence he feels that this irrational action was caused by a model that emphasizes identity politics which promote what groups want as opposed to what the individual person wants.
Brooks needs to add passion to his argument because when people do irrational things, then passion is usually the underlying current. When we are irrational about an issue or a person’s feelings, passion may to be working in some way. Notice the strong statements made by both political parties: Democrats are killing our nation. Republicans will cause the destruction of our nation. Trump’s rallies became crazy, and he appeared demented. “I am your retribution.” The Democrats took every opportunity to indicate that Trump shouldn’t be anywhere near the oval office.
The best way to see passion as what drove people to Trump is to examine the relationship a therapist has with a member of the opposite sex.
I can’t count the number of times that I or others indicated, “His election just does not make sense. It’s irrational.” There are other things that are irrational and passionate. It could be something as simple as a passion for golf if you are preoccupied with the sport, playing it so frequently that it dominates all other aspects of your life. But when we think of passion, some in our culture immediately think of sex. The words become interchangeable.
We can see the power of the passion of sex more clearly in the relationship of a therapist and his or her client. Sexual attraction is a primordial passion. It has been part of us from the beginning of time to propagate our species. It is basic to our survival.
In the one-on-one relationship between a therapist and client, there can be transference and countertransference. Transference is the dynamic that explains why a boss leaves a model family for his or her secretary or a politician has an affair with one of his or her co-workers. The first thing we say is, “That doesn’t make sense. He or she had so much to lose.” The emotions are real and passionate in nature. Countertransference occurs when the therapist falls in love with the client which is just as problematic and the same cry goes out, why would she or he do that?
Let’s compare the dynamics of the election to a therapeutic model.
We can see this dynamic also in adolescents and gender studies in a clearer fashion. In our unit on gender issues in Ethics (assuming a heterosexual perspective but true for other issues of sexual orientation), I would ask the class if your best friend can be a member of the opposite sex. This presents a clear picture because the male and female hormones are raging in that adolescent age group. Teenagers are very honest regarding issues that are important to them including biological primordial emotions.
Most of the class would say “No” although there are always outliers whose best friend is a member of the opposite sex. The next question is “Why?” Usually, the boys are the most vocal in response to this question, “Because you would always be thinking of sex!” According to a study at Ohio State University men think about sex 19 times a day where women think about sex 10 times a day. It is not unusual for a teenage boy or girl to act irrational at times like they are in a fog. Adults will comment, “They must be in love.”
So, let’s apply this irrational model to Trump and the people that voted for him and look at how transference and countertransference are the underlying issue.
For the moment let’s say that Trump is a therapist (that’s even hard to type), and his voters are the client. Transference occurs when the client falls in love with the therapist because the therapist is seen in an idealistic way. The therapist will rescue the client from whatever problem with which they are attempting to cope. In the case of the followers of Trump, they see him in an idealized way, not paying any attention to his flaws as a felon, misogynist, liar, et al. They want to be rescued so badly that they will ignore all his shortcomings. In fact, the worse he seems to them, the more they will work to keep that idealized version alive and well. Their irrational actions were seen at the Trump rallies. The more trials, felony charges and convictions he had, the more they became devoted to him. His poll numbers just went up. Parenthetically this is the same dynamic seen in cults.
Trump is countertransference in action. He believes (he really does) that January 6 and the terrible rally at Madison Square Garden were “love fests.” He repeats over and over how much MAGA devotees love him. It is a denial of reality which we call not real or irrational. This bolsters his narcissistic view of himself.
Eros and its derivatives, erotic or passionate, are primordial. Anything that guarantees our survival needs to be taken seriously. It has created irrational moments from the beginning of time. These irrational moments can exist between two people who are working intensely on issues or between voters and the candidate they support.
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