If you were hoping for respite from what might be called the ‘Trump effect’ (and by that, I mean the American president, who you may have heard of, and not the aftermath of binge-eating feijoada, orbean stew), this might not be the place or article for you.
That said, if I do now have your ear and attention, you might want to bear with me and my proposition today, as I attempt (some might say impossibly) to make sense of the man, the moment, and the strong feelings his tenure tends to stimulate.
It’s been said that we get the politicians we deserve, which will, of course, further inflame those considered already deranged by the mere mention of “he whose name must not be spoken”, who want no responsibility whatsoever for the American incumbent.
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And I know I wrote fairly recently here: “You had an election; can we all move on now, please?” But it seems moving on appears impossible for many, who are deeply and regularly triggered by Donald and all that he represents, from their traumatised point of view.
Now, sometimes it’s hard to sense tone from cold words, like these, that were committed to the page by me and are now being made meaning of by you, as you read them.
So, I want to make it really clear that I take no pleasure in any upset or division that I see before me, as I take in the inescapable flow of American news and opinion that the 47th leader of the free world invariably and constantly stimulates. But I do have to be honest and say that I am fascinated by it.
This is also made easier by the fact that I have ‘no skin in the game’ as it were, with a job to lose, funding that may be cut, or some other cost-slashing initiative that the unelected, gloating uber-geek seems to be leading on.
For me, it’s almost voyeuristic, and I will own that. What I’ll also own though is what I will offer as a transcendent and potentially transformational view that my politically distanced and privileged position offers me, which I now offer you, should you be seeking relief.
As I witness what might be called the exponentially increasing pace of polarity, from this relatively safe perspective, it feels to me like a throwback to the pandemic lockdown days, when we were being told – daily, if not hourly – what was what at the highest levels of governmental power, and furthermore, what we, mere mortals of mundanity, should be thinking and doing by some expert or other.
I feel again the same sense of created crisis, which, of course, has the inner child in all of us confused and susceptible. Alternatively, it might call forth the sovereign adult in us, too, and, like I’ve said before here, awaken to the fact that we have let ourselves and our lives become far too dominated by power-hungry megalomaniacs (and let me say from all points of the political compass).
Whether your uncertain inner child or logical outer adult is leading on any given day, in response to what we are relentlessly told is world news and events, could it be that this pace of polarity that I speak of, and with it the ideological tyranny that we are force-fed, is taking us to a tipping or choice point?
My theory about what might loosely be called political wrath, and its counterpart – political pride (both sins, you notice) – are basically expressions of unresolved trauma in those who respond in this way.
Stick with me here, as I try some amateur psychology on you, but it seems – at least to me – that those who graduated from childhood with unfinished business tend to transfer their unresolved issues onto a ‘political parent’.
Some liking a socialistic paternalism or proxy parent to give the care that was never fully felt; others, leaning right perhaps, taking a more rugged individualistic angle, where ‘looking after number one’ is the only viable option in the face of neglect?
To me, the triggering that so many seem to be experiencing right now, whilst appearing to be related to policy and preference, is really just salt in old emotional wounds, reminding the one triggered of a victimisation or failure in the past that was never overcome or healed.
And where once the political pace was manageable, the current onslaught is either devastating or drunk-making, depending on where the individual has placed his or her emotionally-based allegiances. Some are deep in depression, whilst others ride ‘high’, right now.
Typically, in our oasis of calma (sic) here, Portugal’s political establishment can sound stoic and sensible, saying things like: “We should not speculate on what Trump is going to do”, as former prime minister Costa said, as he stepped into his presidency of the European Council, late last year. Which is, of course, the circumspect rhetoric we can bet upon until Trump tariffs start to hurt the European bloc or, better still, are used as a plausible smoke-screen for domestic or continental failure.
There, of course, speaks my unresolved emotional issues, choosing to see government and politics in a cynical and condescending way, untrusting and critical of authority and anyone who might dare to control me! Each to their own, in the game of transference, projection and that which remains regularly stimulated, yet unhealed.
Which brings me to my concluding point and the strange gift Trump and the blaring (no pun intended) vulgarity and offence that contemporary politics is offering us, with its crude and inflammatory far-right or woke characterizations, and little in-between.
In this unholy mess, which might have you believe in a saviour or see Satan personified, we have the chance to sit with our triggerings and trauma – both individually and globally – and see, once and for all, that any political machinery that goes beyond the simple matter of serving the public good, and not just some partisan aspect of it, is for children not grown-ups.
And what might really be hurting us is the realisation that, deep down, we know that blame, shame and playing the victim are way, way, beneath us – should we have any intention of being functional, truly adult human beings and citizens.
By Carl Munson
Carl Munson is host of the Good Morning Portugal! show every weekday on YouTube and creator of www.learnaboutportugal.com, where you can learn something new about Portugal every day!