2016 election | Charles Konia, M.D.

Why Trump is Hated By the Left.

From a characterological perspective,Trump belongs somewhere on the political right. His armor is primarily in his musculature not in his intellect as in the case of leftists. He has a strong moral sense of “right” and “wrong” and probably will not be afraid to use his authority defending his convictions when he feels it necessary to do so.

These are qualities that terrify liberals. The hatred of Trump by people on the left comes from their deep fear of physical aggression and of strong individual – not collective – authority. Not having their aggression at their disposal, their weapon of choice is the use of their intellect. Because they are in conflict internally with their personal fear and hatred of aggression,Trump is seen by them as a frightening individual no different than the old time Nazis.

Leftists unconsciously respect authority out of fear. Their underlying fear of aggression is why they twist social issues into their preconceived belief-systems such as, for example, that all human beings are good and that all social problems can be solved through collective dialogue. These beliefs are supported by their relative morality of political correctness. But, whenever possible, they will reveal their true hatred of genuine authority by acting in subversive ways. This characteristic mind-set is the reason that many leftists are in a state of panic over Trump’s election because the energy behind their personal enmity has no satisfactory social outlet.

By contrast, people on the political right are not in conflict with their feelings of aggression and so have no need to get caught up in politically correct attitudes and ideas.They can respect authority figures and have emotions of affection and even feelings of gratitude for the person in authority.

This distinction based on emotional forces underlying the character structure of people on the left and right is sufficient to explain the social dynamics underlying the political outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

January 14, 2017
Categories: anti-authoritarian transformation, emotional health, emotional plague, social orgonomy, socio-political character . Tags: 2016 election, Trump . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 2 Comments

Post-Election Stress Disorder

The widespread protests and violence by leftists on all social levels including campus students in response to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States is an example of people suffering from Post-Election Stress Disorder (PESD), the latest symptom of the anti-authoritarian transformation of American society.

Aside from engaging in social demonstrations, the syndrome consists in people huddling together in “support groups” bemoaning their fate and commiserating with each other.
For these protestors,Trump’s persona contains all of the characteristics of authoritarian figures that are reviled and feared by leftists.

What these protesters actually fear, however, is taking charge of their own lives and advancing themselves. They fear the opportunities that that they have to benefit from living freely in America.

A symptom of their underlying need for less personal and social freedom is that these protesters are oblivious – clueless – of the terrifying emotional forces within them that are underlying their protestations.

Many have a serious work disturbance. Contemptuous of others who know and work for what they want, they demand the exact opposite of freedom: greater security. There is a poorly disguised desire to be cared for by society because they are emotionally too crippled and irresponsible to care for themselves. A sign of their work disturbance is that the thought of working for what they want rarely occurs to them because they are too caught up in protesting.

Full of disdain for the police who risk their lives protecting them and others, and inflamed by the media to act out in socially destructive demonstrations, they often break the law and choose to side with criminals. Justifying their actions, through the morality of political correctness as a “moral right,” they accuse the hated authority figures of racism and worse. They would rather put their energy into protesting social causes and be mindlessly influenced by leftist ideologues than focus on what they can do to improve their lives – a sign of severe ocular armor.

November 11, 2016
Categories: accurate diagnosis, anti-authoritarian transformation, character structure, emotional health, emotional plague, Politics, social orgonomy, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: 2016 election, riots, stress, Trump . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 6 Comments

Understanding Trump’s Strategy for 2016

From a socio-political standpoint, Trump is a conservative character who is also a populist. To have a sense of Trump’s strategy for the presidency requires an understanding of socio-political characterology and the antiauthoritarian transformation of Western society.

In the past authoritarian era, there were roughly equal numbers of liberals and conservatives in both political parties. This is how the two party system worked to maintain a balance of power between the opposing ideological forces of the left and right.

With the anti-authoritarian transformation that started in America around 1960, the Democratic Party began it’s shift to the extreme political left and the Republican Party soon followed and moved leftward. The significance of this so-called socio-political red-shift was that there was no longer any ideological difference between the two parties. Politicians in the Democratic Party continued to peddle their outworn socialist programs and like-minded politicians in the Republican Party tried to play “catch up” by promoting their own version of leftist-oriented policies.

People who were fed up with the old system of “politics as usual” began wanting something new from their politicians. They looked to outsiders like Donald Trump as someone who seemed to not buy into what was being offered by traditional party politicians.

But, the result of the anti-authoritarian transformation of society was that the two party system became a thing of the past and people are more clueless than ever about it’s demise.

By contrast, what Trump intuitively understood in this new environment was that in order to make contact and win over the electorate people must be realigned not according to conventional political parties but, on a deeper, more inclusive level according to their individual, pre-existing socio-political character structure.

This is where an understanding of socio-political characterology is essential. Based on people’s socio-political character structure, liberals and conservatives have diametrically opposed ways of viewing the world. The liberal relates to his environment primarily from his intellect. He is a collectivist and, in the past authoritarian era, had a mechanistic view of the world. The conservative relates to his environment primarily from his emotions. He has a selective attitude toward others and a mystical view of the world.

In order to win, Trump must convince characterologic conservatives, like himself, that he is one of them. This is where his anti-intellectual, emotional, shooting-from-the-hip manner and his strong pro-American bias are a plus. However, from a bio-psychiatric perspective, Trump is either an oral unsatisfied, phallic narcissistic character or a manic depressive character. Regarding his diagnosis, the important questions are these: Is he capable of controlling the destructiveness to his political reputation as a leader resulting from his shooting-off at the mouth? Is he capable to hear the ideas of others? These questions go directly to the heart of his capacity for the good judgement that is a requirement for the job.

Another unknown factor is that liberals no longer adhere only to the mechanistic view of the world. They have embraced mysticism as part of their leftist armamentarium in the “save the world,” “green” environmental movements. With the decline of traditional, religious mysticism, the political left has gained a silent but powerful force in the ideology of secular mysticism that Trump with all his usual contentiousness must contend with.

August 3, 2016
Categories: anti-authoritarian transformation, character structure, emotional plague, Politics, social orgonomy . Tags: 2016 election, authoritarian society, conservatives, Democratic Party., Donald Trump, liberals, populism, psychiatry, Republican Party . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 2 Comments

The Emotional Plague in Politics

In order to make sense social events, functional knowledge of the three fundamental layers of the human bio-psychic apparatus is essential. These are 1) the biological core, 2) the destructive middle layer and 3) the superficial layer.

All constructive social and political activity originates from the biological core, traveling outward to the periphery and being expressed without distortion from the social surface. In the presence of armor, impulses from the core are blocked by the middle layer and become irrational, harsh and socially destructive.

A politician’s functioning from his core and secondary layers defines his socio-political character diagnosis. However, in their daily interactions all successful politicians function from their superficial layer or facade and this is why political activity is almost always identical with the surface of social life. Nothing is ever revealed about what is going on in the social depths (“behind the scenes”) until much later. Because a politician’s survival depends on his appearing to be what he is on the surface, it is difficult for most people to distinguish one politician from another.
A politician’s boldfaced lies are likely to be believed as true by the public if they are expressed in a convincingly charming and “reasonable” manner. People invest an enormous amount of emotional energy to maintain their political ideas originating from their own destructive middle layer. This is done mainly through holding to the relative morality (political correctness) of the left and that of the absolute morality of the right.

People are increasingly in jeopardy of losing contact with their own depths. They are incapable of having a sense of the destructive middle layer and the biological core in their politicians. To make matters worse, in today’s antiauthoritarian society, the biological core is rarely, if ever, represented in social and political life while impulses from the destructive middle layer and surface are expressed everywhere.

The emotional plague in politics will run amuck as it is currently doing in this election year until people begin to have an understanding of the socio-political character structures of their leaders and can make a distinction between political activity originating from the three layers of people’s bio-psychic apparatus.

March 14, 2016
Categories: accurate diagnosis, emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: 2016 election . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 4 Comments