We’re old enough to remember when President Trump sent a tweet warning North Korea of fire and fury if they tried anything funny, and that’s what kicked off a news cycle about Trump’s mental fitness to be president. CNN’s Brian Stelter, who also did segments analyzing Trump’s Twitter typos, did several segments questioning Trump’s fitness for office, and a favorite guest of his was the infamous Bandy X. Lee, who’d never met Trump but knew enough about his mental state that he should be locked up for 72 hours for a psychiatric evaluation.
Now that Trump is no longer in office, we’re hearing from psychiatrists about the very real trauma caused by his rhetoric. Several psychiatrists spoke to Salon about the phenomenon:
Trump wasn't just an abnormal figure — psychiatrists say his rhetoric caused real trauma https://t.co/G09KjudjKj
— Salon (@Salon) July 8, 2021
Dr. Gail Saltz, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the NY Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of Medicine, also noted Trump’s extreme and cruel rhetoric as abnormal in American politics.
“President Trump used deprecating, extreme, cruel language to discuss anyone or groups he did not agree with,” Saltz told Salon via email. “He often included an indictment of the person or group with verbally aggressive language, even suggesting at times for others who agreed with him to rise up and ‘defeat’ any who would oppose him. He ridiculed and shamed others around him and constantly threatened others with being treated aggressively should they fail to support him.”
Um, so “defeat” is a traumatizing word now? What are some other examples of deprecating, extreme, cruel language, because we can’t think of any.
Keep in mind, these are the people who thought “Wuhan virus” was racist; or, more accurately, stopped using the term after Trump started using it.
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It was the way that corporate media exaggerated, amplified, and fear-mongered about it 24/7 that traumatized people.
They distracted the public into thinking that authoritarian fascism would only come from Trump—and then brought it anyway, but from a different direction.
— Beyond-The-Zero (@And_Nobody_Knew) July 8, 2021
Less to do with his rhetoric. More to do with the media's 24/7 blitz over how he was going to turn the US into the Handmaid's Tail. And Salon was helping drive that narrative.
— AP (@AvisPlumb) July 8, 2021
Never liked the man, but you gotta be a pathetic pussy to be traumatized by a politician’s words.
— Mattphilbin (@Mattphilbin) July 8, 2021
Sounds more like weak ass people.
— Green Eyed Lady🐾 (@Doe326) July 8, 2021
… among weak-minded fools with empty lives, they added.
— Neil. (@totter777) July 8, 2021
Epitome of the word SNOWFLAKE
— Leo Izmir (@_LeoIzmir) July 8, 2021
— theRoddick (@theRoddick) July 8, 2021
He broke the brains of journos.
— TacosFor2A (@For2Tacos) July 8, 2021
Many people need to just GROW UP.
— PopF (@PopF17) July 8, 2021
Obama actually droned innocent people, caused the death of a U.S. citizen by arming Mexican cartels, fed anti-police rhetoric leading to, e.g., murdered police officers in Dallas, paid terrorists, and lied repeatedly, and yet the Corporate Press thought that was fine. Propaganda.
— ObjectivelySubjective (@truthisunbiased) July 8, 2021
HA! Salon is a site where bad writers go to become worse writers
— Doug Hagin (@DaleyGator) July 8, 2021
It might just sound like TDS, but Rozsa notes that “policy-wise he was not that different from other recent Republican presidents” — you know, wanting to kill kids and starve old people.
Related:
One reporter who survived the Capitol riots says he ‘used to call the Capitol my girlfriend,’ but now he doesn’t want to be there https://t.co/3eGozG1dPh
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 6, 2021
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