For years, mental health professionals have argued that President Donald Trump’s behaviors, which some have called “malignant narcissism,” are a detriment to the nation.
Much has been written about the president’s tendency to gaslight
― a form of psychological manipulation weaponized by narcissists to make victims question their own reality, memory and perceptions.
Most recently, some have said that Trump has tried to gaslight the American people into believing that there is no real affordability crisis
(he’s called it a “hoax” cooked up by the Democrats),
despite widespread concerns about the rising cost of living and his running on a platform heavily focused on bringing down prices.
(In spite of that, energy bills have increased as much as 13% since Trump took office.)
But psychologists say there’s another classic narcissist tactic that Trump appears to employ with alarming frequency that’s less talked about:
DARVO: Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.
DARVO is a manipulative tactic often used by narcissistic abusers to evade accountability:
They deny the abuse,
attack the person confronting them
and then reverse the roles to portray themselves as the victim.
And because most of us are unfamiliar with DARVO, we’re not well equipped to counter the tactic.
Jennifer Freyd, a pioneer in the field of trauma psychology who coined DARVO, said it’s a strategy that Trump and his team have weaponized for years to distort reality.
In an opinion piece that ran in The Hill last spring,
she and her co-researcher pointed to how Trump made the case for imposing steep tariffs on other countries
by arguing that America had been humiliated and exploited by foreign nations (both critics and friendly trade partners) for decades.
We were the victims, not the countries facing steep new tariffs.
Whether he knows the term or not, Trump is well versed in DARVO, Freyd wrote:
It’s helped him to discredit women who’ve accused him of sexual assault,
deflect blame during “Signalgate,”
and blame Ukraine for Russia’s invasion.
“Because DARVO has been a central strategy in Trump’s political playbook for years,
it has undoubtedly contributed to distorted perceptions of what is true and what is ‘fake news,’”
her op-ed read.
“When leaders like Trump weaponize DARVO, the public becomes more disengaged and confused.”
#DARVO
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5238051-trump-tariffs-gaslighting/
