Yale forensic psychiatrist, dr. Bandy Lee,
uh, who also happens to be a contributor and
the editor of the book, the dangerous case
of Donald Trump recently spoke to salon.com,
where she talked about the fact that it is
very likely that Donald Trump's own mental
illness, uh, that she believes he does suffer
from has actually been transmitted to his
supporters. Uh, specifically as part of the
interview she did with salon, she was asked,
uh, well, here's the question. Uh, the president
and other speakers talking about the last
week's convention repeatedly lied throughout
the event. So how does that affect the psychology
of the overall electorate to have a four day
stream of lies broadcast by all the major
networks for four straight days. Um, and she
responded saying this, this has now become
a societal phenomenon. We do not think of
mental symptoms as infectious, but they are
potentially far more so than a Bola or coronavirus.
Since you do not need physical contact for
the symptoms to transmit to millions. As long
as you have emotional bonds, the end result
is dramatic. As we now see before our eyes,
it's rather a mistake to believe that mental
symptoms can not transmit when we have set
up the perfect conditions for it. Those who
do not succumb also generally grow exhausted
and acquiesce. The good news is like the pandemic.
We can contain it if we intervened intelligently
and scientifically what we saw last week,
uh, from the Republican convention, as the
fact checkers described, it was a parade of
dishonesty, you know, outright lies, false
hood, misrepresentations, misinformation,
lies of omission. All of those things combined.
It was a, it was a nonstop life Fest is what
it was. They were pushing conspiracy theories,
which have now become mainstream among the
Republican party. I mean, even as bad as the
Republican party has been in the past with
their policies, that only benefit corporations
and harm people that used to be what the party
was.
But now, uh, and in fact, for many years,
not just with Trump, but with Trump, it's
become mainstream. Now they're embracing these
conspiracy theories. Now they're embracing
Q Anon. We're going to have a Q a non Republican
in the house of representatives and it's not
an accident. I do think dr. Lee is absolutely
correct on this. And I understand there's
plenty in the mental health profession that
disagree with her about mental symptoms being
infected, but think about it this way prior
to Donald Trump coming along. Okay, those
who spread conspiracy theories were viewed
as friends. You know, the panels mainstream
Republicans didn't believe that the FEMA death
camps mainstream Republicans didn't believe
that the birtherism mainstream Republicans
didn't believe that. But now, as I mentioned,
we're going to have an elected official who
does believe that Donald Trump is fighting
against some kind of deep state coup in order
to take down a child sex ring, that the elites
in DC in the elites in Hollywood are somehow
running.
That is mainstream now. And that is obviously
one of the most extreme in terms of these
conspiracy theories, but they also believe
other more mild conspiracy theories. They
believe the average Republican supporter of
Donald Trump, not the average Republican,
the average Republican supporter of Donald
Trump. They believe that the media is intentionally
misrepresenting. What is happening under Donald
Trump? They believe they're making up lies.
They do not believe that 40 million people
lost their job during the pandemic. They don't
believe that 180,000 Americans died. The new
conspiracy theory, which popped up a couple
days ago, which Trump supporters now believe
is that only about 9,000 people in this country
died. And it's because Donald Trump created
this alternative reality that he himself lives
in and he invited them into his world. He
invited them into that fake universe where
all of the good things are because of him
and all of the bad things are made up by people
who don't like him. I'd say, in terms of mental
illnesses, that's pretty darn infectious.
Just like dr. Lee says.
