In the wake of the Republican National Convention and all the “intimidation, denial of responsibility, revisionism” and flat out lies uttered by one speaker after another, Texas Observer writer Andrea Grimes wrote this psychological assessment of the GOP: The GOP is Gaslighting America — on National Television. For those fortunate enough to have never been subjected to this tactic, Grimes offers this definition:
Gaslighting is a psychological tactic used by abusers, particularly but not only domestic abusers, to confuse, shame and manipulate others into believing that they cannot accurately interpret reality.
Yesterday, we saw it again, with Trump as he called a press conference under false pretenses, then tried to blame Hillary Clinton for starting the "birther movement."
In the Texas Observer article, Andrea Grimes asks us to imagine what it would be like to be in an abusive relationship where such a pattern of lying was considered “normal.”
What would we do if someone treated us, if someone talked to us, the way Trump and the GOP leadership has done this week? If we see these tactics and behaviors as reflective of patterns of emotional and mental manipulation, rather than an especially egregious version of the politics to which we’re otherwise resigned, does that change the way we can, or should, react?
Well, if we were raised in an environment where gaslighting was a common occurrence, we might react the way Ivanka Trump did when she walked out of the "tough" Cosmopolitan interview, accusing the interviewer of “editorializing” instead of facing up to the fact that her father did actually say those things about pregnancy being “inconvenient” for business.
As we phone bank, block walk, and get out the vote for Hillary Clinton and our down-ballot Democrats, it’s important to know that there’s a significant portion of our society for whom this abusive, authoritarian, pathological lying is “normal,” and it’s beyond our ability to tell them otherwise.
At this point, we need to make sure “our side" outnumbers theirs. We need to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton and all our progressive down-ballot candidates in state legislatures, judiciary, and school board who will improve the mental health of this country from the class room to the board room to the Oval Office.