Psychological Projection

From our political correspondent Dorothy "Lottie" Dawe:

I had a good laugh today as the result of an odd connection:  I was driving in my car listening to a radio news report about NRA members making death threats against some of the teen survivors of the recent Parkland massacre, and suddenly I remembered that Trump once boasted, “I will be a great unifier.”  I’m not quite sure why that particular lie of his popped into my brain at that time, but I just started laughing.  I couldn’t stop.

​Our country could not be more divided because of Trump and his clan, and in my brain, I kept hearing his voice growl, “I’m going to be a unifier.  I’m very much a unifier.” 

I then remembered a tweet I had seen earlier in the day from a Trump supporter (pictured at the right).  It was drenched in hate, and in using Trump’s technique of projection (calling attention to his own negative qualities by denying their existence in himself while attributing them to others), the tweeter revealed quite an intensity and depth to his own hatred.
 

The level of divisiveness and hatred perpetrated by Trump, his family (some on Twitter have even pleaded with Melania to call Don Jr on his bullying of Parkland survivors), and his supporters can be exhausting.  However, I remembered a poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson (“To burn us by disdaining us,” below on the left), and I realized that good people – “the Aggregate of Life’s Bouquet” – will press on.  Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "To earn it by disdaining it" (below on the right).
 ​

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
To burn us by disdaining us
Is Hate's consummate Fee –
His rage consumes him –
Look ahead – For it’s renewing thee.

So let us gather – every Day –
The Aggregate of
Life's Bouquet
In Honor and not shame –
​

By Emily Dickinson:
 
To earn it by disdaining it
Is Fame's consummate Fee –
He loves what spurns him –
Look behind – He is pursuing thee.

So let us gather – every Day –
The Aggregate of
Life's Bouquet
Be Honor and not shame –
​

In time we will unite and begin to repair the damage done by Trump.  It could take years, but the work will be done!