The Psychology of Trump Contagion Quotes

“The bliss of dwelling in the divine, no matter what is happening in the world, not only helps us to transcend its current state of affairs, but for the very first time infuses us with the power to heal it.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“True strength does not require extravagant displays; it manifests quietly in the actual works of creativity, productivity, and other qualities that inspire genuine respect.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“The experience of true peace is so fulfilling, gratifying, and expansive, one cannot help but wish to share it—and then the more one shares, the more one recognizes one has.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“The principles of true power are compassion, cooperation, and trust—not cruelty, coercion, and fear.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“As my colleague Gilligan often said: “None feel as guilty as the saints, and none feel as innocent as the criminals”—which is why we cannot rely on the internal restraint of the latter.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“preliminary FBI data show one of the largest jumps in homicides on record under Trump and a record drop under Joe Biden, starting at the two-year mark of Trump’s departure.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“For 110 years, Republican presidents doubled violent deaths by the end of each presidential term as a rule, while the Democratic Party halved them, almost without exception.  There was also a two-year lag, which meant that, when parties alternated, Democrats received the blame for the violence Republicans set in motion, while Republicans benefited from the reductions Democrats effectuated.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“Replacing one demagoguery with another gets rid of Trump, but Trump was never the real problem, but the mindset.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“As Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, mass violence expert and contributor to The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, quotes of the American poet Theodore Roethke: “In a dark time, the eye begins to see” (Lifton, 2017).”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“Anxiety and depressive disorders, especially, are more bound to blaming and harming the self than others.  Mental illness, contrary to common perception, is not associated with greater dangerousness than those without mental illness; in fact, those with mental illness are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“With the right environment, such as having a severely mentally-impaired person in an influential position with lots of access to propaganda sources and social media, then we have the perfect conditions for transmission.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“Contagion is different from rational decision making or even cynical political calculation: it has the quality of being wildly irrational, and sometimes the affected person does not see it—even to one’s detriment.  Much of contagion is unconscious, induces more dramatic and rapid shifts than rational persuasion, occurs in large part in the absence of awareness, and persists despite the damage to self or one’s larger community, such as country.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“Certainly, there were signs of contagion of symptoms in the general population and the political sphere before the APA’s intervention.  For example, Senator Lindsey Graham had said of Donald Trump: “I think he’s a kook.  I think he’s crazy.  I think he’s unfit for office.”  Then, upon his election, he instead criticized the press for what he himself had said: “this endless, endless attempt to label the guy some kind of kook not fit to be president!” (Perez, 2017).”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“what matters is not whether a person is mentally ill but whether he is dangerous.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“Since applying the ecological model to violence, we have discovered that social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors are far more reliable predictors of violence than individual factors.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“In spite of its title,… this book is not about Mr. Trump.  It is about the larger context that has given rise to his presidency, and the greater population that he affects by virtue of his position.  The ascendancy of an individual with such impairments speaks to our general state of health and well-being as a nation, and to how we can respond,… and as professionals devoted to promoting mental health, including public mental health, our duty should be clear: to steer patients and the public on a path toward health”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“Unlike law enforcement, which usually can only intervene after a dangerous act has occurred, society looks to physicians and mental health professionals for prevention, before such an act has happened, if the mental state makes it likely that containment is necessary.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“fascism is not a political ideology but mental pathology in politics.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind

“Dangerous individuals do not stop but are emboldened with each absence of accountability.”
― Bandy X. Lee, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind