The destructiveness of omnipotence and 'perverted containing': Psychoanalytic reflections on the dynamic between Donald Trump and his supporters

This chapter describes a model of 'perverted containing' to explain escalating destructive social processes rooted in phantasies of omnipotence and nourished by unconscious fears of annihilation, using the example of Donald Trump-a prime example of a destructive narcissistic populist who offers omnipotence as salvation. It combines Rosenfeld's theory of destructive narcissism and Bion's theory of the container/contained to describe the powerful dynamic existing between Trump and his voters in which the omnipotent appeal of the demagogue held his followers in thrall. Trump offers his supporters omnipotence as perverted containing. He embodies omnipotence as a person;therefore, he appears convincing, so people can easily believe in him-especially those who, on an early level of intensive anxieties, feelings of persecution, and longing for symbiosis, prefer to attach themselves to one person. Thus, he accommodates their desires to identify and bond symbiotically with one person in total consensus-without triangulation, without doubting and space to develop individual perception and judgment. In the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, Trump first used his usual means: distortion and denial of reality, self-praise and directing accusations towards the usual 'enemies'. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Parties, Patronage and COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution in Indonesia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as Indonesia mobilized to deliver vaccines to the population, an unexpected phenomenon occurred: political parties became directly involved in the vaccine delivery effort. In this article, we draw on online reports and interviews to demonstrate that these campaigns acted as an extension of the patronage politics that dominate the country's political arena. The involvement of political parties had little effect on the national vaccination effort, as parties delivered a relatively small number of vaccines and often targeted areas that already had high coverage. Instead, parties and politicians used these events to strengthen links with constituents and supporters. We identify three main pathways that allowed political parties to access the vaccines: lobbying by members of the national legislature's health commission;through local governments;and by direct executive government access to the national Ministry of Health. This "hijacking" of a national policy for clientelistic purposes provides insight into the presence of intra-party coordination of patronage goods but also demonstrates the personalization and fragmentation of patronage distribution highlighted in the existing literature. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the quality of public healthcare and other services in Indonesia.

Social pressure in football matches: an event study of ‘Remote Matches' in Japan

Sports matches during the COVID-19 pandemic have been held without spectators. Exploiting this unprecedented situation as a natural experiment, we examine the impacts of social pressure on the match outcomes in Japan's professional football league. As a result of the difference-in-difference estimation, we find that the number of fouls awarded to home team significantly decreases by about 1.05 in the matches with spectators, supporting the referee bias due to social pressure by the home-team's supporters. In addition, the results indicate that the absolute number of the home-team's supporters is more dominant in the source of referee bias than their share in the stadium.

A Needle in a Haystack? Human Rights Framing at the World Trade Organization for Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

How and why is implicit and explicit human rights language used by World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiators in debates about intellectual property, know-how, and technology needed to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, and how do these findings compare with negotiators' human rights framing in 2001? Sampling 26 WTO members and two groups of members, this study uses document analysis and six key informant interviews with WTO negotiators, a representative of the WTO Secretariat, and a nonstate actor. In WTO debates about COVID-19 medicines, negotiators scarcely used human rights frames (e.g., "human rights" or "right to health"). Supporters used both human rights frames and implicit language (e.g., "equity," "affordability," and "solidarity") to garner support for the TRIPS waiver proposal, while opponents and WTO members with undetermined positions on the waiver used only implicit language to advocate for alternative proposals. WTO negotiators use human rights frames to appeal to previously agreed language about state obligations;for coherence between their domestic values and policy on one hand, and their global policy positions on the other;and to catalyze public support for the waiver proposal beyond the WTO. This mixed-methods design yields a rich contextual understanding of the modern role of human rights language in trade negotiations relevant for public health.

THE IMPACT OF THE RIOTS AND LOOTING ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS

Following the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma, his supporters were angered, which resulted in riots and looting in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng provinces. With South Africa already reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the unexpected unrest caused further devastation to the country. This paper aimed to encourage and assist fellow South Africans in understanding the devastation and lasting effects caused by the unrest. Therefore, the engagement in civil unrest in such magnitudes can be avoided for the country's wellbeing. In light of this paper's purpose, this study collected data through the means of desktop research. This meant extracting information from journals, news reports, internet sources and scholarly publications. Based on the literature collected and analysed, it was deduced the riots and looting in July 2021 have negatively affected the South African economy and businesses, in particular small businesses. Some of the main factors depicting this impact include the following insights. An estimated 150 000 jobs were at risk within the KZN region alone. In terms of small businesses, they accounted for 89% of businesses impacted in the two provinces in which the unrest took place. More so, all together, small firms on a monthly basis stood to lose an amount of R3.4 billion in the attempt to resume business operations. This led to many small businesses facing closure. Regarding the economy, the unrest caused the rand to depreciate by 2.4%, which has adverse short and long term effects on the South African economy. These findings are critical as they provide insight into South Africa's current circumstances and what could be expected in the years to come. The main recommendation made in this paper advocated that small businesses adopt a mindset of anticipation and containment. A mindset of anticipation requires constant identification of all potential emergencies and problems, while a mindset of containment entails the embracement of adaptability and flexibility when responding to a crisis. Therefore, the adoption of an anticipation and containment mindset aids in the development of capabilities to deal with loss and commitment to resilience.

Party Identification, Ambivalence, and the Issue of Vaccine Procurement in Taiwan

After the Covid-19 pandemic began to wreak havoc around the world in January 2020, Taiwan managed to stay mostly Covid-free due to swift and efficient action taken by the government to contain the outbreak. However, after the country experienced its first significant wave of domestically transmitted cases in May 2021, vaccines became a highly salient issue because Taiwan did not have enough doses to immunize all its citizens. In this study, we investigate how Taiwanese appraise the government's overall efforts to acquire vaccines. We hypothesize that, apart from a partisan divergence of opinions, some citizens would hold ambivalent attitudes toward the way the government handled the vaccine procurement process. Results from multivariate regression analysis indicate that the effect of party identification on evaluations of government is conditionally dependent on citizens' level of ambivalence. Specifically, increased ambivalence offsets the strong effect of party affiliation on government evaluation, especially for political independents and supporters of opposition parties.

Team performance and the perception of being observed: Experimental evidence from top-level professional football

We exploit the natural experimental setting provided by the Covid-19 lockdown to analyse how performance is affected by a friendly audience. Specifically, we use data on all football matches in the top-level competitions across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom over the 2019/2020 season. We compare the difference between the number of points gained by teams playing at home and teams competing away before the Covid-19 outbreak, when supporters could attend any match, with the same difference after the lockdown, when all matches took place behind closed doors. We find that the performance of the home team is halved when stadiums are empty. Further analyses indicate that offensive (defensive) actions taken by the home team are drastically reduced (increased) once games are played behind closed doors. Referees are affected too, as they change their behaviour in games without spectators. Finally, the home advantage is entirely driven by teams that do not have international experience. Taken together, our findings corroborate the hypothesis that social pressure influences individual behaviour.

Operationalising a Recovery-Oriented Support and Information Programme Online: The EOLAS Programme.

Evidence demonstrates that psychoeducation interventions have clinical and recovery-related benefits for people experiencing psychosis and their family members. The EOLAS programmes are one example of recovery-oriented psychoeducation programmes for psychosis. They differ from other programmes in that they are co-designed and co-facilitated (peer and clinician) group programmes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, EOLAS went online using a videoconferencing platform. The study examined the feasibility, acceptability and usefulness of EOLAS-Online and explored whether some of the positive recovery outcomes reported by attendees regarding the in-person programmes were replicated online. Data were collected through an online survey and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. Fifteen attendees (40% of attendees) completed the surveys and eight participated in interviews. A total of 80% were satisfied/very satisfied with the programme. The programme was rated highly for increased knowledge of mental health, coping strategies, and engaging with peers. The use of technology was mostly unproblematic, although some audio and video-related challenges were identified. Engaging with the online programme was experienced positively, including facilitator support to engage. The overall findings indicate that EOLAS-Online is feasible, acceptable and useful in supporting attendees' recovery journeys.

The Persistence of Ethnopopulist Support: The Case of Rodrigo Duterte's Philippines

The past few years have seen an emergence of populist leaders around the world, who have not only accrued but also maintained support despite rampant criticism, governance failures, and the ongoing COVID pandemic. The Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte is the best illustration of this trend, with approval ratings rarely dipping below 80 percent. What explains his high levels of robust public support? We argue that Duterte is an ethnopopulist who uses ethnic appeals in combination with insider vs. outsider rhetoric to garner and maintain public support. Moreover, we argue that ethnic affiliation is a main driver of support for Duterte, and more important than alternative factors such as age, education, gender, or urban vs. rural divides. We provide evidence of Duterte's marriage of ethnic and populist appeals, then evaluate whether ethnicity predicts support for Duterte, using 15 rounds of nationally representative public opinion data. Identifying with a non-Tagalog ethnicity (like Duterte) leads to an 8 percent increase in approval for Duterte, significantly larger than any other explanatory factor. Among Duterte supporters, a non-Tagalog ethnicity is associated with 19 percent increase in strong versus mild support. Ethnicity is the only positive and significant result, suggesting that it strongly explains why Duterte's support remains robust. Alternative explanations, such as social desirability bias and alternative policy considerations, do not explain our results.

Sri Lanka in 2021: From pandemic emergency to political and economic crisis

The political evolution in Sri Lanka in 2021 confirmed the negative predictions that had been made in the previous year, both for domestic and foreign policy. Internally, president Rajapaksa's tendency to centralize power in his own hands, and in those of his family and close supporters continued. The authoritarian trend already visible in 2020 worsened due to the pandemic crisis. The government put forward a project to amend the Constitution and to introduce further changes in the legal system. These initiatives aroused fears for a possible limitation of the civil rights of Tamil and Muslim minorities. The President maintained Sinhala Buddhist nationalism as his main ideological thrust. In terms of foreign relations, the year was marked by the country's growing international isolation due to its refusal to pursue the accountability program on civil war crimes. Moreover, the cooling of relations with India and the US continued, while Chinese influence clearly grew in both political and economic spheres. The economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp slowdown in the national economy.

Analyse sociotechnique des applications de traçage de la COVID-19: Protection de la vie privée et matérialisation de la méfiance envers l'État

Le 6 octobre 2020, à l'instar d'une quarantaine d'États, Québec donna son feu vert à une application de traçage des contacts basée sur une technologie d'Apple et Google pour combattre la COVID-19. Les applications de traçage soulèvent toutefois plusieurs enjeux liés aux droits démocratiques et à la justice sociale, aux premiers chefs la protection de la vie privée et l'équité face à une technologie à laquelle tous n'ont pas accès. Or, comment cet objet est-il devenu un objet de convergence dans l'utilisation de la surveillance numérique ? L'argument développé ici suggère que l'adoption en masse masque des dynamiques de pouvoir entre les développeurs, la société civile, les autorités de santé publique et les gouvernements sur le design des technologies utilisées dans la gestion de la pandémie. Apple, Google et leurs partisans ont réussi à normaliser une technologie qui matérialise une méfiance envers l'État. Cette analyse éclaire les dynamiques de pouvoir derrière la promotion des outils techniques dans la lutte contre la COVID-19 et les angles morts générés par la primauté de la protection de la vie privée.Alternate :On October 6, 2020, Quebec, along with some 40 other states, gave the green light to a contact tracing application based on technology developed by Apple and Google to combat COVID-19. Contact tracing applications, however, raise a number of issues related to democratic rights and social justice, most notably privacy and equality in the face of a technology to which not everyone has access. How did this object become an object of convergence in the use of digital surveillance ? The argument developed in this article suggests that mass adoption masks power dynamics between developers, civil society, public health authorities and governments in regard to the design of technologies used for pandemic management. Apple, Google and their supporters have succeeded in normalizing a technology that materializes a distrust of the state. This analysis illuminates the power dynamics behind the promotion of technical tools in the fight against COVID-19, as well as the blind spots generated by the primacy of privacy.Alternate :El 6 de octubre de 2020, el Quebec, como hicieron otros 40 estados, dio luz verde a una aplicación de rastreo de contactos basada en la tecnología de Apple y Google para combatir el COVID-19. Sin embargo, las aplicaciones de rastreo de contactos plantean una serie de cuestiones relacionadas con los derechos democráticos y la justicia social, sobre todo en lo que se refiere a la protección de la vida privada y la equidad ante una tecnología a la que no todo el mundo tiene acceso. ¿Cómo este elemento ha podido convertirse en un objeto de convergencia en el uso de la vigilancia digital ? El argumento desarrollado aquí sugiere que su adopción masiva esconde las dinámicas de poder entre los desarrolladores, la sociedad civil, las autoridades de salud pública y los gobiernos sobre el diseño de las tecnologías utilizadas en la gestión de la pandemia. Apple, Google y sus partidarios han conseguido normalizar una tecnología que materializa la desconfianza hacia el Estado. Este análisis saca a relucir las dinámicas de poder que hay detrás de la promoción de las herramientas técnicas en la lucha contra el COVID-19 y los puntos ciegos que genera la primacía de la protección de la vida privada.

Parents' and Health Professionals' Attitudes to Advancing Primary MMR Vaccine Administration from Fifteen to Six Months of Age-A Qualitative Thematic Analysis Embedded in a Randomized Trial.

Declining levels and duration of passively acquired maternal antibodies prompted a Danish trial to test the feasibility of advancing administration of the first measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR1) from 15 to 6 months of age. A trial-embedded qualitative study aimed to understand parents' (N = 24) and health professionals' (N = 11) attitudes about the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) in general and about advancing MMR1 administration. Overly positive parent attitudes were contrasted by members of a vaccine-skeptical organization including parents considering that their child was seriously vaccine-injured long ago. Parents' attitudes to advancing MMR1 mirrored their attitudes about the MMR vaccine in general, with four positions along a continuum of trust in the healthcare system: unquestioning trust, acceptance after careful consideration, challenging indecisiveness, and defensive rejection. Low tolerance was identified between vaccine supporters and vaccine opponents. Parents of children with perceived serious vaccine-related injuries described lifelong unresolved feelings of guilt. Supporters of advanced MMR1 saw it as a timely and convenient administration of a well-known vaccine, whereas opponents feared it would disturb the children's immature immune systems and emphasized difficulties in recognizing side effects so early in life. Health professionals were supportive of advancing the MMR1 vaccine and they carefully challenged the parents. Current MMR vaccine supporters show readiness to advance MMR1 administration.

Why Do Trump's Authoritarian Followers Resist COVID-19 Authorities? Because They Are Not Really Authoritarian Followers

People's responses to the threat posed by COVID-19 varied widely. In direct contradiction to the popular theory that Trump supporters prefer to submit to powerful people, Trump's most enthusiastic followers actually were the most vocal in resisting the urgings of authorities to get vaccinated and to wear masks. I explain this anomaly by showing that Trump's followers are driven less by a desire for authority and more by a desire to be secure from the threats human outsiders pose to society's historically dominant racial, language, religious, and cultural group. Far from being authoritarians, the followers of leaders such as Donald Trump stridently oppose all authority figures who divert attention from what they believe are the real threats: immigrants, powerful foreign enemies, diversity, terrorists, and criminals. From this perspective, it is unsurprising that those with a securitarian orientation would not take seriously authorities who are concerned with the threat posed by an mRNA virus. Copyright © 2022 Hibbing.

Asian American responses to Donald Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric and misuse of the history of Japanese American incarceration

Since 2015, Donald Trump, his administration and supporters have repeatedly abused the history of Second World War Japanese American incarceration. In contrast to preceding Presidents who recognised the miscarriage of justice authorised by Franklin Roosevelt, Trump and his administration have used this history to justify racism. All post-war presidents before Trump, regardless of political affiliation, agreed what happened under Executive Order 9066 was wrong and should never be repeated. Donald Trump and his administration have, by contrast, not only failed to condemn the incarceration but instead attempted to use test cases brought against the United States government during the war as questionable legal precedent to justify racist policies. The travel ban for those travelling to the USA from Muslim majority countries was compared to Executive Order 9066;Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents and placing them in separate detention centres was disturbingly similar to the internment of orphans of Japanese parentage at Manzanar children’s village;and Trump’s use of terms like ‘China virus’ during the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in attacks on Asian Americans. This article considers Asian American responses to these three case studies of Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric and abuse of the history of Japanese American incarceration.

Introduction: PROD

Since the 1988 U.S. presidential campaign, I have had the privilege every four years of editing the special issues of the American Behavioral Scientist. The 2020 campaign for the U.S. presidency has been historic in so many ways: campaigning in a global epidemic, a truncated spectacle debate series, over $14 billion spent on political advertising, two presidential candidates with distinctly different approaches to Covid 19 and its importance as an issue which dictated/hardly impacted the style, strategy and tactics of their respective campaigns. All of this occurred within a Burkean scene as the most divisive time in the United States since the Civil war, and a failure of presidential leadership to find commonalities that unite us, opting instead to focus on division and rancor us. Within this complex political mosaic is the omnipresent debate on the role and responsibility of the press and social media in crafting dueling mediated realities - some based on fact, with others rooted in fear and rabbit hole conspiracy theories. This spurious spectacle culminated in an unprecedented, domestic terrorist attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol. In addition, a focus of debate and dialogue after election day in America is the state of polling, as many well-known entities were embarrassed with predictions that did not pan out with the voting public.

Improving pregnancy and birth experiences of migrant mothers: A report from ORAMMA and continued local impact.

INTRODUCTION: Migration is a growing phenomenon affecting many European countries, with many migrants being of childbearing age. Depending on the country of origin, poorer pregnancy and birth outcomes amongst migrant women have been reported. Providing appropriate culturally sensitive perinatal services is of paramount importance. METHODS: The Operational Refugee And Migrant Mothers Approach (ORAMMA) was a three-site multidisciplinary collaborative research project, designed to develop and test implementation of a high-quality maternity care model including peer supporters for migrant women who have recently arrived in European countries. Community-based activities were undertaken to ensure ongoing local impact for maintaining supportive interactions amongst peer supporters and recently arrived migrant women in the UK. RESULTS: The women who volunteered to become maternity peer supporters were motivated by their own experiences of being newly arrived migrants in the past or a sense of altruism. Forging links with multiple local community groups enabled the continuation of the support provided by maternity peer supporters, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Engagement of maternity peer supporters in supporting newly arrived mothers has multiple advantages of addressing social isolation and marginalisation of migrant communities, with potential benefits of improving access and enhancing health literacy and health outcomes amongst recently arrived migrant women as well as creating a self-supporting network for peer supporters themselves.

Shedding light on those who provide support.

An eLife survey explores the experiences of those in the research community who support colleagues struggling with their mental health.