Thought for the Day
Wednesday, August 13, 2025

It is difficult to imagine anyone else who operates so completely by unconscious projection and compensation. Nearly everything he does and is enabled to enact stems from the operation of these two psychological defence mechanisms. Combine this with toxic narcissism in the extreme and you have the makings of a unique leader whose damage to the culture, government, institutions, economy, and the common good (health and well-being) is immeasurable. Such dynamics often underlie the core mainspring of charisma. In both positive and negative ways, this underlies the functions of the “cult of personality.” The cult of personality drives the attraction of followers who “share” The same underlying dynamics of projection and compensation. The rational sensibilities are submerged and become unconscious and unavailable to conscious functioning. This creates a dangerous social dynamic of “herd clustering.” This membership in the herd undermines more fully any rational or conscious function, making the loss of boundaries (to hate, fear, and violence) inevitable. The question that looms large as this process becomes more powerful and consuming is: what is it that would trigger an enantiodromia?