Make America Great Again—Pussy Riot
#365Songs: September 7th
Narcissists can be charming motherfuckers. When in power, they’re masters at expressing their most grandiose delusions with gusto-filled rallying cries, perfectionists at convincing the masses to abandon all skepticism and follow at all costs.
Silicon Valley has canonized this behavior trait, starting with Steve Jobs, a shitty father who stood tallest on the backs of all those whose work he stole and promoted as his own. Thanks to his misunderstood legacy, narcissism is a mandatory requirement to be considered a tech leader: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Adam Neumann, Elizabeth Holmes.
This is an actual quote, if it helps: “AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies.” — Sam Altman
And by “great companies,” he means unimaginable wealth, power, and idolatry for a few at the expense of everyone else. Like anyone with God-syndrome, self-interest is the only success metric.
It’s easy to imagine our most notorious cult leaders atop a modern day tech company: Charles Manson as Facebook CEO, Jim Jones securing another round of funding at WeWork, David Koresh the face of a hostile Twitter takeover.
What do you want your world to look like?
What do you want it to be?
Do you know that a wall has two sides?
And nobody is free?
When desperate for attention, narcissists feast on our most pressing insecurities, gaslight without conscience, and conjure up our worst intentions. Narcisstic bullies have many faces, but underneath all of them is one central need: to lift oneself above those weaker than themselves.
Introducing… Donald Trump.
Did your mama come from Mexico
Papa come from Palestine
Sneaking all through Syria
Crossing all the border lines
Let other people in
Listen to your women
Stop killing black children
Make America Great Again
Capitalism feasts on conformists, and let’s be clear: America is a country filled with conformists, trained by schools to accept everything and question nothing. Growing up in a blue-collar Cleveland suburb, I was often reprimanded for asking “why,” a reminder that critical thinking was never a part of the curriculum — a behavior learned and perfected in college, only to land me in trouble countless times throughout my career.
Culturally, we’re attracted to narcissists because they make us feel seen. That’s how they gather power, how they achieve their ultimate delusions. Without us, they’re scared little children seeking validation. With us, they rule the world.
Those of us seeking validation or a path to success, we see ourselves in the narcissist’s mirror: our journey is attached to theirs, our explorer leading us to new opportunities.
That’s Trump’s superpower: to make the disgruntled, disappointed masses feel like he’s one of them. Always aggrieved and forever targeted. Unfair, unfair. This is the language of my Cleveland, this idea that everything wrong happened to them and every success is a product of their own hard work.
That’s how Trump won over half of America: take us back to a time when we were thriving. That’s all fine and good, but the problem is that it’s built on false logic. A coal miner or steel worker was never thriving. It’s easy to mistake surviving for thriving once you’ve lost too much and haven’t found the road back home. When our capitalist overlords outsourced and automated their lives (Republicans), we never offered an alternative path (Democrats). You’re only the party of the lower and middle classes if you listen, if you speak to them. Turns out, it doesn’t much matter what you say if you say it in a certain way.
Again, introducing Trump.
He speaks to them, he sounds like them, he taps into their rage and venomous disappointment. He conjures a false picture of the past, then promises a return to it. He points fingers at everyone else, convincing his believers that his friends-turned-enemies were always out to get him, always trying to bring him down. Every mess Trump makes is something that happened TO him, not as a result of his own actions.
And that’s the love language of his followers.
If they weren’t so hideous I can imagine feeling bad for these folks, a few too many of whom I’ve shared sleepovers and family dinners, long car rides and vacations. What they can’t seem to see is that nothing Trump has ever done has been about or for them. It’s always about Trump, and his narcissistic, infantile craving for validation and idolatry. While the rest of us tired of his tabloid schtick years ago, the butt of the joke for far too long, this new audience echoed his grievances while tapping into their innate instinct to punch down.
Could you imagine a politician
Calling a woman a dog?
Do you wanna stay in the kitchen?
Is that where you belong?
How do you picture the perfect leader
Who do you want him to be
Has he promoted the use of torture and killing families
Mob mentality is quite simple: one agitator stokes a flame, and others follow — even those with half a conscience fall in line, convincing themselves it’s for the right cause. “It’s just locker room talk,” says the Mom with four young girls at home. “I’m not a fan of how he speaks, but it’s better than the woke Kamala,” says the Mom who can’t define the word “woke” and whose police officer husband screams “law and order” while bashing a prosecutor in favor of a 94-time felon. “I don’t want boys playing girls sports,” says the Dad with only boys and who has watched exactly zero sporting events involving girls. “Some family would love to raise that child,” says the pro-life parent whose sons are likely candidates for the next school shooting.
Let other people in
Listen to your women
The attention-starved and desperate narcissist is the most dangerous type, as they’re willing to do just about anything to retain power. Every manipulation, any lie, the twisting of truths to fit whatever narrative is necessary to win you back, will manufacture a common enemy — a straw man — built upon all his own weaknesses. A discerning audience can tell the difference. Problem is, a narcissist’s followers no longer have the agency to discern anything.
Listen, we’ve all been charmed by a narcissist — whether a parent, partner, spiritual leader, friend, or politician. They may show up in different shapes, sizes, and disguises, but they’re all the same. Waiting in the shadows ready to step into your spotlight.
Stop killing black children
Make America Great Again
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