The father of modern psychology Sigmund Freud was known for a lot of groundbreaking observations, but one example is the idea of deflection. Or put another way, when someone says “I’m not saying that I think you are fat” what they are really saying is “I think you are fat.” A classic defense mechanism that, unlike many of Freud’s findings, appears to have withstood the test of time.
This psychological phenomenon comes to mind on day three of President Donald Trump’s going on the offensive in claiming that his racist tweets from Sunday were in fact “NOT Racist.” He added that, in his esteem, he doesn’t “have a Racist bone in [his] body.”
Trump tweeted this defense of his Sunday morning attacks on the four Democratic freshman Congresswomen, all of whom are of color, in which he used the racist trope of telling them to go back to the country they came from.
After a two-day media firestorm, which some analysts speculate was designed as a distraction from
Trump tweeted:
Trump appears to be trying to label the Democratic Party as a party of the more progressive side represented by these four freshmen Congressmen, as opposed to a more centrist and experienced party represented by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Trump’s full-throated denial of racist allegations may please his base of supporters, who likely won’t stop supporting him regardless of his comments (or shooting of someone on Fifth Avenue as he boasted on the campaign trail) while critics and centrists alike may only connect the two terms Trump and “racist” in a manner that may not help his reelection efforts.