Strandvogel is Margriet Pakvis- van As (born 1966), a Dutch poet, published “Los uit het Hart” (2014) and “Strandvogel Loopt” (2016), neurodivergent, recovery counselor and blogger.
Could it be that the rise of fascism is a smokescreen for the unwillingness of richest people to give up some of their wealth to prevent global warming? And is it possible that so many people are being swept along because they are also afraid of these changes and the consequences in their own lives?
Power over ordinary people It is an inconvenient truth that people and animals are dying or fleeing en masse because of climate change. And that our environment is being poisoned by the industries of humanity. It is much easier to say that it is a hoax, a plot to gain power over ordinary people. Easier than to face the approaching danger of an unliveable Earth and take action.
So it is no wonder that the richest among us are responsible for the rise of dictators who actually want to enslave us and pit us against each other for power. Who point to those who have fled because of climate change as scapegoats; framing them as criminals and fortune seekers. Who frame scientists as liars, as those who play a malicious leading role in conspiracy theories, as those who make people sick instead of better, and deceived instead of wiser. Who crack down harder on climate change protesters than on protesting farmers who want to keep things the same. Who are attacking the woke movement, confusing people who are insecure about changing social etiquette.
The most dangerous part of woke What is so scary about young generations? What is the most dangerous part of woke? Who can remember the day Greta Thunberg was speaking on the Climate Conference in Katowice, saying: “you are not mature enough to tell the truth. You even leave that burden to us children”? She inspired millions to stand up against climate change.
People being gay, or wanting to change their physical gender, are not a threat. People being proud to be neurodivergent are not dangerous for the billionair class. Women rather devoting their lives to change the world than being a wife and mother can be scary to the old boys network. But millions of young people telling them to take responsibility and stop global warming? Those demands are truly difficult and expensive.
The sacred image Children criticizing men in power about the choices they are making, about them not taking steps to save our planet, accusing them of deliberately making their lives impossible? It scares the shit out of the billionairs. For it is damaging their precious image and their fragile ego. The image of a billionair is sacred. If it stinks, he will be cancelled, loose his wealth, his security. So he will point at the critic, defame her, incite a witch hunt to protect his own image.
The billionaires, the oligarchs, are not just interested in paying less taxes, not just in having more money, more possessions, more power. Why do they build rockets for space travel, or electric cars and robots? Why does Elon Musk want to find a habitable planet to colonize? Why does the US want Greenland: for the resources?
The breaking point The billionaires can make different choices. No, this is about being able to avoid taking responsibility. Because climate change is not a lie, not a hoax. It is the bitter reality and that changes everything. In order to survive, they will be the ones to make the greatest sacrifices and they refuse to do so. And many people who are afraid to give up their comforts, afraid of the major changes they have to make, prefer to believe the conspiracytheories, to be fooled by populists. Even if that means they will be living in a torn society full of injustice and misery. In any case, most people in a democracy have preferred more conservative politicians for decades who have “a strong economy” at the top of their list of priorities. The ones who will do anything to keep multinationals with lots of jobs and opportunities in their country.
But, what’s so important about jobs, money, possessions, opportunities, about dominant billionaires images, those fragile ego’s, if we can’t stay alive on the only planet we have? What if we have to flee to other countries ourselves and our neighbours are shutting down the borders? Where and when will we reach the breaking point? Will we still be in time to face reality and take action?
Some insights in Dutch politics – How Geert Wilders is trying to seize power in The Netherlands
There are people living in a democracy who say that they are fine with their country becoming an autocracy. A large number of them are people who claim to live in a dictatorship right now. Simply because sometimes laws are made and measures are taken that they do not agree with. Their definition of a dictatorship is a country where the government decides things that they are against. The fact that it was elected by the majority of citizens does not matter. They distrust the system, the government and institutions to such an extent that they want a revolution, to replace the system.
A strong leader According to conspiracy theorists, the current government is said to have been appointed by an evil “elite” who want to enslave or kill 90% of the people. For example, by ‘forcing’ chemtrails, fluoride in the water or vaccines. Protection against viruses and protection of vulnerable people would be unnecessary and keeping unvaccinated people out of certain places and situations would only be a way to gain control. Two years after the end of the corona pandemic, they are still in the middle of it. Fueled by conspiracy theories, these people have started to behave maliciously towards people with different opinions. Insulting politicians, civil servants and journalists, trolling on social media, hunting down “leftists”, sending them hateful messages and calling them stupid sheep.
Conspiracy theorists and right-wing extremists ask for a “strong leader” with ideas they agree with. A leader who has identified a clear enemy and has a simple plan for it: guarding and closing borders, deporting immigrants, tribunals for ‘left-wing’ elite/politicians. But what can they expect from such a leader as a citizen? Will he really bring peace, security, freedom, better future prospects? For quick solutions, you have to change the normal democratic but sluggish path of legislation of today, where usually all parties are given the opportunity to have a say. Or you have to declare a so-called crisis under the guise that “that is how people experience it”.
Changing the constitution When a leader of a country wants to prosecute certain people, he can expect resistance. To start with, from the constitution. The constitution is there to protect citizens, also against their government. According to the constitution, the prosecution of specific groups of people is not allowed. So it has to be changed. With that change, the protection is lost not only for specific groups but for all citizens. So we are no longer protected from the leader or leaders of the country and other authorities.
In a democracy, there is a collection of different political parties, each representing the sections of the people who voted for them. If a leader wants to persecute specific groups of people, other politicians will oppose this. Politicians who represent these groups, stand up for them or in any way stand up for the rights of all citizens, defend our constitutional state. If the leader wants something that goes against the constitution, he will most certainly not get a political majority for it. The easiest way to change the constitution is to dismantle democracy and turn the country into an autocracy where only one person or party makes laws and determines regulations.
What is an autocracy Now we come to the point of what an autocracy is. When a democracy is overthrown by someone who wants to call the shots himself, we are not dealing with an enlightened autocrat. If there is one person who wants to be the leader who makes the rules, he dictates what happens and this person is therefore a dictator. With such a leader, the country has become a dictatorship. If you think this is okay because you want what the dictator wants, you have not understood what an autocracy, a dictatorship, really means to you and every other citizen. In a dictatorship, you have no say in anything. Even deciding whether you agree or disagree with something is forbidden. You are not allowed to think for yourself. People who can form an opinion can also disagree with the leader at some point, and that is dangerous in an autocracy. That is why a dictator bans books and changes education to lessons with the content he wants citizens to know.
Dictionaries are adapted, and textbooks, history books; history is rewritten to suit the propaganda (rhetoric) of the leader. Trade unions, foundations and associations, everything where people come together and communicate without the leader being able to influence them, are banned. The country is isolated from the outside world by the aggressive attitude of the leader towards democratic leaders of other countries. Those who think for themselves, the enemy within, are tracked down, ridiculed, spied on and eventually arrested and locked up. Or worse if it is someone with influence on other citizens or with influential contacts outside the country: murdered. Anyone who is able or has the courage to think about the decisions of the leader, whether they are good or bad, is a danger, an enemy of the state. Anyone who dares to do so is possibly able to become a political opponent, to lead an opposition. Opposition is part of a democracy. That does not fit in an autocracy.
Recognize the autocrat You can tell that a politician can be an autocrat by the people around him. Are they constantly active and working impossible hours? Do they have to implement the most hated policy and take responsibility for it while the leader brags about (so-called) positive results? Do a striking number of employees suffer from burnout? Are they called to account by the leader after every striking or controversial statement on social media or in an interview? Do they never contradict their leader or are they ridiculed by him and the rest of the party or otherwise rejected if they do?
During an assertiveness course that I gave, there was a participant who was in a burnout because she had given in to every order from her demanding boss for too long. We talked about the manager and how she could better indicate her boundaries. She was given tools to better recognize her boundaries and for communication. We came up against a cultural difference because the woman had grown up in Eastern Europe before “the wall” was taken down, when it was still a dictatorship. Because she was not used to forming an opinion about everything when she was young, every question from her employer became an assignment that she had to carry out. Her employer turned out not to be unreasonably demanding. The woman had brought her work ethic from her history. It is therefore a sign on the wall when a political leader has a partner who grew up in a dictatorship. As is the case with Donald Trump and Geert Wilders.
I am the policy The PVV (Party For Freedom) has only one member and that is Geert Wilders. He alone is responsible for the party program. He devises the policy. We see ministers around him working their socks off to create laws and policies that go against the constitution. They are the spokesmen to the media. The statement “I am the policy” by PVV minister Marjolein Faber shows the kind of loyalty that only a dictator would demand. Wilders calls the shots and only his coalition partners can offer a response. The seperately appointed prime minister is trying to act as a kind of referee between them while Wilders is the one with the whistle. He sets the tone.
In order to be able to form a cabinet with the PVV, a different kind of construction had to be adopted. The opposition parties accepted this extra-parliamentary cabinet because it meant that Wilders would not become prime minister. However, the construction was also necessary in order to be able to appoint PVV supporters as ministers or state secretaries. According to the rules, they must be members of a political party. Wilders was not prepared to let them become members of his party.
Demolition from within Geert Wilders’ behavior and rhetoric are very similar to that of Donald Trump, with open admiration for dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Yong Un. He associates with a group of autocrats and right-wing extremists. Like Trump, he uses the democratic system to gain a place in the political arena and build a larger base of followers. After that he will destroy democracy from within.
If Wilders wins the next election, he will try to get into a more powerful position. Owner of X, former Twitter, Elon Musk will be willing to help him with his campaign by influencing the algorithms of various social media channels such as X, Facebook and TikTok. Mark Zuckerberg has cooperated by stopping the moderation of messages on Facebook. This makes it easier to spread disinformation based on conspiracy theories.
Disinformation and truth-finding With the help of disinformation you can convince people that they live in a toxic system and that it needs to be changed to be safe. You can declare groups of people as enemies and fuel distrust towards democratically elected leaders. Then you can point to other autocrats as a kind of liberators of their country. Because they have their citizens in their power, these people cannot think safely for themselves and live isolated from free, democratic countries. So they can’t simply warn people outside that country. By feeding the distrust towards the mainstream media, your followers no longer believe the reports about what is really happening in autocratically governed countries.
The Wilders cabinet has decided that the public broadcasters will be reassessed within this term of office for a license to broadcast (after two years instead of four years). In doing so, he is putting pressure on the media. The broadcasters are increasingly being cut back on their subsidies. It is already noticeable in the reporting that they are trying not to upset Wilders too much. Carrying out the function of the media to establish the truth and to critically question political leaders can be punished with cutbacks and the withdrawal of the broadcasting license. Freedom of expression is already being restricted in this way and with that we are automatically rolling towards a dictatorship that an alarmingly large number of people will not reject.
Pitted against each other The lack of knowledge makes people vulnerable. Feeding them with manipulated information makes them dangerous. By pitting the different groups against each other, the potential autocrat gains more and more power. The right is fighting against the left, the poor against the rich, groups of different cultural backgrounds against each other and m/f and heterosexuals against lgbtqia+. Meanwhile, the autocrat, who has used political opinion merely as a means to take the most promising position, can seize and hold on to power.
Donald Trump was a democrat until he entered politics to save his skin financially. Aided by tech giants, Russian oligarchs and internet trolls spreading disinformation, he came to power.
Wilders was a member of conservative liberal political party VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy) before he saw the rise of hatred towards immigrants as an opportunity to climb to the position of national leader. He could win over the largest amount of voters thanks to disinformation spread by Russian trolls. And he was able to form a cabinet with BBB (Farmers and Citizens Movement – lobbyists of the big agro-industry) and NSC (New Social Contract – right-wing religious groups, political moralistic opposition to the former government) and a VVD that is increasingly moving towards the far-right, riding on the ‘concerns’ about immigration.
Putin was a KGB agent before he saw a newly born democratic system as an opportunity to become the leader of an autocracy. He gave the most cunning criminals the opportunity to grow into oligarchs, the richest in Russia. They have helped Putin remain leader of Russia, maintain the Russian autocracy and help finance potential autocrats elsewhere in the world.
The Real Conspiracy Oligarchs, billionaires, the most economically powerful people conspire with autocrats to finance their power. Autocrats hold citizens captive and turn them against each other while oligarchs scrape together more money. That is the real conspiracy. An autocracy is not a fairy tale with a “happily ever after” ending. To live in an autocracy is to live in the oppression you were hoping to escape. Unless you are at least a millionaire, you will be much worse off financially. You will be stuck in a constant battle with, or running from, potential enemies. The walls will have ears and you are not even allowed to have an opinion about it.
Reading tip about the influence of disinformation: “Het echte complot” / “The real conspiracy – The truth behind the delusions” by Roel van Duijn
Explanation based on the four phases of a narcissistic relationship
Phase 4: Bend or break During the relationship, the narcissist will push his partner’s boundaries further and further. He will try to feed his victim just enough to stay with him and be useful to him, but takes his demands, unreasonableness and fits of rage to the extreme and just a little over. His partner will often wish to escape but will still be drawn back into the net.
An invisible prison I was so flexible, yielded so much that my narcissistic ex-partner’s behavior became extreme. He turned into a kind of caricature of the person he was trying to be and when irritated he was quite terrifying. One day he reached the limit and I immediately crossed it myself, hit him and decided there and then that I didn’t want to be that person. He could be anything he wanted, but I couldn’t live with what I became. That was the key to the prison. The next morning I left him decisively.
Outsiders might at some point be unable to understand what you see in the narcissist. He can be hideous and he can show the ugliest behavior, humiliate you in front of others. Sooner or later you will defend him to other people, even very fiercely. It feels uncomfortable. Because you are ashamed of him even though he’s demanding you shouldn’t be and you want him to love you, respect you, adore you again. There comes a time when he keeps asking who you spoke to and what you said about him. If you lie, he will immediately notice it and continue questioning you until you break down, tell him the truth, apologizing and feeling ashamed about yourself. So you avoid talking to people about your partner. He might as well be looking over your shoulder. You are in an invisible prison. You cannot love a narcissist; it doesn’t get to him. He understands only loyalty and he demands it, in all circumstances.
Loyalty When you have to defend him all the time, you secretly start to wonder why he is being so ugly after he once told you that you have something so beautiful together. How can he be so cruel after he said he loves you so much? The excuses you use: He doesn’t mean it. He is not having his day, maybe something happened, someone else insulted or hurt him. He can’t help it; I provoked it; I’m not good enough. Just like the narcissist, you will find it very important to show perfection to the outside world. You will do that in your loyalty. The only difference is that you have to and want to put in the effort. You believe in him and that he is perfect. Others don’t understand that and it’s you and him against the rest of the world.
If you have to admit that he is not perfect, that the relationship is based on lies, manipulation and deception, your life will fall apart. So you try helplessly to bend to his demands and whims. He stole everything that you are and mentally you are a wreck left. You no longer know who you are. For me, the moment came when I suddenly realized who I was not. Shortly before, he had asked in a teasing tone where the gifted woman was he had once met, just after a narcissistic tantrum. And he cheated right under my nose. Then I gave that blow that he deserved but this was not something for me as a person to give. There I bowed back, the echo of his question still ringing in my ears. That made my escape possible. As he bent me even further and I broke, he snapped like a twig. Because without this hostess there would be no more food for the parasite.
Real When you dare to fail, and can accept yourself just as you are, with all your qualities and flaws, you are the narcissist’s boss. My narcissist thought his greatest virtue was “being real”. Hilarious because if there’s one thing a narcissist can’t, it’s being real. For that you have to be whole and not hide your undesirable traits in a basement with a closed door after which you have thrown away the key.
Donald John Trump is also seen by the MAGA cult as someone who is ‘so real’. Because he is not a politician. They think that because he is not a politician, he must have pure intentions. They will defend him fiercely as he destroys everything they hold dear. Because when they have to admit that he is not real, not sent by God, the story of the strictly religious MAGA circle, their lives fall apart. So we have to wait until their environment has broken down so much that they themselves start to break. Or can we intervene? If so, how can we do that?
Block and ignore The majority makes a democracy. Whether it is a narcissist in the family, at work or as leader of a country, he is only as powerful as the number of people who bend and go along with his madness. Even as a journalist discusses his insane behavior and tries to understand why he does it, listening to the bendy puppets around him who will fiercely defend him, the narcissist feels the loyalty of his victims, remains nourished and active. When the majority stops listening, ignores his actions, disobeys orders, turns away from him, only then can the tide turn.
When you let go of a narcissist, he will try in every way to get your attention. This is what we call “hoovering”. He will try to charm and idealize you, act pitiful, even cry, say that something bad has happened to him and ask you to come help him. Then he will attack you for being disloyal, throw tantrums, make threats. You are not allowed to go into that. Not even a rejection message. You have to block and continue to ignore the narcissist to stay loose.
You can keep the narcissist at a distance by restoring relationships with family and friends outside of the narcissist’s bubble. They will be able to help you recover as you share your story and listen to theirs about how they saw you get stuck in the narcissist’s prison. Your dearest friends will help you get things back into perspective, acknowledge your ex is a crazy person, not you. Ex MAGA members also need the perspective and acceptance of the ones outside of the cult to heal and keep out of the net of Trump and his flying monkeys.
Depending on MAGA A narcissist cannot survive as the parasite he is without another human being who gives him an identity. He cannot exist without a pedestal that can only be built by recognizing the beautiful qualities of another. Trump is no one at all without the position of leader of the United States and he is dependent on the MAGA who put him there and confirm him. The right-wing extremists, the strict religious organizations, the oligarchs, keep him there because they cannot take Trump’s position. It is Donald Trump’s narcissistic possession of millions of Americans that allows them to carry out their agenda, through him. He gives access and as his power increases, he inflates himself further, drawing attention. However, the majority of citizens do not want him as a leader. And if MAGA breaks, the cult falls apart, he will no longer be fed.
An unfed narcissist mostly falls into depression and that is okay. Only then can he be handled, rendered harmless and, perhaps with very intensive psychiatric help, can he still find himself. That rarely happens. People like Donald Trump and Wladimir Putin have already achieved so much power that recovery is almost unattainable. We can only ignore them with as many people as possible and refuse to give them their way. We can only protect the vulnerable people and former followers who become detached from their environment.
If you leave a narcissist while you have children, make sure you have evidence of narcissistic behavior before you leave. Make audio recordings of his manipulation, pushing boundaries and narcissistic rages, as well as your reaction and that of your child(ren). You can tell from your reaction that he is the narcissist. After physical abuse, take pictures, report it, get help. Find a specialist on narcissism and have them review the evidence. With that proof you can hopefully ensure that your ex partner does not have access to the children after a divorce. This also applies to the bigger picture, a larger group, a country.
What can we do? To the people of the United States: civil servants, police, military, don’t do what doesn’t feel just and right. Ignore orders; resist. Don’t think, they’ll fire me and the next one will do what they want. Slow down the process, every bit of resistance is worth it.
Everyone, collect evidence of what is happening around you that is wrong. Film it, make sound recordings, take photos, save documents, secure it, document it, if necessary with someone outside your area who you can trust.
Do you live in the middle of a MAGA community and you are awake: save money that no one can reach and if you can, flee to a blue state. During the elections you had codes to let eachother know that you wanted to vote for Harris. Mobilize yourself within the MAGA environment, collect evidence of abuses together. Organize and resist or flee. Americans in a democratic environment, protect each other, take care of the vulnerable and protect refugees from the MAGA cult. Help each other. Furthermore, you can ignore Trump and his cult, try to sabotage actions by the current government, collect evidence, document it and share it with aid organizations abroad.
People in democratic countries: be open to American citizens. Listen to the resistance fighters. Help them document and safe evidence. Give them your support.
Democratic leaders: ignore Donald Trump and other narcissistic leaders/dictators. Don’t negotiate with them. That is not possible. Establish connections with the resistance in the United States, strengthen aid organizations that can intervene to help civilians and collect evidence. Strengthen your own democracy. Putin has influence everywhere by spreading disinformation and supporting election campaigns of right-wing extremist political parties. Ban foreign donations or donations whose origin cannot be traced (crypto) to political parties and politicians. Purchase teaching materials to teach children and adults how to deal with disinformation (on the internet).
Finally, journalists: give Trump as little attention as possible. Write and show only the bizarre facts and ignore the MAGA. Don’t pay them any attention because they ensure more attention for their narcissistic leader Trump. Instead, interview resistance fighters and politicians who can help the country get back on its feet, for example Bernie Sanders, Robert Reich, Joe Walsh, Kyle Kulinski, Mary Trump, the people of Meidas Touch or of Occupy Democrats.
It will not be easy and will take a lot of time and energy. But it is possible and worth the fight so let’s get started.
Explanation based on the four phases of a narcissistic relationship
Phase 2 and 3: Isolation and conditioning
From the idealization phase, the narcissist slowly becomes more demanding. He has high expectations. You are on his pedestal and you have to live up to that. Because your relationship is so perfect, and he is so perfect, you have to keep doing your best. Failure is not an option. In the beginning of a relationship, everyone shows the best of themselves. But one day everyone’s less pleasant qualities become visible. A narcissist can’t handle that.
Alienation The narcissist does not recognize the weaknesses and unpleasant behavior which emerges in him. For example, if someone looks at his partner and he is reacting jealously, he blames that competitor. He can argue with him, but then the monkey comes out of his sleeve. In his view, it is mainly because his partner gave rise to it. She acted too friendly or gave the competitor too much attention. Two things happen at that moment. The narcissist teaches his partner to behave a certain way or not. And he creates conditions for contact with people outside the relationship. The partner is conditioned and isolated. This happens simultaneously.
If you are in a narcissistic relationship, friends and family will become alienated from you. He criticizes or praises the people closest to you to let you know how sorry he is that you can’t do something or don’t have something. So to condition you. And he quarrels with the people who are dear to you or would be supportive of you as long as you don’t let them go. In the end, you only know his friends. These are people he admires or who admire him or fear him. Without your own circle, he can manipulate you more easily because you have no sounding board. There is no one who can reflect, criticize your partner and relationship and help you put things into perspective.
Narcissistic tactics You notice that when you do something right, the narcissist says that “we can be proud of this achievement” but when you make a mistake, that is your sole responsibility, you are reprimanded. If he makes a mistake, it is always someone else’s fault. And don’t dare to see it differently because then you will be bombarded with emotion. He’s acting like you’ve failed him horribly or he’s throwing a narcissistic tantrum. In addition, he throws all kinds of accusations about what you have done wrong or how wrong it is to stand up for the other scapegoat. He attacks you for your “poor” judgment. In a narcissistic fit of rage, all your buttons are pushed and you are left confused. If you have caught him behaving in a way that he himself would condemn, say flirting with someone else, then you can expect a word salad. That is an incoherent account with fragments of explanations, accusations against you and very deliberately a few buttons that touch your emotions. The unreasonableness is so absurd that you start to doubt yourself. He makes you doubt your own sanity instead of realizing he’s acting crazy, that’s what we call gaslighting.
One of the maddening tactics of a narcissist is to arbitrarily change rules, agreements, opinions and even his personal values. What he is fine with first, he can reproach you for the next day. What he defended tooth and nail yesterday, he detests today and how dare you accuse him of ever finding such a thing. For example, according to Donald Trump one day, European countries must contribute more to NATO to defend Ukraine and the next day he declared that Ukraine is guilty of starting that war. The narcissist then claims that your memory is poor, or that you did not hear or understand him correctly. No, you are the one trying to confuse him (because a narcissist turns everything around) or you are mentally unwell. The twisting of his attitude and the roles are an essential part of the confusing and gaslighting he exposes you to.
If a narcissist only behaved negatively, you would soon be gone. However, he has a very good sense of when to idealize you and the relationship again, to romance you for a dopamine shot, and when to have a narcissistic tantrum. He can switch the emotions on and off at will. You are thoughtfully molded into the desired character to be his partner. You have to work hard to get things done. He can get the best out of you. Only in the end you will never have done well enough and an achievement is all to his credit. In this way, the narcissist steals your good qualities, stands on your pedestal and kicks you off with narcissistic tactics such as making demands, criticizing and exposing you to narcissistic rages, word salads and gaslighting.
Immunity When Donald J. Trump was elected in 2016, it was quite unexpected, including for himself. He was insufficiently prepared for a position for which he was certainly not suitable. He is not someone who comes up with something useful for the country and knows how to motivate people to make it a law. A narcissistic leader has no place in a democracy. He wants everything that comes to his mind to be implemented immediately. He can only function in an autocracy where his will is law, he is admired and no one is allowed to criticize him.
The first term was disastrous. Yet Trump managed to increase his support and be elected president in 2024 after Joe Biden cleaned up the havoc of Trump’s first term and the pandemic. He’s been smart. First of all, he had ensured that the majority in the Supreme Court was in his power. He had committed some crimes and could only get away with them if the judiciary would keep their hands above his head. They saved him from going to jail and also got him immunity from prosecution as a presidential candidate in 2024.
Rhetoric Donald Trump has maintained at all times that he won the 2020 election and that victory was stolen from him as a plot by the left-wing/communist elite. His political opponents became the enemy. A large portion of Americans came to believe that the election had been stolen, that a plot had indeed been hatched against Trump and the ordinary hard working citizens he wanted to save.
According to Trump, other democratic countries in the world were also governed by the dangerous elite. This story about an “angry outside world” comes from Putin. It also became Trump’s narrative. To sow division and isolate his supporters. We call a narrative to achieve a political goal rhetoric. Trump admires dictators like Putin and Kim Yong Un of North Korea. He has learned from the latter that it is possible to hold an entire country captive by declaring yourself a hero and even distributing pictures of yourself as a kind of comic book hero. You come up with the story that you have liberated your people from an enemy, whether imaginary or an invented story about an opponent.
Conditioning of the people Narcissistic leaders fear empathetic, intelligent people. Empathetic people can see through the divide and rule policy and criticize it moralistically. Scientists can intellectually criticize policies aimed at breaking down the rule of law, access to medical care and stripping social security. Trump must be considered the most intelligent and best person in the US. Scientists and highly educated women are slandered, demonized, denounced, and declared witches. In this day and age it is still possible to declare a woman a witch so that she is persecuted by the narcissist’s supporters. The people are isolated from people who think differently, scientific knowledge, possible sounding boards that can help put things into perspective and other (mental) resources. From the outside world and (the enemy) within.
Being in a relationship with narcissistic leader Donald Trump his supporters are also conditioned. The people immediately around him, who carry out his wishes, must perform better and better, must not fail and never criticize him. The successes are inflated or fabricated and attributed to Trump while he does nothing but intimidate opponents, especially on X, flattering other dictators and enjoy himself on the golf course. Elon Musk has been tasked with destroying the system of the American democracy, halting subsidies and firing civil servants so they cannot obstruct. As a reward, he can give orders to his own companies from which he earns billions.
Critical media are no longer allowed to attend press conferences. There are people appointed by Trump in his government who will blindly do what fits into the agenda of Project 2025. If something goes wrong, Trump will throw a tantrum in which he blames everyone: his employees, his political opponents, NATO allies, the EU, European democratic leaders.
Power and flying monkeys Trump supposedly wants to solve the war in Ukraine by giving Putin what he wants, by appeasing him. He parrots Russian rhetoric about the conflict. European leaders now want to go to Trump one by one to persuade him to continue supporting Ukraine and Europe militarily and he of course thinks that is wonderful. So much depends on his cooperation, the weapons and military the US can offer, the money he could continue to pour into NATO. He feels very powerful now. When there is a so-called agreement between Russia and Ukraine, he is a hero to his adoring supporters for bringing peace. If Europe is overrun by Russia, he thinks he will receive respect from Putin. If Trump helps Ukraine, he would be the hero of Europe. But he gains less from that. Because democratic countries in and outside Europe will criticize him for his destructive policies and destruction of the American democratic system, he will keep them at a distance and continue to treat them as the enemy under the control of the ‘left-wing elite’.
The MAGA cult listens to Trump’s every wish, every dog whistle (call to action), supports the Project 2025 agenda and intimidates political opponents in their environment, oppresses women, recognizes just two genders, condemns homosexuality, bans abortions. They report their non-white neighbors and colleagues to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for deportation. They are the narcissist’s flying monkeys who help carry out Trump’s reign of terror in society. They don’t care about what happens to other people. Others are considered dangerous, the “enemy from within.” Anyone within the cult who asks critical questions, has moral objections, and opposes them, Trump and the other MAGA members, will be rejected and prosecuted. Thus, the MAGA cult is isolated, conditioned and an extension of the narcissistic leader Donald J. Trump.
Explanation based on the four phases of a narcissistic relationship
Phase 1 – Idealization
When you get to know a narcissist, he will try to capture you completely. He puts you on a pedestal, praises your beautiful qualities, emphasizes how special you are. You and the relationship are idealized. Something like the two of you together is special, unique. This treatment releases a strong dose of dopamine, a hormone that gives you an intensely happy feeling. This shot of happiness is addictive. Winning at gambling releases the substance, as well as rewards from digital games and positive feedback on social media. No matter what else happens in the relationship, no matter how he treats you, you will always long for that reward you once received.
No politician Donald Trump, when he entered politics, did the same to people within the Republican Party and to their supporters. It is not without reason that the movement is called MAGA, after the slogan: Make America Great Again. We are the most special country in the World. And I’m different from anyone you’ve ever met, than anyone you’ve ever voted for. Donald Trump was not a politician and that is what made him so special to his followers. According to Trump, America was no longer great because of politicians who had their own evil agenda. You couldn’t trust politicians, but you could trust him. He was a brilliant businessman and the smartest the world had ever seen to save the greatest country ever from destruction.
Trump reminds me of the kind of narcissist who picks a vulnerable woman, talks to her about the horrible ex who mistreated her and tells her she never has to worry again because he will protect her. She is actually very special and he understands her, sees her for who she is. He is the most altruistic man she has ever encountered; he is her devoted slave. The relationship is ideal. In the meantime, he has heard her all out and remembered where her pain points are, where she is most vulnerable. That’s for the next phase, to make her addicted to his ‘love’.
Savior The US had a good economy after Barack Obama’s presidency, but most citizens did not notice it much. The minimum wage had been the same for decades and getting seriously ill was still something that would force someone to sell their house to pay the bills. The democratic system protected citizens, but formulating and implementing policy took far too much time. The power of the multinationals and the richest was already very great. They did not cooperate in fair distribution of prosperity. In that case they would loose their shareholders and thus the value of their company. No president could change that in eight years or less.
For Trump, this was a great opportunity to define the role of the bad ex. He picked up a piece of Russian rhetoric, conspiracy theories about an evil elite, and there was the scapegoat: the left-wing elite. That elite deliberately did nothing for the American people. He would do it differently, but more than that, he would tell the elite the truth. The MAGA of course loved his insulting attitude towards other heads of state, which we found so objectionable. He stood up for them, for the people of America who deserved to be great. Thus he became their savior.
Explanation based on the four phases of a narcissistic relationship
Introduction
Donald John Trump is president of the United States of America. He won the elections in 2016 and has never let go of the role of president. I will explain why he behaves the way he does based on my knowledge of narcissistic behavior and the narcissistic script. That script is a four-stage tactic that a narcissist uses to maneuver people into a dependent relationship with him. In this way, Trump has gained power over millions of Americans and also has supporters outside the US who are stuck in his web.
Identity of success Before Donald Trump became president, he was a not-so-successful businessman. He has gone bankrupt six times and has managed to save his skin every time. Several journalistic investigations have been conducted into his actions. This reveals a bond with, among others, the Russian oligarchs and Wladimir Putin. I won’t go into detail about that. There is a link between Trump and Putin and you can tell by his behavior and rhetoric.
When Trump was elected as US President, he was given an identity of a successful person. That was exactly what he needed. Someone with a narcissistic personality disorder has no idea who he really is. He has discarded and ignored all the qualities that were detested in his life in order to survive mentally. A narcissist is a victim of his upbringing in which he was never fully accepted just as he is. His good, or praised, qualities are the only image he has of himself and the other part of himself is locked away in the basement of his subconscious as wrong and undesirable. If he encounters it in someone else, he will ridicule or otherwise punish him.
A parasite A narcissist has (significantly) reduced empathy and cannot sympathize with others. He killed a part of himself so there’s a wound there. In order not to feel the emotional pain, the narcissist must cut off the connection with emotions. He is not whole and needs the (positive) opinion, the reflection of a mirror image, of others to have the idea of being a complete person. He is a parasite in social interactions. This is at the expense of the ability to connect with others. A narcissist is in fact very lonely and in order not to feel that, he demands loyalty from the people around him, confirmation of his superiority and success. When he loses, he takes on the role of victim or brave fighter to get people on board and help him become successful again.
The narcissist prefers to choose people around him who are gifted but have little self confidence. He borrows/steals their qualities and gifts and copies them to achieve success and make himself more important. Due to the other person’s lack of self-confidence, he can make him/her insecure by being demanding, criticizing and pretending that the special qualities and achievements are his own. And the other person must then try harder for respect or even to earn the relationship (working relationship, friendship, love relationship, president and minister).
Losing the 2020 election was a disaster for Donald Trump and he handled it like a true narcissist. He has denied the results, accused Democrats of election fraud and mobilized his supporters to ensure he wins the next election and regains his rightful place in the White House. He found all kinds of supporters who helped him because they benefited from it.
Supporters The Heritage Foundation has drawn up an agenda based on strict fundamentalist religious values. Their goal is to silence opponents like science and culture, make sure people are not educated and easy to manipulate, health care is phased out so that people are more vulnerable, fearful and malleable, women are oppressed and preoccupied with motherhood. In order to give way to this backward revolution, they have created one for Donald Trump with their own agenda to ensure that he and he alone comes to power. The constitution will be changed, a “divide and rule” policy is practiced and the country will be locked up, all in accordance with the narcissistic script for dependency that suits their desired fundamentalist religious society.
In addition, Trump has the cooperation of the oligarchs, the extremely wealthy. There are reports that he was already indebted to some and that he has something to make up for. In exchange for lowering taxes and destabilizing the legal order and society so that even more money can be made without any worries, they have most likely bought the presidency for Trump. They have invested in the campaign and social media influence.
Algorithms An important role has been played by Elon Musk, who apparently purchased the Twitter platform specifically for this purpose. He has renamed it X, a medium bursting with conspiracy theories, (Russian) rhetoric and hate speech under the guise of freedom of expression. With the influence of algorithms, certain opinions are expressed much more freely than others. Opinions that fit the Apartheid ideals of Musk’s home country South Africa. Money isn’t Musk’s only motivation. Another story that I am not going to delve into now.
Twitter was already Donald Trump’s playground for his narcissistic playbook. Musk ultimately enabled him to manipulate a large part of the young (male) generation of first voters through the manipulation of algorithms. The MAGA movement has grown in size but also in depth of narcissistic manipulation thanks to Elon Musk.
Welcome to my homepage! On November 14. 2024, I ended up on Bluesky, an alternative to social media platform Twitter. Trump had claimed victory in the US elections and was already busy preparing to dismantle the American democracy and isolate the country from other democratic countries. The (free) Western world watched in astonishment and as if in a frozen state. On Bluesky I found many people who had fled from digital warzone X, the former Twitter poisoned by Musk and other fascists. I had not seen some of them for years because the atmosphere on the platform had become so toxic that I no longer went there.
Through this other platform with different values, we have reconnected. We are prepared to fight for what we consider important. In the meantime, I got to know tens of thousands of Americans who want to fight for their democracy. With the help of starter packs, my number of followers grew explosively. In order to have my account, Strandvogel, verified, I needed a website. That is why I decided to set up this website. As a base from where I can work towards my goal of bringing together as many people as possible from all over the world so that together we can effectively resist.
Initially, the free world was confused by the openly narcissistic behavior and fascist ideas of various world leaders. With Trump as president and clearly the future autocratic leader of the US, the balance has completely tipped. Europe began to realize that fascism had received a major boost and that the US would no longer be a stable ally. In my country, the Netherlands, a right-wing extremist political party also won the elections two years ago, in 2023. Our democratic system is still standing but is creaking under the rhetoric of Geert Wilders. I started writing blogs, about Trump’s narcissistic behavior and about what an autocracy entails. With my knowledge and life experience I try to wake people up.
Conspiracy theories and intolerance
My name is Margriet Pakvis- van As and I was born in 1966, a time when most people around me had consciously experienced the Second World War. My grandparents were involved in protecting Jewish people during the Second World War, delivering food at hiding places. Until 1989 I grew up in the Cold War, the time when Europe was divided, with an iron curtain between West and East. Personally, For almost twelve years I have been in a relationship with someone with a narcissistic personality disorder and escaped from it. I myself received multiple diagnoses, including ADHD and ASD (autism spectrum). Finally I have five years of experience with a client council in mental health care and eight years as a recovery worker and reintegration counselor for people with ASD and ADHD.
Between 2013 and 2016 I got stuck in the world of conspiracy theories. With the help of my husband and a friend who kept asking me critical questions I got out. I noticed that other conspiracy theorists started to hate entire groups of people but I did not recognize myself in the intolerance for people with different opinions and people from a different culture. Eventually I found information about the conspiracy theories that were spread in the years before the Second World War broke out and that laid the foundation for the persecution of the Jews. That was an eye-opener for me.
The real elite
The evil elite that contemporary conspiracy theorists have been warning about for decades now has reared its head in the current reality. And not so surprisingly, they are very different people than conspiracy theorists (MAGA; Wappies) thought. Millions of them still believe that Putin and Trump are liberators, even now that people are being driven en masse into a prison of poverty, indifferent leadership and hopelessness.
But the real elite, the richest among us, have controlled politics for decades. And now that it is so visible that the majority must become aware, they have bought the elections of extremist leaders who will mercilessly play us off against each other. They try to end us up in fear and poverty and exclude us from care, safety and education: the opportunity for children and young people to develop in such a way that they would have a perspective for the future.
We can still escape from this situation. We can change the possible future. It is not complicated but it requires a lot of courage and trust. The instruments are: connection, cooperation, speaking out against tyranny, sticking to your moral compass, disobeying orders that go against it and unconditional love and respect for others, even if they are different or think differently.
Be kind to the human race
If a large majority does not listen to the rhetoric and orders of a dictator, he will be losing his power. By not buying anything we do not really need and sharing what we have with each other outside the system of money, the richest will lose their power. By not judging each other for other beliefs and uniting in full trust, the strictly religious groups lose their power.
Politics has not been our solid friend for a while. The same applies to religion. Also to maintaining an image by having certain possessions. This is the moment to find and hold on to each other, to choose respect, love, inclusion. Protect the vulnerable people, be kind to the human race (all together) and let nothing drive us apart. As soon as the majority is united, we can start looking again at a system to organize and regulate everything collectively, with new leaders. From there, the possibility arises of a more democratic system that works for everyone.
Hold on to eachother for change
Much will change, for better or for worse. History has taught us that we get there by remaining silent and just going with the flow or by being swept along by hate. That will be war, misery, loss, grief, trauma before we realize only the billionaires are happy. However, now we can choose the other way: by resisting the old system that no longer works for us. By doing exactly the opposite. Embrace the stranger, ignore the autocratic leader, resist all that is inhuman.
Hold on to each other, no matter what. Because when we unite, accepting every individual for who he/she/them really truly is/are, we win and will be free. And when we are united and free, we willen be ready to create a healthy new democratic system.
United for Democracy 