B X Lee -- A Nation under Siege -- and the Media Helped
A Nation under Siege
Our Great Betrayal by the American Corporate Media
People ask me:
You predicted that a Trump presidency would be dangerous ten years ago. But did you imagine it would be this bad?
To this I have no choice but to answer:
Yes. Without intervention this was only a matter of course—and worse. There is practically no limit to how bad it can get. The public would know this only if it understood psychopathology.
Imagine that there is an aggressive cancer that responds quickly to medicine. Doctors know that, while the rapid spread of cancer spells death, if the patient got the medicine in time, it might even potentially cure. The patient may not know this, but wishes to go see a doctor the instant the disease appears, so as to find out treatment options. But a charlatan appears, and although he is not a doctor, sweet talks the patient into believing that it is no big deal, and all one needs is to take is Aspirin. This is a much more attractive option, and so the patient decides to wait, quelling any gnawing pain with Aspirin. After all, the charlatan speaks so authoritatively! Then the patient feels the cancer spread, ever more rapidly, as organ after organ begins to fail. The patient cries out for a doctor, but the charlatan has cut off all access, and even the doctors who used to publicly educate about medical matters are nowhere to be seen. The entire body is now malfunctioning, and death may be imminent. Still, the charlatan tells you that everything is all right, that he will keep everything under control. Trapped without other options, the psyche convinces itself that the charlatan is right, for the alternative has become too frightening and painful. Each moment of doubt is quickly turned into further submission, idealization, and even deification of the charlatan, as anesthesia for mental pain. The charlatan has achieved his twisted goal—also from sickness—to be adored, to dominate, and to exert ultimate control.
The nurturance of pathology usually brings only destruction and death, and when whole populations are involved, mass deaths. It is almost like a nation sleepwalking to its own demise, to the tune of a pied piper.
It is easy to think that this was a natural course, that we were headed in this direction anyway, but doctors—psychiatrists and healers—think differently. Just as a viral pandemic could be entirely prevented if intervened with early and intelligently, a mental health pandemic could have been completely contained if approached based on science and clinical experience.
The difference from the contagion of physical illnesses, which requires physical contact, is that the contagion of mental symptoms occurs through emotional bonds—via mass media and social media—and the more severe the symptoms, the faster and more inexorable the spread. Another difference is that the afflicted individuals do not know it—in fact, the more severe the affliction, the greater the denial! This is why I call Donald Trump’s second election: “the first presidential election not by people’s choice, but by contagion.”
The responsibility, unfortunately, lies much with the media. First, through profit-driven models, they primed the population for him, over decades of prioritizing attention and revenue over public understanding. With deregulation and consolidation, especially after the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and the Telecommunications Act in 1996, editorial content became more homogeneous, aligning with advertising and corporate interest. This incentivized content that attracts mass audiences over that which deeply informs. At the same time, algorithms on social media such as Facebook or X reward entertaining, emotionally-charged, or polarizing content, meaning that the greatest numbers of “clicks” are likely to occur from conflict, extremism, if not overt pathology (the popularity of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is an example).
Furthermore, when the corporate media and the political powers-that-be recognized how overwhelming and “powerful” mental symptoms could be, they chose to weaponize rather than to educate the public about them. Donald Trump himself marveled at his own “power”, stating: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?... It’s, like, incredible.” They also realized that, with inequality and exploitation growing to a level that could no longer be rationally justified, they needed someone like Trump to “entertain”, mesmerize, hypnotize, and detach the public from reality. Misinformation thus grew into disinformation, deception, and ultimately delusion.
In fact, our era is perhaps the first to have weaponized mental pathology for corporate profit and political expediency.
Networks are bought, threatened, sued, cajoled, and deceived, much like universities, to toe the line. Journalism has become stenography, and the only ones who get to keep their jobs are those who keep the right stories out. This includes the major newspapers that set the tone and agenda. Jeffrey Lieberman, past president of the pharmaceutical industry-funded American Psychiatric Association (APA), essentially dictated his words to the New York Times, when they aimed at mental health experts as the first target to sideline and silence.
When a society is denied not only full, accurate, complete, and insightful information and opinion, but also the ability to reason, to perceive with one’s own eyes and ears, and to ground oneself in reality, that is when it gets into trouble. Space also opens for a mentally-deranged dictator and followers—as in cults or street gangs—to take power, since the mentally-impaired will magnetically attract other mentally-impaired.
Every day that Donald Trump exhibits his mental impairments in public and they are not explained or contained, it contributes to the spread of symptoms. By merely airing and repeating his nonsensical comments, reckless threats, false beliefs, and complete contradictions rather than calling on mental health experts to interpret them and to delineate clearly what is abnormal, dangerous, and sick, the media have only contributed to the spread of pathology.
The refusal to discuss seriously about Donald Trump’s mental disturbances and dangerousness has become so pervasive, accepted, and unspoken, that a major article, even after describing a major war provoked primarily by mental derangement, makes only a passing reference to “Trump’s narcissism” as the explanation.
“Washington Week with the Atlantic” is another major example of refusal even to mention how Donald Trump is severely malignantly narcissistic and unstable, and that he could turn to nuclear weapons precisely because of his mental frailty.
In “Meet the Press,” even an intelligent and articulate senator as Cory Booker speaks of “chaos and corruption” but cannot utter a word about the central crisis of having a mentally-impaired president, whom Israel could manipulate into attacking Iran or with whom there is an unacceptably enormous risk of nuclear war.
Announcement:
Dr. Bandy X. Lee is in the process of establishing SURVIVAL UNIVERSITY. Please use the contact form to join and to help make this unprecedented effort successful. She is also leading a public course series with Preventing Violence Now, about which you can find out more and register here. Our next course begins on Saturday, April 4, 2026 at 1:00 p.m.
Dr. Lee is a forensic and social psychiatrist, president of the World Mental Health Coalition, cofounder of Preventing Violence Now, and a long-term consultant to the World Health Organization and other United Nations bodies on scientific approaches to violence prevention. She became known to the public through her 2017 Yale conference and book that alerted against dangerous leadership. In 2019, she organized a major National Press Club Conference on the theme of, “The Dangerous State of the World and the Need for Fit Leadership.” In 2024, she followed up with another major Conference, “The More Dangerous State of the World and the Need for Fit Leadership.” She published another book on dangerous leadership that has recently been expanded, in addition to a volume on how dangerous signs in a leader spreads and two critical statements on dangerous leadership. As many of the dangers she warned against unfolded—including millions of unnecessary pandemic deaths, the propagation of political violence, the exacerbation of economic inequality, the destruction of democracy, the devastation of the climate, the replacement of international collaboration with hostile confrontation, a renewed and accelerated nuclear arms race, a global emboldening of dictators leading to brutal warfare and genocide, and growing state-sanctioned cruelty and human rights violations—she has advocated for another way. Now, the author of the internationally-acclaimed textbook, Violence; over 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters; 17 scholarly books and journal special issues; and over 300 opinion editorials, introduces her curriculum on rising above the current destructive course to embrace an awareness of, “One World or None.”
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Discussion about this post
https://bandyxlee.substack.com/p/a-nation-under-siege
I was so frustrated last Friday night with Washington Week with The Atlantic precisely because Jeffrey Goldberg and guests sat there and did talk about Trump's narcissism for several minutes, and were unable to think that anyone had ever said anything about it before, much less that there were any way to do something about it. I even told Susan C. to watch it. I shouldn't have recommended it to her as it was sheer torture to watch them. Thank you, Dr. Lee.
Erich Fromm agrees with all the comments here and the very strong condemnation of the media’s neoliberal narratives. Few America’s media outlets have the courage or intelligence to protect Americans from men like Netanyahu and Trump who are driven by psychological pathologies. The media is not really holding them to account for their crimes and disregard for law and fairness.
I have be listening to you for … 8 plus years, I am so upset/angry right now
Yes. Thank you Dr. Lee.
I’m deeply grateful for Backgroundbriefing.org
Eugene Carpenter,Jr., M.D.
Forensic Pathologist,
1989 to present moment
This last year has been extremely stressful as the wealthy and media profited while a mentally ill president ruined lives and ended many lives with every decision he made.
We are a nation where money is worshipped and accumulation addicts are benignly labeled “Billionaires” gods to be aspire too.
Watching as our representatives in Congress chose to minimize mental illness as not worthy of their attention and circle around a mentally ill president, because their priority is to remain in power is emotional painful.
Avoiding our social stigma against mental illnesses has resulted in more mental illness and the reduced mental health of our population.
It wasn't just mass media, the social engineering to get Trump elected in 2024 was much deeper & sinister. Even when media gave unfettered platform to Trump to spread his contagion, it wasn't enough to get him through finish line. So plutocrats played every dirty trick possible to get him elected.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/15/republican-ads-false-flag/
But there's a bigger lesson to learn. Just as a Psychotic person is incapable to exercise sound decisions for his well being, a population suffering from mass psychosis is unable to exercise sound electoral decisions for its well being. At this point, Democracy becomes a failure. Elections become a self destructive exercise.
And destructive policies will not stop after Trump dies, they will continue under new set of politicians because what we face is a systemic malignancy.
Thank you for your comments Laurie. The mainstream media has been hijacked by billionaires and the GOP. Instead of asking Why questions , they ask only When , What and How questions. Trump and Netanyahu have many supporters in the media.
It’s shocking how little the media confronts this situation head on, when it’s obvious for all to see.
Have there been any attempts to offer Dr.Lee to be interviewed by PBS and or MSNOW? Media coverage is so important in getting this knowledge available for receptive citizens to have accurate information.
Anyone who has a reasonable understanding of the DSM V and is observant knows this. Media is complicit.
Another superb piece, and I appreciate the references to the for-profit, corporate media not serving us.
I was thinking that perhaps a group of nations could, as a group, point out what you have been pointing out.
A single nation pointing it out might be attacked by Trump.
If this could happen, perhaps the media would report it.
Perhaps you have colleagues with international connections.
Just a thought.
Best wishes.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for enjoining the full spectrum of mental health awareness, not for profit but for social progress. Today's graduates, no less than the minimally educated, need to explore mental health in a multidisciplinary approach, with both journalistic research and project practicality, in order to effectively inform and uplift society. This is a lifelong calling that goes beyond profit to long-term survival of the human species. All countries and continents need conscientizing on the centrality of mind health to human peace and progress.
Exactly. I'd just add a guess about the inertia of non-voting in this country, within the context of most people in the general population not wanting Trump/MAGA-Republicans (according to poll after poll), combined with MAGA-Republican fanatics exercising that right (despite Trump's hypothetical shooting). Overall, most people eligible to vote don't do so, with Michael Moore considering that virtually the largest political party in this country consists of non-voters. I think--a guess--that these people started turning out to vote in 2018 after Trump got elected in 2016--with a non-majority of popular vote!. The Congress was flipped accordingly, and then the same people turned out to vote in 2020, getting Trump out. Then, regarding the inertia of non-voting, people thought we were rid of Trump for good (almost never do defeated presidential candidates come back later to win--only Grover Cleveland), so things went back to non-voting and Trump/MAGA-Republicans winning yet again by default. I'm just hoping that our genuine majority will wake up and turn out again in November--in such immense numbers so as to overwhelm the MAGA-Republican balloting schemes. I hope!
Dear Dr. Lee, Please read / watch Craig Unger's books, substack, youtube vids, etc.
To Ms Robyn Chapman, Thank you for your comments today.
All the best
JG
Thank you.