B X Lee -- What is ‘Trump Contagion’?
What is ‘Trump Contagion’?
The Banality of Evil, and How to Break Ourselves Out of the Spell
Apart from my book, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Danger to American Democracy and All Humankind, published in 2024, Laurence Rees’ The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History, published in 2025, may shed light on the phenomenon of “Trump Contagion.”
Rees asks the question: What made millions of ordinary human beings—especially of one of the most advanced civilizations—support, spread, tolerate, and enthusiastically take part in a genocidal regime? He insightfully examines history through the lens of personal testimonies, psychological analysis, and neuroscientific research—much like mental health experts do.
“Contagion” may sound benign, sometimes referring to an infectious laugh, a fashion, or even a yawn. But the picture vastly changes depending on what is being spread. Rees effectively shows that the Nazis were not a collection of uniquely monstrous individuals but ordinary people affected by group loyalty, conformity, fear, prejudice, and obedience to authority. That unspeakable atrocities can occur when ordinary people simply follow orders and fail to think critically at a time of contagion is what political theorist Hannah Arendt astutely observed in her 1963 book, Eichmann in Jerusalem.
When severely mentally-impaired “leaders”, be it in street gangs, in prison blocks, or in politics, amass a following to do their extreme bidding, including heinous crimes, they may be exploiting and intensifying the most mundane human habits and needs. When gang members are separated from their ringleader and begin to think for themselves again, it is almost as if they are emerging from a hypnosis. Even those who consider themselves opponents cannot be assured of immunity if there is constant exposure: emotional contagion is subconscious and, in crowds, can “sweep you away.”
Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson said in an NPR interview that Donald Trump’s cabinet must remove him from office. He stated repeatedly:
He should be removed—he should have been removed from office immediately when he threatened nuclear war, threatening the offensive use of nuclear weapons, which is to say threatening the destruction of humanity….
He should have been removed from office by his own cabinet secretaries the moment he threatened a nuclear attack…. He should have been bundled up and taken out. That is a crime. There’s no greater crime than that….
Here, you have a guy threatening to eliminate the human race. And that’s not considered a crime? It tells you how deranged our moral scale has become. So he should be removed from office for threatening first-use nuclear strike.
Other than to clarify whether he was referring to the use of the 25th Amendment—to which Carlson answered, “That’s correct”—there was only a tepid response from the host. Donald Trump had done nothing less, at the United Nations, to threaten to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” or to “drive them into hell.”
Carlson’s comment on, “how deranged our moral scale has become,” is very striking. He was once a part of that scale. Yet, he is able to say:
I wasn’t able to see it because I was caught in the partisan lie. I was mesmerized by, and I was part of, by the way, the machinery of this as a cable news host for 29 years. I was part of this—effectively a deception.
Carlson’s interview and how Donald Trump is the latest political “weapon” for thought reform is something I discuss on the latest “Weekend Show” on Meidas Touch:
Another podcast that discussed our Medical Statement, on the Congressional Record, mentioned another prominent right-wing strategist who was defecting from the Republicans:
I just discovered from Tom Edsall’s column in the Times this week, that in April 36 prominent medical experts raised questions about just this: Trump’s fitness to serve in office….
And they say: “If we were called upon under the 25th Amendment to judge the President’s present ability to discharge the duties of his office, we would have to conclude that he lacks the capacity to do so”….
Maybe there are cracks showing in what seemed to be the insurmountable amount of support in the Republican base for Donald Trump?... None other than Karl Rove, in the Wall Street Journal,… wrote an article,… basically saying, he is tired of the crazy….
I have described contagion in another interview:
the mental pathology in one individual in a powerful influential office such as the U.S. presidency indicated a public health emergency, because the longer he stayed in office and the longer he had maintained public exposure, his symptoms would spread…. I, having worked in state hospitals and prisons most of my career where individuals with severe mental symptoms may go untreated for a very long time, I’ve actually seen this a lot where [eventually the entire exposed] population, be it the household or the prison block, looks as if every person has the same illness, even something as severe as schizophrenia.
The remedy is removal of exposure, which is why Donald Trump’s removal from office is critical, before humanity is “hypnotized” into global annihilation.
The power of contagion also means that solutions can be infectious! We are more interconnected than we believe, and the knowledge people share can help them seize back their power! Here is a small sampling of the responses I have received:
I’m a Retired Adjunct Professor teaching more than 26 years at [a] Uniformed Service Program [and] 40 years working directly with At Risk Youth, Street Gangs and Prisoners. [I] totally agree with your idea about Contagion and leadership by removing the Principal from the Group!
I’m … a physician in Buffalo, NY. I was … medical director of two agencies…. our country is hijacked…. His current behaviors and situation require … removing him for incompetency (and incapacity) to be tested and evaluated.
I just saw your instructive interview…. A public service. [As a political scientist,] I’ve been puzzled for years by the phenomenon of Trump’s sustained support. I’ve come up with bits and pieces of explanation but nothing adequate or satisfying. Now your concepts of ‘contagion’ and ‘transference’ fill the void.
I too have a degree in theology…. I am so grateful for your clear-eyed input, your courage, calm, truth, and wisdom. [I] pray that we all will soon be cured of our collective Trump-trauma.
you mention the ever declining mental health of American society (and hence, we have Trump)…. do you see some parallels between the world of the prison, and the world of the corporate board?... I consider you to be one of the key leaders who has led the way, toward the light … at the end of this dark tunnel.
Interactive sessions continue this Wednesday, as below.
Announcement:
Dr. Bandy X. Lee is appearing weekly on Meidas Touch, on “The Weekend Show” with Anthony Davis (there are already signs of active suppression of the information she has to give, and therefore please be sure to spread the word)! Now is a critical period when much burden lies on the people to protect themselves. Attend her interactive, strategy sessions, such as her next Project for Human Survival planning meeting on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at 5 p.m. EST / 2 p.m. PST, or her action-oriented, “the Ongoing Presidential Psychiatric Emergency” meeting on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 3 p.m. EST / 12 noon PST. Paid subscribers will receive links an hour before (paid subscriptions are for participant protection; please contact her if you cannot afford a subscription but would like to attend).
We need a Moral Revolution! Thank you for all you have done and all you will do! You have been open and transparent about tRumps mental illness since 2015. I appreciate the information you provide to the public. 🌹
THE Rs have known the entire time what was wrong with his brain disorder!!! They hid it, until they couldn’t, now they just lie!!! WE all see it, we hear it!!! The man lost his mind, sometime last YEAR!!!! It cannot be fixed!!! They ALL suffer with the same issues!!! None of them will help, they ALL must go, NOW, the sooner the better!!! Someone call an ambulance, send “HIM” to the closest mental health hospital!!! It’s the only way to get a complete diagnosis!!!
HE is a very sick man, it will only get worse!!! How many people will we allow him to murder???!!!
He has unlocked the door for ANYONE to attack us!!!