What the Science of Addiction Tells Us About Trump

[Guno צְבִי]

It turns out that your brain on grievances looks a lot like your brain on drugs.

Donald Trump has made grievance a primary feature of his life and presidency, from the thousands of lawsuits he has filed to, most recently, his repeated claims of national election fraud. His opponents, and even many of his supporters, have wondered why he can’t seem to control his urges to lash out at perceived enemies.

I am a violence researcher and study the role of grievances and retaliation in violent crime. Recently, I’ve been researching the way grievances affect the brain, and it turns out that your brain on grievance looks a lot like your brain on drugs. In fact, brain imaging studies show that harboring a grievance (a perceived wrong or injustice, real or imagined) activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.

This isn’t a metaphor; it’s brain biology. Scientists have found that in substance addiction, environmental cues such as being in a place where drugs are taken or meeting another person who takes drugs cause sharp surges of dopamine in crucial reward and habit regions of the brain, specifically, the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum. This triggers cravings in anticipation of experiencing pleasure and relief through intoxication. Recent studies show that similarly, cues such as experiencing or being reminded of a perceived wrong or injustice — a grievance — activate these same reward and habit regions of the brain, triggering cravings in anticipation of experiencing pleasure and relief through retaliation. To be clear, the retaliation doesn’t need to be physically violent—an unkind word, or tweet, can also be very gratifying.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/12/trump-grievance-addiction-444570

 

[Tacomaman]

I have said from the beginning that the hardcore tRumpanzees are "excuse" addicts. In other words, somebody or something other than themselves are responsible for their own miserable existences. Otherwise, they would never support somebody like tRump who ALWAYS blames others for his own incompetence and who simply is so insecure that he can never admit or apologize when he makes a mistake.

 

[Nordberg]

Those who are conned cannot walk out of the con. They are hooked on Trump-like heroine. They cannot get out. They have told us since the election that around the next corner, we will find prof that makes Trump the king. We have walked around that corner until we are getting dizzy. Trump has nothing. They have nothing. The basis of their claims is fraud, of which they have zero evidence. That would be a good place to start. That is why judges are hooting and hollering about the cases. They are comically bad and have no starting point.

 

[BidenPresident]

It turns out that your brain on grievances looks a lot like your brain on drugs.

Donald Trump has made grievance a primary feature of his life and presidency, from the thousands of lawsuits he has filed to, most recently, his repeated claims of national election fraud. His opponents, and even many of his supporters, have wondered why he can’t seem to control his urges to lash out at perceived enemies.

I am a violence researcher and study the role of grievances and retaliation in violent crime. Recently, I’ve been researching the way grievances affect the brain, and it turns out that your brain on grievance looks a lot like your brain on drugs. In fact, brain imaging studies show that harboring a grievance (a perceived wrong or injustice, real or imagined) activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.

This isn’t a metaphor; it’s brain biology. Scientists have found that in substance addiction, environmental cues such as being in a place where drugs are taken or meeting another person who takes drugs cause sharp surges of dopamine in crucial reward and habit regions of the brain, specifically, the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum. This triggers cravings in anticipation of experiencing pleasure and relief through intoxication. Recent studies show that similarly, cues such as experiencing or being reminded of a perceived wrong or injustice — a grievance — activate these same reward and habit regions of the brain, triggering cravings in anticipation of experiencing pleasure and relief through retaliation. To be clear, the retaliation doesn’t need to be physically violent—an unkind word, or tweet, can also be very gratifying.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/12/trump-grievance-addiction-444570

Thanks, interesting article.

The FBI director testified most violence comes from groups/persons motivated by grievance.