Join institutional investors, analysts and strategists from the world's largest banks: Subscribe today
Already have an account? log in
Remember: It’s Probably A Projection
"You done writing for today?" I was talking with my psychiatrist on Monday. If you're a brilliant ec
I have my political beliefs-they are left of center, and I loathe Trump. I try hard not to let that influence how I manage client assets. Except for important policies, and off the rail stuff such as impaired rule of law, tariff policy, geopolitical bashing of allies or fed independence which I will factor since that influences tail risk. That isn’t TDS. That is risk management. And sometimes even Trump and his lackeys make some valid points, nobody is always wrong.
Agree. Best investing is when you can put your emotions aside. I have my own separate feelings about Trump the individual – I don’t like his character one iota. However, if he was sane and making thoughtful, smart moves to improve financial conditions in this country, I would certainly trade it. Bottom line, an investor is always in the game no matter who’s in charge of the country, like um or not. If calling out Trump for being of low intellect, in early stages of dementia and making decisions my 9 year old granddaughter could do better, means I have TDS then I plead guilty. But don’t conflate economic reasoning with character analysis.
The overarching point, though, is that it’s a total straw man. Just like the notion that I’m fretting about Trump at 11:00 PM instead of, you know, watching Miller’s Crossing for the 550th time.
The idea that a majority of professional money managers are going to work every day and investing clients’ assets based on last night’s MSNBC or CNN coverage is just ludicrous. Literally no one’s doing that. No one’s suffering “TDS-induced drawdowns.” That’s not a thing. And it’s no coincidence it sounds like it walked out of a TruthSocial post. Relatedly, no one’s “pro-CCP mercantilism.” Saying Trump, Navarro and Lutnick are delusional (and Lutnick’s not really delusional, he’s just a sycophant) isn’t the same thing as saying “Go, Xi, Go! Yay, totalitarianism!” Again: No one’s saying that. That’s not a thing either outside of the Chinese mainland.
And really, if we’re honest, this isn’t even the most emotionally-charged investment environment of the past five years, let alone in all of modern history. You want to see “emotionally-charged”? Go back and re-live the GameStop frenzy. That’s emotion.
TSLA certainly has been a bit-o-emotional-rollercoaster..
The reality of TDS is that TRUMP Is deranged – and that is a very real and serious threat to the economy, the markets, our democracy and a lot more.
Quoting Nancy Pelosi? Now that’s really going to piss off your disgruntled reader; especially when she’s absolutely correct.
Sounds like you have a good psychiatrist. Understanding projection (and defenses in general) is a very useful tool for understanding other people’s thinking and behavior. It’s even more useful for understanding one’s own thinking and behavior.
He actually hit up an online thesaurus for synonyms for “unemotional” and chose the one he thought sounded smartest.
I’ll admit, I had to google the definition, but it’s so perfect that he opted for the word meaning a mental disorder characterized by being unable to identify or express your own emotions.
That’s beyond Olympic-level irony. That’s the Platonic ideal of irony. Wow. Just… Wow.
“He actually hit up an online thesaurus for synonyms for ‘unemotional’ and chose the one he thought sounded smartest.”
He sure did! You know he did. And I thought exactly the same thing when I read it.
Also yes, the fact that the word he chose accidentally attests to the projection point is doubly ironic and also plainly suggests he didn’t (and still doesn’t) know the meaning of that word.
Seeing that we’re talking projection, that choice of word by the guy was a Freudian slip of epic proportion.
But, I couldn’t get my head around the size of the counter rally, especially on Monday, till it struck me that it’s being bought by the same people who thought Trump x2 was an excellent idea.
Denial is such a great survival mechanism but now even denial is suffering a strange manifestation.
Make denial great again.
I kept asking everyone what that slogan meant
Does noticing that gold has hung in pretty well despite the step back from the abyss and subsequent USD rally a manifestation of an unhealthy Donald Trump obsession?
I imagine your septuagenarian correspondent was up at midnight waiting on a TrUTH from on high.
Mr. Trump does seem to project (women like it when I grab…; my opponent is hateful and crooked for criticizing me). However, what Ms. Pelosi seems to refer to there is a situation where he uses the strategy knowingly, while in the context of narcissism projection is intended to preserve the exalted self-image from flaws and the success of this hinges on the process being unconscious. So Ms. Pelosi is properly describing deflection or blame-shifting rather than projection. That said, narcissists do both.
As for “TDS”, explaining a cultural phenomenon in terms of individual depth psychology would imply everyone has a similar makeup to Mr. Trump. Maybe you know better, but I’d analyze it as a rhetorical meme instead, although one originating in Mr. Trump’s self-understanding. It seems to be used also to describe extreme emotional reactions to Mr. Trump’s policies, with the implication that causing distress to your political opponents is funny; but when used by authors to explain opposition to Mr. Trump, like any great fallacy it has some face validity as it refers to an extreme and inverse version of the halo/horns effect which most people likely are aware of as a psychological fact even if they don’t know the term. Use of the term this way is saying all criticism of Mr. Trump or his policies is because you don’t like him as a person or don’t like some unrelated aspect of his politics, but also with an extra twist of “only someone with a mental illness would disagree with me/my support of Mr. Trump” and using derogatory terms for mental illness as slurs. Also, you are using leader-approved language and clearly identifying yourself as in-group and cruel which is apparently good. It doesn’t say great things about the person using it and if it’s really widespread in America maybe you are really in trouble. What a bizarre read (and I don’t mean your writing).
I love nitpicking and hair splitting so just to split one more, the part about calling your opponent nervous if you are nervous would work as projection/externalization but the “arguments could be made” and related would be properly the other stuff.
I have spent virtually my whole life as a student or a “teacher.” I started school in 1949 and went straight through to earn a doctorate in 1970. I taught my first course in 1965. I retired in 2007 and since that time I have co-founded a couple more businesses (for no remuneration), served on a few small firm boards, and become something of a local minor league philanthropist. Through all the time since retirement I continue to serve as an editorial reviewer, something I have done for over 50 years. I just can’t stay away. I don’t really do politics. I was offered a chance once to be someone’s campaign manager and I refused because I knew I would wreck his dreams in that role. Instead, I served as a pro bono consultant to the city which elected him as the youngest mayor ever of an actual city way back in the day. He was also my student as well as my friend. I am a teacher not a politician. I hate Trump and his destructive behavior because I hate stupid in any of its many guises. I have few friends because it’s really hard to hang around people who just can’t think and act rationally/logically/ethically. When I react to things on various sites on the web I usually project from something in my career or experience I think would be helpful. Like my late and former boss, I hate labels and arguing about who should be called what. He always said, “I don’t care what you want to call [something or other]; shut up and call it Fred and get on with [whatever we were discussing].” I just hate stupid and that leaves me more or less alone, always an academic in my heart, especially since my wife and best friend and colleague passed.