Projection And Displacement- A Possible Reason That Republicans Are Venting So Hard Against Democrats

In the Intelligence Committee and then the Judiciary Committee we saw some very angry Republicans.  People like Doug Collins, Jim Jordan, Matthew Gaetz,  and Louie Gohmert.

I think it key to try to understand anger and the reasons people are angry.  It's usually for a valid reason, but it's often not the incident at hand.  It's often an anger that has been repressed because the real target of the anger is someone the angry people feel they cannot confront.  So they lash out at someone 'safer' to attack.

In this case, like the Democrats and the witnesses.

Projection and Displacement are two psychological terms used to describe this type.


From Good Therapy

Projection is a psychological defense mechanism in which individuals attribute characteristics they find unacceptable in themselves to another person. For example, a husband who has a hostile nature might attribute this hostility to his wife and say she has an anger management problem.

In some cases projection can result in false accusations. For example, someone with adulterous feelings might accuse their partner of infidelity.

TYPES OF PROJECTION

Like other defense mechanisms, projection is typically unconscious and can distort, transform, or somehow affect reality. A classic example of the defense mechanism is when an individual says “She hates me” instead of expressing what is actually felt, which is “I hate her.”

There are three generally accepted types of projection:

1. Neurotic projection is the most common variety of projection and most clearly meets the definition of defense mechanism. In this type of projection, people may attribute feelings, motives, or attitudes they find unacceptable in themselves to someone else. 
2. Complementary projection occurs when individuals assume others feel the same way they do. For example, a person with a particular political persuasion might take it for granted that friends and family members share those beliefs.
3. Complimentary projection is the assumption other people can do the same things as well as oneself. For example, an accomplished pianist might take it for granted that other piano students can play the piano equally well.

Closely related is Displacement.  Taking your anger at someone you are afraid to attack and instead attacking someone less powerful.  From VeryWellMind:

"Displaced aggression is one of the classic examples of this defense. When people feel angry but cannot direct that anger toward the source of their frustration, they transfer those feelings to someone or something else. A person who becomes angry at her professor, for example, may come home and take her anger out on her spouse. The spouse may, in turn, displace this anger towards their children, who then take out their frustrations on each other."

If we look at the key arguments being made by the Republicans, we can see that they really are things that Trump himself does or the Republican Members of Congress and the Senate do.  For example:

1. Republicans argue:  There is not one shred of evidence to impeach Trump
1. They're saying this in defense of their President who's made, according to the Washington Post 13,435 false or misleading claims, which are simply claims without a credible evidence
2. Republicans argue:  The proceedings are simply partisan attacks on the President
1. We can look at the US Senate where Majority Leader McConnell has blatantly blocked Democratic judges - most notoriously Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland.  President Trump's attacks are not as much partisan as personal attacks against anyone who doesn't do as he wants
3. Republicans argue: The Democrats have wanted to impeach Trump since day one
1. That merely echoes McConnell's vow that his number one priority was to deny Obama a second term
4. Republicans argue:  The President was legitimately looking at the corruption of Hunter Biden
1. Trump is unquestionably the most corrupt president we've had in modern times, and quite possibly ever.  He's only concerned about corruption that isn't working in his favor
2. Calling out Hunter Biden for taking advantage of his father's name and position is a rich claim when defending the father of Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr, and son-in-law Jerod Kushner, all of whom are taking advantage of their father's name and position to enrich themselves.
5. Republicans argue:  Impeachment is an illegal overturning of the will of the people in the 2016 election.  Democrats are just angry about losing
1. The 'will of the people' is best measured by what the majority wants.  In the 2016 election nearly 3 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton.  The electoral college's arcane rules could be said to have usurped the will of the people.
2. In the 2018 Congressional election, the people voted out of Congress, many Republicans who supported Trump and voted in Democrats, giving them a significant majority in the House, therefore one can argue easily that the will of the people was for the Democrats in the House to impeach the president
3. And we can say that the Republicans are just angry for having lost their majority in the House

All these angry attacks on the Democrats reflect things that Republicans themselves are guilty of.  But Republicans feel that their political careers are in danger if they oppose Trump.  Funds will be withheld from them when the run for reelection.  Their Republican opponents in the primaries will get those funds.  And the rabid - really, that's not an exaggeration for many Republicans - Trump supporters will defeat them in the primaries.

But they also know that many of them will be vulnerable in the general election.  And even if they don't lose in their gerrymandered districts, they won't win back the House Majority and may even lose the House and the Presidency.

And so, they are angry.  But they can't rant against the President.  So they rant against the Democrats.  Transference.  Displacement.