This just in: Psychological projection is a defense mechanism people subconsciously employ in order to cope with difficult feelings or emotions. Psychological projection involves projecting undesirable feelings or emotions onto someone else, rather than admitting to or dealing with the unwanted feelings.

In simple terms, at least for me: A bank robber is videoed robbing a bank. The police stop him outside the bank and say, “You’re under arrest.” The robber caught red-handed responds with, “No, you’re under arrest for robbing a bank.”

This “projection defense” is the unwritten first law of the Republican playbook. If they are caught doing something that they know they shouldn’t be doing, step one is to accuse the other party of doing that very same thing.

For example, Donald Trump lies obviously and continuously. One of his favorite adjectives he uses to describe someone that he no longer likes is to call them “dishonest.”

Republicans call any attempt to hold Trump accountable for things like (1) lying and providing false information to further his political campaign (Stormy Daniels) or (2) Attempting to get a state official to aid in the overturning of a fair election (Georgia) or (3) Income tax evasion and insurance fraud (New York) or (4) Illegally hoarding highly classified documents and then lying about it (twice) or (5) Inciting a violent attempt to overthrow the United States government. Just to name a few. To the Republican party, attempting to even investigate these potential crimes is an abuse of power.

Republicans are projecting when they do this. They ignore things like (1) Barr reading the Muller report and then publicly and wrong reporting that the report cleared Trump of all claims about Russian interference or (2) DeSantis in Florida using his position to punish Disney because they came out publicly against his anti-LGBTQ initiatives and pledged to stop supporting Republicans in the state.

What does this mean to me?

I try to fact-check things if possible. I do have a couple of shortcuts. For example:

1. I try not to believe that something is true just because I want it to be true.
2. I look for “projection”. For example, is Matt Goetz accusing someone of pedophilia? Is Lindsey Graham taking anti-LGBTQ stances?
3. I look for inconstancies. For example, would a headline like “Biden is against school lunch programs for the poor” really be consistent with what we know about Biden? Is it reasonable to think that Donald Trump broke the law?
4. I know that Fox News and MSNBC are both extremely biased so I never hang my hat on a position that they put forth.
5. Do a few Google searches. Check the source of those searches.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim