Welcome to Malignant Normality (2025)

One reason I started this Substack was to process the torrent of unpleasant feelings that invaded my emotional landscape on November 5th of this year: fear, sadness, and anger. To be honest, the blog has helped a great deal in that regard. The process of researching and writing Is Donald Trump a Psychopath? has helped me make my peace with Trump himself. Sure, he’s a terrible human being, but he can’t help it. He has had this personality disorder since birth or very early childhood.

When I look at some of Trump’s antics knowing that he is a malignant narcissist, they make complete sense. Of course he sidelined Anthony Fauci during the COVID crisis - Trump craves the spotlight and has no compunction against hurting anyone to get it. Of course multiple people who worked for him, not to mention hundreds of January 6 protestors, have gone to prison on his behalf - Manipulation is not only a common trait of most psychopaths but a finely developed skill. Of course he sold NFT trading cards with his head on the bodies of Superman, Rambo, and Arnold Palmer - He literally views himself in that grandiose of a way. Of course he will harm individuals, institutions, our democratic system, our international alliances, our fragile planet, and risk nuclear war in his next term - He has always and will always destroy anything that gets between him and the adoration and power he craves.

Trump is simple and predictable. He can’t help committing atrocities because that’s who and what he is. His condition is incurable. The only thing we can do about a psychopath is protect each other from him.

The question I struggle with is why did good people neglect to protect each other from this menace? I’m not wondering why racists, misogynists, and neo-Nazis voted for him. I don’t think anyone is wondering about that. I’m wondering why half the members of my Lutheran congregation, whom I’ve known for years, who taught my kids Sunday School, who volunteered at food banks and sponsored coffee hours, I’m wondering why half of them voted for him. Robert Lifton proposed an answer to this question in a recent Scientific American article.1 It’s an effect he calls malignant normality.

Malignant Normality

According to Lifton, it starts with a lie that is blatantly and demonstrably counter factual. More lies must be made up to undermine each fact that provides evidence against the first lie. Next comes a deluge of repetition and intimidation. In the end there is a large group of people who either believe this network of lies or are afraid to speak out against it. People might have the capability to recognize the falsification of facts, but they don’t have the motivation to stand up for the truth. This is how widespread belief in a web of easily disproven lies can become normal, or more specifically, malignantly normal.

Based on Lifton’s research, this effect of malignant normality was enough to turn upstanding German physicians into the doctors who did the actual killing in the concentration camps. Malignant normality was also enough to convince the American public that funding, building, and using a nuclear weapon on Hiroshima was a good idea. If malignant normality was powerful enough keep the public complacent in the face of those atrocities, it seems like it could explain electing a psychopath as well.

Crowd Size Lie

Shortly after his ceremony in 2016, Trump claimed that he attracted “the largest audience ever to see an inauguration.”2 This was clearly untrue, as was demonstrated by the fact checkers at PolitiFact:3

Estimated crowd sizes at presidential inaugurations:

Trump, 2017: 700,000 - 900,000

Obama, 2013 - 1 million

Obama, 2009 - 1.8 million

Johnson, 1965 - 1.2 million

Network of Supporting Lies:

• A government official edited (selectively cropped) official photographs of Trump’s inauguration to make the crowd look larger. 4

• Trump claims that various news organizations had deliberately misstated the size of his crowd in an attempt to sow divisions within the American populace.5

Intimidation and Repetition:

• President Trump and White House press secretary Sean Spicer calls the National Park Service (NPS) several times on January 21 requesting more flattering photographs.

• Trump personally calls a communications official (name redacted) to request photos that “depict more spectators in the crowd.”

• Kellyanne Conway coins the term “alternative facts”

• Sean Spicer holds a White House press briefing and states “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period.”

Who was hurt:

• Sean Spicer, who resigned from his post as press secretary after 6 months on the job. He will be remembered for his support of the crowd size lie more than any of the other fiascos in the first six months of Trump’s presidency.

• Kellyanne Conway, who will be remembered for coining the phrase “alternative facts” during this episode.

• The American people, who are starting to learn that “what’s true is what the leader says is true.” Or in the words of Matt Bai, “the president of the United States has contributed mightily to an environment where people believe what they want to believe, and that is going to have long-term repercussions.”6

The long-term repercussions that Matt Bai was referring to is the creation of our current malignant normality.

COVID-Is-Like-the-Flu Lie

January 28, 2020, Trump was briefed on the arrival of the coronavirus and was told “This will be the greatest national security threat you face in your presidency.” Two days later, Trump tells the press “We only have five people. Hopefully everything’s going to be great.” A few days later he says, “we pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” On February 27 he states “This is a flu. This is like a flu,” and on March 9 he tweets "So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!"7

As of April of 2024, more than 1.2 Americans had died from Covid.8 Here is the Johns Hopkins mortality analysis for the 20 countries most effected by the coronavirus.9

The Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health estimates that if the US had the same per capita rate of deaths as in the other G7 nations, we would have prevented about 40% of the deaths.10 Even as a math teacher, 40% of 1.2 million is more humanity than I can mentally and emotionally process. I think it must also push the bounds of ethics to place a number on a “what if” as in “what if we had a president who wasn’t a psychopath?” But take a moment for yourself to consider how many of the 1.2 million American deaths might have been avoided: thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands? How must it have felt to have succumed to a virus that takes away your ability to breathe? For the remainder of this article when you read the word “malignance” remember it is in reference to the conditions that lead to suffering of that magnitude. Remember that not only can malignant normality come to America, it already has.

Life in a Malignant Normality

It seems to me that there are seven different ways to continue your life within an environment of malignant normality. The first four would fall under the category of enablers, and the final three would fall under the category of resisters.

1. The Acolyte - someone who embraces and magnifies the malignance. Acolytes in the Trump era would include the “MAGA Base” who wore the red caps and installed flags on the backs of their pickup trucks, the anchors and pundits on FOX News and other right-wing media outlets like Steve Bannon and Alex Jones, and elected officials like Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who could be counted on to create and vote for legislation that gives the malignance the veneer of respectability. It is these acolytes who power the network of lies and apply the intimidation inherent to maintaining a malignant normality.

2. The Leach - someone who uses the malignance of others for personal gain. Acolytes are true believers, but leaches don’t seem to believe in anything. Rather, they will say whatever seems to amass more power for themselves. If the acolytes have already embraced the malignant normality, then the leaches will make themselves appear to embrace it in order to manipulate the acolytes. Their tactics can be devastatingly successful. JD Vance, Josh Howley, and Mike Johnson come to mind as modern American politicians who fit into this category. Media personalities such as Tucker Carlson who supported Trump on air but privately texted that he passionately hated Trump would be in this category.

3. The Denier - someone who puts real effort into pretending that the malignance isn’t there. These Americans say things like “I don’t watch the news anymore” or “you can’t trust any politicians on either side” or “I don’t even know what to believe anymore.” These deniers may have been republicans for years and don’t have the motivation to change sides. They may have several acolytes as families and neighbors and have succumbed in advance to their intimidation. As a way to avoid conflict, the deniers made a decision not to pay attention. The profusion of misinformation helps these deniers by giving them an excuse to ignore all facts instead of only the “alternative facts”. Although they are deniers, they do search for imperfections and mistakes in democratic circles, so as to be able to maintain the illusion that all politicians are bad and not just the ones contributing to the malignance. When an elected official answers a reporter’s question with “I’m not aware of that issue” or “I haven’t read that memo,” you know you’re listening to a denier.

4. The Uncomfortable Supporter - someone who claims not to like Trump but still voted for him. These Americans say things like “I don’t like his character, but I like his policies” and “I wouldn’t have voted for him if there had been any better options.” They look at the malignance as one side of a pros and cons table and believe they can see enough pros to outweigh those cons. However, they are dispassionately using “pros” in the realms of taxation and public policy to balance “cons” in the realms of human suffering and destruction of our democracy. They ignore the fact that the conservative public policies they support will go the same way as the progressive policies as the government itself is dismantled. They imagine the human suffering caused by the growing malignance is somehow justified or justifiable.

5. The Silent Witness - someone who is aware of the malignance, dislikes it intensely, but does not take any action against it. People in this category might watch MSNBC, read the New York Times, and may whisper to their Democratic friends about how awful it all is. However, these people are intimidated by the Acolytes and don’t want to risk their personal and business relationships with the Deniers and the Uncomfortable Supporters. As witnesses, they may realize how bad the malignance is, but they chose to leave the work of countering it to the Ragers and the Activists. Silent Witnesses can be counted on to vote for the Democrats but won’t do much beyond that.

6. The Rager - someone who is aware of the malignance and takes loud but ineffective action against it. These Americans may spend a lot of time on social media, tweeting and reposting angry memes. When they speak out against the malignance, they do so with an emotional outburst that undermines their effectiveness. They are not above making personal attacks on those they disagree with, fighting malignance of one type with malignance of another type.

7. The Truth Teller - According to Lifton, Truth Tellers will talk “about factual matters and factual possibilities.” They will not only understand and call out the malignance but will carefully consider how to do so in an effective way. They may enter the political arena themselves to run against the enablers or join the staffs of politicians committed to resisting the malignance. They may become journalists and fact checkers, committed to countering each lie that normalizes the malignance. They may become activists or volunteers, attending protests and sending thousands of text messages that remind people to vote. This will not come without a cost. The Acolytes will use intimidation tactics, such as doxing, and the Deniers will end relationships, since the act of truth-telling will impede their drive for denial. However, Lifton holds the Truth-Tellers up as our best hope for resisting the malignant normality while pointing out that “even with the election defeat, our society still hungers for those factual truths.”

Personally, I have spent most of my adult life as one of the Silent Witnesses. However, the recent election that gave Trump his second term combined with the loss of the Senate and the apparent corruption in the Supreme Court has shaken me to my core. The institutions designed to protect me and those I love from this malignant normality are failing, and I can no longer justify remaining silent. I have been aware for years that approximately half of my family members, friends, and neighbors are enablers rather than resisters, but I suddenly find myself no longer able to tolerate them, just as I can’t tolerate my own inaction. I am struggling to resist becoming a Rager, even though it would be the easy and immediate reaction to my strong emotions. But the title of Truth Teller appeals to me, and Lifton’s assurance that society continues to crave hearing the truth gives some hope. Writing a thoughtful blog seems to be a good start. I’m not hopeful that it will make a difference on a grand scale, but it’s the best thing I can think of for now.