My piece entitled “Trump’s Manufacture of Madness” was published on May 3, 2025 by Meer.com in Europe (formerly Wall Street International Magazine). The link HERE. The article is also below for your enjoyment. The Econ Institute of Denver, Colorado USA also published the piece – including audio commentary from two analysts reviewing the article on May 4, 2025 You can LISTEN HERE. (The audio file takes about 30 seconds to load after you click). May 6, 2025 – My article entitled “Trump’s manufacture of madness – Scapegoats, conspiracy, and the erosion of norms” was published by Mad In America – Science, Psychiatry, and Social Justice. They retitled it: “Szasz and The Manufacture of Madness Today“

Trump’s Manufacture of Madness

By Bill Dahl

The Manufacture of Madness

Yes – America has elected an idiot as president of the United States – again. After these first one hundred days of Trump’s second term, America is shocked, befuddled and angry. Every week, streets, parks, government plazas (and Tesla dealerships) are filled with American citizens publicly protesting the actions, executive orders and policies of the Trump Administration. World leaders publicly criticize Trump on a daily basis. In a world fraught with dissension and conflict, there is one issue that appears to have broad consensus: Trump is not well and is spreading his madness across the globe.

In 1970, Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry emeritus at State University of New York published his seminal work, The Manufacture of Madness. The book traces the 13^th century origins of how the belief in witchcraft led to regrettable social actions and the emergence of the Inquisition (which lasted for four centuries). The stated objective of the organized movement that emerged was to protect society from the harm, danger, and madness ‘the witch’ represented. Szasz goes on to draw parallels after the Inquisition as the 17^th century movement morphed toward the formation of institutional psychiatry. The perceived danger in the 17^th century focused on the danger of the ‘madman.’

In this, the 21^st century, the Trump playbook is inhabited by many of these fundamental elements for ‘the manufacture of madness’ as chronicled by Szasz. This article explores this reality. Let me explain.

Defining the Harmed

As Szasz states, “Words have lives of their own.”[i] Every society evolves terms to identify social deviance as a means to identify persons, and classes of people, countries, and institutions who pose a threat or danger to said society. Then measures of social control (laws, policies etc.) are defined and adopted to ‘protect’ society from them. Inherent in this process is the reality that there are ‘victims’ of those who meet the definition and actions of those defined as deviant, evil, criminals, terrorists, unhealthy, heretics, enemies, threats, etc. As Szasz writes: ‘majorities usually categorize or groups as ‘deviant’ in order to set them apart as inferior beings and to justify their social control, oppression, persecution or even complete destruction.”[ii]

Countries, governments, institutions, political leaders and political parties do the same. Trump and his current administration are deeply engaged in redefining the harms, the harmed, and those inflicting harms on the United States. In his public statements, the phrase “we’re being ripped off” embodies the justification for these actions and policies. The nature of the economic harm Trump perceives as victimizing the United States has morphed into his global trade war, the withdrawal of his support for Ukraine, his war on immigrants and immigration, elimination of longstanding US federal government departments (US AID, Department of Education, etc.), eviscerating Medicaid healthcare benefits for seniors and those with disabilities, mass layoffs of federal workers, his stated desire to annex Canada, the Panama Canal, and Greenland, his disdain for NATO, withdrawing international aid, threatening the Social Security benefits of the retired and elderly, eliminating federal funds for research and development, diminishing care for veterans, threatening the social safety net of the poor, his assault on American universities, his desire to turn Gaza into a resort area, eliminating federal aid to states who have suffered natural disasters etc. etc. According to Trump, the US government has been “ripped off” for decades by both internal and external sources. The favorite phrases used by Trump and his minions incessantly use the same words and phrases to justify their actions. These include eliminating waste and fraud, unnecessary, duplicative, unqualified, and enhance efficiency, to name a few. The United States in its entirety has been cast by this Trump administration as the ‘ripped off” victim.

The Scapegoat

As Szasz suggests, “Social transformations of such magnitude do not occur, however, without terrible human sufferings. In such an atmosphere of change and uncertainty, rulers and ruled, unite in a desperate effort to solve their problems; they find a scapegoat (s) hold him (them) responsible for all society’s ills, and proceed to cure society by killing the scapegoat.”[iii]

Trump’s most recent campaign for the US presidency was soaked with the narratives of the US as victim, of being preyed upon, the unfairness of the existing socio-economic arrangements, and the injustice of the administration of justice. This narrative resonated with a sufficient number of US voters to garner him his second term as the US president. Why?

 

Trump’s triumph in 2024 was deeply rooted in the alienation (and attendant frustration and anger) that is deeply meaningful to a large swath of the US population.  Capitalism produces winners, losers, victims and survivors. For an ever increasing number of voters in the US, rising costs have elevated the anxiety they experience on a daily basis, attempting to make ends meet. For many in America, their standard of living has decreased as living paycheck to paycheck has become an unanticipated reality. Trump’s campaign narrative was inhabited by recognizing this alienation – accompanied by his promises to fix this reality, led to his election in 2024.

Why scapegoats? Scapegoats serve a particularly important role for political leaders, especially when coupled by the obvious incompetence of those charged with the task of resolving societal problems. In January 2025, I wrote in this publication, “The Trump administration will be empowered and directed by a ‘crony cabinet’; by loyalists, donors, supporters, and dutiful stooges rather than persons eminently qualified to run the core institutions and agencies of the U.S. government. Experience and legitimate qualifications will take a backseat to blind loyalty to Trump. Trump runs with his gut.” [iv]

When you couple the obvious incompetence of political leadership with the necessity to implement legitimate policies to resolve the real challenges in any society, scapegoats become the easy way out of this conundrum. As Dr. Neel Burton writes:

“The creation of a villain necessarily implies that of a hero, even if both are purely fictional…especially in a time of crisis, unscrupulous leaders and politicians can cynically exploit the ancient and deep-rooted impulse to scapegoat to deflect and distract from their own inadequacies and evade, or seek to evade, their legitimate burden of blame and responsibility.” [v]

Szasz adds to the above by stating:

“Social man fears the other and tries to destroy him; but that, paradoxically, he needs the other, and, if need be, creates him, so that by invalidating him as evil, he may confirm himself as good.” [vi]

Upon taking office, the Trump administration immediately began to define their scapegoats more precisely. These include (and remain) the following:

• The democratic party in the US – “those who created this mess.”
• Immigrants
• Universities and more broadly, education
• Law firms – who have worked against him in the past
• The poor, elderly and the disabled
• China, Mexico, Panama, Greenland and Canada
• Students – those who speak out against his policies
• The media
• Established international norms
• Critics
• Judges
• Anything associated with diversity, equity and inclusion

 The Objectives of Trump’s Manufacture of Madness

 Madmen produce madness. Without madmen, madness does not evidence itself. Trump is no exception. Furthermore, the chaos they spawn provides them with several specious benefits:

• Distraction – deliberately shifting the focus from their incompetence to constructively address the root causes of societal challenges to an agenda of narratives they define exclusively by themselves.
• Vengeance and retribution – allows the authoritarian political leader to define the justification/rationale to attack, oppress and punish those they so define as both ‘enemies within” and enemies external to themselves.
• The Concentration of Power – Authoritarian madmen have a track record of ignoring and dismantling existing societal and international norms, laws and processes. They claim the former structures and authorities therein are inadequate to allow them to effectively address the dangers and threats posed by the current scapegoats they have defined. It is distinctly an effort to justify and rationalize a multi-faceted effort to concentrate power with the authoritarian. As Szasz observes: “men cannot simply coerce, oppress and exterminate their fellows; they also must explain and justify it.” [vii] Here’s where the use of conspiracy theories arrive. Conspiracy theories are defined as “simple explanations of complex events. The explanations offer little to no evidence, but they draw on popular prejudices and misconceptions and thus appeal to a person’s feeling and intuition.” [viii] The first 100 days of the 2025 Trump administration is rife with conspiracy theories accompanied by a set of well defined scapegoats.

The Maestro of the Manufacture of Madness

 The following quote succinctly characterizes the Trump playbook in his first 100 days in office in 2025:

“In less than twenty years, the archetype of the good politician has today become someone willing and able to break the system by refusing to compromise — someone ready to destroy their political enemies. To do this, the new politicians must be inherently authoritarian, must carry the force of the resentments and hatred that move their followers, and must be able to focus these feelings on designated villains.”[ix]

 

 

The alienation, anxiety and anger I characterized earlier in this article on the part of Trump supporters in the US has catapulted Trump into the position of maestro for the manufacture of madness in the 21^st century. Trump is doing what his supporters yearned for. Listen to the following:

“That is, people are mistaken when they think that mad rulers imposed their madness on otherwise sensible societies. Mad societies looked for mad rulers to fulfill their own madness. Destructiveness became legitimate because people asked for it — not against themselves but against the people they perceived as their enemies.” [x] Those who voted for Trump are now getting something much more and quite different than what they had hoped for. How this continues to play out with Trump’s base of support in the US is still evolving.

Due to the intellectual, moral and operational incompetence that inhabits both Trump and his administration, I confidently forecast the following:

Trump’s global trade war will be an abysmal failure. China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union will all benefit from his effort to rearrange the fundamental economics of stability he is attempting to redefine. Trust in the Trump administration will continue to decline. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has written: “Trust is the grease that makes society function.” ^[xi] Scholar Alasdair Roberts adds: “Trust holds the machinery of commerce together: when it dissipates, the machinery succumbs to disintegrating forces and flies apart.” ^[xii] The decline of the trust within the community of historically fundamental strategic allies of the United States will continue to erode.

Trump will continue to cozy closer to Putin. Internal opposition against Trump and his minions will continue to intensify within the US at a street level. Corruption, incompetence and failures in judgment will become apparent and continue to cause the Trump administration both national and international embarrassment. I expect Trump to announce a bounty program that rewards US citizens financially when they identify undocumented immigrants in the US who are then arrested by US immigration authorities. This will cause domestic mayhem. The US will experience a bonafide recession driven by the nonsensical imposition of tariffs on goods imported into the US. The republican party in the US will lose their current majority in the US House of Representatives in 2026. Civil unrest, protest and demonstrations against Trump will increase in number, frequency and intensity.

Yes, Donald Trump, the maestro of the manufacture of madness is at the throttles of the presidency of the United States of America – again.  Yet, our hope may reside in the following;

“Being spectacularly wrong is often the most powerful stimulus to fresh thinking.” [xiii]

Keep your seatbelts fastened…

In Memoriam:

Dr. Ben A. Menke of Washington State University was a member of my graduate thesis committee (M.A.) and my intellectual mentor at the university in both my undergraduate and graduate studies. His impression in my life has been indelible and positive. Ben introduced me to the work of Thomas Szasz in the 1970’s. Without Dr. Menke’s influence, I would be incapable of writing this article (and many others). He instilled the gifts of intellectual curiosity, reading, research, self expression, critical thinking, and lifelong learning in me. Dr. Menke passed in August 2023. His influence in my life endures, as does our friendship with his surviving spouse, Marilee Langhoff P.C. of Littleton, Colorado USA.

 

 

NOTES

[i] Szasz, Thomas The Manufacture of Madness – A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. New York, NY Copyright © 1970 by Thomas S, Szasz, p. xxix.

[ii] Ibid p. xxx

[iii] Ibid p. 6

[iv] Dahl Bill  “Trump 2.0: a new era of uncertainty and unpredictability – What to expect from the 2025 Trump Administration and beyond”  Meer.com , January 3, 2025

[v]  Burton, Neel A MD, “The Psychology of Scapegoating – Is the time ripe for a new wave of scapegoating?” Psychology Today, June 22, 2024.

[vi]  Szasz, Ibid p. 290

[vii] Szasz, Ibid p. 293

[viii] Wilper, Mike “Scapegoating and Conspiracy Theories” – Thoughts and Lessons for Critical Thinking in Schools – June 2013

[ix] Hinds, Manuel When Politicians Start Scapegoating Minorities – They Are on the Road to Authoritarianism, Excerpted from In Defense of Liberal Democracy, Copyright © 2021 by Manuel Hinds – The Unpopulist – Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc. Watertown, MA

[x] Hinds Ibid

[xi] Stiglitz, Joseph E. Freefall – America, Free Markets, And The Sinking of The World Economy, W.W. Norton & Company New York, NY Copyright 2010 by Joseph E. Stiglitz, p. 286.

[xii] Roberts, Alasdair America’s First Great Depression – Economic Crisis and Political Disorder After the Panic of 1837, Copyright © 2012 by Cornell University, Cornell University Press Ithaca, NY 85

[xiii] MacKay, Charles Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Wilder Publications Radford, VA Copyright © 2008 Radford Publications, p.19.

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