Thoughtful pragmatist or unhinged bigot? Why experts are rethinking Nixon's psychopathology

[marmar]

Thoughtful pragmatist or unhinged bigot? Why experts are rethinking Nixon's psychopathology
The author of "On Nixon's Madness" on how mental illness fuels racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia

By MATTHEW ROZSA
Staff Writer
PUBLISHED MARCH 18, 2023 10:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) When Richard Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, he correctly suspected that he had been robbed. In Texas, Kennedy's vice presidential running mate Lyndon Johnson used a network of rural bosses to stuff ballot boxes; 1,000 miles to the north, mob bosses and crooked pols in Chicago were similarly rigging the results. Yet despite his valid complaints, Nixon ultimately decided not to publicly challenge the results, later writing that "the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not on his victorious opponents or on his teammates."

Nixon's actions are a stark contrast to those of Donald Trump sixty years later — and, one might glean from reading the new book "On Nixon's Madness: An Emotional History," speak to each man's different mental pathologies. Whereas Nixon had a legitimate case for election fraud, Trump did not; while Nixon reacted to his loss by urging public calm and striking a noble pose, Trump reacted with narcissistic rage and spreading a Big Lie.

Yet it would be misleading to characterize Nixon as somehow inherently superior to Trump simply because, on this one occasion, he showed respect for the American government and Trump did not. As "On Nixon's Madness" author Dr. Zachary Jonathan Jacobson explained to Salon, both Nixon and Trump were men whose mental illnesses reflected and refracted the pervasive political impulses of their time. In his book, Jacobson details the extensive psychological profiles performed on Nixon, who served as president from 1969 to 1974 before resigning in disgrace. Nixon's paranoia, prejudices, and abnormally reserved disposition have been zealously analyzed by scholars hoping to therein discover the genesis of the Watergate scandal. By contrast, Jacobson observes, Nixon admirers point to his impressive achievements in opening up relations with China, ending the Vietnam War, saving Israel from annihilation and passing landmark domestic legislation on issues like the environment and economy. They argue that perhaps Nixon's ability to feign madness, or seem like the wily and unstable "Tricky Dick," empowered him to accomplish these things.

Jacobson's provocative thesis is that, in effect, everyone is right about Nixon. He was one of America's most Janus-faced leaders, a protean figure who could sincerely shift from the pragmatic reformer to the vengeful autocrat without any apparent qualms. It explains how he could strike a statesman's pose after losing a controversial election, and also indulge in explosive, obsessive levels of paranoia about imaginary enemies. In Jacobson's own words: "In [Nixon's book] 'Six Crises,' he paints this resignation as a noble act to not cause the level of tumult that Trump has now incited. Many historians will dismiss that idea of nobility as self-serving and undeniably so. But to understand Nixon is to appreciate that his self-aggrandizement was key not only to boosting his public appeal but the way he told his life story to himself, an attempt to cast himself as the noble victim not only publicly but privately." ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/03/18/thoughtful-pragmatist-or-unhinged-bigot-why-experts-are-rethinking-nixons-psychopathology/

[Me.]

1. It's Now So OLd

Cons losing because they ere robbed. REally rich coming from those 2. Again where is the proof?