Analyzing JD Vance....

Through the Lens of the Haitian Immigrant Hysteria...

Let’s unpack JD Vance....

We are a country of deeply psychologically/emotionally wounded people who use what has evolved into a pathological political system to simultaneously exorcise…..and weaponize….childhood trauma:

In 2019, I wrote about Donald Trump being a “pathological people pleaser”.

When Trump can’t “please” a particular person or group.....he punishes those who "reject" him....

….and then uses what is often inhumane "punishment" to curry favor from people who approve of that behavior.

In this transaction, Trump receives positive reinforcement/narcissistic supply, as explained below:

There appears to be a similar dynamic at play with Vance, who has desperately attempted to “please” various, and often disparate, groups throughout his life….

To understand why, let’s look at Vance’s childhood/life experiences.

Vance’s childhood trauma:

One of the things that stands out with Vance is the instability of relationships to, and between, parental figures.

Vance’s mom married five times, and apparently had many more “revolving-door” relationships with men that resulted in Vance claiming he had fifteen “stepdads” while growing up:

https://people.com/all-about-jd-vance-parents-8678608

This revolving door dynamic resulted in Vance changing his name several times:

“However, Beverly and Hamel (third husband who adopted Vance, and whose name Vance took for a while) eventually split, causing J.D.’s name to change again.

‘One of the worst parts, honestly, was that Bob’s departure would further complicate the tangled web of last names in our family,’ he wrote. J.D. eventually took his maternal last name, Vance, once his grandparents became his caretakers.”

Vance also experienced neglect and abuse from his mother.

“His family struggled with poverty and domestic violence, of which he was a victim. His mother was addicted to drugs—first to painkillers, then to heroin. (‘I earned my first bloody nose at five and my first black eye at six,’ Vance recalls, of two times someone insulted his mother.)”

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-lives-of-poor-white-people

When children grow up in an environment where their emotional needs are not met, it can condition the child to either…

1) Subordinate their needs in order to take care of what should be THEIR caretaker. In these situations, the roles reverse, and they essentially become a parental-child who takes care of the dysfunctional and/or incapacitated parent (and/or other siblings)….

....or….

2) It can create a situation where children whose emotional needs are not met learn to “please” a dysfunctional caretaker. Basically, the child will obsessively/desperately try to please what is often an impossible-to-please parent….

…..in an attempt to receive what is often impossible to receive from that parent: attention/validation/love.

In some cases, the child will desperately attempt to please a dysfunctional/pathological parent to stave off aggression, criticism, or even abuse.

Often, children in these situations learn to manipulate a “powder keg” of a parent to prevent the parent from erupting emotionally.

Over time, these “people pleasing” behaviors become ingrained/enmeshed into the child’s personality. It becomes who they are….it’s how they engage the world…..and in some cases they may have an insatiable need to be validated that can never be satisfied no matter how much attention/validation they receive.

I’ve written about the “Steal it Forward”, multi-generational cycling down of pathology that can occur with some children:

 ......where the current generation (mother) reaches “forward” to rob ("steal") the subsequent generation (granddaughter) of emotional need-fulfillment, to fill the void that was created by the previous generation (grandmother).  Essentially, in a situation where the emotional/psychological childhood needs aren’t met by a parent, that child then fills that void in adulthood by using their children to “backfill” that void, and thereby create or perpetuate a cycle. 

Pathological Parenting: The "Steal it Forward" dynamic | Nick Carmody JD, MS Psych

Vance initially sought, and received, the acceptance of those he viewed outside of his own childhood/cultural experience:

Academia/intellectuals, the business world…..the non-“hillbilly” circles of society.

He did this with honest critiques of his past, of his family, and of rural/poor white people, in general…..

....or, more specifically when Vance was attempting to “please” Academia/mainstream society/“elites”, he criticized rural whites "lack of agency".

Vance previously attempted to “please” the people (“Elites”) he now condemns….

….by criticizing the people (rural whites) that he now attempts to “please” (”MAGA”) ….by condemning “elites”.

And in the process, Vance now perpetuates the victimhood (and hate) that he previously criticized rural whites for embracing.

For more analysis on how the lack of self-efficacy ("lack of agency")…..and the role of victimhood….. has infected (rural) America click here:

It’s impossible to understand Vance’s evolution without understanding the “Tucker Carlson effect”.

Vance was heavily influenced not just by @TuckerCarlson personally, but also by observing Carlson’s journey/evolution.

Over the last several years, Vance frequently appeared on Carlson’s show. And when he did, Vance received validating, smirking grins from Carlson whenever Vance said something that was inflammatorily on-brand for Carlson’s show.

What Vance realized and learned from Carlson was that when they engaged society with measured/moderate/responsible thoughts and actions…..

......they receive a broad, but relatively tepid affirmation ("golf clap"-like approval) for “pleasing” them.

But when they engage in divisive, hate-filled, violence-inciting rhetoric….

....they may “please” a smaller/narrower group of people…..but the validation is intense and passionate.

The choice is broad, shallow, and tepid approval……versus a narrow, but intense validation.

Because our society is so polarized/tribalized, and our information bubbles are so insulated….

....politicians can retreat back to….or in some cases permanently remain in….

.....the comfort and safety of the tribal ecosystem that not only rewards them for egregious behavior….

....but in some cases, facilitates/reinforces detachment from reality (for instance, the delusional narrative that Trump won the debate).

This allows them to perpetually be reaffirmed/validated after condemnation from main stream society.

The inevitable consequence of all of this is that it has reached a point where political discourse has become so intense, and so personal, that the “fight” over policy or ideology often becomes a secondary/peripheral issue in the larger personal wars waged against political/personal enemies.

In 2019, I wrote about this “proxy war” dynamic that exists in politics. This problem is highlighted by quote from a few years ago, where Vance said, “I think our people hate the right people”. The Proxy war:

Let's briefly review the neuropsychology of the politics of hate, revenge politics, and even political violence.

In 2023, I wrote about the “Hedonic Reward” (dopamine) of “revenge politics”:

Dopamine is related to the “reward system” of the brain, and is involved in the pleasurable experiences related to sex, gambling, etc.

Dopamine is also associated with the high experienced with cocaine use/addiction.

In the article linked above, I used a study showed that areas of the brain that are active when we experience pleasurable experiences (dopamine)…..also are active when engaging in retaliatory aggression:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927037/

A couple of key insights from the study are that:

1) The “hedonic reward” (pleasure) is dependent upon a prior instance of provocation….

….and....

2) That punishment (retaliatory aggression) activates/satiates the reward center of the brain.

To summarize, it shows that people experience pleasure from hurting others who have provoked or hurt us....because they “deserve” it.

This is especially relevant to the current political climate, and how dangerous this can be when disinformation/lies are rampant, and emotional incitement is frequent.

However, this research on “hedonic reward” would suggest retaliatory aggression against those who deserved to be punished for ridiculous false narratives....

The key element of this neuropsychological process is “provocation”.

However, it's important to understand that “provocation” is either:

1. A subjective feeling/belief based upon an individual’s subjective experience….

…or…

2. A subjective interpretation of an event…

….or....what is more commonly the case with politics, the subjective (manipulated) interpretation of political events, that may or may not have actually occurred, by someone with influence over the individual (Trump/FOX/Bannon, Tucker Carlson, etc).

Regardless of whether it is a subjective political experience, or a subjective/manipulated interpretation of a political event...

...in both cases the individual is usually experiencing the event or consuming the information with extremely high emotions.

Emotion often, if not usually, impairs our judgment, or our ability to objectively assess a situation or other people.

With this as a backdrop, it becomes apparent that a real provocation may not have to actually occur for people to experience the “hedonic reward” from retaliatory aggression (violence).

Instead, there may only need to be a subjective belief....based on an emotional experience…that a provocation occurred.

This subjectively experienced/interpreted “provocation” may occur more frequently in people who possess a predisposition to have a “punitive orientation”:

Narcissists/demagogues…….and people who are manipulated by narcissists/demagogues.

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Now let’s circle back around to recent events, and apply what we know about Vance’s childhood experiences, the neuropsychology of retaliatory aggression (“revenge politics”), and the dysfunctional state of American politics to explain Vance through the lens of the Haitian immigrant pet eating hysteria.

One of the most powerful motivators for Vance is the thought of becoming president.

Nothing would be more validating.

Nothing would be more vindicating than becoming president.

There’s a philosophy I’ve used frequently in my own life, and with my clients:
“Success is the best revenge”.

Becoming president would not only be the most extreme manifestation of that philosophy….

....but, it would also provide Vance with the power to engage in literal “revenge” (“retaliatory aggression”) against the people who have hurt him….

....to get revenge against the “right” people that he "hates".

In the lead up to Trump making his VP pick, Vice-Presidential hopefuls (Vance, Elise Stefanik, etc.) were shamelessly angling for the VP opportunity because they look at Trump’s age/health/lifestyle, and anticipate being president before 2028.

Vance’s thought process was/is:

….to shamelessly/humiliatingly kiss Trump’s ass….

.…to manipulate the MAGA base that Vance knows intimately well and has previously disparaged when he was attempting to “please” the “elites”….

…..and then when “president” Trump’s health fails (remember this process started wen Biden was running and presumed to be an easy victory), martyrize Trump, and assume power over the MAGA “Kingdom” in his early 40’s.

Regardless of how he actually feels about Trump, the incentive structure was/is for Vance to say and do whatever Vance had to say and do to be picked as VP……

.....and now that he is VP, it’s to say and do whatever Vance has to say and do to get Trump elected…..

…..because in order for Vance to be president…..

.....Trump has to be president.

Click her to watch the video of Tim Ryan eviscerate JD Vance for "kissing Trump's ass":

And contrast the "ass kissing" with Vance's text messages about Trump in 2016:

All of this appeared to be on display with the Haitian immigrant/pet eating hysteria…..

….especially when viewed through the lens of the false narrative about Vance having sex with a couch.

Vance likely was wounded by the couch lies. To Vance it probably felt like those who grew up with resources/money, and, even more importantly, who grew up in a functional home that met a child’s emotional needs….

…..were not only inhumanely mocking his traumatic experiences/childhood…..but they were making lies up to mock his childhood experience:

A deeply, emotionally/psychologically wounded kid whose childhood needs were not met because of addiction/abandonment/neglect/abuse…..

....a kid whose trauma likely led him to becoming overweight, which not only reinforced the previously experienced/existing trauma, but which (being overweight) resulted in its own trauma/insecurity-inducing experiences…..

.....especially as he became sexually aware, and was deprived of sexual experiences due to the effect the trauma had on his confidence, or the effect being overweight may have had on girls’ (lack of) interest in him, etc.

Mocking and lying about Vance having sex with a couch likely triggered or dredged up emotions related to that trauma…..

.....and the fact that it was “elites” who were knowingly/intentionally triggering/hurting him with lies about having sex with the couch likely reinforced the Vance’s “us/me versus them” framing of his political enemies…..

.....and, in his mind, vindictively legitimized an “ends justifies the means” rules of engagement….

.....as seen by his admission about “creating (making up/lying) about stories…..

…..and vindictively legitimized an “ends justifies the means” rules of engagement....

.....when defiantly stating, “ I'm still gonna call them an illegal alien”….

....and vindictively legitimized an “ends justifies the means” rules of engagement.....

.....when Vance said “keep the cat memes flowing”, when referring to the narrative about Haitians eating cats.

Here, he was literally parroting what was being said about him all over social media:

To Vance, he is not only “hating the right people”……

.....he is “hating” (hurting”) anyone associated with the lies about him……

.....whether that is “hating” the “elites” spreading the lies…..or “hating” the people the “elites” care about (Haitian immigrants)…..

.....but he, and millions of Trump/Vance supporters, may be enjoying the pain/discomfort they are causing (“Hedonic Reward”/dopamine)...

.....because "they deserved” to have the lies spread about eating cats/dogs.

_________________________________________________________________________

There are several takeaways:

1) As I noted when the couch jokes were going around....it’s important to be careful/disciplined/mature with political rhetoric....

......because.....

2) “Hurt people, hurt people”…..

….and….3):