A psychologist I know pointed out to me the ill effects of long term contact with someone with a borderline personality disorder (BPD). People with a BPD tend to destabilize others by fostering a mood of crisis and anger wherever they go.
We are just now coming out of four years in which millions of people have been bombarded by messages from an individual with BPD. This might not have been so bad if everyone else were completely stable to begin with.
Alas, we live in a society in which many people suffer the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACE). People who were often beaten or otherwise mistreated in childhood often grow up with unresolved feelings of rage that can easily be triggered.
To an individual with ACE, a call to expression of hatred, violence or xenophobia can feel pleasurable. Hopping in a truck and looking for violent encounters with people they don’t agree with can be a form of self-administered therapy.
Add the veneer of authority to the dysfunctional person who is making that call to violence, and things can quickly veer out of control. People can and will get hurt.
In the long term, we need to reduce ACE by systematically combatting childhood abuse. Meanwhile, we’ve already gone a long way toward solving the short term problem by voting the disturbed BPD individual out of power.