This chapter will provide an in-depth analysis, from the perspectives of social psychology and political science, of Trump’s core function as an “actor”—an emotional outlet. It will examine how he successfully channeled public discontent, anxiety, and anger toward the system, providing a vent for release, thereby becoming a powerful “placebo” that alleviated voters’ pain, even though he offered no substantive treatment.

First Thesis: Collective Psychological Trauma and the Need for Catharsis

I. Collective Trauma in Society: “Loss” and “Humiliation”

American society in the “Winter of Stalemate” experienced multiple layers of collective psychological trauma (see Chapter Twenty-Eight):

Economic Loss: Blue-collar workers lost high-paying jobs and a stable future (Chapter Six).

Cultural Humiliation: Traditional conservatives felt their values were marginalized, mocked, and suppressed by cultural elites (Chapter Eight).

Political Betrayal: The public felt sold out by the establishments of both parties (Chapter Twenty-Seven), perceiving themselves as victims of institutional gridlock (Part Two).

These traumas accumulated into immense collective anger, anxiety, and helplessness. Psychologically, such unresolved trauma demands an outlet.

II. The Logic of the Placebo: Experience Over Treatment

Trump’s politics were not based on “solving problems” (treatment), but on “empathic experience” (placebo).

Empathic Anger: Trump’s most penetrating skill was “empathic anger.” He did not simply tell supporters, “Your anger is understandable.” Instead, he directly displayed anger and emotions even more extreme than theirs. He amplified supporters’ personal grievances and transformed them into a collective war against the Establishment and elites.

“Feels Right” Matters More Than “Factually Right”: In the psychological scenario of emotional catharsis, voters’ judgments were no longer based on whether policies would improve their lives, but on whether “this person speaks for me,” whether “this person makes us feel like winners.” Emotional satisfaction far outweighed rational consideration.

Second Thesis: The Vent for Release: Attacks and Scapegoats

III. The Catharsis Mechanism: Externalizing Internal Contradictions

Trump’s “performance art” (Chapter Thirty) provided a perfect catharsis mechanism: externalizing the structural contradictions within American society and projecting them onto clear “scapegoats.”

The Targeting of Scapegoats:

Political Scapegoats: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the Deep State, the Establishment.

Cultural Scapegoats: The fake news media, political correctness, Hollywood, protesters.

External Scapegoats: China, Mexico, illegal immigrants.

The Rationalization of Anger: By attributing complex issues of globalization and institutional problems (Part Two) to these clear scapegoats, Trump effectively rationalized supporters’ anger, making them feel morally righteous, with the source of anger being external “evil” forces.

IV. Rallies and Online Attacks: Ritualized Catharsis

Trump’s rallies and online attacks became ritualized spaces for collective catharsis among supporters.

The Energy Field of Rallies: Trump’s rallies were a form of political “group therapy.” Supporters felt a powerful sense of identity and strength within the crowd. Together, they mocked enemies and chanted slogans (such as “Lock her up!”), transforming long-suppressed helplessness into energy for action.

The Satisfaction of Online Attacks: Intense rhetoric on social media and attacks against the “fake news media” provided supporters with real-time emotional satisfaction and a sense of power. They did not need to actually go to Washington to “drain the swamp”; simply “defeating” a liberal journalist or political figure on their keyboards provided catharsis.

Third Thesis: The Side Effects of the Placebo: The Radicalization of Politics

V. The Addictiveness of Emotion: From Catharsis to Dependency

While a placebo can alleviate pain, it carries a significant side effect: it creates psychological dependency and addiction to anger and catharsis among voters.

The Necessity of Sustaining Anger: Once anger is released, the placebo loses its effect. Therefore, Trump as an “actor” had to continuously create new, more extreme conflicts and crises to maintain supporters’ anger levels. This explains his pattern of provocative statements during and after his presidency.

The Acceleration of Radicalization: This sustained, emotion-driven model of politics further accelerated political polarization and social fragmentation (Chapters Seven and Eight). Both sides believed they were engaged in a moral war, with no room for compromise.

VI. Treating Symptoms, Not Causes: The Worsening of Structural Problems

The fatal flaw of Trump’s “placebo politics” was that it treated symptoms without addressing root causes.

He successfully channeled the anger of the blue-collar class toward globalization, but his policies (such as large-scale tax cuts and trade wars) did not fundamentally resolve economic inequality, fiscal deficits, or institutional gridlock (Chapter Nineteen).

Anger and catharsis provided temporary psychological satisfaction, but structural defects within the system continued to worsen. When catharsis faded and voters found their lives had not substantially improved, this only laid the groundwork for the emergence of an even more extreme “actor of anger” in the next round.

VII. Chapter Conclusion: The Power Game in an Age of Despair

The psychological analysis of the Trump phenomenon proves that in an era of institutional failure and public despair, power no longer belongs to those who can solve problems, but to those who can articulate anger.

As an “actor,” he came not to save America, but to “entertain” America’s anger, allowing the elites who created the problems to evade true structural responsibility. His victory represents a deep psychological negation of the spirit of rationality, deliberation, and compromise that once defined American representative democracy.

NEXT: Chapter 33: The Instinct for Destruction: Only Knows How to Tear Down, Not How to Rebuild — Proof of “Only Capable of Destruction, Incapable of Construction”