The new Trump administration stunned and outraged journalists,
pundits and plenty of ordinary Americans this past weekend with false
assertions about how many people showed up for Friday's inauguration.
The claims were easily disproved and news outlets have spent hours showing precisely how.
And while Trump's controversial campaign comments have spawned a new genre of of fact-checking columns, many of his supporters predicted he'd become somehow more presidential, and less likely to be provocative, once he took office.
So why even do it?
The behavior has all the signs of "gaslighting", says clinical psychologist Bryant Welch, who wrote a 2008 book entitled "State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind".
Gaslighting refers to a 1944 film in which a murdering husband
manipulates and confuses his wife by dimming the gas lights in their
home and then denying it's happening.
"The very state of confusion they are creating is a political weapon in and of itself," Welch told NBC News.
"If you make people confused, they are
vulnerable. By definition they don't know what to do," added Welch, who
has not personally examined any of the Trump team.
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Source: NBC News
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