Ex-White House adviser shows how Trump has shown a pattern of 'textbook manipulation'

Former President Donald Trump has mastered the art of "inverted victimhood" to proclaim himself the martyr of his own criminal charges and other legal problems, wrote former White House adviser Sidney Blumenthal for The Guardian on Thursday.

"It is not enough for him to lash out," wrote Blumenthal. "Then, he declares himself to be the victim. Whatever it is, he is falsely accused. But his self-dramatization as the wounded sufferer is only half his story: he insists that whoever has accused him is in fact the offender. He emerges triumphant, the martyr, the truth-teller, courageously unmasking the real villain. J’accuse!"

This pattern has allowed him to claim that every investigation, indictment, and lawsuit against him is a "witch hunt," and that he is going through all of this on behalf of his own supporters.

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"Trump’s pattern is textbook manipulation – literally," wrote Blumenthal. "It has a precise name given to it after decades of academic research. Jennifer Freyd, now professor emerita of psychology at the University of Oregon, developed the theory over her career studying sexual assault, trauma and institutional betrayal. She named the process by which the perpetrator seeks to avoid accountability Darvo – a strategy with the elements of denial, attack, and reversal of victim and offender."

"There’s a method to Trump’s madness. The madness is the method – and the method is the madness," he continued. "It’s more than his malignant narcissism. It’s more than his relentless lying. Conscious or unconscious, it is his invariable reflexive response to the danger of being held responsible for his misdeeds and crimes. Its roots lie in the model of his brutish father. Upon that foundation he added the vicious counsel of Roy Cohn to attack anyone suing him in order to raise the personal cost for his victims, drain them of resources and delay the courts."

This was on full display throughout the E. Jean Carroll trial, where he was accused of rape, and he flipped it around to claim his accuser was lying to sell books and he was being persecuted. In this case though, it didn't work for him — a jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages after a chaotic trial that saw his attorney Alina Habba constantly at Judge Lewis Kaplan's throat.

Ultimately, Blumenthal concluded, "Trump’s campaign themes largely consist of his defenses, which are adaptations of Darvo. He denies all the accusations. A majority of Republicans believe he is falsely charged. He attacks a host of enemies from E Jean Carroll to Jack Smith, from the judges to their clerks. He is the victim. They are the offenders. Darvo is his shield of innocence."