The conduct of a sitting president of the US, which clearly demonstrates a sickness inhibiting them from making clear decisions and carrying out the duties of the office, should be addressed. The current President, Donald Trump, is not capable of being the commander and chief. He is suffering from the illness, the disease, of white supremacy.
Signs and Symptoms
This illness of white supremacy expresses itself with symptoms and signs unlike any other illness: violence in every form. These symptoms include thinking, speech, and actions of hatred of / and superiority over Black or African-descendant people, Indigenous people, and other people of color. This hatred and superiority takes the form of segregating from, violating, killing, treating inhumanely, marginalizing Blackness and their sisters and brothers.
Cause
Trump’s disease of white supremacy has a cause; or as we say in science and medicine, a pathology. One of the causes or abnormal features leading to this disease is ignorance of why this doctrine of ‘white supremacy’ was instigated and how it settled into the body, feelings, perceptions, mind, and consciousness of the US populations since, becoming a disease. The existing different racial groups, socially constructed from cultural mannerisms, physical features, and skin tone, existed in the 17th century and the early days of colonization of Turtle Island by then white Europeans. This included the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island-now called the United States of America-, the enslaved African-descendant people stolen from Africa and brought by ship, and the white settler European colonists. The land-holding colonists perpetuated a doctrine of white superiority to assure that land-less and white indentured servants did not associate and build loving relationships with African-descendant and Indigenous peoples. This was not just a random separation into different groups. This was an extractive and exploitive separation that grew out of greed, aversion, and the delusion that feeds the first two. The white colonial land holders in the 17th century had already brought enslaved Africans to the new colony of Britain, Turtle Island, to exploit their labor.
As well they had already exploited the land and were systematically decimating the native indigenous peoples. But this was not enough because they were driven by greed for more wealth and power, and the fear of loosing existing power. Establishing the hierarchy of whiteness at the top and African-descendant people at the bottom would assure that they maintained the power over land and that non-land-owning whites would distinguish themselves from Black and Indigenous peoples, with or without land-establishing a ‘so-called’ superior race. This cause or pathology of white supremacy, also imprinted into the phenotype or behavior and characteristics of white people (as displayed in the symptoms and signs described above). This belief, in the supremacy of whiteness, led to legally condoned racialized violence, then and now. So ingrained was this belief in the superiority of whiteness in the mind and hearts of white supremacists that even after the Civil War ended, white southerners and states with enslaved African-descendant people would not concede equality between whites and Blacks (Crenshaw). Since then, every display of social or political gain by Black people has been violently attacked by white supremacists, with the perception that it fulfills the accepted hierarchy of the superiority of whiteness. Today this is evident by the following statement by a white supremacist at the insurrection at the Capitol two days ago: “This is not America,” a woman said to a small group, her voice shaking. “They’re shooting at us. They’re supposed to shoot BLM, but they’re shooting the patriots.” (The Nation)
INDOCTRINATION of WHITE SUPREMACY
Co-occurrence of two severe illness
Donald Trump suffers from the disease of white supremacy. And like some with this disease, he also has another illness: that of a mental illness. This assessment of his mental state as being unstable and likely to worsen during times of conflict and challenge was predicted by several renowned mental health professionals. More recently they assessed that he was “mentally unfit to qualify for the presidency or candidacy for reelection”. It was clear Trump was ill with white supremacy before he was elected president of the US. His unstable mental state was also assessed at that time. With the stress of the presidency, both conditions worsened. The co-occurrence of white supremacy and an unstable mental state has clearly exacerbated each condition. The result of these two illnesses affecting each other: a sitting president who incited people to act violently against the authority of the country on January 6th 2021. He willfully encouraged people to act with violence to under-mind the authority of the country that would remove him from office on January 20th 2021: sedition. Throughout his tenure as president of the US, Trump has consistently renewed the signs and symptoms of collective nationalist white supremacists in the US. Because white supremacy eventually leads to greater deterioration of mental status, and vice versa, it was inevitable that we would reach the outcomes we have been experiencing these past months and years of a growing nationalist movement of white supremacy illness.
Treatment or Remedy
The far-reaching effect of Trump’s white supremacy is continued exploitation and oppression of Black and Brown people and anyone who does not agree with his views. The first step in Trump’s treatment plan is to immediately remediate this far-reaching effect: removal from office. This first step in his treatment will have a beneficial impact by beginning to slow down his deterioration. Remove the stressors that are escalating the illnesses. It will also begin to treat the effect his behaviors have had on the population of white nationalists. It will especially benefit his followers- those white supremacists who were incited to violence two days ago. By treating the president for white supremacy we can hope to begin to stabilize others with this same illness. Removal from office is just the beginning. It will require more to heal all the harm that has been caused, to help those whose mental state became affected by white supremacy. This hatred and fear has spread across and beyond the US and can slowly begin to recede.
The second step is to treat the illness of white supremacy, in Trump and in his followers. This will require a deep dive into re-learning the history of the United States. This imprint of racism and its many effects is deep, generational. Yes it is a trauma. These white people have been traumatized to believe that they can harden their hearts against Black and Brown people. There is generational damage to their hearts and minds that will require time to undo. As the intellectual and emotional understanding begins to sink in, the systematic effect of white supremacy on all the structures of the United States will require change. Slowly, a movement toward justice for all people, and not some people will become urgent so that what happened at the insurrection can never be repeated: differential expectations of / and treatment toward white insurrectors and Black people protesting undue police violence. Remediating the harmful effect of white supremacy on all affected populations is a necessary step.
Path to recovery
The path to recovery is long and changing, more than 400 years in the US. We can start this journey of healing by first acknowledging the illness of white supremacy. And the state of mind that nourishes the illness of white supremacy and vice versa.
This sickness of white supremacy is not new. The January 6th 2021 insurrection incited by the sitting president of the United States of America marks us all. Because he is still sitting, we are complicit. What will you do to address this? Non-action is an action.
Contact your federal, state, and local government representative and let them know how you believe they should represent you: remove Donald Trump as president. Talk about this with someone; share the clarity about sedition. Engage with calm and clarity and learn the facts so you can share the facts. Practice calming exercises that can keep our hearts open and mind clear and purposed toward justice and peace. Healing the illness of white supremacy requires healing not only the signs and symptoms of violence, but the root cause of privileged non-understanding, fragmented hearts, fear, wrong perceptions and the harm resulting from these on Black and Brown populations.