A Grand Jury empaneled by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith has issued an indictment (full text here) against Donald John Trump on four counts,

Smith delivered a statement, saying, “Today, an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. The indictment was issued by a grand jury of citizens here in the District of Columbia and sets forth the crimes charged in detail. I encourage everyone to read it in full.”

This indictment follows a federal indictment for mishandling classified documents and an indictment by the Manhattan district attorney on election fraud involving the payment of hush money to a porn star and a Playboy model to prevent voters from learning about his simultaneous affairs with the two women while his wife Melania was pregnant with their son Barron.

Although the four charges are specific, the over-all implication of the most recent indictment is that Trump set in motion complex machinery in order to overthrow the lawfully elected government of the United States, the first time a US president has behaved this way. Who else wanted to see the US government fall? King George III, Jefferson Davis, Adolf Hitler. Trump joins this rogue’s gallery. Smith’s indictment goes into the details of a meticulous plot to prevent the electoral college from voting Joe Biden in and to prevent Congress from certifying the win, which involved setting up fake electors, pressuring state ballot counters, threatening Vice President Mike Pence, and encouraging an armed insurrection at the Capitol.

I wrote in early 2017 even before Trump was inaugurated about the dangers I saw of his sort of personality assuming the presidency, and it seems to me that I was prescient. In the light of this indictment it is worth revisiting my thoughts in that essay, in which I may have coined the term “psychopathocracy.” Now you see what I meant:

“We are now on the brink of a new form of government, undreamed of by Aristotle, who spoke of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. We are headed to a psychopathocracy, which has something in common with the degraded form of classical regime types that Aristotle warned against (he thought monarchy can deteriorate into despotism, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into demagoguery). Psychopathocracy is the rule of persons who lack a basic ability to empathize with others, to feel their pain or to feel guilty about harming them.

“Psychopathocracy is different from mere bad policy. We can all disagree about the direction of government or particular initiatives. Often people backing a policy that harms others do not understand the harm, or think it is averting a greater harm. It isn’t true that all high politicians are psychopaths who don’t care about injury being done to people. And high politicians have put in programs like social security that have lifted millions of elders out of poverty over decades. They did it because they cared about people.

“About 1% of the population is comprised of born psychopaths. The condition of a lack of conscience and inability to empathize with the pain of others or feel remorse may well be a condition one is born with, and in a third of cases can be tested for with an MRI scan. It is thought that another 5 percent of the population loses its ability to empathize through brain damage, trauma or other sorts of physical or psychological injuries.

“It is further thought that about 12% of the population is easily manipulated by psychopaths into pyschopath-like behavior or ideas. This 18% of the population is potentially extremely dangerous. They do not have a feedback loop for emotional or physical distress. They are the sort of people who would run somebody over and flee the scene without calling for medical help for the victim.

“Psychopaths in power are dangerous because of their inability to feel the pain of others. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney set of a chain of events in motion that left hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, and they displaced from their homes (i.e. made homeless) 4 million of Iraq’s then 30 million people. This is not to mention the 4,486 Us troops killed the 500,000 wounded physically or psychologically). They set up a chain of events that led to a dangerous cult, Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) taking over 40% of Iraqi territory. But if you ask them if they regret what they did, they so ‘no.’ And I think they are being honest. They cannot empathize with the victims they helped create.

“Politicians who want to deprive people of their health care so as to lower taxes on billionaires, who want to make women bear the babies of their rapists, who want to torture helpless prisoners, who want to burn fossil fuels for profit when they endanger the planet, who want to carpet bomb or nuke millions of non-combatants to get at a few guerrillas– these are psychopaths.

“Psychopaths are not necessarily criminal or violent, though there are four times as many psychopaths in prison as in the general population. All serial killers are psychopaths. Fraudsters like Bernie Madoff are psychopaths.

“CEOs of corporations and successful politicians are also disproportionately likely to be psychopaths. Robert Hare developed a 20-point checklist for the condition, which, however, does not exactly overlap with the definition in DSM-V, the description of mental conditions put out by the American Psychiatric Association. Hare did some of his research in prisons and so his checklist is skewed a bit for criminal activity.

“You don’t need to be a psychologist to recognize that Donald J. Trump and several nominees to his incoming administration exhibit obvious signs of psychopathy. Having psychopaths in the White House is not unprecedented. It seems pretty obvious that Dick Nixon, a pathological liar who actually derailed the 1968 peace negotiations with Vietnam to keep his rival Hubert Humphrey from looking good to the voters, had this condition. Untold American soldiers and Vietnamese peasants died so Nixon could be president.

“What is remarkable about Trump and his cronies is that their hatred is raw and broad-spectrum. Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Muslim-Americans, white liberals (coded by the Neo-Nazis as N-lovers) and some of them don’t like Jews very much. That is, they seem to hate an absolute majority of the American population.

“Trump’s psychopathy is evident in his exaggerated estimation of himself, his need constantly to troll the public for stimulation, his superficial charm, his need to lie, his inability to feel remorse or guilt, his emotional shallowness, his promiscuity and lack of impulse control and serial sexual assault, his use of bankruptcy to avoid paying his creditors and his attraction to a business like casinos which preys on people (many games in casinos are skewed for the House at rates of 11% and on up even to 20%). Trump is more disciplined and single-minded about his career than most psychopaths manage, but otherwise he seems a classic case. He also suffers from a distinct but related condition, of narcissistic personality disorder.

“Many of the people around Trump, who speak for him on television, who are tapped to advise him on national security, on the environment, on issues like net neutrality, also exhibit clear signs of psychopathy. Since only about 3 million Americans are born psychopaths, the idea that a whole group of them is moving into power in Washington together is pretty scary. And remember that some 38 million Americans are so ethically and emotionally fragile that they will easily fall under the spell of the psychopaths. That is, if directed to beat up members of minorities, they will gladly do so.

“Since about a third of psychopaths can now be diagnosed with an MRI for brain abnormalities, maybe it is desirable that candidates for high office in business and government be scanned: Psychcentral writes, a “study found that [cold-blooded psychopathic] offenders displayed significantly reduced grey matter volumes in the anterior rostral prefrontal cortex and temporal poles compared to [impulsive psychopathic] offenders and healthy non-offenders.”

“Until such scanning can be carried out, the safest thing is to assume that someone who talks and acts like a psychopath is one.

“You cannot reason with a psychopath, you cannot shame such a person or appeal to their better instincts. There is no point in writing open letters to them. The usual way of dealing with politicians who develop some wild ideas in the course of their search for voters and campaign funds will not work.

“The only thing you can do is recognize their damaged character and try to protect yourself and others from it. When they encourage minorities to be beaten up, we have to stop that. When they encourage universities to put professors on trial, we have to reject that. When they begin beating drums for war, we have to try to avert it. Pressuring the normal people in Congress can be done (they responded quickly to angry telephone calls about plans to weaken ethics requirements for people in congress).”

Washington (AFP) – The dramatic Senate testimony of university professor Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her, has sparked a surge in calls to abuse hotlines — and a moment of reckoning for women confronting their own painful memories.

The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) said there was a 201 percent increase in calls to the National Sexual Assault Hotline on Thursday, when Blasey Ford appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“We often see an uptick when sexual assault is in the news,” RAINN said.

“Since Dr Ford has come forward with her allegations, we have seen a 45.6 percent uptick (in calls) compared to the same time period in 2017,” the organization said.

POOL/AFP/File / JIM BOURG. A sexual assault hotline is reporting a surge in calls following the Senate testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades ago.

“Hearing about sexual violence in the media and online can be very difficult for survivors and their loved ones,” the group added in a tweet. “Remember to take care of yourself during these times.”

Like millions of Americans, 76-year-old Brenda followed Thursday’s emotional testimony from Blasey Ford, who said she believed she was going to be raped during the alleged assault by Kavanaugh at a party 36 years ago.

During the marathon hearing, Brenda was one of many who called public affairs network C-SPAN to share their personal stories of assault.

“I thought I was over this. I have not brought this up for years,” Brenda said. “I heard this testimony, and it is just breaking my heart.”

Jessica, now 26, said she was sexually assaulted at age 19 when she was at university. Michelle, 53, explained that she was attacked at age 12.

GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File / Gabriel Olsen. Actress Busy Phillips revealed she was raped at age 14 during Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony on Capitol Hill.

In Hollywood, a few more boldface names came forward with stories of rape and abuse.

Actress Busy Philipps posted a picture of herself as a teenager during the hearing with the message: “This is me at 14. The age I was raped. (…) Today is the day we are silent no more. All of us.” It was her first comment on the incident.

She added: “I can’t imagine what Dr Ford is feeling right now.”

“Modern Family” actress Sarah Hyland also revealed Thursday she was a victim of sexual assault while in high school.

“I hoped it was a dream but my ripped tights in the morning proved otherwise,” she said on Twitter.

– Compelling testimony –

Sexual assault hotlines have experienced similar surges in calls in the past during other high-profile events such as the revelations of sexual abuse by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, which helped launch the #MeToo movement.

Blasey Ford’s testimony on Thursday struck a particular nerve.

The California professor said she managed to escape when another boy who was in the room jumped on the bed where she was allegedly being held down and groped by Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh vehemently denied the allegations and the Senate Judiciary Committee backed his nomination to the nation’s highest court — but that same committee said it would ask for a new FBI background check before a final vote.

AFP / Eric BARADAT. Actress Alyssa Milano speaks outside the Supreme Court against Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Actress Alyssa Milano, a victim of assault who attended Thursday’s hearing and protested Kavanaugh’s nomination in front of the Supreme Court on Friday, told AFP she was thrilled to stand in solidarity with other victims.

“I think the most beautiful thing that’s come out of the last two years is really understanding that women are here for each other. To be part of that is very special,” Milano said.

He angrily threatened to smear the next Democratic nominee in turn.

Graham’s charge of conspiracy makes no sense, since the Democrats did not make Dr. Blasey Ford come forward, nor did they make the other three women come forward (one, in Montgomery county, has for the time being withdrawn her complaint with the police; perhaps she feared being treated by Graham and his pack hounds the way Dr. Blasey Ford was.)

The Republican evangelicals are always attacking Muslim fundamentalism for not giving equal rights to women. Actually modern Muslim states like Tunisia have women’s equality in the constitution. But it is true that some Muslim fundamentalists argue that a woman’s testimony in court should be worth half that of a man, which makes convicting a man of rape almost impossible. Ironically, the attitude of the Republican men on the Judiciary Committee is the same as would be that of a Muslim fundamentalist. They clearly believe that the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a high-powered professor of psychiatry at Palo Atlo and Stanford Universities, counts for less than that of a preppie white elite male.

Graham’s tone deafness to rape victims is nothing new. He has consistently voted against the Violence against Women Act. Indeed, the Republican Congress is going to let the act expire this weekend, ironically the same weekend they will shoehorn Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court. Nobody on cable news will tell you that or make the connection.

In Graham’s worldview, the Democrats got their nominees, whom he voted for, and they are being beastly to take this one away from the Republicans. But he neglects to mention what was done to Merrick Garland by the GOP. And he unfairly blames the Democratic Party for Kavanaugh’s behavior as a besotted youth (one woman would have been an accusation; 4 are a certainty).

Sen. Graham called the hearing, which merely allowed Kavanaugh’s alleged victim to state her experience, the worst thing he had ever seen in his career in politics.

Graham supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which left hundreds of thousands dead, destabilized the Middle East, created 4 million refugees, and led to the rise of the hyper-fundamentalist ISIL/ Daesh in a formerly secular and socialist country. I’d gently suggest that that was the worst thing we’ve seen in his political career, and that whether Kavanaugh is called to account for instances in his youth where he, allegedly, tried violently to insert his penis in an unwilling girl pales in comparison. Or perhaps Graham thinks the honor of a white gentleman outweighs the displacement of 4 million brown Iraqis.

Graham’s hierarchy of values may explain why he as senator has not done more about the severe problem his own state of South Carolina has with violence toward women. It really is an outlier nationally in this regard.

The state, among all fifty, with the very highest rate of women killed by men in 2014 was South Carolina ((pop. 5 million).

In the past decade, South Carolina has ranked in the top five states for for women murdered by men.

The proportion of women killed by men per population in South Carolina is TWICE the national average in the US.

An astonishing 92% of female murder victims knew their murderer, and 62% had been in an intimate relationship with the killer.

Some 36,000 domestic and intimate partner assaults are reported every year in South Carolina.

South Carolina’s rate of sexual assault has been higher than the national average since 1982 and increased by 12% a year in some years of this decade.

More than half of all victims of sexual assault in South Carolina are not seen by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.

Few prosecutions of sexual assault in South Carolina result in a conviction on that charge; large numbers of cases are never brought, large numbers of the cases brought are dismissed, and most convictions are the result of plea deals in which defendants cop to lesser, non-sexual charges (36% of those charged are only convicted in this way statewide).

Some South Carolinian newspapers have attributed the unusual rates of violence against women in the state to “southern culture” (by which they seem to mean a kind of patriarchy in which the male head of family feels he ‘owns’ the other family members and that outsiders have no business with his private affairs). The leniency of court sentencing, such that violent men who attack women are allowed back out on the street after short terms in jail, is also blamed.

Another indication of low status for women is the rate of death in childbirth. South Carolina has the 9th worst record among the 50 states on this measure. In California, where people in government actually care about the lives and welfare of women, maternal mortality has been cut in half.

In general, South Carolina is a dangerous state, with 501 violent crimes per 100,000 population annually, 35% higher than the rest of the US.

Perhaps what with being a senator and lawmaker and elite and all, Sen. Graham could do something about the high rates of violence against women in his state.

——–

Bonus video:

The Young Turks: “Lindsey Graham Has Political MELTDOWN”

Christine Blasey Ford’s account of allegedly being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when they were teenagers is provoking both informed and uninformed comment from politicians. Still more private conversations about the subject are happening in homes and offices around the country.

There is a large body of social science research about what are called “peer sexual assaults” that is relevant to these discussions. We are experts on violence, including sex offenses against children and youth, and our research focuses on surveys to document those realities and track the trends.

Here are six basic facts about sexual assault among adolescents.

What does research say?

1. Assaults among people under the age of 18 are common: 18 percent of girls and 3 percent of boys say that by age 17 they have been victims of a sexual assault or abuse at the hands of another adolescent.

This estimate, and those in the next three points, come from a national survey on violence of over 6,000 youth ages 10 to 17, conducted between 2008 and 2014. Peer sexual assault was defined by affirmative answers to either of two questions: 1) At any time in your life, did another child or teen make you do sexual things? 2) At any time in your life, did anyone try to force you to have sex, that is, sexual intercourse of any kind, even if it did not happen?

In addition, to be counted, all offenses required physical contact and a juvenile perpetrator.

2. Most assaults between adolescents do not involve sexual intercourse. Penetration occurs only in 15 percent of cases.

3. Failure to disclose or report the assault is common. Most – 66 percent – of adolescent victims did not tell a parent or any other adult about the assault. Only 19 percent reported the assault to the police.

4. Victims have a variety of reactions to the assault. For example, the level of fear at the time of the assault runs the gamut: 32 percent reported being very afraid, but 26 percent said they had not been afraid. The rest reported being a little afraid.

5. Impacts of assault can be serious and long-lasting. Both sexual and non-sexual assaults in adolescence are associated with higher-than-normal levels of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic symptoms and risks for being assaulted again. This is one of the most reliable findings in the growing science of how negative childhood experiences lead to poorer physical and mental health later in life.

6. Some youth who commit sexual assault are serial offenders, but most are not. The re-offense rate for such youth is 5 percent, lower than for adults who commit a first assault, and has been declining over time, possibly due to more awareness and better intervention.

Education works

Experts on sexual assault agree that education for young people is one of the most important ways to diminish the incidence of sexual assault: Among the tools educators use are lessons about consent, good decision-making, refusal skills and the empowerment of bystanders to intervene.

A number of educational programs with such components have been formally evaluated and shown to be effective, including programs such as Safe Dates, Shifting Boundaries, Green Dot and the Fourth R.

Surveys suggest that sexual assaults of adolescents and adults have been declining or flat over the last 25 years, not increasing. Still, far too many young people suffer from these offenses and their effects. Expanding educational programs is an obvious and crucial priority for bringing down this toll.

David Finkelhor, Professor of Sociology, University of New Hampshire and Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan, Postdoctoral researcher, University of New Hampshire

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

———

Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

Teen Vogue: “Slut-Shamed After Reporting Sexual Assault at Coachella | Teen Vogue Take”