Spousal abuse, according to psychologist Dr. Jeanne King and others, often takes the predictable course of verbal, physical and/or financial abuse, followed by deep shows of remorse and “niceness.” If the abuser is skillful with this tactic, his or her victim will often “forgive,” only to be abused again, followed by the same show of remorse and on and on. This kind of cycle often perpetuates itself through something called “trauma bonding,” in which the victim is drawn to the “good” moments, however rare, and is willing to tolerate the bad ones.
On Nov. 21, America was treated to one of those moments of niceness, when Donald Trump met with Zohran Mamdani at the White House. In fact, it was such a rare show of “love bombing” that Substack star Robert Hubbell said it was as if “a quantum fluctuation ripped a hole in the fabric of space time, allowing a parallel multiverse to intrude into our local universe for several hours.” He wisely predicted: Trump “will be back to his misanthropic cruelty by (the next) evening.”
I would simply describe what happened as Mr. Hyde becoming Dr. Jekyll just long enough for his abused followers to breathe a sigh of relief after a period of nonstop awfulness, when Trump acted like the monster who ate the East Wing — using the destruction of health care, the cruel detention of thousands of immigrants, the destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the weaponization of the Justice Department and the threat of death for those in Congress who dared caution the military against following illegal orders as appetizers.
Frederick Longacre
Hockessin
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