Portrait of a Madman: RFK, Jr. Mirrors the Nation

As America wallows in mass psychosis, our very existence as a nation is on the line.

c/o New York Times

In Sir Walter Scott’s novel, Ivanhoe, a protagonist, the beautiful Rebecca, is put on trial for witchcraft. The inquisitors bring in several commoners to “testify.” One tremulous dolt describes how “he had seen Rebecca perch herself upon the parapet of the turret, and there take the form of a milk-white swan, under which appearance she flitted three times round the castle of Torquilstone; then again settle on the turret, and once more assume the female form.” Rebecca unflinchingly responds, “To plead that many things which these men have spoken against me are impossible, would avail me but little, since you believe in their possibility.”

That was twelfth century England. Dark Ages. Superstition pervaded daily life. Thank goodness we’re long past that.

Not so fast. Enter 21st century America. Trump, QAnon, Alex Jones, et al. Rebecca, sadly, has proven prescient.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, in circus ring one, we bring you: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

RFK, Jr. is living proof that superstition and twisted conspiracy thinking is monopolized neither by medieval serfs nor today’s political right (though the balance leans heavily in the latter’s direction). To wit:

“I have a lot of conversations with dead people.”

“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.”

“I think it [Wi-Fi] degrades your mitochondria and it opens your blood-brain barrier.”

“If you take the [COVID] vaccine, you’re 21 percent more likely to die of all causes.”

“There is overwhelming evidence that the CIA was involved in his [JFK's] murder. I think it’s beyond a reasonable doubt at this point.”

And the latest, the pièce de résistance —

“Covid-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

This was the last straw for the heretofore patient Kennedy clan. His sister Kerry Kennedy called his remarks “deplorable and untruthful.” His brother Joseph Kennedy II told The Boston Globe, “Bobby’s comments are morally and factually wrong. They play on antisemitic myths and stoke mistrust of the Chinese.” And former Representative Joseph Kennedy III tweeted, “My uncle’s comments were hurtful and wrong. I unequivocally condemn what he said.”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., of course, is running for president of the United States. He has been a leading fixture among left-wing antivaxers for years. Much ink has been spilled speculating on what’s wrong with him: mental derangement? Crass opportunism? Family tragedies? Study him when he pontificates. His is the face of madness. Are we seeing ourselves?

According to data analytics firm YouGov, between 62 percent and 67 percent of Democratic primary voters would support Biden and 8 percent to 12 percent would back Kennedy in an election held today. Carried over to the general election, such margins could be enough to wreck Biden’s chances of winning in 2024, something Republicans have not overlooked. The interesting twist in this picture is that Fox News and other right-wing media outlets are giving favorable coverage to Democrat RFK, Jr.’s campaign and, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), only 20 percent of his donors identify as Democrats, while nearly 40 percent traditionally give to GOP candidates.

I can’t think of any other period in our history when mass psychosis held sway over millions of Americans, who swallowed hook-line-and-sinker absurd superstitions straight out of the Dark Ages. There have been cases of communities of people so affected, ranging from the early colonial era Salem witch trials to an assortment of individual cults — Shakerism, Heaven’s Gate, the People’s Temple, Unification Church, etc. Present-day QAnon isn’t a cult so much as a collection of wild conspiracy theories embraced by millions, and not just IQ-challenged knuckle-draggers. The movie actor Jim Caviezel, for example, insists that liberal elites and Hollywood figures secretly kill children in order to drink their blood in satanic rituals — a QAnon staple.

An argument can perhaps be made that 1950s McCarthyism bordered on mass psychosis — a communist under every bed — but I’d rack it up to mass paranoia.

Psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee, author of the book, Profile of a Nation: Trump’s Mind, America’s Soul, sheds light on this cultish relationship between demagogue and followers:

“Shared psychosis” — which is also called “folie à millions” [“madness for millions”] when occurring at the national level or “induced delusions”—refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology. When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person’s symptoms can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia and propensity for violence — even in previously healthy individuals. The treatment is removal of exposure.

One must distinguish between conmen, like Trump, and true believers in conspiracy theories, which appears to describe Kennedy.

In his 2005 bestseller, On Bullshit, Harvard philosophy professor Harry G. Frankfurt wrote, “Bullshit is speech intended to persuade without regard for truth. The liar cares about the truth and attempts to hide it; the bullshitter doesn’t care if what they say is true or false, but rather only cares whether their listener is persuaded.” This captures Donald Trump.

In his book, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, on the other hand, Eric Hoffer nails RFK, Jr: “The fanatic cannot be weaned away from his cause by an appeal to his reason or moral sense. He fears compromise and cannot be persuaded to qualify the certitude and righteousness of his holy cause.”

What the bullshitter and true believer have in common is that they appeal to a person’s gut and not their reason. Joseph Goebbels grasped this concept: “The broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily.”

So, if I feel that MMR vaccine caused autism in my child, it must be true, scientific evidence be damned. Or if I feel that the Democrats stole the election, it is so, evidence be damned.

This “post-truth” era that warps the minds of many is dangerous. Only by identifying its causes and putting in place policies that resolve those causes will we be able to get past it, and leave our Second Gilded Age. A major part of this is to improve the conditions of the “left-behinds” who live in “fly-over country” — those Americans who are largely not college-educated, whose jobs have been offshored and communities hollowed out, leaving fewer opportunities for better lives for their children. Reducing income and wealth inequality should be a centerpiece of policy. Globalism’s domestic impact must be tempered. Joe Biden’s signature legislation on infrastructure, the rescue plan and inflation-reduction should go far in addressing the problems, but the results will play out over many years, even decades.

A revised Fairness Doctrine needs to be restored to news media in order to reduce the rampant, inflammatory disinformation that fuels wild conspiracy theories.

As for the racism that also underlies right-wing populism — borne in large part from immigration of non-white groups — that may take the passage of time, decades to mitigate.

Our society has been afflicted with a perverse psychology, combined with toxic politics, leading to mass delusion and runaway superstition. RFK, Jr., Donald Trump and their ilk thrive in this “post-truth” environment. The truth will set us free only if we believe in it. Otherwise, everyone is on his/her own. We’ll be taken over by madmen. And America will join all the other self-destructed civilizations on the ash heap of history.