An assassination attempt against Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump was carried out at a campaign event in the state of Pennsylvania late last week. Trump was wounded in the right ear, and the shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks (20 years old) was killed by the special services. What goes through the head of a person who is determined to kill... Psychiatrist Dr. Vasil Urumov speaks to FAKTI.
- Dr. Urumov, what is the profile of a person who is preparing an assassination attempt against a presidential candidate. I mean, I understand, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump?
- Perhaps the first word that comes to my mind, not only for the given case, but in general for similar type of attacks, is “fanatic”. It doesn't have to be a religious fanatic of the "kamikaze, suicide bomb" type here, there are political and social fanatics to some extent. Actually,
in recent years and in Bulgaria, this political polarization has been very clearly observed to the extent of fanaticism, which was manifested in the last elections.
Very often, fanatical individuals have a disturbed personality structure and a deteriorated functioning style. These are often people with personality disorders who have a borderline or psychotic style of functioning. This means that they often have not only disturbed relationships with others, inadequate control over impulses and inadequacy of emotional response and reactions, but also a disturbed/difficult perception of reality, as it cannot be fully or adequately “interpreted&rdquo ;. Neutral events may be perceived as “signs” which have a specific meaning directed only to them.
From this can originate a kind of self-relationship and sensitivity, which gives way to manifestations of paranoia or a sense of a special mission in life.
Such type of people can see some special message “encoded“ in the simplest text, a word, a smile. These individuals often also have black/white thinking, that is, they cannot adequately distinguish between nuances, and see events and people only as good/bad. Even more often this turns into “I am all good, he is all bad and my enemy“. Many conflicts and troubles in their lives and those around them originate from there.
- What thoughts go through the head of such a person?
- It must be very difficult and chaotic to be with a similar type of thinking and perception of reality. Probably very often these people see everyday, ordinary events for us as threats to them. Certainly, setting out to act on his plan, T.M.K. he knew he wouldn't get out of there alive no matter what happened.
This requires a very strong conviction, probably to the point of insanity, in one's own rightness and “mission”.
We often see this in very highly religious closed societies and sects, where there is one leader to whom the rest of the followers blindly and unreservedly obey. In such groups, critical thinking is lacking, there is only false faith and conviction in the rightness of everything they are told. They often perceive their “guide” as a sinless deity, they idealize him. This is again a sign of splitting - seeing objects only in black/white.
- Classmates describe him as a loner who was bullied in a school...
- He might have been bullied at school and that's why he was a loner, but it's possible that he was a loner and that's why he was bullied by others. There is not enough information at this stage, but there is currently no evidence that he has been registered with a mental illness. Sometimes, depending on the environment, even if a person has a mental illness, his diagnosis may be delayed due to neglect on his part and on the part of his relatives, or because of the stigma, due to which this type of “idiosyncratic” tries to hide from the family and not be talked about. This happens especially often in smaller towns and villages where people know each other.
There are sick people who have not been treated for years because they or their family are ashamed to consult a psychiatrist.
Very often precisely because of this “loneliness” there is also a serious impairment in social skills. It is more difficult for such people to adequately express and process their emotions, especially negative emotions such as anger, shame, sadness, guilt. In this way, they can react dangerously and destructively. Very often, girls direct these strong emotions and frustrations towards themselves - self-aggression in the form of self-harm, humiliation, getting into dangerous situations. Boys more often direct aggression outward, towards others. This aggression can be both verbal and physical. Both to people and to objects.
- I will kill a man, I will become famous. Is this a motive?
- Yes, as we can see - it is a motive. He chose the “correct“ a person - for example, a former president, and became famous. I doubt that was his main purpose. However, we don't have much information at the moment.
- If they kill me, I will become famous again. Is this the meaning of life?
- I'm not sure that fame is the driving force here. Yes, there is certainly some degree of over-developed narcissism and megalomania in fanatical individuals, but I don't think as badly as his reality check was impaired, there's no way he thought he was going to get out of this situation alive. So, this “if“ I think it's redundant. I assume that he went into action with the clear idea that he was going to be killed. Just like kamikaze pilots or suicide bombers did.
- How mentally stable is a 20-year-old? Could he have been influenced?
- Adolescents and to some extent young adults can be defined as "more mentally unstable" due to the simple anatomical feature that our brain - in particular the prefrontal cortex - continues to develop until about 25-26 years of age. These are the parts that are responsible for higher executive functions - control over impulses, emotions, planning and organizing, etc. That is, we see a large discrepancy between 18 years - the legally determined age of majority and full legal capacity in most countries, and the actual age of completion of the individual's development, determined by biology.
Young people can be more easily influenced and manipulated.
In them, the ability to think critically and rationally analyze may not be so well developed. This has been observed especially in recent years, when information is taken from the Internet without checking the credibility of the sources. This, by the way, happens not only with young people, but also with many other people. However, there is a question of “virtual literacy“.
Another factor that is very characteristic of American society and culture is their attitude towards firearms.
From the age of 8 to 18, I grew up in the USA, and this has always been my impression, simply because in Bulgaria (and Europe), fortunately, this is not the case. Their attitude to weapons is a bit like our attitude to brewing and drinking brandy - a cultural feature that not everyone understands and appreciates. Very often in both cases, especially in small towns, children are “breastfed“ with guns/alcohol and to them it's not something weird, scary or unusual. This more liberal attitude, if taken out of bounds, can subsequently lead to highly negative results. This is evident in Bulgaria in the provincial cities, where there is a big problem among young people with alcohol abuse, as well as the development of addiction. In the States, this can be seen in the statistics of shootings in their schools and universities. This became their very negative “trademark”. There are data on 84 shootings from 2000-2009; 256 shootings from 2010-2019 and 199 shootings from 2020 to present. And we are only in the middle of 2024! If I counted correctly, that equates to 1 such incident per week.
- What is the critical link in thinking that answers the question: "Will I be able to do it?"
- In my opinion, here is a combination of several factors that create prerequisites for the “perfect storm”. We have a young, vulnerable person who probably had problems with socialization, was bullied at school – as they say, which has led to intense frustration and feelings of anger. Along with this social isolation, we also have probably an inadequate opportunity to process negative emotions and low support from others. This is a highly explosive combination. Add a firearm found in the bomber's home and you have the plot of a Hollywood movie, or at least the cheap drama that not only the American but also our political scene has become. Our/their elections have become a cheap circus. It's just icing on the cake for Americans. And with us - with us, the cherries probably predominate, but without the cake.