State of Mind
POTUS Primary Psychoanalysis: The Republicans
Over the past few months, different people involved with ModState have had the opportunity to sit down with Anny Hughes M.D., someone we’ve looked to a number of times for her insight, as a psychological thinker, on the different political minds we’ve come across and talked about, the different issues of the day, and so forth. In this instance, our editor-in-chief sat down with her for an interview regarding the four remaining contenders for the Republican nomination for the 2016 Presidential election. As we had already gathered her thoughts on former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina prior to her departure from the race, Hughes’ insight on that former candidate were included as well. We hope you, dear reader, enjoy the keen insight and wise thoughtfulness exhibited by this brilliant woman as much as we have. While we look forward to her future appearances on and contributions to ModState, we were blown away by some of her psychoanalysis of the candidates, particularly Donald Trump, which we saved for the very end. We’re pretty confident you’ll agree. Her introduction to the editorial world (this is her first appearance on any journalistic medium of any kind) is as much our gift to you as it was an honor for us. Happy reading.
Carly Fiorina
Jonathan D. DeViney: Looking at the segment we did of her interview with Chris “Tingles” Matthews, what do you make of her body language, tone of voice, etc.?
Anny Hughes M.D.: She is very self-controlled individual, whether it’s while being interrupted, when being challenged, she kept complete composure. The only tell of her irritation was increase in rate of speech.
DeViney: Looking at that and the other examples, like the quote about going to a woman to actually get things done, is she qualified for the job she’s applying for?
Hughes: I think she’s the kind of woman that could be [a good] POTUS because of her level of self-control, because even when insulted she maintains composure. She’s proven she’s not going to let men walk all over her. She is not going to let the man’s world of politics, especially the GOP, get [to] her.
DeViney: As you know, there are two women in this race, one just a little more high-profile than the other. How is Miss Fiorina better qualified?
Hughes: How is she more qualified than Hillary Clinton? She has made herself very educated on the issues, but based on her dialogue on her rise from secretary to CEO at Hewlett-Packard, she’s not afraid to continue learning and would build a strong cabinet. She will compose the cabinet in a way that will be beneficial to the country. It will be diverse and show all sides whereas my feeling on Hillary is more she will assemble a cabinet that favors one agenda and advances her agenda.
DeViney: What about the question on what Trump said about her in the Rolling Stone interview?
Hughes: She was not afraid of showing emotion [in regards] to Trump. She showed the hurt in her eyes, unabashedly, she smirked at the opportunity to lash back at him, but showed her true character and professionalism with her poised response in saying “America heard what he said.” She felt Trump hurt himself badly enough with his remarks and she trusted the American people to make the judgment.
DeViney: And this could bolster one’s opinion of her as a presidential candidate how?
Hughes: She shows that events affect her but she does not seem to let said circumstances dictate her response. Like with a terrorist attack, she will be emotional but controlled and [have] a swift, vicious and effective response.
Marco Rubio
DeViney: What’s your impression of Senator Rubio? What’s his ‘tell?’
Hughes: Well his nervous tick is facial grimace and contorting his lips. He seems level-headed, fair (wants to do what’s best for all Americans, including immigrants), very well-educated on relevant topics. Of note are his lack of gestures, which seem to demonstrate his level of comfort.
DeViney: What do you make of his suggestion that America is the war effort in the Middle East? For instance, with France stepping up their involvement in Afghanistan, their absolute route of the Taliban in Mali, their involvement in Libya and basically begging for the go-ahead in Syria from their counterparts on the U.N. Security Council, was that particularly wise?
Hughes: Based on his assertions on statistics and troops America “is NATO”, it could be a bad idea to make those comments in regards to our European allies given their ability to change (increases in troop levels, etc.). In context of where we’ve been, though, it was a fair statement.
DeViney: What do you make of him coming to Bush’s aid in the debate?
Hughes: First, he supported his party, and in defending President George W. Bush, it begs another question: what did Trump’s railings on 9/11 have to do with anything? Overall he’s the best in the field as a speaker due to his wit, his quick responses without losing composure. He has nice voice, he’s easy to listen to and he generally isn’t terse or abrasive.
John Kasich
DeViney: What’s your take on Governor Kasich?
Hughes: He’s mature, self-controlled and wise.
DeViney: Any thoughts on why he has gotten so little traction?
Hughes: Fools listen to fools and we are in a generation of…an era of fools.
DeViney: But he made strides after the first four-man debate, so why does his success not matter?
Hughes: He’s too quiet. Good, bad or otherwise Trump demands attention, and Kasich, while wise and mature is remaining quiet. The attention span has dropped off and if it’s not krunk and sexual (sexy isn’t enough anymore)…Trump is political porn: instant gratification.
DeViney: What do you make of his answer on that hypothetical, y’know where if he had a gay daughter getting married?
Hughes: Kelly asked the question personally “if your daughter was gay.” He stated his old-fashioned values but he said the Supreme Court has ruled on marriage equality and he accepted that.
DeViney: And his body language?
Hughes: His hand gestures are awkward but that’s due to him being a little awkward like a nerd, in a wonk way.
DeViney: Okay, but if, say, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio had answered the gay marriage question that way, you know they would’ve gotten blasted for that answer.
Hughes: Yes, well, his meter and tone was passionate, yes, but he was comfortable with a command of the issues. He was not rattled by personal nature of question. They would’ve been, particularly if they had tried to give an answer [like that] that they know their supporters don’t agree with.
DeViney: One final point here on that question, what do you make of him staving off Kelly’s attempted interruption early in his answer? Was his reaction to her rude?
Hughes: No! She’s the one who asked and question and then wouldn’t let him finish! He was annoyed with her being rude and wanted to uphold the respect of the fabric of the debate.
Ted Cruz
DeViney: This one’s gotta bit a more fun [for you] because he’s more animated, so, what of Cruz’s body language, etc.?
Hughes: His facial expressions during driving home a point comes off similar to a Don Juan trying to get in a girl’s pants…or in this case, America’s.
DeViney: So you don’t think Cruz is sincere?
Hughes: Well, his contradictory stance on corporations, everything…he’s very much akin to Donald Trump in that he doesn’t commit to a stance on anything aside from a select few core topics like pro-life, the budget, the military, the size of government. He isn’t insincere in that he will compromise principles but he adopts a populist, rambling stance on issues, especially where if it’s not one of his regular bullet-points.
DeViney: So, he’s got the Moves like Jagger in the political arena in that he’s a populist (beyond core issues)?
Hughes: He’s a smarter politician than Trump in that he’s not going to commit to everything but he’s a populist in that he changes the discussion back to whatever he’s comfortable with.
DeViney: So he’s a snake?
Hughes: He’s not deliberately snake-like, no.
DeVIney: So “you either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain?”
Hughes: Yes! Exactly. He has adopted some traits of the establishment because he’s been there, like when he was attorney at the Supreme Court, he has been there long enough that he accidentally becomes manipulative; he’s smart enough that, having been in the game long enough, he knows how to get what he wants. He has had to learn that in order to survive there.
Donald J. Trump
DeViney: And now, the moment we’ve been waiting for.
Hughes: How so?
DeViney: Well, I’ve been dying to get your take on this one: Donald J. Trump.
Hughes: He’s the epitome of a populist with his revolving-door platform. Everything stems from anger and narcissism.
DeViney: So America’s supposedly amazing but he’s the one who will make it great again?
Hughes: Yes. It’s not about America. His supporters and the rest of people of this country? They’re not the ones who can do it. He has three central issues: immigration, the economy and national defense…
DeViney: Well he, in all fairness he did just recently roll out a seven-step healthcare reform plan…
Hughes: …but has long privately backed universal healthcare.
DeViney: Otherwise known to wonks as a “single-payer” system.
Hughes: Yes.
DeViney: I want you to elaborate more on him.
Hughes: He’s insecure.
DeViney: Donald Trump?
Hughes: Yes. People that are confident in themselves and their masculinity don’t need to talk about people giving them fellatio. He’s very immature. He has no self-control.
DeViney: Okay, so the exchange with Fox News, the whole Kelly thing, where he didn’t go to the next Fox debate. What is this thing…and I’m sure I’m not the only person who sees it, I can’t be…where he starts whatever feud by being rude, and then when whomever responds in kind he acts all offended. He did it with Kelly, he did it with Bush, even attacking his family, and then he starts it with Rubio. Rubio responds by joining him at the high school level with similar crap, and he gets all offended. What is that?
Hughes: Talking about Kelly being rude when he was rude first is projection and self-preservation. He has been paranoid for so long that he’s not even consciously aware of his level of hypocrisy.
DeViney: You don’t think he’s even aware he does it?
Hughes: No. He has been in the routine of defending himself for so long that any time he feels threatened he reverts to projection…
DeViney: …so that’s “lyin’ Ted” and “Little Marco”?
Hughes: Yes. Then the self-preservation, the “this guy’s a choke artist!” and “such a loser” ensuring that he looks better and, consequently, “survives”.
DeViney: “Survives?”
Hughes: We’re not talking literally about survival here, but surviving the argument, coming out of it on top.
DeViney: So what of the double-talk about the tax returns, how he would if he could but he’s being audited? Which by the way that’s not true, there’s no legal stipulation barring anyone from releasing their returns just because they’re being audited by the IRS.
Hughes: He hasn’t released his tax returns because: he doesn’t want people to know how much he’s worth. Or, perhaps more importantly, because it seems like the dollar amount goes up every time he talks about his money, how little he’s worth. He may be possibly facing another bankruptcy. Or maybe it’s about who he gives money to in politics. The campaigns he has given to in the past have already caused controversy so maybe it’s about us not knowing where more of his money goes.
DeViney: What’s your gut reaction to this Trump University bit, where people got a picture with Donald Trump at the end all right. A cardboard cutout of Trump.
Hughes: I feel so sorry for Trump. I pity him. He doesn’t even realize how bad things have gotten.
DeViney: You think he’s pathetic?
Hughes: Yeah! Oh, yeah!
DeViney: But what about all the people who are supposedly talking good about the program?
Hughes: Those people were paid to report good ratings on the school or they’re a bunch of his cronies under fake names or accounts inflating the rating!
DeViney: First with Obama, now with Cruz. What’s with the dual “birther” issues Trump’s raised?
Hughes: Well give his corporate bankruptcies and hiring illegals to work on his projects, it’s him picking and choosing which laws are followed. By law both are citizens This is a non-issue.
DeViney: What do you make of him wanting to open up the libel laws?
Hughes: Him wanting to sue the media is, again, him picking and choose what should be followed or changed in this case.
DeViney: First Amendment be damned?
Hughes: Look, two wrongs don’t make a right as far as the hitting back when hit thing goes. When you get attacked by the media, defend yourself and let the truth speak for itself. The media, like the free exercise of religion, is an outlet of our protection, He wants to make sure all the weaker people stay weaker.
DeViney: “The Art of the Deal: or the Bible, which does he really believe is the greatest book of all time?
Hughes: Oh for sure his book. The only reason he answered that his book is second-greatest is because he would piss off too many people.
DeViney: He’s not president yet, in other words.
Hughes: Correct. If he were to become president America’s gonna see a whole different side of Trump.
DeViney: A sane, rational person would look at all of these things, all of the above, and see some issues and think they need to change.
Hughes: Trump is not a sane, rational person. Therefore, he sees no inconsistencies and does not think he needs to change.
DeViney: So when he uses words like a leader’s needing to be “flexible” and their policy positions needing to be “dynamic”…
Hughes: …when it comes to him as a person he doesn’t think it’s inconsistent. When it comes to his policies, he’ll argue the situation has changed and therefore his stance needs to change.
DeViney: My personal impression of him is the same, but in the interest of fairness isn’t that, to a degree, not only true but necessary to be true of all leaders?
Hughes: Yes, it is necessary for leaders to be able to evolve with situations. Trump will maintain that he as a man, his character, remains constant, and that his positions evolve as a leader as the situation dictates.
DeViney: Like the professor of yours we were talking about.
Hughes: Yes, Dr. Wade A. McNair, who I was a student of at Biola University.
DeViney: Right, and you’ve said that a leader must be able to be flexible (for lack of a better word) and must be able to evolve. Where’s the line you’re drawing that makes Trump different than the rest?
Hughes: Dr. McNair makes a great point with his formula on action and behavior.
DeViney: Okay?
Hughes: Basically, as pertains to leadership in particular, it infers that “actions and behaviors are in alignment with our values and beliefs.”
DeViney: Please, continue. I myself am trying to connect the dots here, so, uh, bring it home for us, Anny!
Hughes: Well, Trump always says he’s self-financing and he’s his own man.
DeViney: Right. And, again, you’ve indicated that a leader must be able to move outside his platform, his positions on stock issues, as you put it, to address things as the situation dictates. I mean, I’m an economist, I place fiscal issues at the top of the list of things to be addressed. I’ve admitted I’m wrong before and that maybe a part of my plan needs tweaking.
Hughes: Yes, particulars. Not principles. Men like you, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, you’ve all spelled out, in great detail, your ideas and your plans to fix things or start a new program, what have you. A man like Trump, the poster boy for populism, he’s kept things so vague that he’s only really talked about a handful of things. Even then, he has offered nothing concrete beyond a wall, and even that keeps changing in size.
DeViney: So, again, I turn back to my prior question, and about a leader being flexible. Doesn’t that vindicate Trump here?
Hughes: No. In reality, there’s no separating the two.
DeVIney: The two of what?
Hughes: Trump as a man and Trump as a candidate. Because, if a man changes his positions on a matter, he must also change his views. It comes down to compromising as a whole, or compromising particulars. Trump, as a populist does, compromises or changes his whole perspective to fit the new fad or group he’s speaking to. Because he’s been so deliberately vague, I mean, he has taken populism to a whole new level here. But because he hasn’t had a platform beyond, “the economy sucks,” “illegal immigration” is bad, and how strong he’ll make the military and how great he’ll make the country, he has deliberately kept the discussion about him. Other politicians can, yes, make a tweak to their extensive list of political positions on a number of issues and it doesn’t feel like a wholesale change. With Trump, precisely because he’s been so general as to keep his populist platform adaptable to every room…
DeViney: …so he’s a chameleon? I mean that’s fine for musicians, I mean I love David Bowie…
Hughes: …well yeah it’s fine for that. But again, because of his extensive populism, for him to change so drastically…
DeViney: …like the waterboarding thing that changed within a day…
Hughes: …exactly. Here it comes down to [Dr. McNair’s] equation on actions and behaviors being in alignment with his values and beliefs. Because you can’t have it both ways with him. Because his platform is him, he especially, any change, is a complete about-face.
Mr. Wade A. McNair is a psychologist who is widely considered an expert in the fields of communication and organizational leadership. He possesses massive academic pedigree and over fifteen years of immeasurable “real-world” experience in talent management, human resources and organizational development.
In addition to his stellar career resume in psychology, Mr. McNair also serves as an instructor of Human Resources, Employee Development, Organization Development and Leading Change. His own path of higher-learning took him on the extended journey cited below:
Bachelor of Arts in Independent/Organizational Psychology, Biola University, Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership, Biola University, Doctorate/ Psy.D. of Organizational Development, Phillips Graduate Institute.
His website containing his credentials and extended details on “human capital strategy & organizational psychology” can be found at the following link: Wade A. McNair
