HOW THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN BUILT A POLITICAL PORN SITE TO SELL THE PLEASURES OF HATE: WHAT DO WE DO NOW?

Many, including the author and his patients, are reacting to Trump's election and the ongoing realities of his presidency with feelings of outrage and betrayal: How could the country have elected this man? In partial answer to that at times rhetorical question, this article argues that the Trump campaign functioned as a purveyor of hate-filled political porn allowing supporters to internalize Trump as a "cyberobject," an internal representation with a digital provenance that is time-stamped with an eternal present. As a cyberobject, Trump gets held in mind in a timeless present devoid of consequence in which all that matters is the capacity to infinitely reproduce feelings of triumph and hate. The article closes with some consequences of this understanding for political action.