Ep. 450: The Age of Trump Has Inflicted a Great Moral Injury on the American People

Dr. Michael Valdovinos is a board-certified clinical psychologist and U.S. Air Force veteran. His new book is Moral Injuries: When Good Conscience Suffers in a World of Hurt. His writing has appeared in The Guardian and Time Magazine. Valdovinos argues that the Age of Trump has inflicted a collective moral injury on millions of Americans — the psychological wound that comes from witnessing or being powerless to stop something that violates your deepest sense of right and wrong. He warns that a reckoning will soon be upon us all. Our collective exhaustion, confusion, and dread are normal responses to a profoundly abnormal social and political environment. Drawing on hard-earned experience as an instructor in the military's SERE program (survival, evasion, resistance, and escape) and work with the special operations community, Valdovinos offers wisdom many of us desperately need right now: Keep moving. Do not betray your values. Surrender is not an option. Chauncey DeVega reconvenes the secular church family, "marks out" over WrestleMania 42, and honors some of his favorite actors who have recently left this dimension of space and time and transitioned to the next Patrick Muldoon, Valerie Perrine, Matt DeCaro, and TV legend Sid Krofft. Knowing is half the battle. He explains how authoritarians use "hypernormalization" to disorient the public, drain their emotions, and ultimately create a state of learned helplessness among a targeted population. And Chauncey reflects on the failed assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents' dinner, the dangerous allure of conspiracism, and how too many people are lost in the surreal in this increasingly sick society. WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: [email protected] HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW? Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast