Psychologist coins new term for Trump's constant sense of 'victimhood'

Ever since his legal troubles began in 2023, President Donald Trump has reaped great financial and political benefit from convincing his base of supporters that he's about to be victimized by vengeful governments. One scholar may have come up with a new term that could serve as a catch-all way of describing this phenomenon.

Psychology-focused news outlet PsyPost reported Monday on a recently published study by Kathryn Claire Higgins of Goldsmiths, University of London entitled "From Victimhood to Victimcould: Hypothetical injury and the 'criminalization' of Donald Trump." The study delved into Trump's pattern of constantly messaging to his supporters that he was – as PsyPost founder Eric W. Dolan wrote — "perpetually on the brink of harm, casting himself as a target of state overreach and moral persecution."

"This, Higgins claims, is victimcould in action: a rhetorical strategy that moves public attention away from current injustices and redirects it toward imagined futures," Dolan wrote. "In doing so, far-right figures can appear vulnerable while simultaneously reinforcing policies that harm those who are actually marginalized."

The Goldsmiths, University of London researcher expanded on the concept of "victimcould" to include the larger far-right political movement as a whole. She observed that the right wing leverages the "mere possibility of future injury" as a justification to inflict harm on marginalized populations like immigrants and transgender individuals. And she added that "victimcould" was difficult to counter, as opponents constantly have to contend with shifting goalposts because of what may happen in an imagined future.

"Higgins argues that this amounts to a larger cultural reversal. Systems that actually cause harm are presented as necessary for safety," Dolan wrote. "People in positions of great power are portrayed as under attack. Privileged individuals are painted as the ones who are suffering. Far-right policies — such as harsh immigration rules, anti-trans laws, or cuts to public services — are framed not as acts of control or exclusion, but as necessary responses to looming threats."

As a means of illustrating the power of "victimcould," Higgins cited the viral spread of AI-generated images of Trump being arrested (which made their way around the internet before Trump was ever officially indicted). She warned that amidst of flood of content aimed at provoking an emotional response, it was more important than ever that American voters become more media literate in order to recognize when they're being manipulated to serve a particular partisan agenda.

"Generative AI, deepfakes, and viral social media posts all provide new tools for dramatizing imaginary futures," Dolan wrote of Higgins' paper. "But the deeper issue, she says, is not the technology itself — it’s the cultural willingness to treat possibility as reality when it serves a political agenda."

Click here to read Dolan's full article in PsyPost.