"Their cheese has slid off their biscuits."

For awhile in College I was an English Major, and then, after being forced to read the Forsyte Saga, I changed horses and jumped into becoming a Psychology Major. I was confused and at sea in those years. But ever since I do think I see much of my own Human experience and Human History thru a psychological lens.

So, when I reflect on the January 6, 2021 Insurrection, I think of "Mass Psychosis" and "Mental Illness." Those burly, gun-toting, body-armored, super-pissed off, MAGA-hatted, Trump-Lemmings are suffering from an illness. They are not "well in the head." Let me hijack a James McBride phrase to describe their mental health: "Their cheese has slid off their biscuits."

Yep. You think of "male inadequacy," impotence, pig-headed-ness, small mindedness, feelings of inferiority.  Also, PTSD, low self-esteem, various addictions, over-blown egos, delusions of grander, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, victims of abuse, lack of love in their lives. All those muscles and guns are just pathetic compensatory symbols of their simpering irrelevance and undesirableness.

Their over-blown, bad-performance-art, martial displays are just obvious & ridiculous signs of deep sickness.

Not so much, or just, a political problem, instead these folks are elaborate packages of a host of psychological problems. If we look at those "domestic terrorists" thru that lens, maybe it all makes more sense. And maybe, not only do those folks need to go to prison, but they need some major "head-shrinking." You can feel sorry for them. Yes, no doubt, many of them are very, very sick and they could use a helping hand. You can "tsk-tsk," but no need to try to remedy their political grievances. It's all madness, hurly-burly, mumbo-jumbo, white-supremacist, bullshit. It's not surprising you can't reason with those people. They aren't living in the realm of reason. They are living in an Angry-Cloud-Cuckoo-Land. They really are a sad joke. But it is a dangerous and pretty obscene joke that we need to deflate, and to grapple with.  Obviously, they are too ill to be armed. They are obsessed with guns and violence, they are the last ones you'd want to be armed, and they are armed to the teeth. There's the conundrum there. They are a threat to themselves and to others. 

What to do? Talk Therapy? Drug Therapy? Lots of hand-holding and counseling? Basket-weaving? Art therapy? Yes. Probably all of the above.