Projection

Freud was wrong about a lot of things, but he was definitely onto something when he formulated the idea of projection, which is defined as the attribution of one’s own rejected tendencies to other people.

I don’t remember knowing anyone who projected obviously and regularly, but watching Donald Trump over the past two years, it has become all too familiar. The campaign was a maze of fun-house mirrors, in fact, as he constantly (it seemed) ascribed his own faults to Hillary Clinton.

One day I was thinking of the Tom Lehrer song “Pollution” and it occurred to me that it might be a good fit for some new lyrics about Donald and his problem. (You can see and hear Lehrer — who is still with us at age 88 — perform the original song here.)

Projection

To the tune of “Pollution” (with apologies to Tom Lehrer)

If you listen to Donald Trump
At a rally, on the stump
Tune in close and you’ll realize:
If his mouth is open, then he’s telling lies.

Projection! Projection!
The opposite of what’s real.
He’d tell the truth
But it has so little appeal.

Hear him say that SHE’s a crook
Claim his policies fill a book.
But ev’rything he owes is way past due
And he’s paid no taxes since ’92.

Projection! Projection!
Trump’s everything he decries.
Tell him some facts
And he bloviates and denies.

Grab a woman against her will
Say you copied it from Bill.
He always ends with this reply:
“I know you are, but what am I?”

Deportation! Registration!
Whites only, pref’rably male.
Orange skin is great,
Too bad brown can land you in jail.

Likes to talk about “pay for play,”
But he’s the one who’s Putin’s bae.
Drain the swamp of all its stagnant muck
Then fill it up with a garbage truck.

Election imperfection!
Unstable, bigoted, cruel.
He’s dumb enough
To begin a nuclear duel.

Once he swears that formal vow:
“Uphold Constitution,” we can’t see how.
The truth is obvious at the jump:
He cares for nothing but Donald Trump.

So don’t let him cheat us.
Resist, fight back when he tries
Gaslighting the people — let’s show we’re not sheeple —
Together … we rise!

We can expect four years of this stuff, assuming he doesn’t destroy things in a major way and isn’t impeached. Whew.

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If you have any suggestions for improvements to the lyrics... let me know.