When Politicians Tell on Themselves: Negative Projection as Propaganda
Once this therapy concept clicked, it gave me a new lens to understand propaganda and political talking points. It took me a bit to grasp it, but once I did, I started seeing it everywhere.
It’s called “negative projection,” and I think my partner Shylin — who’s in a psychiatry grad program and a life coaching program — regrets explaining it to me.
A negative projection is a defense mechanism where people unconsciously attribute their negative emotions, beliefs, or behaviors to someone else.
For example, at times I can be subconsciously judgmental of other people. Yet these emotions may play out in me thinking other people are judging me. A few weeks ago I told Shylin that I felt like she was judging me for not relaxing enough. After examination, I realized this was a negative projection. I was judging myself for not relaxing enough! That manifested as placing these feelings onto her.
As another simple example, you might feel guilty about not reaching out to a friend as often as you’d like. Instead of acknowledging that, you start to think they are ignoring or avoiding you. In reality, you’re projecting your guilt onto them.
I now see this concept everywhere, in myself, my friends, and in politicians (many of whom really need to go to therapy).
Whether they use it consciously as a rhetorical tool or unconsciously because they lack self-awareness, they do it all the time. And it’s affecting real-world laws and people’s lives.
Let me give an example I heard recently from Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis because his terrible transportation policies and the disgusting rhetoric he uses to justify them deserve to be called out.
I heard him talking about a bill that sparing details, would make it easier for Florida to expand highways and harder for localities to build transit.
I will pull out a few key lines below and place the full transcript in italics. It’s not easy or pleasant to read, so I’ll focus on what I’ve pulled out.
(I have bolded the language that we’ll focus on later.)
DeSantis: “[The Biden administration] really views the transportation department and these projects as a tool for them to advance ideology.”
DeSantis: “They do have an agenda to not have people in their cars… particularly being anti-commuter…”
DeSantis: “This bill is going to prevent localities from agenda-motivated lane reductions to force people out of their cars.”
Full transcript:
“So the bill I’m going to sign today is House Bill 1301. It codifies what is the goal of our transportation system. Here it is to reduce congestion, support supply chain, promote quality of life and it makes sure that your money is spent wisely and efficiently. That is different from what the federal government is doing under the Biden administration. I mean they really view the transportation department and these projects as a tool for them to advance ideology. And that just does not work. They’ve talked about roads being racist. I don’t know how they get that, but they say that. They talk about things like this. That’s not what this is about. And of course they do have an agenda to not have people in their cars. We don’t want to do that. Now there are potentially local governments throughout Florida who may share that vision, particularly being anti-commuter, and even wanting to close lanes so that people are so miserable that they just abandon commuting altogether. This bill institutes comprehensive public meeting and voting requirements on local and regional planning and transit agencies. So it is gonna prevent localities from agenda-motivated lane reductions to force people out of their cars. I think that is important policy for the state to get behind.”
As soon as I heard this, I immediately recognized this entire spiel as a negative projection about his own transportation policies.
We’ll unpack each of these lines. But first, let’s get behind a few facts.
- For decades, the United States spends roughly 80% of its transportation budget on highways and roads, and only 20% on transit. Meanwhile, 83% of Americans live in urban areas and its surroundings.
- The building of highways, especially through cities, was about a lot of things. Part of it, as Jane Jacobs argued back in 1961, was simply misunderstanding how cities worked. Another part, as I’ve written about, is that it was about cutting black and brown inner-city neighborhoods apart for the benefit of white commuters. Another part still was the view that the highway, the car, and the single-family home were the key to the American Dream and the key to “freedom.” It was ideological. This is most important for understanding DeSantis’s claims.
- The majority of commuting Floridians only have one reasonable option: driving. According to 2019 Florida Department of Transportation stats, 87% drive and only 1.6% take transit. (Note, since then the Brightline train, with little help from DeSantis, has given commuters from West Palm Beach to the Miami metro area another choice. I write about my experience on the Brightline train here.) Florida’s transportation currently forces people into cars.
Now let’s break down the key terms DeSantis uses that set off my propaganda sensors.
“Advance Ideology”
With negative projection, we take our beliefs and project them onto other people. When Ron DeSantis says that the federal government is using transportation as a tool to “advance ideology,” he means that he’s using transportation as a tool to “advance ideology.” His policies push the old-school idea of the American dream that cars equals freedom. Transportation can equal freedom, to be certain. But other forms of transportation can also look like freedom. To me, not needing to own or operate an expensive, dangerous vehicle, and being able to live closer to cultural and economic centers (cities) is freedom. We all have our own versions of freedom. Given that we spend 80% of our transportation money on car infrastructure, and DeSantis would like that to be nearly 100%, it seems, he is the one pushing a specific ideology.
“Anti-Commuter”
When Ron DeSantis says that investing in mass transit, like commuter rail, is “anti-commuter,” he means that his policies are anti-commuter. It’s another negative projection.
Investing only in car infrastructure gives commuters no option but to drive, and since they all have no options, that means sit in a lot of traffic together. It means these commuters likely have to take on the expense of owning a car, which in the United States is $1000 per month on average.
“Agenda-Motivated”
This is a different flavor of “advance ideology,” which suggests that the Biden administration has some agenda.
In DeSantis’s defense, there is an agenda: to give Americans more options with transportation, and ones that cost less, don’t pollute the air, and don’t strike down 40,000 Americans every year.
Through the lens of negative projection, when DeSantis says that building more transit infrastructure is “agenda-motivated lane reductions to force people out of their cars,” what he means is that he has an agenda to force people into cars.
His agenda isn’t hard to imagine. His top donors historically include fossil fuel companies Koch Industries, the pipeline company Energy Transfer, and the founder of a Texas oil company, Midland Energy. Unsurprisingly, DeSantis is cozied up with the fossil fuel industry. Of course, their bottom line benefits when we drive more, not less.
I’m sure if I looked further, his ties to anti-transit and anti-urban groups would only become more obvious. DeSantis’s policies are motivated by his agenda. He is negatively projecting. I’m sure DeSantis understands concepts like induced demand, which explains why expanding highways makes traffic worse, and does believe in climate change. I find it hard to believe that he really thinks more highways is what Floridians need. But, he’s motivated by his own agenda.
Investing in Transit is Good for Everyone, Actually
Ron DeSantis says he can’t fathom why we’d want to close highway lanes. Reimagining city streets to provide less space for private cars and more for bus rapid transit and safe bike lanes would give more people more choices. Assuming the service was good, many people would choose the bus or their bike, taking cars off the road and reducing congestion overall. This is great for those who would still drive. Fewer cars mean less traffic.
(It also saves Floridians themselves money, leads to better health outcomes, and cuts down on pollution. The only thing it doesn’t do is keep lining the pockets of the fossil fuel, automobile, and highway construction industries.)
By Understanding Negative Projection, We Can See Through The Propaganda
I’m picking on DeSantis, who no doubt deserves it. Of course, he’s not the only one.
Unfortunately, when it comes to transportation and city planning, good ideas are mostly along partisan lines. Republicans have mostly chosen to call cities crime-ridden disasters without the slightest interest in how they function and why we like living in them. They still succeed in spite of their divisive rhetoric and attempts to damage them with their policies. I don’t believe it has to be this way.
Armed with this concept, we can see through it all and call them out.
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