Be Mr. Wonderful
Games Fascists Play: The Psychology of Supremacy
BE MR. WONDERFUL (BMW)
The bigger the lie, the more readily it is believed. 1
-Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Set up: I am a Wonderful vehicle for money and status.
Clinical explanation: A distinguished and ethical psychotherapist is a wonderful influence on their patients. The therapist facilitates the natural healing process: they set the stage for nature to take her natural course. Viewed from the eyes of White, the therapist is a great person and a potent healer with tools of pure magic. Patient White will tell Dr. Black (therapist) how wonderful they are and how awe inspired the treatment regimen is: “Oh, it is just wonderful!” Meanwhile, White continues to gain weight, drink to excess, scream at their boyfriend, or avoid fearful situations.
One patient had a goal of losing a significant amount of weight. After trials of clinical hypnosis and structural analysis, White repeatedly praised the treatment regime: “Wonderful! Oh, Dr. Black, this has just been so Wonderful!” Furthermore, in group treatment, White will refer the other group members’ attention to Dr. Black’s excellent therapy (Gee Mr. Wonderful). White’s torrent of compliments and other pleasantries are a deterrent to critical feedback regarding their treatment stasis. In this way, White shields themselves from criticism by way of their deep appreciation and admiration for Dr. Black.
The antithesis to Gee Mr. Wonderful is the perspective of Dr. Black and not the overly complimentary patient. When the therapist views themselves as “Wonderful,” they sense that they are supreme. The aura of this game is captured by a person in a BMW automobile. They catch their mirrored image in a glass building and believe they are “Wonderful.” Therefore, the supremacist version of Gee Mr. Wonderful is when White, e.g., Dr. Black, playing Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW).
Original game: Eric Berne described Gee Mr. Wonderful as a pleasant game. White is playing a game when they do not follow the program and do not get well from the treatment gratefully appreciating Dr. Black. In fact, White insists in how Wonderful the therapist is. The alternative title to Berne’s original game is Peasant. This is applicable in terms of the Capitalism games. More and more, the average person living under late-capitalism is becoming a Peasant in terms of buying power, debt to asset ratio, wages, and inflation. For Berne, the Peasant never follows through with the splendid treatment prescribed by the Wonderous healer and they maintain their metaphorical limp:
She lives on, crippled as before, but happy now because she can tell everyone about the wonderful treatment prescribed for her by the great professor in Sofia, to whom she expresses her gratitude every night in her prayers. 2
Here, White unconsciously views the therapist as a magician. White is the patient in therapy needing healing and Dr. Black is the healer. Like a crucifix on a priest’s wall, Dr. Black’s framed degrees and advanced training certificates are read by the patient as, “I am a miraculous healer.” Berne (1964) saw how psychotherapy patients projected a sense of wonderfulness onto their “healers.” He understood it as self-protective in the sense that White is less likely to receive criticism from the therapist. White fills Dr. Black with gifts, meals, coffee, and most importantly admiration: “Gee you’re wonderful!” On the psychological level, “I’ll never change.” The patient praises the therapist to shield themselves from criticism and real growth.
Thesis: The Capitalism game version of Gee Mr. Wonderful is the supreme Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW). The masculine pronoun conveys the hegemonic and dominating presence of the Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW) player. Since 1972, BMW’s slogan is “sheer driving pleasure.” When White is playing BMW they sell their status in much the same way an owner of a BMW car does: by driving around Being Mr. Wonderful. It is their status that is Wonderful and not the actions, skills, or character they project. Ironically, White derives pleasure from this drive.
In contrast with the Influencer game what the Buddha aka The World Honored One did was influence and continue to influence people today. It was his followers who may have played Gee Mr. Wonderful with him. Similarly, Elon Musk presents a future of tiny homes, autonomous cars, self-aware robots as well as implanting and wiring computers into the human brain. Because he is the richest person in the world, this licenses him to play the role of Being Mr. Wonderful (BMW); people see him as superior much like a person driving an old car who pulls up next to a BMW.
Musk reveals his mysticism in the delusion of colonizing Mars3 and he is Here To Help! provide thousands of satellites and global internet access from low Earth orbit (Starlink program), so he can “harvest our precious data.” 4
And Elon Musk’s suggestion to nuke the sky over the Martian poles every couple of seconds to create two pulsing suns to warm the planet is just another provocative, outlandish idea from a man who often crosses the boundaries between fiction and reality without major consequences because…well, because he is one of the richest people on Earth.5
In other words, Elon Musk can get away with delusional provocations including not one but two sieg hiels because he is a BMW. The other oligarch/ultra monopolist is Jeff Bezos. He also plays BMW when he claims that artificial planets will be manufactured in one to two generations. 6 Humanitarianism and altruism are the cons to license the corporate monopolization of low earth orbit for profits (supremacy).
Like twentieth-century fascism, these deceptions prey on fear to promote a return to a mystical past:
The clever marketing of the Space Barons [Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, Richard Branson] has won global support by re-proposing old values and concepts, massaging our nostalgia. This technique has worked because at this key juncture, humanity is confused; on the cusp of an epic transition it fears the future and longs for the past.7
Berne (1963) defined a psychological leader as someone who is attributed with magical qualities by their followers (Trump, Hitler, Mussolini). The leader’s image maintains a “highly charged” slot in people’s psychological structure. 8 Therefore, they follow them. The “Duce” or “Fuhrer” were viewed as magically potent. Now, in the U.S. capital is God, and we look for the vehicles of His expression, i.e., Be Mr. Wonderful and Influencer.
Aim: The Capitalism games promote yang (masculine) energy and therefore, the “Mr.” of Mr. Wonderful is appropriate. 9 Consider the billionaire Kevin O’Leary who hosts the television show Shark Tank: he refers to himself as “Mr. Wonderful” (superior) and degrades entrepreneurs whom he disproves of as “cockroaches” (inferior).
The male gender in the title of BMW is meant to reference the lie of a hyper-masculine male form of supremacy. For example, despite his tiny hands, Donald Trump considers himself to Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW): everything is “huge” and “wonderful… wonderful people… wonderful leader.” Trump supporters and followers believe Trump will always Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW) because of his image (brand).
Trump won influence and then the 2016 election to the presidency through free television airtime that reinforced to his supporters how Wonderful he was. The content of his influence did not matter, because he is self-described as a BMW. Therefore, the projection of him being a criminal, a sociopath (“pussy grabber”), a successful billionaire, a Christian, “friend of Israel,” etc., does not matter to his loyal followers nor to Trump. As long as people are talking about Trump he is happy. To Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW) in this sense is different than Eric Berne’s original game where the healer was not driven by a sense of being wonderful. The Capitalism game version of Be Mr. Wonderful is the ascension to supremacy via status, i.e., influence. As example, the Be Mr. Wonderful role is an over-indulgent “good” parent who spoils their children: “Time to go to McDonalds!”
The BMW game is not meritocratic, because the only “skill” required is the ability to play oratory games in a television studio or in front of a podcast microphone (see Influencer). Trumps psychopathic character structure views love as dangerous, so this is defended against with performance and image. The psychopath only allows closeness when others let them control them and gain power over them. 10 It is apparent that as a young child, Donald Trump adopted an arrogant and ego-centric existence as a defense against internal feelings of inadequacy with the strategy of “getting-rid-of” people to deal with problems. 11 For example, when Trump hosted The Apprentice television show, his catchphrase was “You’re fired!” (get-rid-of):
This position is often called the paranoid position, since persons in this position are often extremely distrusting or blaming. They may deny personal difficulties, feel cheated, and react toward the world with anger or frustration. 12
Trump is angry in his distrust of the U.S. voting system as well as international organizations while also blaming others for his defeats, losses, or setbacks, e.g., Iran, China, the Democratic Party, etc. The behavior is clear as he played a hard game of Kick Me (see War games) on January 6th, 2021, with his followers. The national security state had their own game that day (see FOOLS). Three days prior to the capitol riot, Trump authorized the assassination (see OMG) of a top Iranian general: Qasem Soleimani. He was the right-hand man to Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei and the commander of the Quds Force 13 (see Now I’ve Got You, You SOB!). Soleimani was protecting religious minorities and Christians from US-backed fanatics in Syria. 14
Trump’s rhetoric at the “stop the steal” rally could be better expressed with a transactional analysis concept known as the “sweatshirt.” The metaphorical sweatshirt represents the person’s character structure, including their armoring or holding patterns in their body as well as the games they play and their existential life position. There is a short slogan on the front of the sweatshirt—and sometimes on the back—that reveals the character structure in detail: their scripting, and the way they bait others. Therefore, Trump has been wearing a provocative red MAGA sweatshirt with the quote “Love Me” on the front and “Or I’ll Kill You” on the back. 15
Like Trump, Bezos, and Musk, billionaires such as George Soros and Bill Gates (see AI game) are perceived as Being Mr. Wonderful (BMW) based on accumulated capital. However, they are what Mark Fisher calls “liberal communists.” They are Here To Help! (H2H) service the needs of the social and physical environment (con). However, this service combines the “rapacious pursuit of profit with the rhetoric of ecological concern and social responsibility.” 16
The weight of the influence is what the Capitalism games collect, measure, re-combine, and monetize. For example, the Cancelled game finds the Media cancelling a dissident voice for real or contrived reasons. Ironically, the Cancelled game can reinforce the Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW) complex, e.g., Trump, Andrew Tate, Russel Brand, because the cancellation and de-platforming reinforces the mystical sense of potency and status.
Big Tech censorship of White shows that the amorphous “They” in the Ain’t It Awful game are out to get the BMW player. Additionally, capital flows through multi-media channels and accelerates the shark frenzy of drama surrounding the cancellation (articles, videos, podcast interviews, posts, etc.).
Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW) is a game of hegemonic status and domination via manipulation and control for money. White defines themselves as Wonderful in opposition to a perceived other. For example, Trump refers to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” and to immigrants as “illegals,” “aliens,” murderers, drug dealers, and rapists (see Immigration). Trump does this for self-promotion and self-enrichment rather than solely to gain online followers (see Influencer game). Building a wall to “secure the border” is Trump’s way of getting rid of people. Politically, Trump presents characteristics of twentieth-century fascism: hyper-nationalism, scapegoating minorities, paranoid thinking, autocratic tendencies, and demagoguery.17
However, unlike the anti-democratic twentieth-century fascism, Trump embraces democracy (until he loses an election). His voter base is mostly older people (instead of young people) and he does not have an organized program—nor the acumen and discipline—to enforce an ideology and movement to have the youth captured by the state. Instead, his social and economic policies were consistent with the deregulation of industry (“free market”) and “instead of corporatism.” Trump and his DOGE bros are committed to destroying public institutions while first looting them for data (e.g., IRS, education department).
Trump will continue to shrink the welfare state and overall federal bureaucracy.18 Trump doesn’t wish to strengthen the state via collectivism; he wants a small, deregulated government and a culture of hyper-individualism (as opposed to collectivism) and militarism. Ultimately, he is a nativist gangster.
In this analysis, Trumpism is merely the extension of a longstanding elite commitment to oligarchic rule that predates fascism. 19
In terms of personality, Trump does share the narcissism and psychopathy of Hitler and Mussolini. The major psychological feature of fascist leadership is charisma. 20 To further illustrate the Be Mr. Wonderful (BMW) game, consider the dreadfulness of not-Mr. Wonderful.
NOT MR. WONDERFUL
“You know, just as in World War II, today patriotic American workers are building the arsenal of democracy and serving the cause of freedom.” 21
-President Joe Biden
If Trump’s vehicle is BMW then Good Joe Biden slowly enters the driveway in a Buick. He is specifically not Mr. Wonderful. He is Good Joe: old, reliable, not great to look at or engage with, but he can (sometimes) get from point A to point B.
President Biden’s influence and ascension was based on how he was explicitly not-Trump and his ability to read a teleprompter. Biden won the 2020 election by not drawing attention to himself or his son Hunter Biden and their shady foreign business dealings. It is the difference between driving a BMW and a Buick.
For Trump, the more notorious he became, the less influence Biden required. Instead, Biden played the fear-based If It Weren’t For You (see War games). Specifically, “If It Weren’t for Trump,” to prey on the fears of liberal voters and the undecided. Biden reminded his base that the choice is between BMW fascism and the Buick. A lot of people voted for the Buick (not-Mr. Wonderful). No bells or whistles with the Buick, just the usual kleptocracy. Biden did not present an alternative vision for the future: “build back better.” This translates to “maintain the status quo.”
Biden and many scholars of European fascism refer to Trumpism as an American form of “fascism.” Ironically, it was the nudging and outright manipulation of U.S. voters—thanks to Big Tech—that (barely) tipped the voting scales for Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Additionally, there was outright suppression of online content such as the Hunter Biden laptop story by The New York Post. For example, when the FBI called, Meta or X answered the phone and censored. In fact, going back to his years in the Senate (1991), Senator Joe Biden promoted the approval of a law “that forced electronic communications service providers to hand over users’ personal data to state authorities.” 22
The symbiotic relationship of U.S. Big Tech and the intelligence agencies (Here To Help!) ensured the 2020 presidential election was won by the establishment-anointed Joe Biden. This was not based on Biden’s influence, but the lack thereof: it was specifically because he was not-Trump and not-Wonderful. People wanted a Buick to drive to the mall rather than a BMW being driven by a gangster with vanity plates.
Additionally, companies such as Google encouraged Democrats or Democrat-leaning voters to show up to vote. Voting badges were placed at the top of their social media newsfeeds and specifically not placed on news feeds for Republicans. Google’s ability to use “ephemeral impressions” to make lasting impressions on undecided voters swayed millions of votes. This made all the difference between a second term of President Trump and a Biden White House. Despite Trump’s decry of “election interference” and that the election was “stolen,” a state-corporate symbiosis by one of the world’s most powerful corporations (Google) on the planet influenced the vote totals.
In 2024, Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz attempted to play Mr. Wonderful games. Their celebrity joy campaign was emphatically not-Trump. However, Harris is not-Mrs. Wonderful. She is Mrs. Awful. She was a criminal prosecutor and eventual attorney general of California as mass incarceration exploded. In her tenure, Mrs. Awful defended the death penalty and “imprisoned parents due to their children being truant from school, and laughed about it during a presentation.” 23
Harris was also opposed to increased oversight of police officers regarding investigations of police fatalities. 24 Harris failed because she drove a Subaru with a trailing Buick (Walz) on her ticket. The bombastic Walz was like a Buick with tinted windows, hydraulics, and an excessively loud stereo. It just doesn’t work. Walz was an average Joe gun-owning second amendment defender, and retired Army dad (Republican?). An upgraded and newer Buick, but definitely not a BMW.
Colloquially, Biden’s game was Where’s Waldo? (see War games). Everyone was constantly asking themselves “Where’s Joe?” If Harris had went on podcasts and other social media platforms, her Subaru might have won her the office. Where’s Waldo? is a pastime but also a game where one hides in plain sight to prove they do not exist. Biden played Where’s Joe? to shield himself from scrutiny and reporters unless he was chasing after groups he refers to as “terrorists” (Hamas), “dictators” (Xi Jinping), or “thugs” (Assad and Vladimir Putin).
Therefore, the antithesis to not-Mr. Wonderful is most notable with George Bush II and the initial rise of Donald Trump. Bush II, the bumbling Texan, launched crusades in Middle East and his approval rating skyrocketed.
Trump, like Bush, became appreciated for his poor use of the English language. This made him seem more average and less manufactured than standard politicians. The crassness ad impoliteness of his words also won him admiration and media attention. 25
Biden attempted to be an average American in order to manufacture consent and push for the continuation of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. His immobilization in his basement bunker was remodeled into a war bunker (Hitler went in the reverse). President Biden will have to be content playing “See how-hard I’ve Tried” (S.I.T.), because he is specifically not-Mr. Wonderful. He is a Buick who lacks passionate followers or oratory skills. Biden will be remembered as the more passive, non-intervening, Genocide Joe.
ANALYSIS
Thesis: Just an old, boring vehicle [Buick] for empire.
Antithesis: This is who I am and here is my vision for the future.
Aim: Ascending to supremacy via an ant-other campaign. Instead of Being Mr. Wonderful (BMW) White shows up in a Buick: Being Unhinged Intellectually and Cognitively KOed (not-Mr. Wonderful).
Roles: Rescuer: “I’m not-Them.”
Dynamics: Political campaigns.
Examples: (1) politicians (2) political pundits.
Moves: (1) self-promotion based on not revealing oneself.
p. 11, Reich, W. (1945/1990). Character analysis. Third Edition. Trans. by Vincent R. Carfagno. Edited by Mary Higgins and Chester M. Raphael. Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York.
p. 151, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.
p. 199, Napoleoni, L. (2024). Technocapitalism: The rise of the new robber barons and the fight for the common good. Seven Stories Press: New York.
p. 215, Napoleoni, L. (2024). Technocapitalism: The rise of the new robber barons and the fight for the common good. Seven Stories Press: New York.
p. 210, Napoleoni, L. (2024). Technocapitalism: The rise of the new robber barons and the fight for the common good. Seven Stories Press: New York.
p. 213, Napoleoni, L. (2024). Technocapitalism: The rise of the new robber barons and the fight for the common good. Seven Stories Press: New York.
p. 217, Napoleoni, L. (2024). Technocapitalism: The rise of the new robber barons and the fight for the common good. Seven Stories Press: New York.
p. 246, Berne, E. (1963). The structure and dynamics of organizations and groups. J.B. Lippincott Company: Philadelphia.
The use of “Mr.” is to represent the masculine and expansionary nature of capitalism rather than pertaining to a specific sex or gender category.
p. 128, Cassius, J. (1975). Body scripts: collected papers on physical aspects of transactional analysis. Unpublished.
p. 107, Woollams, S. and Brown, M. (1976). TA: The total handbook of transactional analysis. Prentice Hall: New Jersey.
p. 107-108, Woollams, S. and Brown, M. (1976). TA: The total handbook of transactional analysis. Prentice Hall: New Jersey.
p. 93, Editor, Rosenfield, G. D. & Editor, Ward, J. (Eds.). (2023). Fascism in America: Past and present. Cambridge University Press: New York.
p. 100, Maupin, C. (2020). Kamala Harris & the future of America: An essay in three parts. Center for Political Innovation.
p. 128, Cassius, J. (1975). Body scripts: collected papers on physical aspects of transactional analysis. Unpublished.
p. 27, Fisher, M. (2009). Capitalist realism: Is there no alternative. Zero Books: UK.
p. 7, Editor, Rosenfield, G. D. & Editor, Ward, J. (Eds.). (2023). Fascism in America: Past and present. Cambridge University Press: New York.
p. 9 (with Reference number 40) Editor, Rosenfield, G. D. & Editor, Ward, J. (Eds.). (2023). Fascism in America: Past and present. Cambridge University Press: New York.
p. 9 (with Reference number 40), Editor, Rosenfield, G. D. & Editor, Ward, J. (Eds.). (2023). Fascism in America: Past and present. Cambridge University Press: New York.
p. 126, Paxton, R. (2005). The anatomy of fascism. Vintage Books: New York.
Oval Office address referenced here: Lipton, E. (2023, October 22). “Mideast War Further Fuels a Global Arms Rush: US Seeking to Build Ties and Keep Up With Demand.” The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/us/politics/israel-gaza-global-arms-sales.html on 10/31/23.
p. 20, Napoleoni, L. (2024). Technocapitalism: The rise of the new robber barons and the fight for the common good. Seven Stories Press: New York.
p. 7 & 5, Maupin, C. (2020). Kamala Harris & the future of America: An essay in three parts. Center for Political Innovation.
p. 7, Maupin, C. (2020). Kamala Harris & the future of America: An essay in three parts. Center for Political Innovation.
p. 44, Maupin, C. (2020). Kamala Harris & the future of America: An essay in three parts. Center for Political Innovation.