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Elliot Benjamin is a philosopher, mathematician, musician, counselor, writer, with Ph.Ds in mathematics and psychology and the author of over 230 published articles in the fields of humanistic and transpersonal psychology, pure mathematics, mathematics education, spirituality & the awareness of cult dangers, art & mental disturbance, and progressive politics. He has also written a number of self-published books, such as: The Creative Artist, Mental Disturbance, and Mental Health. See also: www.benjamin-philosopher.com.

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Hate Incidents, Humanistic Psychology, and a United States President Threatening Genocide

Elliot Benjamin

For a number of years I have been a member of the Standing Committee on Hate Incidents as part of the Humanistic Psychology division (Division 32) of the American Psychological Association [1]. At our workshops I have frequently given a statement relating hate incidents to political events, in particular relating to United States President Trump's use of dangerous rhetoric that creates an environment that makes hate incidents more likely to occur.

As we have used the term in a number of our earlier Division 32 Hate Incidents workshops, a hate incident is defined as any violent, threatening, harassing, hostile, or other discriminatory act directed against a person because of actual or presumed characteristics of their identity, and can be perpetrated by individual citizens, groups, communities, institutions, or governments [1]. Furthermore, we have conveyed that humanistic psychologists counter hate incidents and discriminatory acts of all kinds with the spirit and activity of social and restorative acts, and oppose the abuse of human rights in a number of different forms.

In regard to my present statement, this includes in particular genocide and other crimes of war. In the United States, our current president Donald Trump has recently threatened to unleash what many people consider genocide and crimes of war against Iran, destroying all of their bridges, power plants, and desalination plants, and threatening to bomb Iran into ”the Stone Ages” [2]. Some of the verbatim threats that Trump has used against Iran include the following: “blown off the face of the earth,” “a whole civilization will die tonight,” “bastards…you'll be living in Hell—JUST WATCH” [2]. The former executive director of Human Rights Watch has conveyed that “Trump is openly threatening collective punishment, targeting not the Iranian military but the Iranian people” [3]. So how can humanistic psychologists counter this blatant hate incident on the part of our United States president , with “the spirit and activity of social and restorative acts”?

Suffice it to say that in my opinion this is a time to put into practice what I have described as “humanistic political psychology,” which is presently featured on the Association of Humanistic Psychology blog [4]. A number of our elected members and ex-members of Congress are calling for Trump being removed from office through either the 25th Amendment or impeachment and conviction [3].

However, although I certainly am in agreement with the justification for these actions as I think that Trump is most definitely “mentally disturbed” and unfit to serve as President of the United States [5], I don't believe that this is possible given the current composition of Congress. Therefore I think that the most effective thing we can do to prevent Trump from following through with his genocide threats and unleashing a possible World War III is to support War Resolution bills that would require Trump to obtain the approval of Congress to unleash his threats to destroy a civilization [6].

This to me is a crucial activity for humanistic psychologists to engage in, to counter what I believe is the most dangerous hate incident we are now experiencing in the United States. And a meaningful way that humanistic psychologists can support War Resolution bills is part and parcel of dialogue and engagement with our elected representatives, utilizing humanistic practices and principles in our communications, and putting into practice a humanistic political psychology [7].

Notes and References

1) For information about the perspectives of the Standing Committee on Hate Incidents (formerly the Task Force on Hate Incidents) see the website https://www.apadivisions.org/division-32/leadership/task-forces/hate-incidents

2) See Da Silva, C. (April 1, 2026). Trump's Iran threats alarm war crimes experts. https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/trumps-iran-threats-alarm-war-crimes-experts-rcna265978

Lebowitz, M., & Kapur, S. (April 7, 2026). Trump announces 2-week Iran ceasefire after he's warned “a whole civilization will tonight.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-threat-whole-civilization-will-die-iran-war-deadline-hormuz-rcna267059; Quarshie,M. (May 5, 2026). Trump warns Iran will be 'blown off the face of the earth” if US vessels hit in Strait of Hormuz. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-warns-iran-will-be-blown-off-the-face-of-the-earth-if-us-vessels-hit-in-strait-of-hormuz/ar-AA22n4lM

3) See Lebowitz & Kapur (2026), p. 6 for the quote from the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, and pp. 5-7 for descriptions of members and ex-members of Congress calling for Trump's removal from office through either the 25th Amendment or impeachment and conviction; see publication information in [2].

4) See my Humanistic Political Psychology article on the Association of Humanistic Psychology blog at https://ahpweb.org/humanistic-political-psychology/

5) For an extensive description of the concerns about Trump's mental health from psychologists and psychiatrists, see Lee, B. (2019). The dangerous case of Donald Trump: 37 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess a president. St. Martin's Press.

6) See Fuller (May 6, 2026). House Democrats introduce bill to block Iran war funding. https://www.military.com/house-democrats-introduce-bill-to-block-iran-war-funding for a description of the current attempt by House Democrats to block Iran war funding unless Trump gets approval from Congress, as the war has now gone past 60 days.

7) See Schneider, K. (2026). The vibrant center: A new consciousness for our broken age. https://kirkjschneider.com/the-vibrant-center/ for an impactful and far-reaching description of this kind of political dialogue and engagement from existential/humanistic psychologist Kirk Schneider.