One of the key goals in power seeking is captive narcissistic supply.
Should we wonder that our media is gaslighting us? They are narcissists. A very large number of Americans now are narcissists. They lack true empathy, so they can condemn a supposed lack of empathy in others without themselves feeling it, or recognizing that, in their violence, they are being cruel to innocent people.
As I think I wrote here, Christopher Lasch–who I don’t recollect as a conservative at all–was commenting on this 40 years ago. Here is a summary of the key book: https://www.supersummary.com/the-culture-of-narcissism/summary/
If this was a problem then, has anything mitigated it since? Of course not. And of course I am on board with criticisms of how business done ruthlessly and selfishly destroys traditional communities, and how a world without loyalty is not worth the gains in material wealth.
But Fidel Castro, in his six hour harangues no one felt they could discontinue listening to even to go to the bathroom, was using his audiences for narcissistic supply. He himself was CLEARLY a psychopath, as no doubt is most of the leadership in Cuba.
All of this is pathological. And the true and deep problem with attachment disorders, with Developmental Trauma, is that it is largely unconscious. It manifests not as what people feel–at least not without a LOT of work which in my own case continues–but as what the DON’T feel. There are empty hearts and empty minds there, which do not possess the capacity for recognizing the lack.