DARVO, first named in the 1990s by psychologist Jennifer Freyd, stands for “Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender.” And psychologists today say President Donald Trump is a frequent user of the practice, as noted by HuffPost.
The piece stated that Freyd herself co-wrote an op-ed in The Hill last year, applying the DARVO framework to Trump.
Donald Trump Is DARVO-ing The Whole Country. Here’s What That Means. – HuffPost https://t.co/shPK8Ljbog
— jeffmetcalfe (@jeffmetcalfe) July 12, 2026
“This isn’t just bluster, Trump is employing a psychological strategy called DARVO: Deny, attack and reverse victim and offender. DARVO is used to dodge accountability by shifting blame, silencing critics and reframing oneself as victim,” Freyd and Sarah Harsey wrote in The Hill. “This is the strategy Trump and his team have been using for years to distort reality. We are psychology researchers who first named and now study DARVO. Our research reveals that DARVO is a common manipulation tactic that distorts how people view wrongdoing.”
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Harsey spoke to HuffPost about Trump and DARVO.
“Even before his inauguration in 2017, he said that the voice heard in the infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ tape wasn’t his,” Harsey told HuffPost.
“This technique injects a misleading or fictitious counter-narrative that can be compelling for people to believe. It can also be confusing: Who’s telling the truth? What really happened?” Harsey added in the story.
👀A psychologist says there’s a syndrome that explains Trump: DARVO – Denial, Attack, Reverse Victim & Offender, or the art of inverted victimhood – and it works! (Until you notice). https://t.co/kgwMCVTqbx
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) February 1, 2024
“She seems to have favored the ‘attack’ aspect of DARVO, given the way she repeatedly insulted the lawmakers questioning her,” Harsey added. “There are ways the president and his officials could refute claims without using DARVO, yet they choose this tactic that inflicts as much harm as possible.”
“They become the victim,” Avigail Lev, a psychologist in San Francisco, told HuffPost. “This allows the actual perpetrator to continue harmful behavior while still feeling justified, because they now see themselves as wronged or victimized.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
