Our Daily Dispatch from the Abyss, aka Chronicles of Malignant Narcissism:

--all who speak the truth about the narcissists' grandiose myths that prop their false self are demonized as hateful enemies and punished;

--applies to individuals, groups, and nations https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1279259193443221504

The mechanism of this demonization is projection; the purpose, defending the overblown false self that narcissists create in order to avoid the confrontation with their all too human weaknesses.

Individual & collective narcissism serve the same purpose. Any group/nation that..

...elevates itself above others and believes in its exceptionality must expend considerable energy to keep its shadow -- the split off, disavowed, and repressed dark qualities -- at bay.

It does so by, among different means, projecting it on others and scapegoating them as...

... enemies and/or evil.

This way, the idealized, perfectly blameless self-image -- which is just a reflection of their false self -- can be retained for some, often long time.

But not forever. Narcissism contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction, because...

... the shadow always breaks thru. The greater its repression, the stronger and more destructive is the shadow's (re)emergence.

"Pride goes before a fall" is not just cliched wisdom, but a roadmap. Spiritual laws are as real and solid as those of physics.