Narcissists are mean and demeaning. If you have interacted with a narcissist, or even heard your friends tell stories about the narcissist they know, then you can agree that narcissists are not nice people. Well, sometimes they may be nice, but that is just an act to lower your guard for when they come in with their abusive ways again. The problem is, narcissists require others to fully enact their abusive techniques. While they may think they are the best at everything they do, they do know that others are needed in their game of control and manipulation. They can’t do it on their own. The narcissist needs to pull others in so that they don’t look like the bad person, and can get the greatest number of people on their side.
The way the narcissist does this is with the smear campaign. The smear campaign is when the narcissist spreads misinformation about someone with the intent of making this person look like the problem or the crazy one. The narcissist points fingers at someone else to get the spotlight off them. They do this when they feel they are being exposed for the fraud they are, or when they don’t want to take responsibility for their actions.
The smear campaign is about control for the narcissist. The narcissist lives in a world of tight control over everything and everyone as a way to protect against narcissistic injury. Things must always go how they want it to and when it doesn’t they will start to spiral out of control. One way in which they attempt to regain control is with the smear campaign. If they can get the spotlight off them then they can refocus the attention of others so that they can refill their narcissistic supply. An empty narcissistic supply is when the narcissist is at their most vulnerable, a feeling they don’t know how to manage.
They use the smear campaign to refill their narcissistic supply in two ways. One, the narcissist thrives off seeing other people struggle. When people are unhappy, this makes the narcissist happy. They need others to feel bad about themselves to feel good about themselves. The narcissist has low self-esteem and can’t boost themselves up on their own, so they use others’ difficulties as a way to boost their ego.
The other way the narcissist uses the smear campaign to boost their narcissistic supply is by watching others do the dirty work for them. With a well enacted smear campaign, the narcissist can sit back and watch people gang up on one person; the person the narcissist feels has wronged them. The narcissist can effectively turn people against their target which then leads to others thinking their target is the crazy one or the bad one. The more people the narcissist sees working against their target, the fuller their supply gets.
So, what does the smear campaign look like? The smear campaign is when the narcissist talks about their target in a way that supports their agenda. The narcissist may focus on things they don’t like about their target or potentially negative things the target has said about them. This is all part of the damage control the narcissist is trying to do through use of the smear campaign. The narcissist will discuss their target’s faults, things they have said or done that can be taken poorly, and any other information that can paint their target in a poor light.
But, the narcissist doesn’t do this alone. They enlist the assistance of those around them, who unknowingly agree to this game of manipulation. When everyone else can view the target negatively, then the narcissist can be seen as the victim. The narcissist must be seen as the victim to present as someone who does nothing wrong.
The narcissist is a master at their words, and at playing the victim. They are also a good reader of people when they need to find people to serve as the smearers of their misinformation. The narcissist knows exactly who to bring into the smear campaign to get the most benefit.
The narcissist must always win, at all costs. Winning to the narcissist is knowing that people feel worse about themselves while they have inflated their own ego. If they have refilled their narcissistic supply and again feel superior to everyone else, then they are content. They can return to focusing on bringing others down and don’t feel at immediate risk of narcissistic injury. The smear campaign makes the narcissist feel superior as they watch others do their dirty work for them.