Our relationship with the ruling party is an abusive one. That's why it isn't surprising that its senior members and its henchmen are so enamored of gaslighting – a tactic of emotional violence, in which the abuser convinces the victim that he's imagining things and that there really is no abuse. The more the victim tries to extricate himself from the relationship, the greater the manipulations by the abuser – a dynamic that's clearly evident in the hysterical reactions to the strengthening of the anti-government protest in recent days.