1. The Dangerous Goon
O-my-God-can-you-believe-it? Lies! Incompetence! More lies! Pundits still seem to be shocked by the fact that the Distemperor has no clothes. When will he pivot into a president? As late as August 30, 2017, Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein said, after Trump pardoned that monster sheriff, "I believe he can be a good president...The question is whether he can learn and change."
Really, Sen. Feinstein, really? Haven't you figured him out yet?
You're not alone. How can pundits be shocked night after night while commenting on his egregious behavior? He'll straighten out. Soon he'll be somebody about whom Uncle Sam will be proud. Really?
I don't consider myself a political scientist, far from it, but I knew this guy's number from the very beginning, and am amazed that intelligent people still seem to be finding out how unqualified he is at so late a date, tweet by tweet. Trump was for five years before his election the mouthpiece of the shameless birther movement, which claimed that President Obama was born in Kenya, all evidence to the contrary, and thus not fit to run for president. The malevolent racism of this calumny is all-too-apparent. And the lies! How could this modern Humpty Dumpty, asserting that "truth is whatever lie I choose it to be" ever follow in the footsteps of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and, yes, Obama? America could never elect someone so incompetent and narcissistic as that! That was, alas! what I thought right up to November 8, 2016.
Yes, Trump is mentally ill; yes, Trump is a malignant narcissist. Part of this disease is the belief, due to a pitiful neediness, that one is Zeus among zombies. All human beings save him are zombies in his mind, since another aspect of his disease is a sordid lack of empathy. Criticism, however justified, is like a zombie coming at him with a knife; he must disarm the dead man and destroy him for the second time in order for him, in his imagination, to Zeus on.
Pundits have pointed out that all presidents have a bit of Narcissus in them. But not to Trump's degree! 100 degrees F. is a low-grade fever; once the fever soars to 107 or so, the brain cells begin to be destroyed. Malignant narcissists have malignant fevers.
Combine this with stupidity and we're in trouble--and we certainly are. A stunning indictment of Trump's abilities came form Dr. William Kelley, who taught Trump at the Wharton School of Business in the late 1960s: "Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student that I ever had." Trump apparently came to the school convinced that he knew everything already. "Nobody knew health care could be so complicated." Really?
The damage he has already done to our country is palpable. Anyone who is politically aware and not thinking solely from his brain stem can make a list of unprecedented lies and debasements of our country With the muddle of Trumpsurdities, China must be pleased.
2. His Enabling Poltroons
American patriots, however, should not be pleased. The United States is very much in need of better governance. The world is a very complicated and sometimes dangerous place; our nation has many problems, such as inequality and the lack of affordable health care for all, that need to be addressed. We are therefore in great need of good domestic and international leadership. Instead, we have an incompetent man-child as president, who claims to be making America great again, but is making things worse at home and more dangerous abroad.
There are many mentally ill persons in the world, but this is arguably the first time one has been elected president. His pathology is increasingly obvious to all discerning individuals. What is keeping him in office; who is responsible for letting him continue to drag us down?
The Senate has 100 seats, 52 of which are currently held by Republicans; The House has 435 representatives, 240 of which are, at present, Republicans as well. To my knowledge, only two have come forth with criticism. One, Senator Flake from Arizona, up for reelection in 2018, criticizes Trump and the party for its lack of decorum; he is in basic agreement with Trump's agenda, however. His nice-guy approach puts him in danger of being challenged from the right by someone--there are apparently many--who are more extreme in their conservatism. Sen. Bob Corker, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been far more critical. He contends that the White House has become an Adult Daycare Center. The adults around Trump have to keep this adult child from running amuck. His irresponsibility is leading us nearer to World War lll--Unprecedented criticism!
Sen. Corker, however, is not running for reelection. He also contends that many, perhaps most, Republicans know that Trump is dangerously inept; nevertheless, they keep silent. They are his enabling poltroons.
Districts have been gerrymandered by the G.O.P., nearly assuring Republican victories. But more reasonable Republicans are threatened to a greater degree by challenges from the right than they would be if the cynical redistricting had not taken place. The Republican Party may not be likely to lose, but less fanatic candidates sure can.
It is understandable that politicians want to be reelected; this is a primary goal of politicians of both parties. They get a lot of money and enjoy a lot of perks. It is easy to say to them, "What good is it to gain the world and lose your soul?" A lot of people say things like this, but they, along with those whom they criticize, don't always put this great maxim into practice.
I hardly expect Republicans to be saints, but it is reasonable to expect them to begin to disassociate from a person who is completely unfit to be president, proofs of which Trump provides on an almost daily basis.
Trump could not remain president without their support, yet they remain silent. When will they begin to follow their conscience? When will they cease being Trump's enabling poltroon?
3. The Lily-White Loons
Let us illustrate the exotic state of our politics with an image of a pyramid, The Pyramid of the Pathological Pharaoh. The duncecap-shaped stone at the apex is Trump; the boulders supporting him for several layers down are the Republican politicians. The vast bulk of the pyramid consists of rigid boulders which represents Trump's base, the 62,979,879 U.S citizens that voted for PP, the Pathological Pharaoh.
Without this base, the entire pyramid would collapse.
I am shocked by the fact that so many people could have voted for someone whom our Secretary of State called--with justification--a moron. This is not a conservative or liberal issue; a mentally ill narcissist does not belong in the White House.
A good section of our society is politically uninformed and angry, a toxic combination. If one votes with one'a brain stem without access to one's frontal lobes, Trouble in River City can inundate the entire nation; and so it has. One look at a Trump rally brings one to the inescapable conclusion that racism has a lot to do with the mess we're in, but racism alone is not the sufficient cause. I don't get it.
I do get this, however: the well being of our nation and the world is in danger. We therefore need to focus on Trump's base, treat its boulders as decent human beings who have gone astray, and do our best to bring them to reason. Even more important, we must do all we can to get all Americans to the polls for both local and national elections.
It's up to us. Each citizen has a hammer; each citizen has a vote. Our country needs vigorous political activism from its informed citizens, especially now--Get involved before it's too late! The Pathological Pyramid, like all confederate statues, must come down.
O-my-God-can-you-believe-it? Lies! Incompetence! More lies! Pundits still seem to be shocked by the fact that the Distemperor has no clothes. When will he pivot into a president? As late as August 30, 2017, Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein said, after Trump pardoned that monster sheriff, "I believe he can be a good president...The question is whether he can learn and change."
Really, Sen. Feinstein, really? Haven't you figured him out yet?
You're not alone. How can pundits be shocked night after night while commenting on his egregious behavior? He'll straighten out. Soon he'll be somebody about whom Uncle Sam will be proud. Really?
I don't consider myself a political scientist, far from it, but I knew this guy's number from the very beginning, and am amazed that intelligent people still seem to be finding out how unqualified he is at so late a date, tweet by tweet. Trump was for five years before his election the mouthpiece of the shameless birther movement, which claimed that President Obama was born in Kenya, all evidence to the contrary, and thus not fit to run for president. The malevolent racism of this calumny is all-too-apparent. And the lies! How could this modern Humpty Dumpty, asserting that "truth is whatever lie I choose it to be" ever follow in the footsteps of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and, yes, Obama? America could never elect someone so incompetent and narcissistic as that! That was, alas! what I thought right up to November 8, 2016.
Yes, Trump is mentally ill; yes, Trump is a malignant narcissist. Part of this disease is the belief, due to a pitiful neediness, that one is Zeus among zombies. All human beings save him are zombies in his mind, since another aspect of his disease is a sordid lack of empathy. Criticism, however justified, is like a zombie coming at him with a knife; he must disarm the dead man and destroy him for the second time in order for him, in his imagination, to Zeus on.
Pundits have pointed out that all presidents have a bit of Narcissus in them. But not to Trump's degree! 100 degrees F. is a low-grade fever; once the fever soars to 107 or so, the brain cells begin to be destroyed. Malignant narcissists have malignant fevers.
Combine this with stupidity and we're in trouble--and we certainly are. A stunning indictment of Trump's abilities came form Dr. William Kelley, who taught Trump at the Wharton School of Business in the late 1960s: "Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student that I ever had." Trump apparently came to the school convinced that he knew everything already. "Nobody knew health care could be so complicated." Really?
The damage he has already done to our country is palpable. Anyone who is politically aware and not thinking solely from his brain stem can make a list of unprecedented lies and debasements of our country With the muddle of Trumpsurdities, China must be pleased.
2. His Enabling Poltroons
American patriots, however, should not be pleased. The United States is very much in need of better governance. The world is a very complicated and sometimes dangerous place; our nation has many problems, such as inequality and the lack of affordable health care for all, that need to be addressed. We are therefore in great need of good domestic and international leadership. Instead, we have an incompetent man-child as president, who claims to be making America great again, but is making things worse at home and more dangerous abroad.
There are many mentally ill persons in the world, but this is arguably the first time one has been elected president. His pathology is increasingly obvious to all discerning individuals. What is keeping him in office; who is responsible for letting him continue to drag us down?
The Senate has 100 seats, 52 of which are currently held by Republicans; The House has 435 representatives, 240 of which are, at present, Republicans as well. To my knowledge, only two have come forth with criticism. One, Senator Flake from Arizona, up for reelection in 2018, criticizes Trump and the party for its lack of decorum; he is in basic agreement with Trump's agenda, however. His nice-guy approach puts him in danger of being challenged from the right by someone--there are apparently many--who are more extreme in their conservatism. Sen. Bob Corker, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been far more critical. He contends that the White House has become an Adult Daycare Center. The adults around Trump have to keep this adult child from running amuck. His irresponsibility is leading us nearer to World War lll--Unprecedented criticism!
Sen. Corker, however, is not running for reelection. He also contends that many, perhaps most, Republicans know that Trump is dangerously inept; nevertheless, they keep silent. They are his enabling poltroons.
Districts have been gerrymandered by the G.O.P., nearly assuring Republican victories. But more reasonable Republicans are threatened to a greater degree by challenges from the right than they would be if the cynical redistricting had not taken place. The Republican Party may not be likely to lose, but less fanatic candidates sure can.
It is understandable that politicians want to be reelected; this is a primary goal of politicians of both parties. They get a lot of money and enjoy a lot of perks. It is easy to say to them, "What good is it to gain the world and lose your soul?" A lot of people say things like this, but they, along with those whom they criticize, don't always put this great maxim into practice.
I hardly expect Republicans to be saints, but it is reasonable to expect them to begin to disassociate from a person who is completely unfit to be president, proofs of which Trump provides on an almost daily basis.
Trump could not remain president without their support, yet they remain silent. When will they begin to follow their conscience? When will they cease being Trump's enabling poltroon?
3. The Lily-White Loons
Let us illustrate the exotic state of our politics with an image of a pyramid, The Pyramid of the Pathological Pharaoh. The duncecap-shaped stone at the apex is Trump; the boulders supporting him for several layers down are the Republican politicians. The vast bulk of the pyramid consists of rigid boulders which represents Trump's base, the 62,979,879 U.S citizens that voted for PP, the Pathological Pharaoh.
Without this base, the entire pyramid would collapse.
I am shocked by the fact that so many people could have voted for someone whom our Secretary of State called--with justification--a moron. This is not a conservative or liberal issue; a mentally ill narcissist does not belong in the White House.
A good section of our society is politically uninformed and angry, a toxic combination. If one votes with one'a brain stem without access to one's frontal lobes, Trouble in River City can inundate the entire nation; and so it has. One look at a Trump rally brings one to the inescapable conclusion that racism has a lot to do with the mess we're in, but racism alone is not the sufficient cause. I don't get it.
I do get this, however: the well being of our nation and the world is in danger. We therefore need to focus on Trump's base, treat its boulders as decent human beings who have gone astray, and do our best to bring them to reason. Even more important, we must do all we can to get all Americans to the polls for both local and national elections.
It's up to us. Each citizen has a hammer; each citizen has a vote. Our country needs vigorous political activism from its informed citizens, especially now--Get involved before it's too late! The Pathological Pyramid, like all confederate statues, must come down.
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