Are the fences finally closing in in the barnyard? Is the Turkey of Mar-a-Lago about to be crushed?
No one is above the law is often bandied about today. Whenever a pundit makes this claim, I feel like laughing. (One time I actually did.) Trump--and so many others--have been above the law for years. From screwing his employees as a real estate mogul in New York to his illegal removal of classified documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, (I invite you to include some of the many examples that occurred in between these two events)--so far the turkey has not been caught. I could mention all the poor people who are languishing in jail due to marijuana possession, while wealthy abusers of more dangerous drugs continue their illicit habits; I could mention the overburdened court-appointed lawyers who often fail their clients miserably, but I won't. Let's stick to the subject at hand--Why is the turkey still flaunting his wattle before a gaggle of lilywhite flightless fowl? Today, the barnyard, tomorrow the world?
Let us not insult turkeys any further. Trump is a very flawed human being, a pathological narcissist. He cannot live without praise. The worst insult for him is to be called a loser. He is extremely needy. Deep down--perhaps very deep down--he knows what he is, a sad fact which he cannot accept. He has convinced himself so well that he can do no wrong and has been able to convince others as well, which has done great damage to the nation. Too bad he isn't also pathologically shy!
His tragedy is thinking he's Louis XlV; his tragedy is that he doesn't realize that the era of Absolute Monarchy is over. L'état c'est moi, he seems to be telling himself. Lui? He has no idea what a democracy with its checks and balances is; he is that ignorant.
I sometimes feel sorry for him; he is obviously mentally ill. My pity would be justified, however, if his arrogance was burned out of him by his disease. But he apparently doesn't know how sick he is.
Look at his face.
In a way, Trump can't help it. His extreme narcissism cannot accept loss. He has convinced himself that he won the last election, and is willing even to suspend the Constitution to thwart the will of the voters. He is as needy as a giant sandworm of Arrakas is voracious. The pundits are wrong to say that he is lying. Deep down there he might know he lost, but this knowledge must be erased from his consciousness as readily as the knowledge of death is erased from our minds during sex. If he realized who he was, he wouldn't survive unless he became a truly penitent monk. Fat chance for that!
His father apparently taught him, drilled into him, pounded into him, that winning is everything; the worst thing possible is to fail, to be a loser. (How I delightfully imagine the crowd at a rally, finally realizing that not only the emperor has no clothes but he is ready to take the shirt off your back and let you freeze from the cold. Empathy and Donald go together like apple pie and strychnine.
As a student of physics, I have serious doubts whether free will exists or not, so it might not be all his fault. It's as if his father cut off his legs and we expect him to walk.
He doesn't walk; he pushes around those who know his number until he finds his lying voice in his reflection telling him, You, Sir, are Number One. (He just may be one digit off.)_
Note: the writing of this essay has been interrupted by Covid. My wife and I, both fully vaccinated, have contracted Covid, possibly from a patient at her office. We are both still quite symptomatic.
So let me get this essay out of the way, so I can focus on recovering. I wish to conclude by making two points.
1. The sympathy we might feel for a mentally ill person must be tempered by the harm the mentally ill person does. Trump has put our democracy in danger, so sympathy is out of place until he no longer has power and influence.
2. Trump may not be able to act responsibly, but what about the scores of Republican representatives that have made Trumpism possible? They know that a large part of their base consists of ardent Trump supporters, so they go along with Trump's idiocies, even though they know better. What good is losing your soul in order to maintain power? If the choice is dedication to the Constitution or dedication to self-interest, most Republican representatives have chosen the latter. This is a sad--and dangerous--option.
When the walls are closing in, you can expect an insane, inane reaction. Perhaps Trump's inner angel is beginning to realize that his outer devil's assertion that he is a 'stable genius' is a lie. Don't expect an apology! As Trump's inner cookie crumbles, expect more desperation, more craziness, and that's what we got. I'm referring, of course, to his 'major announcement' that he is initiating and hawking Superhero NFTs, When I first heard about this, I thought it was a joke. He asserts that he is, that is was, a better president than Lincoln or Washington. He asserts that America needs a Superhero, then presents a series of tacky cards which depict him in various superhero roles. Does he think we're a bunch of pimply kids collecting baseball cards on steroids? (Apparently. His base bought them like mad.) Probably the most brazen attempt of self-aggrandizement that he has done to date. He must know that the cathedral his vanity has built, in which he is the living god, is crumbling. Let's hope he is right.
Enough said. Time to concentrate on my own fever, a Covid fever--Too bad there's no medicine, effective as aspirin, to reduce the fever of fascism!
