Republican Patriots, Where Are You?

O the pundits are pontificating again!--They have many American eyes, as well as many eyes around the world, right where they want them: fixed on CNN.

I repeat what you undoubtedly already know by now: Trump sided with the enemy during a joint conference with a murderous thug. The cover of a recent Daily News (July 17, 2018) best sums up the disgraceful spectacle: Trump is holding hands with a bare-chested Putin, while his other hand, armed with a gun, fires a bullet into Poor Uncle Sam's unsuspecting head.

Dear gobsmacked pundits, how can you be so terribly surprised? I admit Trump even outtrumped Trump with his latest idiocy, but surprised--maybe, but only a little. This is the man who headed the nefarious birther movement for five years; he discarded his slander only after his election, when old lies had to accede to new ones to keep his base baser than ever. And the racism! I also never forgot his animus against the five minority youths accused of raping a white Central Park jogger--even after they were proven innocent, by DNA analysis, after many years in prison! This inveterate, unintellectual crackpot liar didn't deserve to be president--I've known that for years. Some pundits opined that he'd grow into the job; yeah, I thought, as likely as a chickie could pick and peck enough to grow up into a brontosaurus. Pundits are less sanguine now.

What follows are what a Republican with a conscience and a conscientious Democrat have said about the disastrous summit:

Senator John McCain: No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.

John Brennan, a former director of the C.I.A. tweeted the following, here quoted in its entirety: Donald Trump's press conference in Helsinki rises and exceeds the threshold of "high crimes and misdemeanors." It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump's comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots, where are you?

Wow has finally come to now!

Chuck Schumer, the minority Senate leader began his comment thus: His behavior is so inexplicable and so against the interests of the United States...

Against the interests of the nation, yes, but inexplicable, Mr. Schumer? I think not. Donald Trump has always been anything but inconsistent.

Many experts on TV and elsewhere are asserting in ever greater numbers that the reason behind Trump's kowtowing to Putin is because the latter has dirt on Donald, and might even be in a position to blackmail him. Maybe so, but there is a deeper reason which underlies and explicates the first. We will discuss these two reasons in turn.

First Explanation of Trump's Treasonous Behavior: The Pee Tape

Trump has done a lot of business in Russia over the years; recall his son's statement that Trump, Inc. has profited immensely from ventures in Russia. It is also obvious to anyone who is impartial that Trump's business has been questionable. He has stiffed many workers who were his employees; he hired illegal immigrants and paid them coolie wages; activities such as his charity, Trump University, etc. have been pure scams. These dishonest dealings refer to activities in the United Sates; one could hardly imagine that his projects in Russia would have been pursued in  a more  honest manner, given the rampant corruption and mafia-like thuggery in that country. There is a good deal of evidence that Trump did (does?) have considerable contacts with the Russian mob.

The government of Russia, a country  which has been continually devolving into a police state, has perfected the art of spying on its citizens, a tradition that dates back to czarist times.

It's hard for Americans to realize the extent of the severe restriction on personal freedom in totalitarian countries. I have some knowledge of the spying that went on in East Germany, the former Soviet satellite. I had the opportunity to see some of the archives the SED (the Communist government of the DDR) kept on their citizens. The building that contained them was full, the records--compiled before the digital revolution--were thick. It seems that spying on each other was a national pastime

Trump was a prominent businessman in Russia years before he ran for office, so it is quite possible that agents, with Putin's blessing, have compiled compromising material with which he could be blackmailed.

The most damning possibility is the existence of the so-called pee tape. According to the Steele dossier, Trump was lured to the Ritz Carlton in Moscow to witness two prostitutes urinate in a bed of the presidential suite--but not just any bed, but the bed in which the Obamas had slept in during a visit to Moscow. The dossier refers to Trump's 'perverted conduct at the Ritz Carlton'.  A tape of this sordid incident was allegedly made.

The existence of this tape is by no means certain; the evidence for it is circumstantial, supported, however, by four apparently reliable sources.

Due to the fact that Trump has never been a stranger to compromising behavior, let us assume that Putin has damaging information on Trump. But even if he does, I don't think this is the real reason behind Trump's behavior. One musk ask why Trump hates Obama so vehemently in the first place; why he is so obsessed with promulgating his brand; why he has been so desperate to impress, etc.

Our sometimes scraggly pundits need to be spruced up by Occam's razor--what is the most likely reason why Trump acts the way he does?

Second Explanation of Trump's Treasonous Behavior: the Diagnosis

The best way to realize why Trump behaves the way he does is to conclude that he is mentally ill. He is a textbook case of narcissistic personality disorder. He has little or no empathy for others; he is so obsessed with self aggrandizement that he views himself at the center of a solo solar system, reducing all other bodies to satellites; if you don't like to bask in his sunlight, you're an enemy; if a moon accepts its own light as a mere reflection of his, it's a friend. All of these traits are indicative of a severe personality disorder.

I know it sounds partisan, but on analysis, I think malignant narcissism is the best way to explain Trump.

A central part of narcissistic personality disorder is anxiety, the barely conscious realization that one is a failure, causing a negative feedback loop. It's like what the Buddhist tradition calls a hungry ghost, a giant spirit with a tiny head. It is always hungry but never can eat enough to be satisfied. Greedy people are said to be born in hell as hungry ghosts.

The disease explains why Trump is obsessed with Russia, the Mueller investigation, and the (il)legitimacy of his victory. Putin doesn't question whether Trump won big or not; Mueller, by investigating Russian meddling, puts the president's victory into question. Therefore, at least according to our analysis, Mueller is an enemy and Putin is a friend. Remember it's all about him, he can't stand any competition. An independent judiciary and a free press in his view cast shade on the Sun God, thus making them enemies of  his private light.

Regarding his anxiety over the election, the example of Hitler comes to mind. He never won the popular vote; in 1932, the Nazi Party won 36% of the vote, down slightly from the previous election. Germany then and now has a coalition government; after he was appointed Chancellor by the senile Hindenburg, Hitler declared an emergency and took over the nation. He never worried about whether the majority voted for him or not. Compare this with Trump's insistence that his inaugural crowds were the biggest ever; that millions of illegals voted for Clinton, etc. His narcissistic insecurities explain why he insists that his wimpy victory was nothing other than spectacular; they also explain why he believes that the F.B.I is conspiring against him. If you're not for him, you're part of a witch hunt.

Hitler didn't care what anybody thought; he pursued his hates with manic determination. Trump, in contrast, is obsessed with what everybody thinks; praise, his heroin, trumps everything.

Dr. Allen Frances, the psychiatrist who devised the criteria for diagnosing narcissistic personality disorder, believes Trump lacks an important criterion for the illness: he thrives, while a narcissist is always ridden and riven with and by anxieties.

I do not agree. If Trump were self-assured and at peace with himself, why would he always be talking nonsense, such as No collusion, No collusion, No collusion? If he were sure of his abilities, why would he insist on being "a very stable genius?' If he had inner strength, wouldn't he be able to withstand at least some criticism? If he were more self-confident, would he divide the world into sycophants and rivals? No, he is a very insecure man; the resultant anxiety is becoming more apparent every day.

To sum up: he is a malignant narcissist, he is mentally ill. He is also way over his head as president. There is no better way to explain why he continues to damage our country without a shred of conscious insight. We are thus becoming pawns of a shameful, shameless bumbleton King. 

I will now illustrate his pathology by a famous painting, Saturn Devouring his Sons, one of the black paintings by Goya.

Saturn has been driven mad by anxiety; a prophecy has declared that one of his sons will overthrow him. To prevent this, he devours them one by one. Jupiter will eventually slay him and force him to vomit up his siblings, magically restored to life. After this, the new king will cast the old monster down to Tartarus forever.

Look into Saturn's eyes. What you see are fear and madness. Saturn feels compelled to kill his sons; his eyes inform us, however, that  he knows that all the horror will be in vain. His eyes know that he will fail.

Now look into the eyes of Trump in this recent photograph:

Although fear in the eyes of Saturn has been exaggerated to make a striking artistic point, I see more than a little of this fear in Trump's. This is not the face of a man at peace. This is the face of a man who knows that his lies cannot hide the truth forever, namely, that he's a soulwreck, a failed human being.

Trump is devouring our children, as it were, the institutions that have taken us hundreds of years to perfect.  How long are we going to let Big T. and his Mini-Titans tear our country apart?

If the Orange Nightmare Spoke French, What Would He Say?

1. A quote from a French novel

Il m'avait dit que nous vivions une drôle d'époque.

I just finished reading a French novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author, Patrick Modiano, Rue des Boutiques Obscures. Most of his novels take place in occupied France during World War ll, with a special emphasis on the plight of French Jews during that awful period. In the novel I read, a group of people--that they were Jewish is not directly mentioned, but strongly implied--attempt to escape Vichy France by crossing the border into Switzerland. The protagonist recalls having met a man a few months earlier, who had just sold on the black market two diamond bracelets in order to finance his own escape form France. Willing to share some of the proceeds with the protagonist, Pedro, so he can escape as well, the kind man says what is quoted above in French: We're living in weird times.

We're living in weird times as well. I always have found it more than a bit flip when one compares the horrors of Nazi politics with those of our own; now, however, I must reluctantly admit that that French quote is particularly apt when applied to American politics today. In occupied France, there were no free press, freedom of speech, an independent judiciary--all the bedrocks of democracy were gone, allowing society to descend into the muck of fascism. We still have those institutions, but they are, for the first time in my long lifetime, under attack. Real news is called fake news and vice versa; lies are called truths and vice versa; leaders of the free world are vilified while autocrats are praised; our alliances with allies are disintegrating; the party in power has made a Faustian bargain with an incompetent egotist who is undermining every day American institutions and America's position in the world. We are living in weird times indeed. That a French quote reflecting conditions in Vichy France seems so apropos today should elicit furrowed brows on our foreheads; it is also a cause for action.

Don't get me wrong. I know only too well the history of the last world war; I'm not implying that our epoch is now as drôle as it was during World War ll. But things are getting weirder every day in American politics, there is no doubt about that. For the first time in my life I can say without exaggeration, that if we don't stop Trump's excesses, American democracy may one day soon be a thing of the past--a horrible thought!

2. An Article in The Atlantic and Louis XlV

In the June edition of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg. after inquiring among officials of the current administration about what constitutes the Trump Doctrine, discussed three of the best answers he received. He listed them in reverse order of what he considered to be the most salient replies:

3. "No friends, no enemies." This (supposedly) enables Trump to do what is in the best interests of the United States as he sees it, with total disregard regarding what friends or adversaries may think.

2. "Permanent destabilization creates American advantages."  In a chaotic situation, America will benefit most, since it still is the most powerful nation on earth. In other words, if one deliberately spills a tank of milk on a road, kitties will get a few licks, but the lion will get, well, the lion's share.

1. "We're America, bitch." This Jeffrey Goldberg considers to be the best definition of the Trump Doctrine. Might makes right; Lie, Lie, and Lie Again; Bully, Tweet, and Carry A Big Stick.

It is frightening to acknowledge that all these definitions apply. But I don't think any of them is the best one. I would summarize the Trump doctrine with a famous quote from Louis XIV: "L'État, c'est moi."

There were no democratic institutions during Louis's reign, something with which Trump could easily adapt to. Louis XIV severely attenuated the power of the aristocracy; those of the highest rank had to be satisfied with the honor of handing him his clothes as he dressed. What he demanded above all was unalloyed loyalty

Our would-be Sun King from Queens believes it his divine right to reign unopposed. He has alienated and driven out many former members of his team. He considees himself to be "a very stable genius." He doesn't want to work with experts, since, in his view, he's the only expert needed. 

There are contrasts, of course. Louis XIV was an intelligent man; during hs reign, French culture reached great heights. Trump, in contrast, is subliterate; the White House, which during all previous presidencies honored and celebrated artists and scientists, has became a cultural backwater during the age of Trump. 

Another similarity: there is an aspect of "après moi, le déluge" about Trump. What Republican could whip up his base and lie as he does? Pence, after all, makes Louis XVl and Marie Antoinette look good. We should recall as well that Louis XIV bankrupted France. Trump's terribly unfair tax cuts do not bode well for the financial future of our country.

But it's actually much worse than that. Louis XIV certainly loved France; I've come to the terrible conclusion that Trump isn't really a patriot at all. He will do nothing for the long-term benefit of America, especially if it would make his base unhappy. Regarding civil rights, Johnson did the right thing, even though he realized that the Democrats would lose the South for generations. Such sacrifice is antithetical to Trump's nature. All he wants to be is the center of attention; all he desires is praise.

Can you imagine another president willing to meet with a North Korean dictator, without preparation? Why did he accede to Kim's demands to cancel joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises?  So he could be crowned with a Nobel Prize. He came first; peace came second.

The Trump doctrine is therefore not "L'État, c'est moi," but simply "C'est moi." The Trump Doctrine is not "America First," but "Trump First."

Can you imagine a president who so completely lacks a moral core that he orders the separation of children from parents just to hear cheers from his base during a rally?

He has long ince crosssed the border from normal to pathology. The man is sick.

3. What Mental Health Professionals Are Saying

In a book entitled, "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump," edited by Bandy X, Lee, M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine, which appeared last fall, 27 psychiatrists make a strong case that Trump suffers from a mental illness, malignant narcissism. We all know the symptoms: the constant need for praise; feeling superior to everyone else; aggression and sadism; lack of empathy; self-aggrandizement; dividing the world into enemies and sycophants, etc. Talk about a trolling textbook case of a soulless selfie!
One psychiatrist, however, who devised the criteria for diagnosing narcissistic personality disorder, holds out. He still abides by the Goldwater Rule, the 1973 decree by the American Psychiatric Association, advising that psychiatrists should not diagnose a mental illness without having interviewed the person in question. In addition, according to this doctor, Trump lacks a sine qua non of the narcissism diagnosis: he doesn't suffer mental stress because of it. I find this debatable, for if Trump was truly comfortable in his skin, he wouldn't arrange those frequent rallies in red states, the sole purpose of which is to bask in cheers for him and in the jeers for his enemies. During those rallies, he often appears unhinged, a would-be stand-up, addicted to  the loud adulation of those who should know better but don't. How needy, how anxiety-driven is that? Trump is caught in a negative-feedback loop created by his own defects: he increases his egregious behavior in order to get more praise from his base, which alienates the rest of us and increases our opposition, driving him to please his crowds even more.

I really don't think we need psychiatrists to inform us whether Trump meets the narrow definition of a specific mental illness. Common sense must agree with Fred Rogers who once famously said, "It's all about love--or the lack of it." It is obvious to many that love is not what animates Trump; he is a failed human being, and, as our president, is failing us and the world.

Every culture has a version of The Golden Rule as a touchstone of morality and of the best way to live. If we consider a scale that ascends in the positive direction to the right, and descends in the negative direction to the left with a minimum value of the Golden Rule at the center, Trump is so far to the negative side that one must conclude that he is spiritually, if not mentally, ill. When one adds his incompetence to the calculation, his failure both to himself and to the nation is staggering.

Allen Frances, the psychiatrist who stated that Trump doesn't meet the textbook definition of narcissistic personality disorder, went on to say that Trump isn't crazy, we are--at least those millions of people who voted for him. He has a point.

4. The Pathological Pyramid

In a previous article, I helped explain the Trump phenomenon with the image of a pathological pyramid.We have a disastrous president at the top; however, the person at the top can't float in mid-air. He is supported for about a third the way down by his enablers, the Republican politicians. The lower two-thirds represents Trump's base, those who voted for him, and still for the most part support him.

Many intellectual conservatives have already abandoned Trump. Sam Schmidt, the notable former Republican strategist, has left the party. George Will opposes the "oleaginous" president"; David Frumm from The Atlantic opposes him as well. But not the Republicans in power! Bob Corker, a Republican senator from Tennessee, and Jeff Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona, have publicly stated their vehement opposition to the president--after they decided not to run for office again. No other Republican in power has distanced himself from Trump.

One is reminded of the couplet by Alexander Pope, containg a message on the collar of a dog which was in the presence of courtiers: "I am His Majesty's dog at Kew/Pray tell me, Sir, whose dog are you?" We know the answer. They have all been bought.

Here's what Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald Reagan had to say about how she believes her father would have reacted to the Republicans in power today:

“He would be appalled and heartbroken at a Congress that refuses to stand up to a president who not only seems ignorant of the Constitution but who also attempts at every turn to dismantle and mock our system of checks and balances.”

We live in Orwellian times. The Senate Judiciary Committee is involved in a witch hunt against the honorable Robert Mueller, in an attempt to sabotage his investigation; the Republicans on the committee are  accusing the FBI  and Mueller of being involved in a witch hunt against their man, who is behaving like a warlock-in-chief. 

At the bottom of the pyramid are the many millions of voters who have made Trump possible. They consist largely of working-class whites, who continue (mostly) to support him, despite the fact that Trump supports them in the same spirit as French aristocrats supported French peasants before the French Revolution. How long will this continue?

I don't know, but I do know this: our democracy is in danger. Since Trump became president,  our prestige abroad is declining; America is declining as well. We must fight the good fight to defeat this know-nothing would-be tyrant. If not already, get involved!

At the very least, every concerned citizen must vote, especially in the upcoming midterm election. If we don't vote in much larger numbers, we deserve what we get.