Tag Archives: President

Blog, Politics, Psychology

Psychopathology on full display

Originally published November 21, 2018 on Nation of Change

While not perfect or overwhelming, the people decided in the midterms to check on the President’s power. Expect more to come. It’s our only hope.

If there were any doubts whatsoever about President Trump’s mental state, they were completely dispelled by his performance on the day after the elections.

Because of the grave danger he poses not only to our country but to the world, in The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, all of the contributors felt strongly that it was their moral duty to break with the long-standing, self-imposed rule of not diagnosing someone that they had not examined personally. The feeling was that on a daily basis Trump exhibited more than enough instances of disturbing behavior to reach definitive conclusions as to his mental health. The overwhelming judgment is that he suffers from literally every known form of mental illness: pathological narcissism, delusions, paranoia, frequent breaks with reality, etc.

What they came tantalizing close to saying it but did not is that Donald Trump fits all of the traits associated with psychopaths. Does this thereby make him one? In my judgment, the answer is unequivocally “Yes!” Indeed, not only does he not hide his disturbing behavior for all to see, but he flaunts it daily. Once again, it was on full display on Wednesday.

While all of the traits associated with psychopaths are highly unsettling, the callous lack of compassion and empathy for others stands out. Indeed, it’s one of the primary characteristics. The latest is his total lack of compassion for those who suffered in the California wild fires. No wonder why he constantly hurls insults and mocks others. And, why you’re either with him or not; no grey area is tolerated.

It helps as well to explain his pronounced inability to accept any responsibility for his words and actions and the need to constantly blame others. It also accounts for his lack of remorse or any sense of guilt. And, it explains his propensity for violence.

The constant need for stimulation in the form of adoring rallies, highly impulsive behavior, and a highly inflated sense of self-worth are also major characteristics. Promiscuity is a major trait as well. And last but not least is lying pathologically.

What is most disturbing is how those who voted for Trump and continue to support him no matter what not only rationalize his behavior, but revel in it. While they may not be psychopaths themselves, they are enablers of it nonetheless.

One cannot reason with psychopaths because reason is not part of their makeup. Nor is it part of those to whom they appeal. The only remedy left is political.  While not perfect or overwhelming, the people decided in the midterms to check on the President’s power. Expect more to come. It’s our only hope.

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Blog, Politics

For And Against Trump: A Bitter Dialectic That Is Literally Tearing Us Apart

Originally published February 7, 2017 on the Huffington Post

We are caught in the throes of the fiercest dialectic imaginable. It not only shows no signs of letting up, but of getting worse everyday. In a word, it’s literally tearing us apart.

Let me state both sides as briefly and as strongly as I can.

For Trump
Those who support President Trump generally feel harassed if not threatened by those who say they are liberals and thereby supposedly tolerate different points of view, but really don’t. At best, they are liberals in name only. Basically, they are hypocrites. They are constantly complaining about everything that doesn’t go their way. They are hysterical whiners who can’t accept the fact that they lost the election fair and square. They are unwilling and unable to give Trump a fair chance. As a result, they are lacking in fundamental fairness. They deserve to be feared, if not loathed altogether. They are incapable of understanding that those of us who voted for Trump did so in spite of his bluster and coarse language, which we often wish he didn’t do and use because it gets in the way of his basic message. We voted for him because of his demonstrated business successes. We took him at his word to Make America Great Again! Who else can drain the swamp in Washington and bring back good paying American jobs? Hillary? No way! The Clintons are interested only in themselves! They cannot be trusted!

Against Trump
Trump’s constant denigration of women, Hispanics, blacks, Muslims, Secretary Clinton, shrill bombastic tone, offensive attitudes, threats against other countries and those who don’t agree with him are cause not to give him a chance. Indeed, he’s already blown it. In short, he fills us liberals with fear and loathing. His early actions against Muslims only confirm our fears. In addition, the threat of war and violence are all-too-real and constant. All of the above are grounds for impeachment. Trump is supremely unfit to be president because of his temperament and lack of qualifications. Indeed, he suffers from serious mental illnesses. His constant shifting back and forth between whatever reality suits him at the moment is strong evidence of psychosis. And, narcissistic personality disorder doesn’t even begin to describe what ails him. Who else tweets at 3am when he or she is most alone and therefore most afraid of being ignored? Who else but a sociopath feels no guilt about stiffing his workers?

Any Way Out?
As they are stated, it’s impossible for the diehard proponents of either side to come together. But then the basic purpose of a dialectic is not for either of the two highly antagonistic positions. It’s for those who can extract a kernel of truth, or understanding, however small, from either side. Thus, even though I am heavily in the Against Trump side of the dialectic, the For Trump side helps me not just to understand but to feel the intense anger of those who voted for Trump have towards a system that has not only ignored them, but humiliated them continually in the worst ways imaginable. They are treated as if they were than nothing more the punch lines of poor jokes.

I blame myself and my fellow Democrats for abandoning our commitment to working people. We certainly don’t have to agree with everything that they say and do, let alone any group, but we do have to understand their pain. Without this, we are truly lost.

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Blog, Politics, Psychology

The Parentized Child Presidency

Originally published 12/09/16 on Nation of Change

Those of us who didn’t vote for Trump–the cast-off, disadvantaged children–will have to monitor Trump very closely.

A central concept from Psychoanalysis, the Parentized Child, is key to understanding why Donald Trump was elected in the first place, and secondly, what must be done to preserve the nation from the damage he will surely wreck.

Parentized Children are children who early in life had to assume the role of a parent because their actual parents were not up to the task of acting as adults. Whether the parents suffered from debilitating mental illness, serious alcohol or drug addiction, or were generally incompetent, the basic roles between parents and children were fundamentally reversed. Because the parents weren’t dependable, the children had no alternative but to step in and keep things running as best they could. Thus, the children prepared meals, dressed younger kids for school, etc. But as a result, the children had no childhood. This not only produced major bouts of depression later in life, but lifelong anger.

Of course, I don’t know what Trump’s childhood was actually like, but it’s clear that we’ve put someone who is not fully developed—a highly disturbed child—into a role that calls for an extremely competent, healthy adult. I suspect that a major factor for this is the fact that Hillary was viewed as extremely flawed parent who couldn’t be trusted. Therefore, a seriously undeveloped child was viewed, at least by those who voted for him, as the only sensible alternative. In effect, were those who voted for Trump acting as Parentized Children in expressing their intense hatred of Hillary? Was “Lock Her Up!” really a barely disguised call to “Lock Up the Bad Parent?”

Here’s precisely where another fundamental role reversal is called for. Those of us who didn’t vote for Trump–the cast-off, disadvantaged children–will have to monitor Trump very closely because a child acting in the role that calls for a healthy, well-developed adult cannot be trusted for one nanosecond to head the biggest “family” in the world. In short, are we cast into the role of Parentized Children?

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Blog, Politics

The Trump Presidency: A Bitter Dialectic

Originally published 12/09/2016 on the Huffington Post

I am caught on the poles of a bitter dialectic. It’s every bit as bitter as the divide that separates us.

On the one side of dialectic, I desperately want President Elect Trump to succeed for our sake, not his. Unlike Senator Mitch McConnell who said when Obama was first elected, “We must do everything in our power to make this President fail,” I don’t wish Trump to fail, for if he fails, then we fail as a nation even more. I want to give him every chance to succeed.

I want President Elect Trump to display the qualities he did during his 60 Minutes interview. He was articulate, mostly sensible, and more coherent than I’ve ever seen him before. I want him to act as he did when he met with President Obama. He was not only respectful, but genuine in his praise for the President. He was clearly awed, if not overwhelmed by the job he was to undertake.

I’m heartened that he doesn’t necessarily want to do away with every aspect of Obama Care, or so he said during his interview. I want him to heal this bitterly divided nation. I want him to pass a jobs bill so that those who’ve been hurt most by the Great Recession can be put back to work. I hope fervently that he can help us to stop demonizing one another.

On the other side of the dialectic, I’m still smarting from Trump’s god-awful insults and rhetoric during the campaign. It was the worst that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. I’m appalled that he still wants to ban Muslims and build a wall with Mexico. But most of all, I’m deeply frightened that he’s chosen someone like Steve Bannon to be his Chief Strategist. Bannon is undeniably a racist. Rudi Giullani scares me no less. I’m left with the overpowering feeling that The Rats Are Coming Onboard The Ship of State. God-awful indeed!

So where does that leave me? I still want Trump to succeed, but I feel we have to monitor him closely every step of the way. Maybe he’ll resign or be impeached as some are prophesying, but that would leave us with the arguably even worse prospect of Mike Pence and his horribly restricted, punitive world-view.

Hope for the best but be extremely vigilant is the best with which I’m left. I am hopeful but afraid!

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Blog, Politics

Is A Trump Presidency Fundamentally Capable Of Success?

Originally Published November 23, 2016 on the Huffington Post

With every passing day, I am tipping towards one side of a bitter dialectic

On the one hand, I would like President-Elect Trump to succeed for all our sakes. Unlike Senator Mitch McConnell, who said when Obama was first elected, “We must do everything in our power to make this President fail,” I don’t fundamentally want Trump to fail, for if he fails, then we all do. I want to give him every chance to succeed.

I want President-Elect Trump to display the qualities he did during his 60 Minutes interview. He was articulate, sensible, and far more coherent than I’ve ever seen him. I want him to act as he did when he met with President Obama. He was not only respectful but genuine in his praise for the President. He was clearly awed, if not overwhelmed by the job he was to undertake.

I’m heartened that he doesn’t want to do away with every aspect of Obamacare, or so he said during his interview. I want him to heal this bitterly divided nation. I want him to pass a jobs bill so that those who’ve been hurt most by the Great Recession can be put back to work. I hope fervently that he can help us to stop demonizing one another.

On the other side of the dialectic, I’m still smarting from Trump’s god-awful insults and rhetoric during the campaign. It was the worst that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. But most of all, I’m deeply frightened that he’s chosen someone like Steve Bannon to be his Chief Strategist. Bannon is undeniably a racist. Rudy Giuliani scares me no less. And, Jeff Sessions as Attorney General? The rats are coming onboard, not leaving, the ship of state!

Trump has time to tweet about Vice President-Elect Mike Pence’s affront by the cast of Hamilton, but he doesn’t have any time to disavow the worst White Supremacist hate groups that hail him with Hitler-like salutes.

He also tweets that his conflicts of interest with his far-flung businesses are due to the “crooked media.” He just can’t be civil. He can’t let things go.

So where does that leave me? I would still like Trump to succeed, but I’m more dubious than ever that he is capable of doing so with every passing day. Maybe he’ll resign or be impeached as some are prophesying, but that would leave us with the arguably even worse prospect of Mike Pence and his horribly restricted, punitive worldview.

I’m afraid that we’re headed towards a Constitutional crisis. Trump clearly has no intention of divesting his numerous properties that is necessary to place them in a blind trust. It makes a complete mockery of the Clinton Foundation’s supposedly “pay for play.”

Try as I would like to give Trump every chance to succeed, he makes me angrier and more afraid every day.

Dialectic over!

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Blog, Politics

More Fearful Than Ever

Originally published November 16, 2017 on the Huffington Post

While Donald Trump’s recent appearance on 60 Minutes may have calmed some of my fears, he has not put all of them to rest. Indeed, he’s even exacerbated them.

Given the low bar that he’s set repeatedly, he was more articulate, calm, and coherent than I had any reason to expect. But his past inflammatory comments are real cause for widespread demonstrations. His repeated inability/refusal to acknowledge the legitimate anxieties and fears of the protesters, and that they are not “professionals,” is highly disconcerting. But worst of all is his selection of Steve Bannon as his Chief Strategist. The choice of an out-and-out declared racist belies any desire to heal and to bring us together.

Rudy Giuliani scares me as much, if not more. He would be Secretary of State or Defense? He would be that close to the Big Bad Button? These are the actual and potential cabinet choices that are supposed to heal a highly fractured country?

I find myself caught between wanting to give Donald Trump every chance to succeed and watching his every move and statements with acute apprehension.

However, as much as I’m angry at the election of Donald Trump, I’m even more so with my fellow Democrats. How could we have selected such a flawed candidate who couldn’t really get in touch with the deep anger of the electorate and thus couldn’t truly connect emotionally with their pain?

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