Donald Trump is going to snap very soon, and here is how I know

Posted on by Rich Will

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I believe that rather than smashing our own glass houses to pieces in the act of destroying Donald Trump’s Presidency, we need to be aware of our own inner Trump, to reflect on our own tendencies to think and behave in catastrophically immature, venal and insecure ways. I therefore offer up this short account of my own personal emotional development, and then explain why I think it helps explain why Trump is heading for a breakdown very, very soon.

I used to suffer from a quite disabling insecurity, particularly when it came to things like being creative and forming relationships with other people. I got better, partly by virtue of living in and studying Portugal, learning about its people’s tendency to swing between moments of self-aggrandisement and self-abnegation, from ‘we are great’ to ‘we are nothing’. I also learnt about my own habit of projecting my own feelings onto others, both people and countries. The work of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa showed me that we’re all characters on a stage acting out different roles, and that that is okay. I identified strongly with the philosopher Eduardo Lourenço’s diagnosis that Portuguese people tend to suffer from taking on too many identities, and I took enormous inspiration, consolation and guidance from his insights that Portugal is ‘marvelously imperfect’, ‘no worse and no better than anyone else’, and that progress comes from accepting one’s limitations.

Living in China taught me to accept the existence of other perceptions of my own identity, even if I feel embarrassed about it, particularly in terms of my national identity. Everyone has one and I can’t let the fact of my British or Englishness inhibit me unduly. Writing about my misunderstandings of Chinese society and about my role there helped me accept that I, like everyone else, have an ego, and also that I can use writing as a vehicle for making connections between things and to help find people who’ve noticed the same things, who share my perspective. Spending time with a Lacanian psychoanalyst in London helped me develop confidence in my own voice while also teaching me about the foibles of my tendency to overthink. I got better (although not necessarily good) at identifying and cultivating friendships with other people. I met the woman who later became my wife, who loves me for who I am rather than who I pretend to be. Through my job I became better at listening to people and more accepting of others and myself. I learnt that honest self-reflection is a more effective medium for personal development than alcohol is. Through acquiring other languages I discovered that learning is one of the things I most enjoy and value about being alive.

I still screw up, as we all do, but I accept that doing so is part of life, and when I do or get something wrong I try to apologise without fear or recrimination. I know that I’m not mad in any meaningful sense. I accept that I have some ability to write entertainingly and insightfully, and I have less fear than I did before of saying what I want to say. I have a wonderful editor in my wife and I accept that I sometimes miss things and perhaps expose some parts of myself to criticism and ridicule. I know that what I write doesn’t and doesn’t have to please everyone. I accept that everyone is fallible, and that it takes hard work to produce writing of quality. Sometimes I don’t put in enough hard work, and that’s my fault. I try hard not to depend emotionally on the responses or lack of responses to what I write. In a nutshell, I’ve matured, to the point where I can now face the prospect of becoming a father, something which, say, 15 years ago was (so to speak) inconceivable.

All this means that I understand something of the fragility of Donald Trump’s ego. Having struggled to maintain friendships in the past, I can see how Trump can get to a point where he has, according to a piece in Newsweek based on several months spent around him, no close friends. As I’ve acknowledged before, it’s essential for us to have the humility to recognise that we don’t have the ability to diagnose Trump at a distance. But that there’s something of the manchild about him is inescapable.

These first two days of his ‘Presidency’ saw paranoid and recriminatory tweets, a speech to the CIA in which he ranted bitterly about media reports of his coronation, and his press spokesperson being sent out to deliver another paranoid self-pitying rant. People are mercilessly taking the piss out of the piss-poor attendance at his pitiable inauguration, and Trump appears to be following every single one of them on Twitter. It’s clear to me that whatever means he’s used to survive up until this point aren’t going to work in his new role. There’s simply too much scrutiny and ridicule, and it’s going too deep. He’s too much of a shallow narcissist to ignore it. Trump is going to learn the wisdom of Jacques Lacan: “the madman is not only a beggar who thinks he is a king, but also a king who thinks he is a king”. Whatever monster he has buried in his mind is going to rise up to bite off huge chunks of him from within.

Trump is famously hostile to the notion of learning: no-one has anything to teach him. He was born rich, and that means he’s a genius and that everyone must respect him. He appears to have no ability for self-reflection. The mirrors he has in his mansion may be framed in gold, but he’s never been able to bring himself to look into them for more than a few seconds. Instead he’s surrounded himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear, who repeat back to him his inner mantra: you’re the richest, the best, the greatest writer, builder, statesman, etc etc etc. But it’s his inner voices that are the problem, the ones that tell him that he’s nothing, a failure, that everyone sees him as a joke. The ones that (presumably) sound a lot like his father.

His tweets in particular reveal that at some level he knows that his self-aggrandising self-image is hollow and brittle. So he lashes out, including physically. And it’s getting worse. People are laughing louder. He’s now put himself in a position where the entire world knows that he is venal, insecure, stupid and deluded.

He’s become in two days the paranoid and deluded ruler of so many novels by Latin American and African writers. Usually this point is reached after several decades of rule and the imposition of terror and a cult of personality. He’s the kind of leader that the U.S. has imposed on so many other countries; there is an element of chickens coming home to roost. He obviously took enormous consolation from his media image, the idea that he was ‘America’s CEO’. He believed this and seems to have internalised it, but is also taunted by a nagging awareness that it was little more than a joke, a stupid slogan to sell a TV show. His supporters may not know that, but some will learn. He’s already starting to turn some of them against him. As he attacks their standard of living and doesn’t have the political skills necessary to calm their anger, they will see through him to the delusion, insecurity and vanity within. He’ll have no more dgefences and will be unable to hide from the stark fact that his flatterers don’t respect him. Putin in particular is evil but not stupid. He knows that Trump is an absolute moron. And he can’t control that smirk of his.

Lacan said that what matters in psychoanalysis is not so much what the client says, but what falls out of his pockets while speaking. Trump appears to have absolutely no idea what he has in his pockets, and now everyone on the planet is picking up things, inspecting them and telling him what they are. They are teaching him things about himself that he cannot bear to learn. He also knows that he is President in name only, and that’s not enough to sustain his ego.

He will snap very, very soon.

Our job is to increase the tension.

New post: ‘Trump is going to snap -a rejoinder’.

TWO YEARS ON: I guess (and there’s a great deal of guesswork in this piece) that I underestimated how tenacious Trump would prove to be in his pretence of being President. More importantly, I failed to predict how slavishly and irresponsibly the mainstream media would collude in that pretence.

370 thoughts on “Donald Trump is going to snap very soon, and here is how I know”

  1. As much as I want him to fail (he had NO business even being on the BALLOT) I don’t want our country torn to tatters under his administration. Unfortunately, given his over-inflated ego and assurance that he “alone” can fix it. He couldn’t be more wrong about that. NO man is an island; no one gets EVERYTHING right without learning some hard lessons. Drumph has never learned anything…just ask him; his giant brain is all he needs….in his self-deluded fantasy.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. EVERYONE in the white house and congress knows what is going on…and are either awaiting the proper time to impeach him, given enough hanging rope or they are enabling him for their own self serving purpose..either way once his mental illness starts to effect their lives then the treason-er will be removed from power

        Liked by 5 people

      2. What baffles me is that there is no requirement for a full physical and mental work up for candidates for president to determine their fitness to serve to begin with. I would hope that post Trump that becomes a legal requirement for all who would throw their hat in the ring.

        Liked by 5 people

    3. First of all, I’d like to complement the people who write here. You are very elegant in the way you relate to each other. Even when presented with something less than cordial in a response, you still reflect back curiosity and encouragement to express rather than the immature assault tactics I see almost everywhere else. In many circles, discourse is treated like a competition among gladiators driven to prove how smart they are. You treat it like a search for truth. You speak the truth as you know it but curiously, are still open to the search. Your cups are not so full. You know the search hasn’t finished yet so you seem open to listening to each other as well. I don’t see that often.

      Something I notice about your comments – they don’t address why Trump got elected. I’m not a fan and am as worried as the next guy about what’s going to happen but I understand why he got elected. People who dismiss him as a xenophobe or racist are missing the point. There are real issues lying behind these words – real fears that people have. Americans don’t want Mexicans flooding into their country the way they are. They don’t trust Islam. They don’t like the present system where so few control so many. They don’t like all their jobs going to third-world countries. Most of all, they don’t like being told they are politically incorrect to say or think these things. People have felt stifled and unable to speak their minds through fear of being attacked.

      I’m not a racist. If you take a Somalian gun-runner’s baby and bring him up in Canada, you’re going to end up with a nice polite young man with an education and a future. What really matters is culture – what values you were brought up with, what you think is right and wrong. Importing large numbers from a culture that has different values than ours is tricky at best. For example: I get the impression from the very few Islamic friends I have that they think they are right about what they believe and that the Koran is THE word of truth. The night I spoke to them about this, I opened the Koran at random. The first sentence I read was that all Jews must be killed. Christians were OK because all they believed in was love.

      Despite the compliment to Christians, this was still a very troubling thing to find out.

      I mean, I wouldn’t import anyone from bible-thumping Europe if this were the late middle ages because they were all convinced God wanted them to kill everyone else that didn’t believe what they believed. Why would I invite the same type of people into my world now?

      I believe the fears xenophobes have are real and need to be addressed. I also believe Trump took advantage of these fears to get himself elected. The Keystone deal he just OKed, the pro-life stance, the repeal of worker’s overtime rights, telling the EPA to shut up, the dropping of taxes on corporate America all seem to point at someone enacting the same old Republican agenda as the Bush administrations put into effect.

      I’m not sure this guy is going to implode or be impeached with Republican support. He is doing on steroids what the Republicans have wanted to do for ages.

      God, I wish Bernie had won!

      Liked by 2 people

      2. I agree with most points you make. Those who voted for Trump were certainly motivated by valid concerns that were ramped up and exploited by the Trump campaign; supporters were whipped into a frenzy of fear to overlook his character in hope that his policies would protect them. Where I differ is on your assessment of Muslims as taking the Koran in its entirety as literal admonishment from God to convert or destroy. Actually, most Muslims, and I know and teach many and visit their meetings and conferences when I can, are more like modern Christians who are taught to focus on the parts of the Bible that teach love and outreach. One of the meetings on Islam that I attended was led by a local Imam who made the point that true jihad is jihad of self, overcoming the internal enemies of one’s own hate and fear; the goal is conversion, yes, but converting others through example and acts of kindness. You make a valid comparison to Christianity in that the Bible is full of similar calls to violence in the Old Testament–smite the Amalakites, burn their fields, kill every man, woman, and child, salt the earth, etc. Modern Christians tend to focus on the New Testament and its admonishment to love your neighbor, but the other stuff is still there for those who would cherry-pick troublesome scriptures. Only fundamentalist extremists focus on their own interpretation of calls to and justification of violence, and of course those pesky 600 or so laws in Leviticus, most of which Jesus never saw fit to mention. Christians hate it when they and their beliefs are judged by only portions of their sacred text and by the highly visible extremists who pervert it, and Muslims can rightly be expected to feel the same way. The bottom line is that, as Americans, we either support the entire Constitution, even the parts that make us uncomfortable, or we will indeed see this country sink to the depths. Freedom of religion is guaranteed to everyone in this country–everyone, all religions–and if we single out any one religion and say, “You frighten me, so your religion is not acceptable,” outlaw it, quash its practice, we will have sunk so far there may be no return.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Scarlett Mahoney, thank you for your comment. This is EXACTLY what I meant by “these matters need to be addressed”. I need to hear the things you just said about Islam and your point about cherry picking and the Bible having similar incitements to violence is well taken. Perhaps it was just an unfortunate coincidence which brought me to those passages in the Koran when I opened the book randomly for the first time. Still, it’s good that we are talking about these issues openly instead of shutting each other up because we don’t like each other’s point of view. That’s the spirit of the Constitution in action.

        Still, there is the matter of culture, not religion. Perhaps I am getting a skewed look at things through the media but it looks as if every Arab on television is armed to the teeth. Weddings are accompanied by spectacular rituals where young men dance and fire off their weapons to show how skilled they are with them. The entire culture looks as if it has great skill with using weapons. I know Americans are armed to the teeth as well but you don’t dance at weddings while firing off your shotguns. You don’t glorify violence and your ability to deal out death.

        In addition, although we might be tolerant of other cultures and beliefs, it would seem that other cultures are not so understanding. The Sunnis and Shiites don’t seem to have any tolerance for each other at all. They can’t stop killing each other – much like the Protestants and Catholics used to be. Nations are divided along strictly religious lines. Relations between the two sides are not peaceful. Is there some danger that importing large numbers of refugees is going to also import those troubles?

        Again, it might be that I (or the media) is cherry-picking moments of Arab culture to give a skewed vision of reality. Is it possible that most Arabs (like us Christians) don’t give a hoot about the religious divide and simply want to get away from it? Perhaps, like yourself, I need to attend a religious gathering with an Imam to find out if this is true.

        Your point about the Constitution being an all-or-nothing affair is actually a very good one. I ask the following question because I honestly haven’t a clue as to an answer: What do you do about people who do not believe in your constitution? Do you still let them in?

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      4. Greetings, oh Great Ones,

        Just posted something on my Facebook page. – thought I’copy it here as it has something to do with what’s going on right now:

        One of the “Conversations with God” books posed an interesting question. Curiously enough, God left that one for us to answer. The question was: What is it to be civilized? What constitutes a civilization? What justifies the use of those words when they are applied?

        It took me 3 years to figure that one out. (Yeah, I know … what a dummy.)

        Here is the answer I finally came up with. First is a list of things I thought it was but have since discovered don’t define the word itself at all.

        1.) Civilisation or to be civilised has to do with your level technological advancement – your science
        2.) It has to do with your architecture
        3.) Your poetry – your literature
        4.) Your art
        5.) Your music
        6.) Your wealth

        As it turned out, the word itself has nothing to do with any of them other than that they can be considered byproducts of being civilized.

        The answer turned out to ridiculously obvious. The key lies in the root word “civil”. The level of a country’s degree of civilization depends on one thing only – how well do you care for your civil population? All civilizations are attempts by a people to unite and care for each other so they can survive. Period. Simple.

        Without that, you are simply a better armed and more sophisticated barbarian.

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      5. Personally I think the article I wrote was not hugely original or incisive but it’s struck a chord and the response has been staggering. If I wasn’t about to become a dad I’d be a gibbering wreck right now. But comments like this blow me away. I’ve received so many emails and comments which exhibit such a level of sincerity, intelligence and good-heartedness that I’m frankly lost for words. I’m just a guy who woke up and wrote a blog. You people are genuises, individually and collectively. I bow down before you, seriously. Walt Whitman was right and Donald Trump is wrong. You have between you the strength to defeat him.

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  2. I was a bit abashed when someone in a similar exposition pointed out what should have been glaringly obvious: adjusting to the unforeseen tsunami and popularity of The Donald, Deep State has cleverly set him up as a stalking horse, knowing full well he will implode before long (or fall victim to the pretorians).

    Pence is the end-game. An American reflection of Putin, wouldn’t you agree? (Although vastly less skilled and intelligent.)

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Dunno about that, I think it’s mkre haphazard. They’re milking it for all that it’s worth, it seems, frontloading all the most horrible things that a ‘normal’ politician wouldn’t dare do as it would make him more unpopular. As you say they do hope that if he’s overthrown they’ll be able to carry on regardless.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I believe you are correct – Pence is the endgame and for the purposes of the GOP, was likely positioned for that very purpose from the beginning. A way for them to use Trump’s deplorables as their gateway. When assessing the greater of the two evils, Trump or Pence, I would say that they are fine examples of the difference between a poodle and a wolf. Both genus Canus, but one with a pretty pompadour from the groomer and the other, a set of canines designed for tearing flesh from bones. Trump may not last to push the Big Red Button, but Pence will send us back to 1950. Neither of those scenarios is acceptable.

      Liked by 4 people

  3. I don’t care what anyone says…he’s a CLASSIC case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He’s dangerous and out of his psychotic mind…

    Liked by 11 people

  4. This is exactly what I’ve been saying ever since the debacle that was our national election.
    The fact that so many people were conned into voting for him is a testament to the “Cult of Personality” that has emerged with reality TV, and Trump’s disgusting but popular “Celebrity Apprentice” show. His fans watched in glee as he strung along poor saps who needed a job, then bullied and shamed them in front of millions of adoring followers.
    The fans just transferred their adulation to his presidential campaign. It was simple, then, for the Trump promoters to continue the reality TV model. Trump could say or do anything, and his TV fans are it up. That 25% of ignorant, uninformed, Fox TV watchers were hooked.
    With the hacking of DNC headquarters and release of preposterous stories and lies, Russia sabotaged our elections. Stupidity and bigotry won the election.
    When the nation begins to see, feel, and experience the damage, it will be a sad, rude awakening.

    Liked by 6 people

      1. This is what I constantly fear too. A core tactic in Russian propaganda (unsure of how much Poopin uses it, tho I wouldn’t be surprised) is to keep people confused, so they get apathetic about what surrounds them even if they KNOW there’s some dangerous foe around. Stinkin’ Bannon has as basically confirmed this as part of his modus operandi, that there’s true power in the people having no idea what’s going on.

        All the more reason to keep up the outrage and keep it focused.

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  5. DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include these features:

    Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
    Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
    Exaggerating your achievements and talents
    Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
    Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
    Requiring constant admiration
    Having a sense of entitlement
    Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
    Taking advantage of others to get what you want
    Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
    Being envious of others and believing others envy you
    Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner

    Liked by 8 people

    1. His agenda is not the liberal agenda so he is demonized. Of course! Liberals think their way is the only way, but there is a new sheriff in town.He is going to take care of business in a way that has not been done in many years and I say it’s about time! Thank God for allowing Donald Trump to win the election!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for your comment. You need to be careful about using terms defined by parts of the media (‘liberal agenda’; ‘demonized’; ‘liberals’; ‘new sheriff’; ‘take care of business’) without asking yourself how they suit your own purposes and interests. As you’re not a billionaire, are a woman and a human being, a cursory analysis of the phrase ‘take care of business’ reveals that what Trump, Pence etc are up to is emphatically designed to ruin your life and that of all of those around you. As for your comment about God, I can only paraphrase the great Palestinian refugee and socialist Jesus H. Christ: forgive them, Lord, they do not have a clue what they are talking about.

        Liked by 16 people

      2. This is charming. And classic. (And evasive.)

        Somebody cough up some dough so we can have every immortal word of Cindy Pope carved in granite and mounted upon a pedestal.. Thus we can gaze upon it fondly some months from now, once the inevitable has come to pass, and smile wanly.

        Liked by 4 people

      3. And thank you Miss Pope for a perfect illustration of how someone devoid of intellectual coherence can be so appealing to someone equally devoid in intellectual coherence. Slogans and platitudes are not expressions of actual thinking, they’re are the crutches of a desire not to think. The world is increasingly complex, it is scarily so, I admit, but solutions are simply not to be had because of an attitude of swaggering superiority — which any one who has cracked a book can easily tell is actually crushing insecurity. The unwillingness of you and your co-electors to put this walking ID (look it up) at the head of the free world is not some brave act of sense-making; it is the mass cowardice of those who did want to be ashamed, yet again by having a President who iwas smarter than they are. Well you got your wish; you can be proud now –you’ve elected an idiot. Sadly all of us will have to pay.
        (The funny part is that you would bother leaving such a toothless comment on such a well-reasoned and erudite blog. You simply confirm every single elitist thought we coast libtards have about you.)

        Liked by 8 people

      5. We have had conservatives in office before. I didn’t care for their policies but trusted the provisions of the constitution, the rule of law and the will of the people to hold the government together with checks and balances. If Mr. Trump were just his policies, I’d feel the same. He is not just his policies and that is what this article so clearly describes.

        Liked by 3 people

      6. I would be curious to know exactly what you think his agenda is, since he seems incapable of spelling it out. What you have said above is rhetoric. Rhetoric are neat little sound bites that people with an agenda put out to the masses, usually in short, simple sentences designed to inflame. The problem with rhetoric is that there is no substance behind it. I would invite you to consider the following questions: Do you think it is a good idea to hand over our National Parks to businesses who want to exploit them for profit? Do you think it is a good idea to force government agencies to not provide information to the public (who paid for the information)? Do you think it is a good idea ever when a president limits our right to obtain information, much of which was discovered through studies that we paid for? Do you think it is right to abandon a healthcare plan that covers millions of people before they have another plan clearly outlined to take its place? I will share one story with you for consideration. I was an ambulance volunteer for years in my community. Many of the elderly in our community had black lung from making coal companies rich. (yes, my bias is showing. I watched them die horribly.) They depended on their healthcare plans for their oxygen. OXYGEN. When their coverage was used up at the end of the month, they would suffer for a week, struggling to breathe because they could not buy oxygen again until the next month. Removing the Affordable Care Act without another plan in place will kill hundreds of people. People who can’t get heart medication, people who can’t get oxygen, people who can’t get cancer medication. But of course, you’ve already stopped reading because what do I know? You have your ideas and you will cling to them because sound bites make you feel powerful.

        Liked by 10 people

      8. Youve said exactly what ive been saying to anyone who tells me how great it is that Trump is finally going tto “get ghings jnder ckntrol”. I am terrified for our country, and for the world! As a nurse, ive seen similar horror stories about lack of access to healthcare that you describe. ive also been around long enough to see what poverty, kgnorance, snd desperation can do to people.
        The results of economic disparity, and the abandonment of care the the poor, weak, elderly, and ill, will ruin our country as surely as war and environmental degradation.

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      10. There nay be a new sherriff in tow, but what if the sherriff is a crook or insane?

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      12. You say “he is going to take care of business in a way that has not been done in many years.” Two questions: what “business are you referring to and when in the past has whatever he is going to do been done? Who did it? What did they do? Your thinking or disregard for accuracy of thought is exactly why many of us are fearful of what he might do? Cindy help us feel better. What is he going to do that is really good for each other? And really can one man do whatever you know he is going to do but can’t explain it.

        Liked by 1 person

      13. Dear Cindy, Trump’s agenda is NOT a human agenda. Keep God out of this. Trump’s agenda is pure evil. He needs help. And so do you.

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      15. byronallenblack, I just made a comment above about how impressed I am with the people who write here as they do not evince the tendency to treat discourse like a gladiatorial battle to the death between people who just want to shut each other up because they don’t like each other’s point of view. You’re blowing my vision of how wonderful you people are! As much as I got a chuckle out of your comment (it was rather well phrased), it’s not going to resolve anything. It just creates division and a sense of animosity in what you perceive as an enemy.

        Cindy Pope has a point of view very different from most who write here. My comments to her would be to find out why. If America is going to move forward and not descend into civil war, common ground has to be created. You can’t just keep shutting each other up. You ought to be married to each other, not your points of view.

        Cindy, I love you. Feel free to say anything you want. Why do you believe what you believe? Why do you think a liberal agenda is evil? Is there something wrong with helping each other out systemically as a way of governing? Why is that considered Communism by conservatives? What do you believe in? Where do you think we should go as a civilization? If you could build a perfect world, what would it look like?

        Liked by 1 person

    3. Having worked in the field of adult as well as juvenile psychiatric services, I’d like to add that Narcissism closely mirrors Antisocial Personality Disorder, the politically correct name for a Sociopath.
      Sociopaths rarely take responsibility for their mistakes, they consider harm done to others as a result of their own acts the fault of the ones harmed, We’ve heard this from Trump when he was debating Clinton talking about his failure to pay taxes. It wasn’t his fault, the laws allowed him to take advantage of loopholes so he did, and if Clinton didn’t like it she should have changed the laws, as if she alone could have managed that. In addition, he saw or sees himself as brilliant for taking advantage of these loopholes and shorting the public, who he sees as suckers. Sociopaths show no remorse, they lack empathy which to tell the truth seems to be the rule rather than the exception with the entire GOP leadership and a good part of it’s base.
      Since you provided the criteria, which I’m assuming you gleaned from the DSM allow me to provide a link describing the characteristics of APDO. I might note that most sociopaths are narcissists by nature and separating the two disorders is a challenge for shrinks and Psychologists.
      http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html

      Liked by 3 people

    2. It’s funny how the Scarecrow Tinmen thought that voting for Clinton would lead to war with Russia. At the rate things are going, the Piss-Yellow Cowardly Lion will likely bring us to war with everyone else. Tho still under the words of the Man Behind the Iron Curtain, of course.

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  9. Does anyone else see a similarity (in personality) between Henry VIII and the current leader of the free world? That sort of ‘off with her head’ behaviour must terrifying to all those closest to him. I wonder what sort of education his little boy is getting at home? How does he look at the people of the world – those people cannot afford to live in a golden tower? Will he grow up respecting girls and women? I hope he gets what he needs to live a decent, healthy life (both physical and mental) outside his privileged, golden bubble. Bless him.

    Liked by 3 people

    2. If his father weren’t a wealthy asshole, an old white man with undeserved prestige in his community, and now the least deserving Head of State the world has ever known (any LESS deserving I’m assuming fell into obscurity), any self-respecting child protection agency would’ve revoked his custody status the second that kid was conceived.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. An article in my paper, the Dayton Daily news written by Robert Reich tell how Trump plans to control the media using 7 techniques.
    1. Berate the media
    2 turn the public against the media
    3.condemn satirical or critical comments
    4. Blacklist critical media
    5.threaten the media
    6.Limit media access
    7 bypass the media and committed with the public directly

    Liked by 3 people

  11. What we need to be careful of is him playing the victim when he does snap. It’s a trick narcissists use to garner sympathy and care from others when they do finally crack under pressure. We need to remember that he is PLAYING the victim and not succumb to his game. He is not actually a victim but still a predator and abuser. Narcissists never change their ways, they just get worse.

    Liked by 3 people

  14. The behavior at the supposed women’s protests is way more disturbing than anything Donald has ever said or done. Talk about narcissistic personality disorder, in mass. Most liberals think their opinions are the only ones that matter and are ready to demonize any who would dare to disagree. But you won’t be able to bully Donald out of office. Buckle up your seatbelts and enjoy the ride! Ha!

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    1. He’s not your friend, Cindy. Your comments about the protests are deranged. You mentality appears to be that of the average North Korean peasant: total obedience to the Great Leader and absolute faith in the regime. At least such people surrender their independence of thought out of fear – what’s your excuse?

      Liked by 2 people

      1. What’s her excuse? Fear. What do you think Cindy spends her days doing? She’s glued to FOX all day long. No wonder she’s an obedient peasant, that’s what they create down there. It’s just amazing she’s still alive, at any given time before Trump became president she could have been eaten by a Mooslum-carrying-gay-ebola-plague. A very close call indeed! But everything’s going to be ok now, once that wall is built. Oh, and about that wall Cindy….

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Agreed. Trump is no one’s friend. He is completely self-absorbed, and unable to complete a thought that is not about his position at the center of the universe. Consider the first four days of his “presidency”. The lion’s share of his attention has been on insisting that there really WERE more people at HIS inauguration than at Obama’s, that he really WON the popular vote, because “millions” of people voted “illegally”, and that he has been “betrayed” by media’s release of “fake news”.
        Liberals disagree with Trump’s positions because Trump is interested only in what serves his need for power and adulation.
        His denial of science, his disrespect for law, and his complete ignorance of our constitution make him unfit for office. His tendency toward dictatorial behaviors is glaringly obvious. That alarms Liberals, and it should alarm you! And, his demeaning and predatory behaviors toward women is now beginning to be translated into executive orders which will impact the ability for women all over the world to access reproductive healthcare. The ultra-conservative politicians he is appointing to his cabinet plan to comlletely dismantle the social fabric of our democratic society. That alarms Liberals, and it should alarm you!
        The environment, climate change, food and water safety, healthcare, food stamp and welfare programs, public education, safe housing, workers’ rights and economic justice, are all things that Liberals are alarmed about, with Trump at the helm.
        Even a more conservative person must have at least a modicum of care about these issues! We are talking about the survival of the planet, and America’s place as the hope for democracy in the world.

        Liked by 3 people

    5. I was at the New York City women’s march with my 6 year old daughter, two other families, and my pastor. I would absolutely love to know what “behavior” you’re referring to. Sign-holding? Nursing babies? Singing “This Land Is My Land”? Meanwhile, you’re defending a man who thinks a sound opening gambit with a woman is to “just grab her by the pussy.” The part of your brain required for critical thinking has atrophied to the size of a dried currant.

      Liked by 2 people

    6. Cindy, wow, you’ve shown up here as well to dis the Women’s March! I’d guess you’re a voter for Trump as shock factor and expression of anger rather than for his agenda, since it was so vague and, oh, melty-away. My protest wasn’t “supposed.” It was very real, and very worried.

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    7. Cindy Pope; I wonder exactly which of Trump’s actions this past week are a reflection of a loving God? Dismantling health care coverage for the needy? Insistence on opacity from many of the federal agencies that have – historically – been in charge of monitoring our food, water & air, and enforcing the protection of the same? Maybe cutting all funding for agencies which provide (through non-federal funds) abortions, which will defund the many reproductive services (birth control, std testing & treatment, prenatal care, etc, etc…) that many people can not otherwise afford? Perhaps his decision to eject all illegal aliens, thereby opening up hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of menial jobs that many of the currently unemployed would not even comsider applying for? I wonder what God you’re calling upon when you say that, because it sure doesn’t sound like the loving Creator that I consider God.

      Liked by 1 person

    8. What did you mean by the phrases”supposed women’s protest”? That the protesters were not women or that it was not a protest? Given the tone of your comment, I believe you display contempt for those who disagree with you and your President

      Liked by 1 person

    9. Hi Cindy,

      Nice to see you back. I thought the canning you got over your post might have scared you away. Good to see you have a set.

      I just wanted to comment abut the “Most liberals think their opinions are the only ones that matter”.

      Perhaps you Americans can’t see it because you are so involved but you are ALL slapping each other silly over your opinions instead of listening to each other – instead of loving each other more than the opinions you hold. As soon as one of you identifies himself/herself as part of the one side or the other, your opinions are dismissed by the other side as inconsequential. You both think your opinions are the only ones that matter. You both try to make the other seem ludicrous by exaggerating the other’s point of view – making the other look like a fanatic.

      That’s the failure of your great democracy. You are too busy slapping each other to listen and become one.

      You see, you both have part of the puzzle but neither one of you seems able to encompass the entire picture – i.e. – think of a solution that satisfies both Republicans and Democrats. I’m not entirely sure that you even believe such a thing is possible – hence my earlier warnings about civil war.

      The Wall won’t work any more than opening your borders because neither one deals with the causes of the problem – the reasons people come to America – the corruption, poverty and violence that exists in the countries those people are fleeing.

      The Middle East is a bit trickier but the corruption in Mexico is easy to deal with – just legalize everything and treat it like a medical problem.. It deprives crime of all their money. If there is no money in crime, why do it?

      The clues to solving the world’s problem lie in most of your religious holy books – like Christianity – i.e. be kind to each other because force obviously doesn’t work.

      It’s a bit pathetic that the very people who say they are the most religious and dedicated to the ways of a loving God are the ones most against the policy of legalization and the transfer of authority over the problem to a medical professionals rather than prisons.

      I seem to be peeling away of from my original thought – You are both not listening to each other. Trump has a point. America has been totally ripped off by globalization. As it turned out, it was just a way corporations could get around American unions. Your corporations don’t give a flying frack about you and will do whatever is profitable.

      The left wingers also have a point. A civilization is not defined by it’s technological advances, not by it’s architecture, it’s art, literature nor it’s wealth. It is defined by one criteria: how well do you take care of your civil population? All civilizations are attempts by a people to come together and care for each other so they can survive.

      You level of civilization is defined by how well you take care of each other – by how civil you are.

      So my advice to you would be listen to each other while you still have the chance. Nether one of the political extremes has the answer. That lies somewhere over there – obviously in a place neither one of you has looked.

      Famous quote:
      *** There is nothing wrong with corporations. They are cash cows. Everybody should own one. The tricky part is not letting them own you ***

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  15. Economist and columnist Robert Reich spoke candidly about an off the record talk he had with a GOP operative. Whether believable or not (and I believe him), the gist is this: the GOP is horrified at their elected leader but will make the best of the situation; meaning, they will humor and steer him as much as they can sufficient to get what they want (dismantling of environmental regulations, pork for the petroleum industry, a vampiric tax system disguised as Middle Class relief among other things), then they will turn on him or let him walk into the street unattended. Once out by whatever circumstance, their man in the Vice President seat will be in charge and he can appoint a VP subject to Senate approval. They will be able to blame Trump and absolve themselves of the Frankenstein they let rampage. James Madison once said, “A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.” A friend of mine answered this by saying, “He is not enlightened, there are no statesmen, and there is no helm. We are adrift on a sea of egos.”

    Liked by 5 people

    2. This is a plausible scenario. The unexpected ascendance of Trump dealt with by allowing him to romp along as the stalking horse, to implode at his pleasure or be sacrificed once the going gets tough.

      Pence is the end-game. Once in office he will be weak, fearful and vulnerable – just the way Deep State likes it. Think Clinton / Dubya / Obomber.

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      1. One friend of mine just posted: “He is the protection against the Left doing anything to Trump. Am I torn more that is the plan or is that the nuclear option in order to get the Left to submit?”

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      2. Ha, I think that strategy was also attributed to Tricky Dick Nixon, who pointed out “If they get rid of me, then look who they get” referring to VP Gerald Ford, described by Lyndon Johnson as “too dumb to walk down the street and fart at the same time”.

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    3. Did this Reich fellow (YEESH, what an unfortunate name) happen to supply any detail as to WHEN they hope to eject him? in terms of time? or agenda?

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  16. Thank you for an insightful and compassionate essay. Just curious though, could you talk more about that which falls out of the analysand’s pockets? Could you provide an example?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi. I take it to mean that whatever rationalisation the person in analysis comes out with is irrelevant – what matters is what he/she reveals when they stammer, joke or blurt out something unexpected.

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      2. What falls out of Trump’s pockets are gems like, “Not a puppet. Not a puppet. You’re the puppet.” to Hillary in one of the debates. After the revelations, yes I know unconfirmed but totally plausible, about his Putin “connection” and that Putin has film of it, we have to see that he, Trump, is like the bully on the playground who takes the ball away from a smaller child. The smaller child – sc – says, why d’you take my ball away. Bully b – says, I don’t have your ball.
        sc: yes you do, it’s right there in your left hand.
        b: (quickly changing ball hold from left to right hand) no it isn’t. etc.

        And so it goes. That which is denied is blatantly verifiable and a hollow and brittle (loved that phrase) bulwark against these endless attacks on his ego.

        This is a very perceptive piece.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. “Our job is to increase the tension.” ??
    Could you tell us to what end? This man’s actions have consequences that now go well beyond his business, friends, and family. Your recommendation sure sounds like playing with fire.

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    1. What is it about fire that enthralls us so? We know how dangerous it is yet are hypnotized by it. We can’t help but throw wood on the fire.

      I think it’s the fact that things are so fracked up that the people themselves felt a statement had to be made. It’s like something suddenly going ballistic.

      People are fed up.

      We know what happens when people get fed up. They do crazy stuff hoping that might break the pattern. Maybe Trump isn’t here to fix things. Maybe he is here to break them. The ways of man, so to speak, ain’t workin’ so well.

      I study history a lot – from ancient to post-modern history (you know, the alternately factual one).

      All civilizations I have read about fall for the same reason – internal fighting among power blocks that weakens said civilization … to the point where they are easy prey.

      No civilization that shut itself behind a wall has ever survived.

      Inevitably, the people outside the wall became stronger.

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      1. Beautifully expressed, thanks. Have you ever read ‘Collapse’ by Jarred Diamond by any chance? He identifies five main reasons for the fall of civilisations, it’s an enthralling read.

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  18. “Our job is to increase the tension.” ??

    Could you tell us to what end, exactly? This man’s actions now have consequences that go well beyond his businesses, associates, friends, and family. Your suggestion (if it is not tongue-in-cheek) sounds like playing with fire.

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    1. Fair point but I think he’s going to incapacitate himself. What I meant what that we have to protest their actions to the point where it is clear to all that their agenda is based on recrimination and psychotic denial of reality.

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    2. The new sheriff in town in untrustworthy with women. Idon’t see how women can accept his laughing off the word pussy and his grabbing history. do you want your daughte sister or wife to actually be in the same room with him? Not me baby. A documented misogynist is no president role model.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Said women are pitiable. Not just for their lack of insight, intellect or sympathy for others, but for how normalized this behavior around them or to them must be, for them to shrug it off like it was nothing.

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  19. He is decompensating by the hour. He hasn’t even been in office a week and he looks as bad as anyone being poisoned by Putin. And not only because his hair is suddenly whiter than ever, his expressions more deranged un-happy camper. (Never mind what he sounds like- which has never been rational). He is SO far out of his comfort zone.

    Liked by 3 people

  20. I know Donald’s gonna snap because I read it in Newsweek and I’m just like him. Who needs Putin for ‘fake’ news! And as for bring deluded and self-aggrandising… Not that I approve of DJT but hey, hello???

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  22. Donald will be keeping his enemies close without ever realizing it, because narcissism is easily fooled by the flattery of false friends. Trump’s worst enemies are those ‘friends’ who will manipulate him easily while he becomes more and more obsessed with lashing out at anything or anyone that doesn’t respect him, and Trump will never make the distinction until they figuratively pull the trigger to destroy him. And that’s exactly what they’ll do the moment he is at his weakest. I can accept Trump’s life as an allegorical, cautionary tale. I just don’t want a literal trigger to be pulled by one of his ‘friends,’ giving him an opportunity for martyrdom. A mental breakdown that begins the process of a slow, quiet death is probably the best case scenario.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Absolutely! I also hope the cautionary tale gets heeded in Europe. Here in Italy we have two characters who would love to be his local counterpart and the more Trump pisses himself in public the less credibility they have.

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    2. Problem is of course that we live in a time of extreme acceleration, when events very often outspeed any human intervention. One grim example is the potential necessity of computer-controlled response to a nuclear attack. With NATO perched on Russia’s borders, and Russian subs patrolling the Atlantic off the East Coast, the ‘window’ of response has been reduced to a couple of minutes. What human ‘leader’ is capable of deciding to unleash a nuclear Armageddon in under five minutes? (The cautionary secret communication of Kruschchev to Kennedy comes to mind – he urged a speedy resolution of the Cuban confrontation, as once the missiles and torpedos start flying it would be out of any politician’s hands.)

      In the Pentagon they entertain the fantasy of a ‘decapitation strike’: take out the Kremlin and field commanders would be powerless to launch retaliatory missiles. It’s a serious gamble and the play is fast and loose.

      A similar prediction of a global financial crash is also predicated on the pressure, speed and magnitude of trading and responding to market convulsions,

      While the inherent danger of a deranged tyrant ruling a primitive kingdom is alarming enough, add in the time pressure of complex technology and then it’s good luck Charlie.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Plus there’s the possibility that Trump himself barely even understands what a computer is. I can imagine that by the time the science of eight ones and zeros has been explained to him his attention’s probably wandered back to worrying about how fat people think he is.

        Liked by 1 person

  23. As much as I don’t like his character and I can strongly see his narcissistic signs within himself. I still believe he is the best one for the US. He will do what no other president has done before and do things what should have been sorted out a long time ago. He speaks his mind and means every word of it. He certainly has far more guts then most other MPs have in other countries. The rest of them live in fear. I hope he does get rid of the radicalised muslims. There a total disaster to this world and even kill their own kind. I don’t blame Farage for teaming up with him and hope him and Farage can work together to sort the UK out and get rid of Merkel who has blood on her hands after what’s happened in Paris and Germany. She is a walking disaster. Good luck trump and good luck US.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Farage has no clout in the UK or the EU. He is regarded as a figure of fun and a cheat – he does not carry out his duties as a member of the European Parliament. Like Trump, his only wish was to stand up in that parliament and gloat ‘I won’. He is now pursuing his self-aggrandising goals of being a media personality. He has very little interest in UKIP now. It has served its purpose – making Nigel the centre of attention.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. When censorship, reproductive rights, and media blackout occur to defeat democracy there is already tension. Putting pressure on politicians is what civilians do. Otherwise there’d be no democracy at all.

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  24. “As I’ve acknowledged before, it’s essential for us to have the humility to recognise that we don’t have the ability to diagnose Trump at a distance”, the author says, before going on to say, “He’s now put himself in a position where the entire world knows that he is venal, insecure, stupid and deluded.”

    It’s this kind of ill-considered leftist rubbish that will get him two terms. Enjoy!!!! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. If facial expressions are anything to go by, The Preznit The Donald doesn’t seem to be enjoying his new job that much. He looks perpetually confused and angry.

      Madame Trump, on the other hand, seems remote and lost. Not enjoying it a lot either, apparently. ‘This is not what I signed up for’ is a fair appraisal.

      As for your verdict of “…ill-considered leftist rubbish…”, I presume you’ve read Lacan, and are thus familiar with the discussion.

      I also assume you live in a cave in the Kentucky mountains and have thus never heard of Donald Trump the failed businessman and con-man (Michael Bloomberg’s comment – not mine) or you are willfully blinded to the fact that your hero is a crook and cruel to boot.

      Liked by 1 person

      4. I”m rather surprised we haven’t heard anything lately of him sniffing. What was up with the debates where he was so clearly under stress that he was routinely doing…something…and yet now, no display of possible…use?

        Liked by 1 person

  25. I think what will blow up isn’t Trump’s narcissism , bad as that is. I think he’s in the early stages of dementia. It runs in his family. Even two years ago, he spoke more clearly, used a larger number of different words and phrases. His impulse control problem, obsession with sex, blurting out of things are enough that I think he should be evaluated by a neurologist.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Frankly, ANY official report regarding his particulars would be welcome at this point. Perhaps…we should consult his urologist?

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  26. Until he snaps, the damage he does will be irreparable. And when he snaps, we get Mike Pence. That’s even scarier

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  28. The oligarchy seeks to overthrow America no one voted for an oligarchy. Those that seek to overthrow America with an oligarchy are all politicians that are on soft money. And all the corporations that give them soft money. And more. Soft money ergo bribery is what is broken in America. Bill Clinton passed the Telcom act that allowed Verizon’s/New York telephone to violate the laws with political donation to politicians. This is documented on the web as public information, at the moment. There is much more to this story but when people seek to overthrow America we have big problems. They closed the interstate commerce commission not for economic reasons but because within the ICC lies the answers to the corruption at hand. I have known Donald since I was 11 years old and he is always been a five-year-old. Just think with his hand on the button.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. “Any effort that has self-glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster. Now we’re paying the price. When you try to climb a mountain to prove how big you are, you almost never make it. And even if you do it’s a hallow victory. In order to sustain the victory you have to prove yourself again and again in some other way, and again and again and again, driven forever to fill a false image, haunted by the fear that the image is not true and someone will find out. That’s never the way.”

    From ‘Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ by Robert M. Pirsig

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  31. This is the most ludicrous piece of writing I have ever seen, bar none. Same goes for most of the comments. It would take a novella to take apart all the false info and ideas presented on this page. No time for that, so just know that in time you all will come to see how thoroughly fooled you were by sold-out scumbags pretending to be journalists.

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  32. Americans, what are you doing to yourselves? What are you inflicting on the world? Normally I don’t advocate violence, but with all your guns, why doesn’t somebody pick one up and use it!

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  33. It struck me, in watching events unfold from afar (Australia), that the whole debacle of Trump’s ascendancy is like the plot from some dystopian futuristic novel. Except this isn’t fiction – it’s really happening! An ignorant, narcissistic, misogynistic reality TV show star HAS become the supposed most powerful man in the free world. And we in the rest of the world can’t do a damned thing about it except watch on in fascinated horror until the inevitable melt-down. Out of the frying pan and into the fire then, possibly.

    Liked by 1 person

  34. It is tempting to soothe oneself with fantasies of Drumpf’s eventual collapse, but while the case may seem predictable in academic terms, in practice it can go either way – and in the meantime the damage piles on in real terms for real people.
    There will be random good or disastrous consequences to these actions – and i don’t believe that the core of “supporters” has the intellectual discipline to step back periodically for a realistic assessment and examine whether the gamble was worth it. They want to feel “saved”, powerful and special by association, and in some cases by virtue of their ethnicity.
    It isn’t like dealing with whom one has differences of opinions, but who is rigorous and disciplined in their planning and execution, and holds him/herself accountable. Ethics are off, discipline is off, and the basic requirement : to treat others with respect – has not been met.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Sorry I missed this comment earlier. I think you’re spot on. Some of the messianic memes I’ve seen in circulation make me think we’re already living The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s just that some of us haven’t noticed yet.

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  35. Has anyone considered that The Donald might be on the autistic spectrum? I’m on the spectrum have noticed we engage in similar behaviors(mostly language, speaking and the way our bodies move). For once I think I may glad I have the low-self esteem issues- because when you’re on the spectrum it’s one extreme or the other- and now that I’ve seen the opposite of that, it’s even darker than I imagined.

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  36. How will we know when he “snaps”? If he is already a paranoid, self-pitying, shallow, narcissistic, self-aggrandizing, hollow, brittle, venal, insecure, stupid, vain, deluded, catastrophically immature man-child, an absolute moron with a monster buried in his mind, hostile to the notion of learning with no ability for self-reflection and no close friends, then what will he be like afterwards? What will he do differently?

    Liked by 1 person

  37. I have heard active alcoholics referred to as “King (or Queen) Baby” and that perfectly describes tRump. I have no idea if he drinks or uses drugs, but his labile emotions and volatility suggest it is quite possible. Has he been drug tested? Does anyone know if he drinks alcohol and if so, how much and how often? Just wondering.

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    1. Trump does not drink alcohol at all due to losing a brother to it. So there’s no blaming that. Drugs? Who knows? He hung around with some who used, so could be. I think he’s just a case.

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  38. Great article!
    As an Aussie/British US resident, seeing the fallout of Trump’s Presidency has been quite astonishing and disheartening.
    I actually get why people voted for him as I get why Brexit scraped past the finishing post. When large parts of the population feel that there’s a closed, elitist, snobby, removed bunch of intellectuals hanging out together using terms they can’t understand about policies they don’t understand, they’ll pick someone big, “brash and charismatic ” they can relate to.
    You have to remember that in the US Money and Image is god. To millions of Americans, Trump speaks in words and sound bites they can understand. Most of what has been written above would be just the sort of language and intellectualising that would make them run back to ‘Trump-isms’ to condemn. That tells them that, no, they are not stupid for not understanding what you’re on about, because that billionaire of the Telly with hotels and golf courses has done waaaaay more than any brainy bastard AND, he’s on their side!

    The Democrats (& political elite) just became a little too slick, clubby and Nespresso-drinking über cool for the Average Joe to relate to.
    There’s a lesson to be learned here: for every Times reader, there are ten tabloid readers struggling with big words and concepts through no fault of their own.
    Bad analogy: Trump’s ‘Don’t believe the Fake news – just read my Tweets’ stance reminds me of that quote from Orwell’s “1984” :
    “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

    George Orwell “1984”

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  39. Your job is to increase the tension? Do you not think that having a POTUS with severe issues would be a threat to national security? Sounds to me like you didn’t learn as much in those other countries as you thought.

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    2. I think the point is that a controlled explosion now is preferable to a sudden collapse at a critical moment, and honestly, I agree. Think of it as emotional bomb disposal.

      Liked by 1 person

  40. I can’t get the image out of my mind of Trump stalking the empty corridors of the White House in the middle of the night, obsessively muttering and fuming to himself over some (increasingly) real or imagined slight that can only be defeated by being bludgeoned to death by tweet. “Ha, that’ll show ’em!”, he shouts in glee when he comes up with some particularly pithy repartee that he can inflict on his victim, like calling them a loser or failure. Only noone is listening. Not even his wife and children. He is alone.
    BTW, you don’t really think she’s living in NYC just because of Bannon? After all, has noone else in the Trump administration, such as his daughter Ivanka, moved to D.C.? I suspect Melania may be enjoying the opportunity to spend her days without having to stroke his massive, damaged ego.

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  42. It is good to read some reasoned debate…as difficult as it is to remain rational in light of Trump’s appointment. Democracy has some down sides and this is an instance where the outcome is scary. I plan not to watch too closely from Australia as reading the details is pretty depressing. Please Americans be sure this unsuitable canditate is ousted at the first opportunity……but it must be done within the law…. (not that I haven’t hoped at times that some incensed radical might take drastic measures or the intelligence agencies might act as they have been rumored to do)
    Reason must solve this. 8Please intelligent and moderate thinkers …. thing if something, soon.C

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  43. Piss-poor attendance during the inauguration? Yes, another example of the dishonest media. Anyways, it sounds like the author of the blog post is about to have a breakdown. Lot’s of cognitive dissonance in this piece.

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  44. I HATE Twitter but I religiously tell Trump how vain, shallow, incompetent, limp dicked, and generally stupid he is…because he HEARS it. HE needs to. I’m a woman and I know guys like him. I point out that the reason he has to “grab” them is because they’d never let him know them or be intimate with him if they saw him coming. When people were twittering about his “Golden Showers” I pointed out that he doesn’t want them to pee on him. He NEEDS to pee on them, to belittle others to make them small enough to be “Littler” than he sees himself. He has to bother women because he has to demean EVERYONE and ANYONE who “might” be “better” than he is. I break this up in to tweets and “remind” him daily. He will crack and it will be soon. Then we’ll hold to account the party who inflicted him on the people. Wipe them off the earth if we can and hope that they’re damaged beyond repair for their desire to hurt the USA and its people and democracy. We will prevail, it is a matter of time and intention.

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  45. I’m delighted to have found this post. I really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading more. Keep up the good work!
    Cheers, A.

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  47. I have stumbled tonight on this blog for the first time via some Facebook sharing. I have highly appreciated your beautiful description of your maturing, the contrast with Trump’s childlike mind, and your prediction for a Trump-snap during his presidency.

    Unfortunately, I am afraid it is wishful thinking, as it basically implies a sort of divine justice in the goings of our world, which I am not sure exists.

    If ever there will be a reckoning in Trump’s mind will probably be in his deathbed, where, for all we know, he might snap and ask for forgiveness, or say something like “Rosebud”, or try to grub one last pussy.

    Being born and raised in Italy, I have the sad advantage of having experienced first-hand the political ascent and the following dysfunctional governments of Berlusconi, the most similar politician to Trump the world has known so far. I feel therefore the impulse to offer you some advises and give you some predictions.

    First thing: Berlusconi, now over 80 years old and no more a Prime Minister, is still one of the most powerful men in Italy. As far as we know, he has never publicly snapped. What ended his career was in the end his insane desire for women’s sex (the famous bunga-bunga parties) that was more and more enabled by his growing political power.

    It is very safe to assume that in the next four years we will have a lot of talks, rumors and innuendos about sex scandals, we already had some hints on the Russian dossiers, until Trump’s sex life will become a national obsession, that there will be endless debates about conflict of interests, that nothing will be done, because party-politics will prevail on any other consideration, and that, on the contrary, Trump and his friends will get astronomically rich in the process. He will in fact soon just pretend to govern, he will focus on his business, and the GOP will happily cover for him.
    The country very probably won’t fare very well, but hopefully there will be no apocalypse. The positive effect is that Americans will become a little bit more like the Portuguese (or Italians). This in the long run will be very good for the world.

    It is in fact the confidence of the average American citizen in its own system, righteousness and might that will in affect snap little by little. Not Trump’s mind.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi! Sorry I didn’t approve your comment sooner but it’s been a busy day. I appreciate your remarks. There’s been a lot of commentary here anout rhe similarities between the two. I rhink two key differences in that Berlusconi was already a very wily operator before he entered politics – he didn’t do it on a whim. Also, I think that although he’s extremely corrupt and venal he’s very compis mentis , even in what shoulf be his senility. His interest has always been to promote his own busienss interests. I really don’t think Trump is anywhere near as cunning or as energetic as Berlusconi. I know given that you’ve suffered the traumas of his siccessive governments you’ll feel very differently, and I respct that.

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  48. Thank you Richard! Whatever happens – don’t ease the tension, folks.
    Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security – “Oh, he is going to crash!”
    #trumpwithalittlet is dangerous, psychotic, and greedy. He is hell bent on flogging off USA assets (natural and otherwise) and on gaining the highest profits for himself and his corporate cronies in the process. Who stands to gain from building the Mexico wall? American corporates who win the tenders (if there are any). Who stands to gain from Flint, DAPL, Keystone, and releasing conservation lands for sale and mining? Corporates. Certainly not US citizens. trump is actively engaged in a myopic unsustainable-development path that will crash and burn long term efforts by sustainability practitioners and policy-makers.

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  49. The psychoanalytic take on Trump foregrounds something I hadn’t thought of before now. The Trump story is really the story of ‘end of empire’. It fits within an archetypal historical narrative about madness and the cult of personality. You see that story in the literature and historical literature on Athenian democracy and the stories of the descent of the Roman Empire. Placing it in this broader narrative makes it much more worrying for America as-a-whole and the world. It suggests the US may have reached a tipping point, which Gore Vidal predicted years before his death, and that the US is beginning to undergo a radical status replacement in the world order.

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  50. How exquisite is this piece you have written. You have clearly travelled the depths of your own psyche to have such insight. There is a film I have watched many, many times called the Fisher King, starring the late Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. This film told the story of two men whose lives were impacted by a terrible tragedy, along with others, whose lives were also impacted along the way, as they faced up to and healed from the tragedy. It is the hero’s journey, they were both required to take, which is the guts of the story. It is the Jeff Bridges character, the charismatic but shallow, egotistic radio star, Jack, who, before his ‘ego death’, reminds me so much of Donald Trump. I had a dream once, where I was apparently asking for wisdom and enlightenment. During this dream a voice spoke to me, and said, ‘first you must walk the path’. I was aghast, I knew what walking the path meant, no quick and easy instant enlightenment, but the hard slog of dealing with life and suffering as a fragile human being. My delusions of escaping the trials of the human experience, were snuffed out. In a time of deep grief, my husband said, there is no escaping your vulnerability. This is the great truth all people have to face, no matter how rich, how powerful or successful, we cannot escape our vulnerability, and Donald Trump, like all the rest of us is vulnerable, even if at this point he does not have this insight. I hope Donald Trump finds some enlightenment, as a result of all the feedback he is getting, before he acts out of his fears and insecurities, because I fear if he doesn’t, he may bring great suffering to many. Unfortunately I suspect the odds are against him growing out of this situation, because insight can only be shared, not imparted.

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    1. Wow. I’ve been amazed by the thoughtful and heartfelt responses that I’ve received, but this one really stands out. I’m going to watch the Fisher KIng first chance I get, I’d never got round to it before. The whole thing reminds me of a short story by Raymond Carver written from the perspective of a postman, I’ll track it down for you. Thanks again!

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      1. Thank you, the piece you mentioned is so powerful, made the hairs on my neck stand up. There are stories written about Carl Jung feeling a very dark energy emerging in Europe, shortly before the second world war, and the Nazi uprising in Germany, he wrote about what he felt and foresaw,very eerie, he tried to warn people about what was coming, and it reminds me somewhat of what is happening now, scary. I found this link which speaks about Wounded Masculinity Parsifal and The Fisher King Wound, which again seems a good fit for Donald Trump. http://howellgroup.org/parsifal.html

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