EDITORIAL – THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP’S MENTAL CONDITION

 

A big mistake made by many Americans is to treat Donald Trump as a “normal” and “legitimate” politician – the same way one would treat any other major Party politician.  However Trump is neither “normal” nor “legitimate”.

 

Those who say he is “not ideological” are correct.  He has no political philosophy, beliefs, or convictions, as a “normal” and “legitimate” politician would.  His one and only belief and conviction is “Trump is great and Trump is good”.

 

We must be constantly reminded why Donald J. Trump is the only elected President who is truly unfit to serve.

 

The main reason is the fact that he suffers acutely from a mental disability known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

 

According to the Mayo Clinic –

 

“Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultra confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that's vulnerable to the slightest criticism.

 

A narcissistic personality disorder causes problems in many areas of life, such as relationships, work, school or financial affairs. You may be generally unhappy and disappointed when you're not given the special favors or admiration you believe you deserve. Others may not enjoy being around you, and you may find your relationships unfulfilling.

 

Narcissistic personality disorder is one of several types of personality disorders. Personality disorders are conditions in which people have traits that cause them to feel and behave in socially distressing ways, limiting their ability to function in relationships and other areas of their life, such as work or school.

 

If you have narcissistic personality disorder, you may come across as conceited, boastful or pretentious. You often monopolize conversations. You may belittle or look down on people you perceive as inferior. You may feel a sense of entitlement — and when you don't receive special treatment, you may become impatient or angry. You may insist on having "the best" of everything — for instance, the best car, athletic club or medical care.

 

At the same time, you have trouble handling anything that may be perceived as criticism. You may have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability and humiliation. To feel better, you may react with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make yourself appear superior. Or you may feel depressed and moody because you fall short of perfection.

 

Many experts use the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, to diagnose mental conditions. This manual is also used by insurance companies to reimburse for treatment.

 

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

 

Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence, it's not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value yourself more than you value others.”

 

This mental disorder makes Trump incapable of intelligent and rational action, and incapable of dealing with criticism and challenges like a mature adult.

 

It is also possible that Trump is a sociopath. 

 

Again, according to the Mayo Clinic -

 

“Antisocial personality disorder, sometimes called sociopathy, is a mental condition in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others. People with antisocial personality disorder tend to antagonize, manipulate or treat others harshly or with callous indifference. They show no guilt or remorse for their behavior.”

 

Among the symptoms of this disorder include -

 

• Persistent lying or deceit to exploit others.

• Being callous, cynical and disrespectful of others.

• Arrogance, a sense of superiority and being extremely opinionated.

• Lack of empathy for others and lack of remorse about harming others.

• Failure to consider the negative consequences of behavior or learn from them.
 

If you ask me this describes Trump to a “T”.

 

Robert D Flach

 

 

FYI

 

As of this writing it appears that Hillary Clinton has at least 2.2 Million more actual votes than Trump (estimated to probably end up at 2.5 Million).  When you add the about 5.8 Million votes for Gary Johnson and Jill Stein that means 8 Million more Americans voted intelligently and rationally (i.e. against Trump) in the election than those who did neither. 

 

More proof that America has been once again royally screwed by the Electoral College system.

 

THE LIBERTY BUZZ online digest

 

* Joshua Foust (precociously cranky, never bitter) says it best – “This Is Not Normal”.

 

“About the nicest thing you can say about President Trump’s incoming administration is that it is without precedent. But there is another way of looking at it: it is not normal.”

 

* Trump’s victory continues to embolden and encourage bigots - “Hate incidents spreading in wake of Trump win”

 

“. . .a Muslim-American high school teacher in central Georgia received a handwritten letter regarding her hijab.

 

‘Your headscarf isn’t allowed anymore,’ read the anonymous note. ‘Why don’t you tie it around your neck and hang yourself with it.’

 

On Saturday night, a church offering Spanish-language services in Silver Spring, Md., was vandalized with the message, ‘Trump nation. Whites only.’

 

And over the weekend, several college students at the New School in New York City awoke to find swastikas scrawled on their dorm-room doors.

 

These are just a few of the incidents of hate speech, harassment and intimidation that have been reported in the wake of last week’s presidential election. As of Friday evening {November 11}, the Southern Poverty Law Center had counted 201 hate incidents in the first three days after the election, citing local news stories, social media posts and submissions through the SPLC’s website. By Monday, that number had more than doubled, to 437.

 

‘We feel strongly that this outburst of hate crimes is directly related to Donald Trump’s victory,’ Mark Potok, SPLC senior fellow, told Yahoo News, noting that ‘a very large proportion’ of these cases included direct references to Donald Trump, his campaign or the presidential election.”

 

That item was a week ago.  I expect the number of incidents has grown since then.

 

* Ed Kilgore of NEW YORK MAGAZINE says “Trump Is Shaping Up As a Nightmare for Labor”.

 

* Trump must truly sell off all his business holdings, so that he does not benefit in any way from profits earned during his hopefully short tenure, and place the proceeds in a blind trust. Turning the businesses over to his kids is NOT AN ACCEPTABLE OPTION!

 

David J. Herzig talks about “Trump’s Emolument Tax Problem“ at THE SURLEY SUBGROUP  While not a real 1040 tax issue, it is truly an important one in the context of the current horror in the US (highlights are mine) -

 

“When a businessperson who runs many active businesses runs and wins for President, clearly there would be many second order problems associated with inherent conflicts between running corporations and the country. When President-elect Trump won the office, many of these conflicts have bubbled to the surface.

 

For example, to avoid a conflict of interest between benefiting one’s personal holdings and the Country’s best interests, assets of the President are placed in a blind trust. As many have pointed out, this works only when the President does not know the nature of the holdings. Putting existing businesses into a blind trust does not stop the President for knowing the underlying assets of the trust. The conflict is not ameliorated by trust structure. Nor, by the way, would it be fixed if President elect Trump divests but the family continues to own the assets.”

 

* Some wise words in “Stephen Colbert and John Oliver Talk Trump, Fake News, and Terrible Stand-Up Gigs”, also at YAHOO NEWS –

 

From John Oliver:

 

“The danger of saying, ‘Just live your lives, the sun still comes out tomorrow’ is that it’s true for some people, and it’s very easy to forget that it’s not true for others. Not everyone is going to be okay, and it’s incumbent upon everyone to remember that. You have to keep remembering that this is an abnormal version of what we’ve been through before.”

 

And from Steven Colbert:

 

“I’m all for ‘Give him a chance,’ but don’t give him an inch. Because I remember everything he said [during the campaign], and it’s horrifying.” But Colbert wasn’t all doom and gloom: he also offered a three-step prescription for how to handle the next four years. “Vote on the local level, get involved in local organization and get to know your neighbors. There are reasons to get together that have nothing to do with politics. There have to be things that we do that are not competitions, and politics are jockeying for power. So get involved in your local community in significant ways that helps you meet your neighbors.”