Exclusive: In many ways, President Trump is a classic case of the paranoid with enemies, except he also is the narcissist who rejects any criticism and lacks the discipline to disarm an array of haters, writes David Marks.
By David Marks
If for a moment we step away from the dynamic of political forces at play in Washington and consider the strange psyche of the President, we see that Donald Trump is emerging as the chief architect of his own demise.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump pose for a photo with religious clerics, May 22, 2017, inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
Whether there is any truth to the allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election or collusion with his campaign, the controversy has served to highlight Trump’s limitations as a political leader in the high-stress environment of the White House.
In that sense, Trump’s troubling personal and business practices from his private life have only become more troubling – and more glaring – as he adapts them to the presidency and its immense power. It seems that he doesn’t realize that his old methods are incompatible with his new office.
Indeed, since his inauguration, Trump’s words and behavior have reflected an intensification of his dogmatic thinking and narcissistic personality. Disturbing reports from the White House shed further light on the mismatch between Trump’s way of operating and the demands of the presidency.
The President’s self-righteousness against any criticism and his unwillingness to compromise is indicative of a leader who believes he is above the law and the norms of society. But unfortunately for Trump, like every President of the United States, he is under scrutiny at all times. In Trump’s case, however, he lacks the seasoned advisers who can restrain him. Instead, his arrogance is supported by his staff and congressional allies. His confidants seem incapable of contradicting his perspective.
No one seems to be able to stop him from blurting out damaging comments, often in early morning Tweets; so he repeatedly has contradicted White House statements designed to support his position. His reactions to damaging news reports are reminiscent of his campaign, often managing to be both self-serving and self-destructive.
In his most vulnerable moment last year, Trump defended himself after a recording was released revealing his crude approach to seducing women. His explanation of words that included “grab them by the pussy,” gives insight into more than his misogyny. He asked that we forgive his comment with the explanation, “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago.” At the time of his comments in 2005, Trump was 59.
Trump, now 70, wants us to trust that he’s changed since uttering those words, although the opposite appears to be true. Now as President, Trump’s use of unrepentant excuses for his words and behavior is expanding concurrently with his narcissism.
Blurting Out ‘Israel’
Trump recently discovered that as president, he can declassify almost anything on a whim. At a White House meeting, he shared sensitive intelligence about ISIS with the Russian Foreign Minister and the Russian Ambassador. After press reports complained that Trump provided enough detail so the Russians would know that the likely source of the intelligence was Israel, Trump essentially confirmed the speculation by volunteering during a trip to Israel that “Folks, folks, just so you understand, just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name Israel during that conversation.”
President Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on May 22, 2017. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)
Trump’s inability to understand the weight that a presidential remark can have – when compared to, say, a businessman making some off-hand comment to colleagues on a golf course – was further revealed in his apparent attempt to dissuade FBI Director James Comey, from investigating former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
Comey reportedly recounted Trump’s words in a memo to the file — “I hope you can let this go” — but Trump, although not confirming the precise language, insisted that it was entirely appropriate to make that sort of general suggestion. Trump didn’t understand how his comment could be construed as an attempt to influence the FBI director in his official duties.
Trump would like us to once again be assured that this is the kind of talk that men have when they are alone. Before Trump made the reported suggestion to Comey, the President had dismissed everyone else from the room, so in his view it was a private encounter. But the impression of impropriety was reinforced when Trump fired Comey, judging him not a team player but rather “a showboat” and “a grandstander.”
In the four months since his inauguration, Trump has shown that he hasn’t absorbed the gravity of the office that he holds. He still acts like a freelancing businessman or a privileged celebrity, skating toward and sometimes beyond the edge of acceptable behavior.
As the controversies around him grow, he may soon learn that his ability to twist arms, negotiate questionable deals or use his position to protect friends is limited by the laws and the Constitution. When that happens, he is likely to get angrier and look to his attorneys to find ways out of his predicaments, much as he would when — as a businessman — he exploited bankruptcy statutes to extricate himself from dangers due to financial over-extension.
Paranoid with Enemies
It’s also undeniably true that Trump has political enemies who are looking for his most vulnerable actions in order to weaken or destroy him. He is the classic case of a paranoid with enemies, but he is making it easy for them by repeatedly falling into whatever trap gets set.
President Donald Trump touches lighted globe with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi King Salman and Donald Trump at the opening of Saudi Arabia’s Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology on May 21, 2017. (Photo from Saudi TV)
If self-pity is what a narcissist feels when criticized, Trump proves the point. He paints himself as a victim of historic dimensions. During the presidential campaign, Trump claimed at a rally he was “a victim of one of the great political smear campaigns in the history of our country” – apparently not aware that the United States has a long and dispiriting history of political smear campaigns dating back to the Founding era.
In his Coast Guard Academy commencement address, Trump felt even sorrier for himself declaring that “No politician in history – and I say this with great surety – has been treated worse or more unfairly.” It’s hard to believe that Trump would be unaware that four U.S. Presidents have been assassinated, including Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, not to mention many foreign political leaders who have met very grisly fates.
There’s also the likelihood that we only know a small fraction of Trump’s bizarre behavior in office and the resulting White House dysfunction. Presumably, if this pattern continues and his staff disintegrates, there will only be more revelations about how the President continues to contribute to his own crises.
Trump’s worsening troubles will also likely lead him to tighten the circle of trusted advisers, some of whom – such as his son-in-law Jared Kushner – are already finding themselves in legal jeopardy which, in turn, is forcing them to “lawyer up” and listen to advice on how to save themselves.
While it’s true that much of Official Washington was always gunning for Trump because his bizarre behavior and his jumble of policies were seen as a threat to the way things are done, it’s also true that Trump was his own worst enemy. He never demonstrated any grace toward his opponents; he resisted reaching out beyond his enthusiastic base; he picked silly and unnecessary fights such as claiming falsely that his inaugural crowd was bigger than President Obama’s; he squandered the crucial first days in office with an ill-conceived anti-Muslim immigration ban and other acts that were offensive to millions of Americans.
Now, just four months into his presidency, Trump is behaving like a wounded animal and it is unnerving to leaders around the world what he might do if the vague allegations against him and his inner circle harden into criminal indictments and articles of impeachment.
But one thing appears certain: he will not go quietly. However, if that moment comes, it is likely that he will have precipitated his downfall less from his erratic policies than from his egotistical personality.
David Marks is a veteran documentary filmmaker and investigative reporter. His work includes films for the BBC and PBS, including Nazi Gold, on the role of Switzerland in WWII and biographies of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Sinatra.
George Carlin was right. Don’t believe anything the government tells you. Nothing, zero. Read the newspapers. They’re trying to say trust us, not the newspapers. Roll with it and prepare for a long siege.
Thanks Sleepless…oh how we need George Carlin right now. He also said “It’s a big club…and you ain’t in it.”
Good Write up.
Honestly, I think that in fifty years or so, Donald Trump’s story would make a fantastic film- on level of The Aviator or Citizen Kane.
I mean- here’s a guy who has such a low self esteem that he has demand validation for everything- he has to rise to every challenger and ‘prove’ that they are the ‘loser.’ He’s even become President, but it is never enough to quite his personal insecurities.
Saturday Night Live makes fun of every president, but we’ve never had one take so much offense to it that he has to get into public twitter wars over it.
Max, I think you have Trump mixed up with Prince Harry. Now, he loves to party and shake things up. Personally speaking of course, Witches are the bane of my existence although we do go out drinking and do other things too sometimes with multiple witches, it always turns out the same. I’m always stuck with the bill,. If not I might have considered voting for Hillary.. Experience is the real Mutha of Invention.
You should forward this to HuffPo, they would def publish.
OPERATION 8
Sunday “David Allard, an orphan, returns to his hometown of Ashbury from boarding school to discover that his relatives-cum-guardians have nothing arranged for his summer and he will have to endure their mistreatment for his entire holiday.
While walking in the garden, in a fit of frustration he makes up words to use as a curse. David’s words seem to cause the garden wall to crumble, and to release a boy a year or so older than himself with flame-red hair, who identifies himself as Luke. Happy to have made a new friend, David notices Luke’s odd references to being released from his “chains” and “bowls of venom”. The two hastily repair the wall, and David notices that Luke’s touch seems to burn the bushes growing beside the wall. Luke says ruefully that he “can’t bring the dead back to life.” Luke also tells David that simply kindling a flame will summon him.”
Eight Days of Luke
A little project for the kids. Trump is working on new curse words and his wall. We have other things brewing. Support your local witches. They’re on an endless flight. We can’t bring them back, we can send them off. Roll with it.
You are watching too many B movies Max. They are getting in your head, and distracting you from reality. What we are dealing with here is real, and very serious, very deadly. If your flights of fancy turn up some useful insights or ideas for moving beyond the real nightmare we are living, please share them with us. Otherwise your possibly creative daydreaming will only serve to distract us from real answers to our real problems.
Great points, LJ, and you are right that the nation is under an internal threat, not external.
Jessica K – and the Deep State are making sure that no outsider ever applies for the job again. If they do, they will be crucified, their ability to govern severely hampered. Only insiders need apply.
Vote them all out.
Donald Trump is only sort-of an outsider.
He’s a special interest, and has contributed to lobbying efforts his whole life.
Trump is not behaving differently. The attacks have sharpened and he is sharpening his response. The fact is he hasn’t done anything to be impeached . Nothing whatsoever and there will never be any evidence presented that he has,. Yet the news is now saying that polling is increasingly supportive of impeachment. Were you asked ? This writer is disseminating the Deep State line. Is this because it pays to spout this line or is he tailoring his critique to please some benefactor? What does this writer believe in? There is no doubt that BIG BROTHER is out to get Trump. This is obvious. Big Brother is and has been watching Trump since the last Administration , before the last election. Trump had as yet not done anything.illegal . He is guilty of having the audacity to run for Office . If he had done anything , you would know it. . Do not forget that Big Brother is also watching you. An extra constitutional coup of the unorthodox Trump on extra legal grounds does not help WE THE PEOPLE. It helps Big Brother. Now just who is Big Brother? Do you think Big Brother is acting to protect your interests or this nation at large. Big Brother cares about Big Brother and the .001 %. This nation is under no external threat from anything or anybody. It is under an internal threat. This threat is not from Trump. He is already a one and done President who cannot muster the backing of his own Party in the Congress and Senate even though this is cutting their own throats. What is the compelling reason to exorcise the ineffectual Trump demon? Who would it benefit? You? This nation? Make he laugh. The Intelligence apparatus in conjunction with the Corporate Media Owners are the enemy, Not Trump. They are Big Brother. Let’s just erase the past. We don’t need a Constitution or Rule of Law and Trump wasn’t really elected. They are correcting a mistake that happened because of foreign subversion of our election so it is OK….. CORRECT? Ignorance is Strength. War is Peace. Gear up for Hate Week. Iran’s turn is next whether Trump stays or goes.
LJ – great comments. “He is already a one and done President who cannot muster the backing of his own Party in the Congress and Senate even though this is cutting their own throats.” Congress and Senate are both bought off. Their allegiance is to the multinational corporations, the arms dealers, banks, globalization, the intelligence community, and Israel.
Every single one of them should be voted out! Every single one! Don’t leave one man standing.
Stiv, you should read “Death of the Republic” by Chris Hedges on Truthdig. Trump is the US empire’s equivalent of the Roman empire’s outrageous emperor, Commodus, who was assassinated by the Praetorian Guards in 192 AD. The article is usual hard-hitting Hedges and excellent. He says Commodus’ assassination “did not halt the growing chaos and precipitous decline of the Roman Empire”.
Damn right he’s got “haters”. Count me in. When I saw the video cut of him “making his way” to the front of the NATO photo op, and doing his little “Mussolini pose”, I couldn’t help but long to see him strung up by the feet…like his predecessor in the fascist milieu.
No mercy.
Stiv – you really should read some history.
“After press reports complained that Trump provided enough detail so the Russians would know that the likely source of the intelligence was Israel, Trump essentially confirmed the speculation by volunteering during a trip to Israel that “Folks, folks, just so you understand, just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name Israel during that conversation”.
Did you consider that maybe Trump made his remarks about Israel on purpose? Maybe he wanted to bring that two-bit country down a notch. And it’s not as if the Russians wouldn’t already have known, anyway.
In the recently-completed Harvard study, it was found that the media were almost always negative when reporting on Trump. I think CNN and MSNBC were at 93% negativity, and the others weren’t far behind. I think Obama was something like 40% negativity. Quite a difference.
Yeah, a witch hunt is a witch hunt!
Bullshit. And an enabler is an enabler. That’s on you. True that he get a lot of bad press. He deserves every bit of it..he generates it himself. You want the press to pansy out? I’d find that strange.
Stiv – check it out:
“Trump’s attacks on the press have been aimed at what he calls the “mainstream media.” Six of the seven U.S. outlets in our study—CBS, CNN, NBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post—are among those he’s attacked by name. All six portrayed Trump’s first 100 days in highly unfavorable terms (see Figure 6). CNN and NBC’s coverage was the most unrelenting—negative stories about Trump outpaced positive ones by 13-to-1 on the two networks. Trump’s coverage on CBS also exceeded the 90 percent mark. Trump’s coverage exceeded the 80 percent level in The New York Times (87 percent negative) and The Washington Post (83 percent negative). The Wall Street Journal came in below that level (70 percent negative), a difference largely attributable to the Journal’s more frequent and more favorable economic coverage.”
The Harvard study is not hard to find. It’s all over the Internet. 93% negative coverage of Trump by CNN and NBC; 91% negative by CBS; 86% negative by the New York Times; 83% negative by the Washington Post.
No, Stiv, I just want the press to give both sides of a story, not make stuff up. Their pansy died a long time ago.
Here’s a link for that Harvard study:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-trump-media-coverage-harvard-kass-0521-20170519-column.html
The patriotism game is a way to take over people’s highest potential for thinking. Treason as charged by the state tells the individual he/she has no individual thoughts other than what conforms to the state’s decisions as to what is acceptable.
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Samuel Johnson
While I largely agree with the assessment, I do in fact believe that Trump is also the victim of one of the greatest smear campaigns in US history.
I mean, some of the media have basically been implying that he is a foreign agent on Russia’s payroll (or being blackmailed by Russians). Is there any worse accusation for a head of state than that of being a traitor? Has any other President been treated like one?
Leonardo – “Has any other President been treated like one?” Only Kennedy. He was accused of being soft on Russia, and he ended up having to fire some members of the Intelligence community because they were working behind his back. They were calling Kennedy a traitor.
Are you sure there aren’t Russian oligarchs who have some chits out on him and they’ll be coming to collect? Are you saying he DOESN’T play a self serving game? The evidence is there to point otherwise.
Stiv – where’s the evidence?
From what’s been revealed, it looks like Russia isn’t really trying to control Trump now that he’s in office. The end game for Russia’s involvement in the election was simply to sow incompetence in US government.
The goal was to make it so that the US cannot oppose their agenda abroad (possibly subsuming or at least controlling former Soviet satellite nations).
This is something Russia has done with other nations (and Putin’s regime even did it in Russia during its brief stint as a democracy).
Character assassination is not news. It is not even political commentary. It is nothing more than childish name calling.
I’d settle for assassination. It’s the country vs. Trump. I don’t give a shit about Trump. We’ll recover from his death easily. I’ll celebrate it! Over and done! Fixing our place in the world , as it passes us by, may not be possible if he has much more time to damage us.
For a different take, on the situation concerning Trump, go over to Executive Intelligence Review, go over to its left-hand column, seek out LarouchePAC, read its lead article: “The Future Being Born Today…”
You are so right, mike, and the scowl on the Pope’s face on the recent photo with Trump, Melania, and Ivanka is priceless. He also showed the same scowl in photo with the Trudeaus, which I saw on Russia Insider. He knew they were phony photo-ops.
The real walls between us are created by the capitalist system of selfishness and greed.
Sessions has been around for some time, and there are hundreds of characters just like him, Tina, they derive from the history of slavery days. And as for the health care plan, it has been geared for business for decades. What’s your main point? And Madoff unlike Trump, spent years fleecing people through the stock market schemes that have benefited the rich for years, Trump used the same system in real estate, and you can bet he is not the only one to use bankruptcy laws to benefit himself. But Madoff knew exactly that he was fleecing people, poor comparison to Trump. The system remains corrupt, only the players change who step into it for their own gain. Your points don’t make sense, Tina. Max, you are right, the sky is falling. Many posts here right-on, we are reaping effects of a corporate capitalist system that has been foul for years. Trump is the result of that.
You are so right Jessica, that it is the system that has to change, not the individual players within it. Putting new pieces on the chessboard will avail us nothing; the game itself must be changed. One of the names for the dead end no exit game we have been playing is capitalism. This is a system that encourages a king on the mountain fight to the death mentality in all those wrapped in it’s meshes. How were we ever sold the idea that a system glorifying selfishness would result in anything but constant warfare and eventual destruction of all involved? Maybe the new Pope has his finger on a root cause of all our misery?
The Synarchy Movement for Empire (SME: a plan for the revival of The Holy Roman Empire), thinks along the same lines. They actually do have an attractive “good foot” to put forward, in their neo-feudalist conception of a well-ordered Society, where everyone has an assigned place in the societal structure, and contentment with sufficiency is encouraged, and The Noble Obligation of our “betters” for us “less endowed”, is promised to be observed. That’s the ideal anyway. Our Founders, though, long-familiar with this conception, took a dim view of it. Just sayin’.
Palpatine: Get help. You’re no match for him, he’s a Sith Lord.
Obi-Wan: [turns and smiles] Chancellor Palpatine, Sith Lords are our speciality.
Count Dooku: Your swords, please. We don’t want to make a mess of things in front of the Chancellor.
Obi-Wan: You won’t get away this time, Dooku.
Dooku: I’ve been looking forward to this.
Anakin: My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count.
Dooku: Good. Twice the pride, double the fall.
If they keep their swords they’ll just fall on them. The sky is falling. Fight like a Jedi.
These quaintly romantic fictions about warfare are part of what has gotten us into this seemingly no exit endgame. War is the real, ugly psychotic breakdown of our failed cultures. We need to deal with it as such, not play childish games in our minds about fantasy swordplay.
If the constant criticism of Trump offends some people and the critics called a halt to their anti-Trump commentaries then the field would be left to Trump supporters that include spinmeisters and other liars. If Trump supporters want an end to criticism of Trump then they should direct their complaints to Trump and his boosters to not give critics reasons for their negative comments..
Defense of a democratic republic demands vigilance
One question for all , What is the difference between Donald J Trump, and Bernie Madoff? This is not a riddle or joke. Madoff , after 30 years got caught, which makes him a loser, so far DJT did not get caught. Nice President we have here. I love winners, don’t you?
I don’t actually believe that Trump is the chief architect of his own demise. I think Hillary Clinton is that. I agree about Trump’s ego, narcissism, and lack of ability for the job, but I think this is a witch hunt (warlock?) and it is beyond ridiculous. Now, if Clinton had been elected, the GOP would be sharpening their knives for her. But she has many contacts from all her years in DC, and I suspect she’s oiling this thing from behind. The entire US government is completely dysfunctional, anyway, so we got another bad president? What democracy is this for decades? It is a mockery of democracy! And since dominance of the social media age, this has become tabloid nation. So I’m not surprised that the Trump hatefest has devolved into this, whether he participated or not. The duplicity of what we are supposed to consider leaders is beyond the pale, and disgusting.
agree. I just adore Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the Third, and of there is no Trump hate fest. There are facts. Do, if you have the inclination, look up DJT’s budget and healthcare proposals, do not go on social media, look it up for yourself. Do not listen to your legislator, look it up yourself, and then make a decision. If what your legislators align with your beliefs and values, vote it. If you have questions about those issues, call your legislators, but chances are, they will not answer. Yeah, and please study history Jessica, because Hillary Clinton is the very first person on the face of the planet to be ambitious or political. No Margaret Thatcher, she never existed,, Theresa May is a figment of our collective imagination, Golda Meir is only in history books, and last, but not least, Angela Merkel, is also not real. Are you like the age of my son, Jessica, my kid is 23, and he espouses ideas like you. because he loves life and does not know the History of anything.
Jessica K – absolutely agree. The insiders are furiously fighting the outsider, Trump.
Well said Tomk.
Are we just taking cheap shots for the ego boost it gives us to trash someone who is not present to answer us back. This would be worse than useless, it would probably be counterproductive in many ways. Let me be the first to admit that I have indulged in this negative gossip game myself, But AB has helped me to pull up and ask myself what the hell I expect to accomplish by sniping at Trump.
Do I really want to see Trump impeached by his McCarthyite witch hunters and their false demonization of Russia, setting the stage for military confrontation with the second most nuclear armed nation on Earth? No, absolutely not. That would be a small win involving a huge loss.
Is their any chance that the Donald will learn his limitations and grow up a little as a result of being in the fiery Washington crucible? I doubt it, but what else have we got? If he goes, we get Pence. That could be worse, and it certainly would be very bad and dangerous. We need a leader with the qualities that Vladimir Putin is so richly displaying. How’s that for an irony!? But we are not going to get that. We have to hope that between Putin and Xi Jinping they can keep the world from boiling over in this time of the endgame of American Empire.
I hate to say it, because in my foolishness I like to have some answer to every problem, but on this one I recommend crossing our fingers, and awaiting developments. Actually that is all we actually can do anyway, however we might like to think otherwise.
mike k–I agree!…..Amazing that Trump is as good as it gets these days…., but the cabal against him wants to continue the 1000 Billion a year war economy and they need Russia as an enemy and that is very bad news, given the equivalent of the Russian Head of the Joint Chiefs just stated they believe the USA is planning a First Strike and they are reacting accordingly…, for the few sane people who might be left who understand we are extremely close to nuclear war by accident or intention and who really don’t feel like being burned alive and vaporized….Wow….
In your above comment TomK you are right in every way you stated, but I see Trump’s downward fate as not only being as much in the hands of his attackers as you mentioned, but also as it being in the clumsy outsider hands of Donald J Trump & Company. Trump could have been Ron Paul, or a Dennis Kucinich, and still the D.C. Bureaucrats would have wanted their blood, and immediate impeachment. Trump with or without a cooperative media was going to have a hard time adjusting to the ways of Washington, but with the MSM in the pursuit mood they are in I don’t see no turning this divisiveness around. Although our media being the two faced system it is it could be possible, I’m sure, in some way to kiss and make up. It may turn out that not only was Trump not ready for our nations capital, but our nations capital wasn’t ready to accept a President Donald J Trump. The latter is more problematic than the former, as I just commented too.
Enjoyed reading your comment TomK Joe
Yeah Joe-
Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are both honorable, intelligent people who survived years in the swamp and kept their integrity. Trump has no honor, integrity, or intelligence. If he wins this war with the Deep State maybe I’ll have to eat my words; but I’ve learned to judge a man by his words and deeds, and I find the Donald very lacking.
The comparison I’m trying to point out Skip isn’t about their integrity it’s about they all being ‘outsiders’ to the D.C. Establishment.
The public aren’t ready for the likes of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich (who are intelligent, good people). The reason they’re not is because the media have smeared them too.
Those men aren’t scrappers/fighters. They would have folded if faced with what Trump has been up against (and I wouldn’t blame them for it). I think we had better consider ourselves lucky that someone like Trump is in there. He is the only person I know of who is not an insider, doesn’t want to be an insider, and he’s unveiling the corruption for everyone to see (everyone who is looking, that is).
It’s going to take a larger-than-life narcissist or another psychopath to bring the psychopaths running the asylum down. You or I would be left in a pile by the side of the road.
Joe and B.E.-
Yeah, I get that Paul and Kucinich were outsiders, and they would have been viciously attacked if they found themselves in the same position as Trump. They survived because they were merely bothersome. They never had enough power to worry about. But they also had enough intelligence to present a good argument, and would have done much better using the Bully Pulpit to defend their positions. Trump has seemed very much at sea. He gave a good inaugural speech, but it’s been zilch since then. It will take detente with Russia and a complete unmasking and emasculation of the “Deep State” to make me feel lucky that Trump is president. That big infrastructure bill he promised would be nice too.
I don’t think there is much chance of a nuclear first strike by either side. (See the article on the nuclear fuze scare on the Saker.) But the Russian nukes being pushed by the US weapons upgrade, and their close encirclement of Russia, to be set on very short response time makes accidental Armageddon more likely. Nuclear chicken games are very dangerous. These weapons are a real threat to mankind’s continued existence. We need to negotiate their elimination immediately. Russia has offered to do this. The US insists on continuing the MAD standoff. The power crazy folks in charge of our destiny cannot imagine laying down their ultimate weapons, and so are pushing us deeper into this insane game of Russian roulette…..
I never was a Trump supporter and wasn’t particularly fond of him but this is a globalist media hit job on him and the truth is it does not matter in any way how he acts — his globalist enemies are out to destroy him and if it takes lying to do it and fraud, they are good with that. There is nothing he can do to back them off because they believe they have more power than he does and that the people are stupid and will allow this silent coup to happen. To me this writer loses all credibility when he gives any credence to the “Russia collusion” lie as he does, and that is what it is a lie. In 2015 Podesta’s emails show he came up with the lie because Trump, in a sign of sanity, wanted peace with Russia — thus Podesta saw a great weakness to attack as documented in his email, that the phony lying media ignores along with the rest of the corruption that was exposed in that leak…. after the leak we see a phony “investigation” ordered by the DNC by Crowdstrike that came up with the “trail” to Russia that we now know any hacker could have done, much less the CIA…, and then Obama and his “intelligence” cronies got into action and put us where we are today with this lie, Comey adopting it and not having a proper investigation by FBI experts of the server for obvious reasons–they would have debunked the findings of Crowdstrike as true experts would. Clapper has now admitted that the “17 Intelligence Agencies agree….” line pushed in the corporate media ad nauseum to shut up those who called a lie on this was just that — a lie. Clapper, Brennan and Comey “handpicked”, according to Clapper, the “intelligence” hacks who rubber stamped the Crowdstrike farce of a biased “investigation” — that every independent expert has said is a joke. Those running Washington want a Cold War with Russia and Trump having indicated that he may not be down with that plan is in their targets….the fact that they are using something that is such a clear lie to go after him shows the lack of material against him that they actually do have given all the claims as to what a terrible person he is as we see made again in this article, clearly if Comey had anything on Trump unlike with Hillary Clinton there would be no breaks being cut but he had nothing and all he could do is string out the phony investigation hoping to cause something ala Flynn….As Newt Gingrich pointed out when this was starting in an incredible true statement on what runs “our” government, Trump is NOT in “the club” — he did not attend the Bohemian Grove events with the PTB yearly, paying homage to a burning owl/satanic god as so many of our “elite” do yearly, and he was definitely not picked and groomed for the office as Obama etc. were, he did not sit on the CFR or Trilateral Commission and he is not on the team that runs the show….So regardless if he tweets, doesn’t tweet, tries to make nice or not, they are not going to stop until they run him out of town and since they have the corporate globalist propaganda media 24/7 against him they have what they believe is a winning and invincible hand– they know with that kind of propaganda machine supporting them, I mean the hatred against him is really beyond belief truly out of “1984” in nature, along with “intelligence” assets conniving along with them… that the chance of him beating them is highly unlikely even if he somehow took the election they thought they had the fix-in for Clinton….They took JFK out and they took Nixon out and Carter made enough enemies with the “Halloween Massacre” that he was taken out too….so their scorecard is impressive….If they cause a nuclear war with Russia along the way they don’t seem to be too concerned….
I agree with your comment. And armchair psychologists are trite.
We need not merely a “threat” to “the way things are done”, we need an actual alternative to the way things are done.
When destroying the lives of millions becomes at least if not more “offensive to millions of Americans” than an immigration ban, we might be headed toward progress.
Great summation! Thanks!
I agree, good response to a tightly slanted piece of political writing
Tomk – bang on! Thank you for the intelligence.
Excellent commentary. This is my view, exactly. Thanks for a reality check here among many comments that come from apparently MSM readers, unfortunately. Trump has it more right than most all of congress, all the security agencies (all 17 of them), and all of Obama’s & Dubya’s genocidal maniacs.
Easy everyone….reject the binary logic we all have been lulled into…you are either left or right, for Trump OR for the establishment. We can and should condemn Trump (although he is just a symptom), AND condemn what the establishment is doing to him. I don’t know about you but I wish they all could lose…then we all might win. Reject the either/or arguements…its all a shit sandwich that we are all choking on. The bipolarity serves to preserve the status quo as the masses are always equally divided pushing against each other in an unmoving mosh pit… while the elites are crowd surfing!
glad to see some reason in the above replies.
programming the masses is a hard job but somebody’s gotta do it. if it weren’t for the fact that the above article were a talking point that is being hammered to death everywhere i look, i might take some of it seriously.
but the truth is, that it IS a talking point.
i caught an interview with steve patchenik speaking about the “10,000” psychiatrists who gave a press release about trumps mental health. he is at least trained as a psychiatrist and had some sobering thoughts regarding this meme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFDR6MndlAM
hate trump all you want. at least do it for actual reasons(and there are legitimate reasons) and not a media induced perception.
“..if it weren’t for the fact that the above article were a talking point that is being hammered to death everywhere i look, i might take some of it seriously.” It was clear from the title what the article was about, so if you thought it was over done….why read on? Also, I don’t believe anyone of us has any perception about world affairs that is NOT in someway media induced.
I don’t hate Trump, don’t even know him, although I will say I don’t like sex offenders. I do believe it is important to view his actions through the lense of narcissism and impulsiviity because you would have no way of understanding why he does and says the things he does without this viewpoint. Like how bout the impulsive missle launch on Syria after the so called “sarin gas attack,” while boasting about it to the Chinese president over chocolate cake?! How do you explain any of that without talking about his mental defects? Comment after comment seems to think this is a worn out point, but the author is tying recent behaviors to this instability. This isn’t just taking cheap shots. This is the POTUS showing a complete ineptitude for the job he is in. And everything he does will have to explained with an awareness of his mental instability, if it is to be truly understood. And yes I say this as a mental health professional. Look I am as hopeful as the next progressive that he will win the war with the intelligence agencies and the MSM mafia and achieve detente with Russia. But has anyone really thought about why Trump does want detente? I have no crystal ball, but who here believes that Trump is some statesman that truly wants to put “America First.,” and scaleback on war. I mean it is much more likely that his business ties with Russia are a factor…otherwise why would he make life so hard on himself by going against the Washington group think? I mean the MSM isn’t wrong about everything. If anything he should be impeached for his conflicts of interest. But they won’t go that route because they all have such conflicts. Let me be clear, I completely agree with many here that Russia-gate is a lie (however if Trump and Russia are responsible for exposing the truth about the DNC…they should be honored for it). I just see alot of people getting baffled about this guy and because we all are fed up with the status quo we need to come to this guy’s defense??
Whatever virtue or redeemable quality you think he is going to govern with…just wait a week and he will completely disappoint you. For instance, he was going to at least stear us away from a cold war with Russia, but we are escalating tensions with nuclear N. Korea. He was just boasting to a world leader about how he has nuclear subs aimed at N. Korea. Also does anyone really think it is beyond comprehension that he will drop a nuke on the Middle East after the MOAB.
And if the nukes don’t get us, global warming will because he wants to pull out of the Paris agreements, not to mention all the deregulation by dismantling/defunding of all of our regulatory agencies.
Here is the cruel irony to it all… the DNC want’s so desperately to impeach this guy and they put him there by not waking from their thick hubris and allowing Bernie Sanders a fair shake (although it is easy to see why). So he is where I am…I don’t care who you are, if there is an R or D by your name…you will bring the same bullshit that is destroying the planet. Also, no one president can do shit about the mess we are in…we need a mass awakening. Let’s hope we don’t get Martial Law before it happens. Excuse all the passion. :)
It is not only Trump:
“The United States of insanity: Trump’s America may seem like a cruel new psychology experiment but US society has been sick for quite some time” by Belen Fernandez –
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/05/united-states-insanity-170522104610470.html
Thanks Bill. Belen is often right on track with her assessments, and certainly gives us food for thought.
Her earlier book “Coffee with Hezbollah” is a great read!!
Back around forty years ago when I first saw Donald Trump appear on the boob tube, I then thought him a media invention to fill some aire time with the ‘who cares’ crowd watching. Trump made it all the way to the White House with that made for television media character, but suddenly it’s what’s wrong with my act? Why they all picking on me? Americans should watch less tv? I don’t know, but now Trump is swinging in a world much different from any other world he knew, and it shows. The other problem is, that the right advisors to be found are dwelling in the swamp Trump is attempting to drain. Anyway you look at it Trump with this rabid media is now, and into his immediate future going to continue to have a rough time. Will he survive? You tell me.
The media and the public stoke the fire. How many more articles analyzing the narcissism of Trump need to be written? How much more clickbait announcing Narcissistic President Trump!? Discussing his narcissism is crack cocaine for the public. The echo chambers are relentless. If you would go behind the scenes of NPD you would find there are clear cut ways to diminish the rages and impulse behavior of narcissists so the victims can strategize. 1. Make him feel good. 2. Do this by making him look good. 3. Manipulate him to do this. 4. How? Get someone like Elon Musk back again with photo ops about factories in the US, savings with solar, benefit to the population – whatever is truthful and good. Yes, you do want a win-win. If you get this, he will slow down on the rages and just tell us how great he is keeping Tesla and battery factories in the US. He will be less dangerous. The analysis enrages him, SNL and other comedians are disastrous moves which make the situation worse and the end result is more crap from him, and then the media and then the public. I’m bored with both and others surely must be. If people calmed him down by stopping the continuous needling months ago they would understand the role of the Mercers and gone down that path instead of making him the butt of increasingly boring and hostile comments, comics and articles. Facebook probably has done more to help keep the populace poking at him than anyone knows. It is the largest echo chamber we have which has proven itself less than helpful. This is a disaster. Hillary didn’t listen when told she needed to talk to average people – and no one is listening now to solutions now.
While I see little cause to defend Trump, and the article restates some potentially valid criticism, this denunciation using the pseudo-scientific mythology of personality theories is witch hunting.
It is significant that personality theories are never used to help anyone, but only to make denunciations. There is no more scientific basis for personality theories than for religions, and so statements in such terms should not be credited; they merely show a desire to create a false denunciation, which is reprehensible.
Trump cannot be “the classic case of a paranoid with enemies” when the author admits that he has “enemies who are looking … to … destroy him.” The author cannot suggest that Trump is buried in the “self-pity” of “a narcissist” in claiming to be “a victim of one of the great political smear campaigns in the history of our country” when he is smearing the victim himself as part of what all can see is such a smear campaign.
A smear campaign that seeks or is likely to install someone worse is furthermore deceptive or foolish.
Despite the continuous chaos in the White House, it could have been worse if the Queen of Chaos had ascended to her self-anointed throne in the Oval Office. We might have been on a path to one or more wars and the ramming through of neoliberal programs that the GOP would have been willing to show bipartisanship for.
Right.
We are in the horrible position of having no good alternatives at this point. We can thank the DNC and their Deep State underpinnings for the mess we’re in. The public saw right through Hillary (with a little help from wikileaks), so when the DNC plotted against Bernie, they set us up for the Donald. I don’t know if we can survive four years of His Royal Orangeness, but we sure as hell couldn’t have survived four years of the Queen of Chaos. It is incredibly hard for me to root for Trump, but if he somehow wins the war with the Deep State and has a meaningful detente with Russia, at least we get to live for a little while longer. While there’s life there’s hope.
We are in the horrible position of having no good alternatives at this point. We can thank the DNC and their Deep State underpinnings for the mess we’re in.
Skip: Let’s not let the American people off the hook. They must share some of the blame for decades and generations of saying the lesser evil is good enough for them while the lesser evils became progressively worse. Another version includes the voters who vote for a crook because he/she is their crook. Those are factors that led to the abysmal predicament of choosing between Clinton and Trump.
I’m not really letting them off the hook, except maybe to excuse them for their ignorance. Most people are way too busy trying to make a living to be informed. They rely on TV news, and they feel powerless. And television has also helped create a population of passive consumers.
I suppose we all could do more. Our taxes fund the war machine, and I suppose we could camp out in front of the White House by the millions and demand real change. The Occupy Movement was a start, but of course it fizzled. I’m hopeful for something like that to come back and stick before 2020’s election, if we live that long.
The Deep State is really just a conspiracy theory.
People do conspire- but we’re talking about giving credit where credit is not due. For example, Bush’s administration is often credited with bombing the Wold Trade Center. This would have required the coordinated efforts of several hundred people who never spoke of this to anyone.
Now consider the botched job that same administration did in Iraq. It is just credit where credit is not due.
Ultimately, conspiracy theories are essentially self involved (as all paranoia). You have to believe that there are thousands of people working overtime to fool you.
Agreed: The worst problem is not Trump, but the Democrats attitude as they flounder around in denial trying to scapegoat the well deserved political demise of their influence peddling war criminal. Launching into the blame the Russians game instead of re-evaluating their whole corrupt party apparatus does not bode well for developing an alternative to this country’s catastrophic trajectory. I find the whole situation very discouraging; as the alternative parties-which do not have a prayer in winner take all elections-are a joke. The irony is they are blaming so called Russian interference, which has hardly any evidence to back it; and ignoring the Crosscheck program conducted by Republican secretaries of state in numerous key states, that wiped hundreds of thousands of traditionally Democratic voters (Black and Latino) off the ballot.
Thanks Bill, Jeez almighty…please tell me my comment did not read as support of Killery. I found both unacceptable. However my point is that Trump is the spectacle while the same ole power elite who have been running this country all along carry out their agenda, which seems to include Trump’s demise as he refuses to employ the New Cold War play book…which he obviously didn’t read (please note sarcasm…I am happy he didn’t!) It is unfortunate that many will view the austerity and policies subservient to the US olligarchs as something new with the coming of Trump.
Be realistic. Do you think that Clinton would have pursued the “deconstruction of the administrative state” a la Trump/Bannon? I agree that Hillary might have been bad, but not in the same way.
I agree that Hillary might have been bad, but not in the same way.
I’m sure many people would agree with you on that point or modify it to say she would have been worse. As bad as Trump made himself out to be his crimes were nowhere nearly as barbaric as Slick Willie’s Lady Macbeth. Unfortunately, we can’t rule out the possibility of Trump following some of her examples.
He has already followed a similar plan to hers in Syria, completely against the Russians and the actual elected leader of Syria. The Syrian “civil war” is set to go on (perhaps as long as Afghanistan’s).
You’ve got your terms mixed up. Neoliberalism is the ideology that arose during the Cold War as the opposite to Communism. Neoliberalism is all about the invisible hand of the free market as king, and opposes regulations because “the market rights itself.” It is very pro-corporate and promotes a social Darwinism.
Paul Ryan is a good example of a Neoliberal- he feels that the government should privatize pretty much everything. Overall, the Republican party follows the Neoliberalism much more than the Democrats, who follow traditional Liberalism.
Hillary Clinton is a moderate Liberal- which means that she is in favor of quite a bit of regulation (more than many of us are comfortable with) which is the direct opposite of Neoliberalism.
I don’t see how she could have represented an end of our country. The more legitimate criticism is that she represented “more of the same.”
Thank you for this very perceptive description of the psyche of this sex offending president. Noam Chomsky gave a talk recently describing Trump’s behavior as “a media strategy” to capture attention while he and Paul Ryan ram the coorporate agenda through…privatizing education, deregulation, military spending, committment to fossil fuels, tax cuts for the wealthy…all of this made possible by appointing cabinet members who are tasked with dismantling the very agencies they are supposed to be leading. I actually disagree with Chomsky(although I rarely do), I don’t think there is an intelligent strategy, but his outlandish narcissism coupled with Russia-gate, certainly are a convenient distractions while the kleptocrats are picking our pockets. In this way he may not be a “useful idiot” for Russia as is often claimed but rather a useful idiot for the real US billionaires whose club (one can imagine) he so desparately wants to be a member of.
Thank you! I always felt people over-thought and gave him way too much credit.