Salon - Something is seriously wrong with Donald Trump: Let's stop kidding ourselves about that

[Pluvious]

We need a new term to describe the combo of delusion, dementia, and deception.

If you’ve only watched the clips and highlights from Donald Trump’s CPAC speech last Saturday, you’re not getting the full picture of the explosive horror show that is the worsening status of the president’s mental health. For reasons that defy comprehension, I decided to watch the whole thing live. At the outset, I tweeted that given the Michael Cohen testimony in the immediate rear-view mirror, Trump’s CPAC speech was going to be “next level crazy.” In hindsight, I feel like I low-balled it.

Before we continue, I’d like to emphasize that I’m not a mental health professional, nor am I an expert in the pharmacological effects of cognitive enhancers like Adderall or Provigil to make a judgment call on the specifics of what’s wrong with the president. However, I can say with confidence that something’s extraordinarily wrong with him, and it’s only getting more dangerous for the nation and by extension the world as time advances.

At CPAC, Trump ricocheted from his prepared teleprompter remarks into what can only be described as a herky-jerky, stream-of-conscious creepshow -- a Willy Wonka ride into the dark, twisted world of Trump’s increasingly haunted and scattered brain. There was sweaty red-faced performance art; American flag leg-humping; bizarre and often shouty anecdotes leading nowhere; insults and obscenities directed at his enemies, both real and imagined; mean-spirited attempts at jokes; unabridged fear-mongering about infanticide and murderous immigrants; bug-eyed facial contortions more terrifying than the Momo Challenge; and other kneejerk outbursts that defy description.

https://www.salon.com/2019/03/06/something-is-seriously-wrong-with-donald-trump-lets-stop-kidding-ourselves-about-that/

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Yes there is,

actions by and reactions by narcissistic persons is playing out in real time .

Being exposed to their flaws a petty behavior scares the shit out of them.

[Javaman]

2. we, the thinking public, haven't been kidding ourselves...

we all know his a fucking sociopath.

it's the right wing nut jobs that have to stop kidding themselves.

[DownriverDem]

18. Totally agree

I wake up everyday totally disgusted with trump and the repubs.

[japple]

28. I wake up every day hoping he's had a stroke or heart attack in the middle of the night.

eom

[MyOwnPeace]

27. We don't need the "right-wing nut jobs" to do anything.........

we need CONGRESS to act!

[oldsoftie]

57. Congress cannot remove him at this point in time.

Until enough of the GOP get on board, he stays where he is.

[kag]

59. Congress most certainly CAN and SHOULD!

Having moronic constituents doesn't excuse you from doing your job!

[oldsoftie]

62. ok, explain to me how he can be removed at this point.

[spanone]

3. He is defective in every possible way.

[yonder]

4. Ask any redhat if...

Last edited Wed Mar 6, 2019, 08:20 PM - Edit history (1)

"...they’d ever accept this kind of behavior from their doctor, their kids’ teachers or their own bosses at work; whether they’d accept it from a member of the clergy or the bus driver who picks up their children for school every day."

Hopefully that answer would be no, they wouldn't.

Then why is it okay for The-Tweaker-In-Chief to carry on like that? Is it because he keeps "pissin off dem libruls" and that is the only thing that matters to them? Beats me but we have a major problem with him, his supporters and those that continue to enable him.

[murielm99]

5. That is an excellent point.

I remember a science teacher we had in middle school. The kids swore that the coffee he drank all day long was spiked.

Eventually, one of my friends had a brother who got a detention. The science teacher was the detention supervisor. He had been drinking his coffee all day long and into the detention hour. He was very drunk.

He took a long leave of absence from his job. I think he came back eventually. It was determined that he suffered from alcoholism and the equivalent of what they call PTSD these days. He had had a very bad time during the Korean War.

I am glad he kept his job. But it took some alert parents picking up their kids from detention to notice that the teacher was in trouble. Who is going to do that for Trump?

[Mr.Bill]

11. I would be willing to bet their most common answer would be:

"Fuck off, snowflake."

[DownriverDem]

19. They wouldn't agre

trumpsters would never admit any of what you listed. It's more ego than reality.

[shanti]

32. So, some of them were repulsed by him?

That's a good sign. Would that there were more.

[japple]

29. Ask any redhat what they would have done if President Obama had acted like that?

eom

[oldsoftie]

58. but thats DIFFERENT; he was a democrat!

I've already asked a few; whats the difference between looking into Whitewater and the Rose Law Firm dealings of the Clintons before he was in office, which they all fully supported, and looking into the business dealings of trump before HE was in office?
Usually they can only stammer about hillary being evil or some such BS. I just ask them to admit their hypocrisy. Thats it. Just admit it. They never will

[Arazi]

40. They believe he was absolutely masterful. He got many standing Os

Right wing Twitter is orgasmic at his performance.

You need to realize this is a cult. We all need to figure out how to deprogram these folks when Traitor is removed or voted out because #Cult45 are as crazy as him now

[Martin Eden]

50. Standing O's vs OMG's

There is a huge chasm between those who applaud this kind of behavior in a president and those who are utterly appalled.

Can the members of Cult45 ever come back to sanity?

[PatSeg]

54. It is the crowd that I find most disturbing

I think they equate watching Trump ramble incoherently to watching reality TV. I can't believe so many people sat through two hours of that and even applauded. I know a few walked out, but it is amazing that there weren't more.

[area51]

61. Trump gaslit the audience,

saying no one left his speech early though it was clear that did happen.

Link to tweet

"Oh man. I was just watching dozens of people walk out of the room as they sensed Trump was a minute or two from concluding...then Trump said that he's been watching the doors and not one person has left."

[PatSeg]

65. Two hours of that is a long time

even for Trumpster. I'm sure some need to at least go to the bathroom or get some air.

I love that some walked out sensing he was concluding, probably trying to get ahead of the crowd. Who knew that he would keep on going and going and going? He must have had an extra dose of Adderall.

[louis c]

6. How could this country elect such a man?

[Perseus]

10. Are we sure this country elected that mad man?

I am not sure that we did, I tend to think there was massive cheating and rigging of the voting machines, we all know the machines can be easily hacked, if the Russians can hack other things that are well protected, what makes us think they did not hack the voting machines?

For 3 million plus people to vote for his opponent and he still make it to the presidency, it really doesn't add up. Why can these things happen in the USA? Because of the Electoral College, the best tool for cheaters.

[DownriverDem]

20. And I'm

afraid it will happen again.

[First Speaker]

24. How did he get close to the nomination at all...?

...what happened--what weakening of our national political immune system--that made it possible for a man such as Trump to even get close to being selected by the Electoral College? That, to me, is the real issue. Yes, the GOP/Fox "News" axis paved the way. Yes, his "base" is crazy. But still--there will always be a mystery about this. Generations yet unborn will ask their elders, "how did this happen?"...and no one will ever quite be able to explain why...

[Hekate]

35. THAT is what I asked myself each step of the way in 2016. The GOP, the actual Party, had ample...

...opportunities to stop Trump as unfit. They had that opportunity right up and including the actual Convention.

I think those who run the Party must have imagined there would be some benefit to them, and that though they saw he was a monster they imagined they could control that monster.

It's not even about "conservatism" any more. If a conservative agenda was their desire, dull old Jeb Bush would have given them that without destroying 70 years of international alliances and America's place as a leader in the world.

The GOP allowed this to happen. Conservatism as a philosophy is now bankrupt, and whatever the Republican Party used to be, it is now a hollow and rotting wreck of its former self.

[Hekate]

25. We did not elect him. HRC got 3 million more votes than DT. She's not POTUS because...

...New Jim Crow voter suppression, voter roll ethnic cleansing, pinpoint manipulation of voters online, pinpoint manipulation of three key Electoral College states, bought-and-paid-for third party candidates like Jill Stein, and a hefty dollop of treason.

Louis C, at this point periodically reciting these facts to myself is about all that keeps me from utterly despairing of my fellow citizens and the country my ancestors called home since the English Dissenters came in the 1600s and the famine-stricken Irish came in the 1800s and on through all the other waves of global migration.

As a country we have done some terrible things, but my reading of history has always been that we -- progress, move forward, learn, and try to do better.

I don't know if our republic can every fully recover fom the debacle that is Trump, but at least I know that "we" did not elect him.

[MyOwnPeace]

30. Beautiful!

I agree, "we" did not elect him - and we must acknowledge that fact. Whatever it was that created that perfect storm is done - and we must make sure that it does not happen again.

Unfortunately, we do not have the proper system in place that will fight that "perfect storm." As long as the Repukes keep getting what they want for their demented agenda things will keep rolling just fine.

It is up to us to provide a majority that intends to do things according to the Constitution and the basic believe that all people are created equal and the United States of America stands for the fair treatment and land of opportunity for ALL people.

[StevieM]

36. The FBI created the perfect storm.

Their actions were illegitimate and were not consistent with acceptable processes within a democracy.

To make sure it doesn't happen again we need to recognize that this is what cost us the election, even if it means kicking the Clintons a little less.

We also need to recognize that the entire GOP is moving rapidly towards fascism, not just Donald Trump. He is the symptom, not the cause.

[StevieM]

37. You left out the Comey intervention, which IMO was clearly the most important part.

Every piece of evidence we have tells us that he turned that election upside down, multiple times.

We are in big trouble, with or without Trump. He just makes it worse.

[JI7]

43. becsuse the country is full of hateful assholes that the media and others always made

out to be good people .

[The Liberal Lion]

55. That's the real question

While I am in the camp of those who don't believe trump actually won, but rather that vote totals were altered, I will happily confess that I have zero evidence of this. Regardless, whether I am right or wrong enough people DID vote for him to make one ask "WTF is wrong with this country". His mental disease and sociopathy were evident even prior to his run for office. Yet millions voted for him both in the primary and the general. This is sobering.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. I can't begin to imagine watching two and a half hours of what

I can't even watch a 30 second clip of.

Apparently people were walking out of the room in large numbers well before the end.

[CrispyQ]

8. I watched that 2 minute clip & wow, it was painful.

I don't believe this was a "politically-motivated act for the enjoyment of the Red Hats." He's unhinged & losing it a little bit more as the walls close in.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. CPAC allowed him in. They bear the burden of allowing this filth of a so called president...

onto the stage to rant and rave pretty about everything and anything. Nothing constructive what-so-ever. Hatred and bigotry only go so far, and now CPAC is stained forever with this filth. True conservatism must be dead in this country by now.

[DownriverDem]

21. CPAC

was full of trumpsters. It's the trump party now.

[colsohlibgal]

12. No Kidding

Way too man media folks treating this as somewhat normal aren’t helping.

I was convinced that along with being sleazy he was not playing with a full deck before but that 2+ hour craziness “speech” he made at CPAC took the cake. Evil, crooked, and crazy. That a bit over a third of us are OK with this is more than worrisome. He is a mafia like crook not playing with anything close to a full deck mentally.

This is full on hair on fire emergency it is time for the MSM treat it as such. This is not normal.

[dixiegrrrrl]

44. I had thought about Nancy covering up Reagan's dementia while in the WH

been wondering how many are doing likewise re: trump. Miller for sure. and of course the kids.

[mopinko]

53. she definitely was.

my late bil worked for dea at one time. he made a lot of friends. he knew someone in the secret service. they all knew what was going on.

[world wide wally]

13. It's this simple....

He's fucking nuts

[BigmanPigman]

14. Everyone has been discussing his declining mental state for two years.

I read a long story about it in Rolling Stone two years ago and they went i to the 25th amend and why that won't work.

"Duty To Warn" psychiatrists signed a letter stating their concern.

Nothing ever happens except that he gets crazier by the day and we are all in increasing danger as the investigations close in on him, his pals and family.

[MyOwnPeace]

33. Frustrating, isn't it?

Every day we keep seeing the same thing:

"THIS IS IT!"
"THE FINAL BLOW"
"HE'S DONE NOW"
"CAN'T LAST NOW"
"FINALLY - HE'S DONE"

etc, etc, ad nauseam!!!!!!!!

Really?????

Come on, Congress, DO YOUR JOB!!!!!

You work for us, not him!!!!!!!!!

[BigmanPigman]

42. The hope I have now that seems to be the most realistic

is that SDNY will nail him for taxes or other crimes which he can be indicted for while still in office but he can be pardoned for them unfortunately.

Americans are still too stupid to vote him and the GOP Senate out in 2020.

Congress will take years to be able to do anything... CNN said last night. DELAY! The Dem House requests for interviews, etc will go back and forth for years, then the subpoenas that follow will go through a few more years then it goes to the SCOTUS and this is just for their investigation.

Mueller's investigation may result in indictment after he is out of office but Pence can pardon him too.

Maybe the only ways to get rid of him is for him to stroke out, be assassinated by a disgruntled deplorable who got his marching orders from his dog Sam or killed by a pissed off Putin who didn't get get all that he paid for.

[FiveGoodMen]

60. "You work for us"

They're supposed to work for us, but a lot (including ALL the repukes) don't.

[ut oh]

15. My response to this quote from the article...

When I observe these people, as I did on Saturday, wildly swooning when Trump mockingly impersonates everyone from his military generals to his political foes, when they cheer for his childish flailing and his total rejection of the dignity of the presidency to the point where he insultingly mocks the very notion of being presidential, I wonder to myself whether they grasp how badly they’ve sold out their own morality for the sake of petty grievances and racial entitlement. I wonder if they realize that they’ve forsaken the social compact in order to support this glorified street hustler. Tens of millions of Americans have abandoned it all for the sake of propping up a well-documented con man who’s only in this, in Michael Cohen’s words, for “the world’s greatest infomercial.”


They do not care that they have abandoned everything they have supposedly stood for.... tRump is 'owning the libs' as the author put it. That is their only metric now.

[GaYellowDawg]

17. That's right.

They hate us more than they love America, the Constitution, or their own moral values.

[smirkymonkey]

39. +1000

They have no morals and no standards. The entire reason for their existence is hatred, resentment and revenge. Nothing else matters, not even their own well-being.

[VOX]

69. Correct in every regard. The Trump Cult cares nothing for the rule of law or international diplomacy

And you’re absolutely spot-on about “owning the libs.” That’s their singular fixation.

[Mr Tibbs]

16. Classic toxic narcissist

Classic symptoms

[Fritz Walter]

22. And in the next year and a half, this behavior is going to do what?

• Get better? Not fucking likely. Even with careful stage management, scripting and spin-doctoring, Individual-1 is going to continue to show his ass at each and every campaign (and every other public) event.
• Stay the same? Again, not likely. Assuming that the osteopath who completed his most recent (and dubious) exam could somehow get him onto a stable pharmaceutical and nutritional regimen, cadet bone spurs loves performing in front of his base. Indeed, he couldn’t stay “on script” in front of his rabid hordes. It’s just not possible.
• Get worse? Try “much, much worse”! If you follow the news — from the Congressional investigations, to economic metrics, including and especially his failed policies(!) on trade, deficit spending, and other indicators, the thread upon which his stability hangs gets more frayed and thinner on a daily (hourly?) basis. Let’s face it: we’re much more likely to see “unhinged”, “unglued”, and other pathologically declining behavior in the one person who has access to the launch codes for thermonuclear Armageddon.

And despite all this, his Cabinet full of cronies and the so-called Senate leadership do not have the collective spine to invoke the 25th Amendment. I won’t ask what it would take, because the answer is abhorrent. Not to mention horrific.

Buckle up! We’re in for a wild ride until January 2021!

[Joe Nation]

23. How will this end....for us?

I don't care how it ends for Trump. Will this country survive this madman?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

26. According to Fat Donnie: "If we have nuclear weapons, why aren't we using them?"

Sleep well, America. The adults who were supposed to serve as a buffer between Trump and his worst angels have left the room.

And stil the MSM gives him a pass, labeling his CPAC public breakdown a "wide-ranging speech covering a number of the president's favorite topics."

[shanti]

31. I can't bring myself to watch it

but I did read the transcript. Whackamo is all I can say

[The Genealogist]

34. He could have climbed up on that stage naked and flinging his own poo

And his deplorables would have treated it as a sign of the second coming of Jesus. We talk about how unhinged Trump is, his deplorables are just as bad or worse.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

48. You do realize that some of us have VIVID imaginations, right ?

I now want to take an amnesiac to wipe my brain.

[zentrum]

38. All this is exactly why the MAGA's

...like him. They equate his rambling off the record with authenticity. They find him entertaining and they like being entertained (not forcing them to think) by someone who makes them feel good about themselves.

He understands them. Doesn't give a flying crap about them but he's a media-savant and knows just the right buttons.

[Martin Eden]

51. Manipulate America's Gullible Assholes

That's his talent.

[cp]

41. I'd like to see a Venn diagram of Cult-45-ers and Fux Nooz viewers

Bet there would be almost no separation.

[dixiegrrrrl]

45. According to Jane Meyer's article about Fox this week in the New Yorker

There is no separation. And Murdoch planned it that way.

[UTUSN]

46. K&R

[trickyguy]

47. I'm not kidding when I tell you Trump has already been called out in a book published in 2017.

The book - which I have referenced several times here at DU - is "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump".
And when I read it two years ago upon it's publication it left no doubt in my mind as to how dangerous our President is.

It's contributors are psychiatrists and psychologists who -as a Duty to Warn - have diagnosed Mr. Trump albeit
without a chance for a personal appraisal but based on what they had observed in his public behavior.

Here are just a few chapter titles:
"Unbridled and Extreme Present Hedonism: How the Leader of the Free World Has Proven Time and Again He Is Unfit for Duty".

"Donald Trump Is: A) Bad: B) Mad: C) All of the Above"

"A Clinical Case for the Dangerousness of Donald J. Trump"

Want more? Just please pick up this book if you haven't and read it. You won't put it down.

[Blue Owl]

49. Disturbing doesn't begin to describe in...

[DirtEdonE]

52. I saw this amazing show on PBS about memory

It dealt with how the physical structures of the brain create memory. Fantastic show. I'm looking for a repeat but it's not on the lineup anywhere yet.

Anyway, one of the most amazing sequences was actual scan images of brains developing new neural circuits. It seems the shape and size of brain structures and the way our neural pathways are created due to sensory input largely determine who we are.

Based on this information and in my strictly unprofessional totally amateur opinion, I believe donald j trump is as totally fucked up in the head as he is due to a seriously flawed hereditary brain structure as well as chronically flawed neurological circuits developed over a lifetime of sociopathic behavior.

Just my 2 cents.

[Pluvious]

66. Maybe it was this from NOVA ?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017534626

Cheers

[DirtEdonE]

67. Yes! I it isn't availble in my area yet for streaming but

I just found that link on YouTube and posted it today. Watch it if you haven't seen it. It's one of the most fascinating shows I've seen on NOVA lately.

[Pluvious]

70. I definitely plan to !

Lol, just realized that it was your post, too funny.

Thanks friend.

[trickyguy]

56. Also check out a clip entitled "Duty to Warn". Comments by psychiatrists and psychologists about

"The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" which they co-authored. Required reading if you want to understand him.

A couple of friends borrowed my copy but it was interesting that my therapist didn't want to read it.
Too toxic for him But he does discuss Trump issues when they come up in a session.

I finally got him to have a conversation with me about a lot of that and he changed his mind. We talked.
Things have a way of going both ways in an intelligent conversation.

Read the book or just look at the clip. On UTube.

[oldsoftie]

63. And yet his followers think it was a GREAT speech. Because he "tells it like it is" ya know.

Apparently sounding like you have no common sense is "telling like it is".

[itcfish]

64. I am not a doctor

but Trump seems to be suffering from: the Dunning-Kruger effect

[DirtEdonE]

68. +1 Yes! - among his myriad other maladies, mental and physical. nt