General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe President of the United States is very sick!
In the most pure, clinical sense, he is "sick".
One need not be a doctor or psychologist to see it. One only needs the courage to admit it.
Yes, for his supporters, he is a strong, charismatic leader. But, for the rest of America, he is not "normal". No normal person would behave the way that he does or say the things that he says. Especially during a crisis that challenges our country and threatens all of our lives.
A normal President would not seek to divide or to ask favors from Governors before he would agree to send life-saving equipment to their states. The lies and deception and the vulgarity of his inhumanity is not the sign of a healthy mind.
Sometimes it seems impossible to accept the truth. But we are at that point. It is not about Democrats or Republicans - it is about Americans. It is about our country and whether or not we can save it.
It is about whether our leaders can muster the courage to face the self-evident truth that the President of the United States is a very sick person. He is not capable of leading us in this crisis.
The experts have known he was sick from Day One and many have written about it. They defined his malevolent narcissism and all his destructive traits.
However, it was always a political problem. Everything was weighed in political terms. We now see his illness in the starkest of perspectives. But, what can they do about it? The indecisiveness and lack of action by our elected leaders is going to cost our country a great, great price.
MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)Senator Collins will "share her concern............" - and Moscow Mitch McTurtle will walk down the marbled halls of the Capitol Building with that smarmy smile that tells us all that we've been screwed yet again.
kentuck
(111,107 posts)He is very, very sick.
MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)It is something that SO many knew long before that long ride down the escalator 3+ years ago - and we're still getting the same reactions about how to deal with him.
kentuck
(111,107 posts)If your boat turns over in the middle of the river, you can swim or you can drown.
gab13by13
(21,379 posts)Saying that Trump is stupid is wrong, Trump is mentally ill.
Girard442
(6,082 posts)...his dysfunctions evoke a strong positive response from a big chunk of the population. We used to think that Hitler's rise to power was fueled by Germany's crushing defeat in WWI, the punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles, rampant European antisemitism, and utter economic collapse. We assumed that in the absence of things like that, no one like Hitler could ever appeal to any significant number of people.
We were wrong. Any country that ever hopes to maintain its democracy will have to come to a deeper understanding of what has befallen America. I'm still struggling to comprehend how so many people I once thought were decent and rational came to support him.
kentuck
(111,107 posts)Following a strong, charismatic leader who is very, very sick.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)the "charismatic" part. He acts like a buffoon. Needs to be the center of attention all the time. He is dumb, with his orange makeup and bouffant hairdo. He THINKS he is manly, but he is too childish for that. He constantly demands respect, yet has no idea how to earn it. When anyone points out the truth about him, he explodes like a spoiled child. President Obama made being president look easy, so tRump expected no work whatsoever. Appear before adoring crowds, call people nicknames, swear, act as though you are a GOD. T.V. appearances at the drop of a hat (after hair and makeup of course) Easy, and HE is a STAR. What a total, unmitigated disaster of a person he is. Now it is costing lives. Reality is hitting him hard, and he can not lie himself out of this mess.
kentuck
(111,107 posts)He can do no wrong with his followers.
llashram
(6,265 posts)true. Just able to con the people who wllingly choose to lap up his bile.
John Fante
(3,479 posts)imblue
(23 posts)FakeNoose
(32,706 posts)These people only watch Faux News and nothing else. They only listen to Rush Limbaugh hate radio and nothing else. They only get Trump's racist/hateful message and nothing else.
Kaiserguy
(740 posts)Years of RW talk radio, Fox and RW propaganda in the print media played a big role in it. People got fed one lie after another until they could no longer separate fact from lies. They all ready had a mind set that made them easy prey for it. Racisms and Hate played a big part as did their feeling that everyone was giving them the shaft. Instead of taking personal reasonability they found it much easier to blame other people. When Trump came along they found a man who would hurt the others and they loved it. What is sad is liberal gave them all the thing that are good in America and yet they hate us for it, go figure. The rich of course hate us because we cost them money and so they build a vast RW group of think tanks to sow disinformation which went unchallenged for far to long. The end result is the burn it all down mentality that they now have.
Darwin2019
(217 posts)Read John Dean's book CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT CONSCIENCE This book out lines studies that examine what went wrong in Nazi Germany.Turns out 25% of humans are subject to falling for a strong man (Authoritarian)
OldBaldy1701E
(5,144 posts)I would say that the indecisiveness and lack of action by US is going to cost our country a great, great price. And, the cost has already passed the 'returnable' moment, it is now time to accept that we are in the 'do something or sink with the ship' moment. And, yet, I see no actions taken beyond the same ones that put us here in the first place. He is still there. After what happened in 2016, are you lot really going to hope that the same corrupt system is going to change anything?
kentuck
(111,107 posts)No matter how bad things get, they can always get worse.
The Magistrate
(95,249 posts)No more dangerous string of words in the English language than 'How could it get any worse?"
"It's always darkest just before it goes completely black."
underpants
(182,863 posts)They knew he was sick from the staged escalator thing. Even Fox tried to put him away.
True Blue American
(17,988 posts)Just showed DeWine contradicting Trump declaring we have everything we need at the Ship speech. No, we need more masks, supplies and ventilators.
DeWine is actually showing the leadership Trump has failed to do. And I post this as one who never backed DeWine but he is handling this with flying colors.
underpants
(182,863 posts)His ban on indoor sports events read first as high school basketball and wrestling. Then it became apparent that it applied to the "First Four" NCAA Tournament games in Dayton and others that would be played in Cleveland.
That set the ball rolling if you will. In short order the NCAA said no spectators, then the NBA just cancelled the season (that was a shocker), then the NCAA cancelled March Madness, then one by one every other sport had to shut down. Soccer games in Europe had already been shut down.
I may have the timeline a bit messed up but that's what happened. For sports fans the NBA decision was when it hit how big this was.
True Blue American
(17,988 posts)Doctors, etc., answering questions. He is really good at reassuring people and explains. Yesterday he talked about 2 machines that sterilize masks. They need FDA approval. He asked them to act quickly.
Meanwhile here is another Trump failure. VA Hospitals.
https://www.nationalmemo.com/trump-fails-to-mobilize-va-hospital-resources-for-covid-19-emergency/?utm_source=postup&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=403
underpants
(182,863 posts)He thinks he is the solution. That he just knows more than anyone else.
He hates doing anything that seems like spending money.
His short attention span moves him from one thing to the next (banks at one point controlled 95% of his properties). Management and foresight are irrelevant, he's already conquered that time to move on.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)He needs to be removed asap.
McKim
(2,412 posts)Yes, we need a massive campaign for his resignation. The news media and the country are acting like battered wives. This is an historic battle against the forces of evil. This man is way worse than old King George!!!!We need a new Enlightenment!!!!!
47of74
(18,470 posts)maddiemom
(5,106 posts)DESPITE having none of the supposed safeguards for the king as we have concerning the POTUS. Could we at least have a "regent," if not a revolution? (just NOT a son or son-in-law).
duforsure
(11,885 posts)... Could Putin be behind trumps no response to this outbreak?
Chili Pepper
(102 posts)... but thats an interesting question. Nothing would surprise me about this moron.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)True Blue American
(17,988 posts)Insecure asshole! How is that?
Boomer
(4,168 posts)Arrogant assholes have the ability to change their behavior, whereas Trump does not. He's locked in his own narcissistic behavior patterns and he's immune to sane, rational thought.
Above all else, Trump needs adulation to prop up his desperate self-delusion of superiority. He's emotionally incapable of recognizing facts that don't fit that belief. A narcissist twists reality to continue that self-deception.
We've put an incompetent mad man in charge, and he's going to dig deeper into his delusions as the situation around him grows more desperate.
gordianot
(15,242 posts)I just want to see limp into court after he is fired on a walker given it is Trump expect a ride in a wheel chair.
The Magistrate
(95,249 posts)"How weak must you be to look at Trump and see a strong man?"
kentuck
(111,107 posts)I'm sure, Sir, that many looked at Hitler in a similar way. Somehow, they are unable to look beyond the rhetoric and the words that make them feel better.
The Magistrate
(95,249 posts)I do not use words like 'Hitlerian' lightly, and when I do, have precise meanings in mind.
Trump resembles Hitler in two ways.
First, he pitches his appeal to the basest elements of his followers' natures. What attracts his 'maga' cult to him is that he enables them to feel good about things they they have always been ashamed of, and knew they ought to be ashamed of from the higher culture around them.
Second, he believes reality is subject to human will, that if he insists something is true with sufficient force, it will be true. He shapes policy and action to what he believes to be true, not what is true.
True Blue American
(17,988 posts)The German people were desperate. They had no jobs, were hungry.
Those who follow Trump do not even have that excuse but they do have the trait of blaming others for their misfortunes.
Boomerproud
(7,962 posts)from you. I thank you for posting in these insane times.
kentuck
(111,107 posts)I would bet that one of his favorite books is 'The Power of Positive Thinking'.
But, as you say, "He shapes policy and action to what he believes to be true, not what is true".
His power of persuasion over his followers is so strong that many accept what he says as reality, perhaps because they don't know the actual facts or just because they want to believe?
The Magistrate
(95,249 posts)Many of them share his ignorance and lack of curiosity. They have no desire to know, and often prize this as a positive quality. Such people are certainly easier to deceive; they have no sound standard to measure against what they are told to believe, or want to believe. They see Trump as themselves writ large, and this identification with the creature renders them even more susceptible to his narcissistic bluster. He says what they think, and lives as they would like to live. Taking up the red hat is practically a sacramental partaking of his body and blood, making him a part of them, and them a part of him.
kentuck
(111,107 posts)He draws them in like a moth to a flame, Sir.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)It takes a strong person to admit it.
The Magistrate
(95,249 posts)The worse the error, the less likely people are to admit it.
kentuck
(111,107 posts)Does that mean they cannot admit it to themselves, either?
lastlib
(23,266 posts)by bullying, name-calling, and attempted verbal or physical intimidation, along with projection of personal inferiority onto those who are perceived to be a threat to the security of the Individual (1).
True Blue American
(17,988 posts)Done by Trump denying and neglect to act!
Soxfan58
(3,479 posts)Congestive heart failure or liver disease to be my first unprofessional choices.
Joinfortmill
(14,447 posts)Joinfortmill
(14,447 posts)warmfeet
(3,321 posts)He is now a murderer as well.
BComplex
(8,059 posts)I only wish he had succeeded.
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Experts have told us, with many examples, that he exhibits Narcissistic Personality Disorder & I think it is apparent that Anti-Social Personality Disorder is at play as well. I encourage everyone to look up & read about these.
Until a few years ago, when the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual 5 (highly controversial!) was literally forced upon the mental health profession, we would diagnose on 5 axes:
1. Presenting symptoms i.e. despression, anxiety, etc.
2. ONLY 2 diagnoses allowed here: mental retardation & personality disorders. This is because these diagnoses are PERMANENT. Personality disorders are so inextricably intertwined with the person from a very early age, that there is just no "fixing" this.
3. Related medical problems- i.e., recent heart surgery can cause depression. Or an injury that causes unemployment, etc.
4. Psychosocial - Wide range: financial, housing, substance abuse/dependence, domestic violence, etc., etc.
5. GAF - global affective functioning score - irrelevant here.
My point in sharing this is that asshole & his followers' aren't likely to shift their egocentric, cruel, horrid perspectives or behaviors anytime soon.
My guess is that most of them, as kids/teens, exhibited oppositional defiant disorder, which, untreareated, develops into conduct disorder - typically whem law enforcement gets involved. Conduct disorder, left unchecked, often manifests later (usually around age 18) as anti-social personality disorder.
They need to be in treatment programs but, other than dialectic behavior therapy for borderline PD, the prognosis is very poor...
In short, they need to be locked up.