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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy meeting with Donald Trump: A damaged, pathetic personality...
Last edited Sat Aug 12, 2017, 10:21 AM - Edit history (1)
http://www.salon.com/2017/08/12/my-meeting-with-donald-trump-a-damaged-pathetic-personality-whose-obvious-impairment-has-only-gotten-worse/Saturday, Aug 12, 2017 07:00 AM EST
My meeting with Donald Trump: A damaged, pathetic personality whose obvious impairment has only gotten worse
I didn't get his endorsement when I ran for governor but the severely troubled man I met has only gotten worse
Bill Curry
snip//
By 2016, the private Trump was on permanent public display, raging over mere slights, seeing plots in every ill turn of events and, as always, stunningly self-absorbed. He was called a racist, a sexist and a bully. But his mental health issues were euphemized as problems of temperament. He lied ceaselessly, reflexively and clumsily, but his lies were called merely unproven or, later, false. The New York Times called the birther story a lie only after Trump grudgingly retracted it. Not till he was safe in office claiming that millions of phantom immigrants cast votes for Clinton did the paper of record use the word lie in reference to a tale Trump was still telling.
In 2016, the precariousness of Trumps mental health was clear to all with eyes to see, but like extras in a remake of The Emperors New Clothes, reporters averted their glances. The day after the election, they were all in a state of shock, like staff at an asylum who woke one morning to find that the patient who thought he was Napoleon had just been named emperor of France. Once he took office, many publications began keeping running tallies of his lies. But all take a more cautious approach to questions of their origins in his deeply troubled psyche. To date, no major network, newspaper or magazine has run an in-depth analysis of Trumps mental health.
snip//
One thing Trump has taught us is that the drafters of the 25th Amendment werent thinking about mental illness. It is unlikely anyone it puts in charge would have the courage to take action. In any case, progressives must put their primary emphasis on crafting a blueprint for political reform and economic justice. While theyre at it they could try making better cases on national security and climate change.
They must take another lesson from Trump: to say out loud things they never said before, not as Trump does, but with honesty, decency, reason and specificity. Trump got to be president in part because there were so many things Democrats and the media didnt think or couldnt bring themselves to say. Trumps whole life is a fraud that Robert Mueller may soon expose as a criminal enterprise. His business career was a disaster till a book someone else wrote and a TV show someone else produced made him a celebrity. He then fell into the only line of work he ever prospered in: licensing that celebrity. He does it pretty well, but Zsa Zsa Gabor did it first and Kim Kardashian did it better and neither of them should be president.
In 2016 Trumps real vulnerabilities were his mental health and personal finances. We can now add his proto-fascism and his possible or intended treason to the list. Trump was lucky in the draw. His defects were so monumental, so toxic, we had no protocol for talking about them. There are effective and responsible ways to talk about all such things, but first our media and political elites must find the courage to name them. They know as well as you or I who he is.
Bill Curry was White House counselor to President Clinton and a two-time Democratic nominee for governor of Connecticut. He is at work on a book on President Obama and the politics of populism.
dalton99a
(81,516 posts)who is unfit to be dogcatcher
deurbano
(2,895 posts)the Breitbart sponsored garbage, right as Clinton was announcing her candidacy. The WP began to redeem itself somewhat during the campaign, but there was still too much straining for "balance" from both publications. And then there was Comey! They could have done much more to expose his background as a Whitewater prosecutor, and to underline how unprecedented and prejudicial his July press conference was, and to refuse to give breathless coverage to the non-revelations of his October surprise. I think they were just used to bashing Clintons (a reflex), they couldn't imagine that orange pile of dung would actually win... and they simply didn't have the experience or the right methods for reporting on someone who lies about everything, is thoroughly corrupt, violates every norm of decency, has a well documented (but overwhelming) history of deplorable behavior, consorts and colludes with the most vile people imaginable, and says and does egregiously abhorrent things multiple times a day, every day. He is so unprecedented that they didn't know--and still don't entirely know-- how to effectively cover him. But if they had resisted the reflexive Clinton bashing in the first place, she would have stood a better chance of overcoming Comey, voter suppression, Russian meddling and the rest.
pansypoo53219
(20,981 posts)i saw this shit coming.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)As if it all weren't so obvious.
But then the truth, when spoken, always is obvious.
onit2day
(1,201 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)malaise
(269,054 posts)Rec
DeminPennswoods
(15,286 posts)with lots of good observations.
malaise
(269,054 posts)and welcome to DU
DeminPennswoods
(15,286 posts)nt
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,735 posts)We could see he was nuttier than squirrel shit. People who've dealt with him in NYC knew he was a hot mess of psychological defects who couldn't be trusted to manage a 7-11, let alone the US government, but the election system as a whole didn't have a way to deal with a candidate who was clearly barking mad but who was also a skilled con artist. I think Curry nailed it exactly with this: "His defects were so monumental, so toxic, we had no protocol for talking about them."
JohnnyLib2
(11,212 posts)JohnnyLib2
(11,212 posts)Highly recommended!
GusBob
(7,286 posts)This American male agrees with that description 100%
Lots of powerful words in the link.
Put me in the "must read" camp
Nitram
(22,822 posts)GusBob
(7,286 posts)And you are spot on.
There are so many aspects to it, from Hillary hate to the popularity of Internet porn
To the guy at the breakfast place demanding where his food was from the poor teenage girl behind the counter: Sir, you order here and pick your food up where is says "pick-up here"
Poor little fella his mommy never raised him right and he still needs his nappy changed
ismnotwasm
(41,989 posts)Nitram
(22,822 posts)to get away with what no one has been able to get away with before. The Founders would not have believed it possible that a man with such deep psychological pathology could be elected president. Of course, they were counting on the Electoral College to prevent that, even if the stupid masses voted for a madman. Ironic that Trump was actually elected by the EC, not the popular vote. The Founders never expected the (right wing) media to betray their country so brazenly by reporting negative lies about liberal presidents and candidates, and positive ones about right wing presidents and candidates.
Paladin
(28,264 posts)All of us need to work toward an open and widespread public admission that our current president is severely mentally ill. Terrific article by Bill Curry.
nolabear
(41,987 posts)leftstreet
(36,109 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)The Washington Post and the New York Times repeatedly called him out for lies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/opinion/campaign-stops/the-lies-trump-told.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/22/all-of-donald-trumps-four-pinocchio-ratings-in-one-place/?utm_term=.6cc9801c6245
Hillary Clinton did on CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-lies/index.html
Plenty of people on CNN noted Trump's lies during the campaign. http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/10/16/trumps-dangerous-talk-about-a-stolen-election.cnn
NBC reported on the Trump lies during the campaign. http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/does-donald-trump-get-pass-telling-lies-because-he-s-n677971 (a poll shows that TRUMP polled higher than Hillary Clinton on trust and truthfulness! NBC wonders if Trump gets a pass on his lies because he's a man).
The late night show comedians had a field day with the Trump lies.
SNL got historical ratings with Baldwin playing a lying Trump.
The internet sites were on it early on. Politifact comes to mind.
ABC did an in-depth fact checking of Trump's statements at the Republican Convention, noting that almost all were either totally or partially false.
And so on. It's false to state that the media didn't clearly and repeatedly point out that Trump lied repeatedly and often. Add to that the fact that the citizens could easily see that themselves as regards certain things.
It's just that Trumpers were okay with that.
mnhtnbb
(31,392 posts)his misogynism, and his bigotry.
I agree that the lies were repeatedly pointed out by many, many sources and reported in the media. And it was all over the internet.
The Trumpsters just did not care.
I believe that Trump will be removed from office--eventually--or will die in office. What scares me most, though, is that his
behavior has made it ok for other racists, misognynists, bigots and authoritarian types to crawl out from under their rocks.
Look at what is happening at UVA. There is going to be more of that.
I have never been so frightened for the future of our country.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Nay
(12,051 posts)voters with education, logic, etc., are baying at the moon. Trump won because most of his voters LIKE WHAT HE IS AND ARE LIKE HIM THEMSELVES.
Now, where do we go with that information? One of the places we SHOULDN'T go is to the idea that we can tease, wheedle, and entice Trump voters to vote for a Democrat by being mealymouthed about Democratic principles. Nope.
It's time to GOTV among non-voters and young folks. Forget the Trumpsters. They have certainly written us off for all time.
MrPurple
(985 posts)1/3 or more of society has tuned out fact checked reality and been brainwashed by right wing propaganda.
On mainstream message boards (like a political forum on a NE Patriots fan site) I see them today, discounting Trump/Russia allegations, yet posting threads about Debbie Wasserman Schultz's IT staffer, the "antifa" menace, or Seth Rich. These people are unreachable. I'm not sure they're really even racist, they're just utterly in the thrall of media that demonizes the left and demonizes the media that reports actual reality.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)MrPurple
(985 posts)It doesn't matter what the Washington Post or Seth Meyers say because they've discounted those sources as much as I've discounted Breitbart and Fox. They exist in their own bubble where the main problems they're worried about are condescending metropolitan liberal elites and globalism.
I think they're somewhat to blame for their ignorance, but there is a sophisticated, multitiered, relentless media campaign to inculcate them in these beliefs. It's been expanding for decades, starting with Limbaugh around 1990.
If we had the same media landscape as 1975, with everyone getting their info. from Water Cronkite and their daily local newspapers, I don't think Trump would be possible. If you wanted extremist ideology then, like the John Birch Society or something, you had to get pamphlets and personally connect with shady groups. Now it's all a click away and actively disseminated through social media.
Nitram
(22,822 posts)The right wing media did. If you are living in the 21st Century, you have to figure out which media are reliable. The media I rely on called Trump a liar on a daily basis. To Trump supporters that was proof that Trump was no a liar because they only believe right wing sources.
MrPurple
(985 posts)3catwoman3
(24,007 posts)Here is my favorite sentence from the whole article, found in the section where the author is discussing whether or not it is appropriate/possible to diagnose a psychological disorder from afar -
"But you dont need to be a botanist to tell a rose from a dandelion."
Bradshaw3
(7,522 posts)I liked this one too:
"The issue isnt the bros in the beer ads; we assume they have jobs. Its the tinderbox we create by mixing ignorance and inequality with dashed hopes and an overwrought sense of victimization. They say presidents lead us down the paths were already on. Its our job to make sure this one doesnt."
BadgerMom
(2,771 posts)red dog 1
(27,820 posts)Response to babylonsister (Original post)
stuffmatters This message was self-deleted by its author.
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,015 posts)DFW
(54,407 posts)Though a professional singer, she also takes odd theatrical jobs when they don't conflict with gigs. These run from playing Peanuts characters at White House Easter Egg rolls to small gigs put on for underprivileged ghetto kids in New Jersey.
Once, at a seaside park in New Jersey, for some reason Donald Trump was scheduled to put in an appearance for the children. Maybe because he was a TV personality in the States, I don't recall the how or the why. But he was the celebrity "guest," if you can call it that. Anyway, so here they were, and a noise approaches from the coast and it's Trump's helicopter. It lands, Trump gets out, and is greeted and brought over to talk to the ghetto kids. He tells them that if they really work hard in life, that some day they'll have their own helicopter just like he does. He then turns around, gets back in his helicopter, which flies him off back to Fantasyland, or wherever it was he flew in from. The ghetto kids were left with a bewildered expression on their faces and WTF murmurings, and that was the end of their celebrity visit.
Inspiring, right? Makes one wonder just what kind of person he DOES inspire. Well, now after Charlottesville, maybe no one has to wonder any more.
progressoid
(49,991 posts)supposedly sensible people had to go through to come to the conclusion that voting for him was a good idea.
DFW
(54,407 posts)"A lie, shouted loud enough and often enough, becomes the truth."
The Republicans shouted very loudly and very often.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)woman as President (yes, present verb tense), never mind one named "Hillary Clinton."
Besides their being consummate gulls of a consummate con-man.
That is to say: The truth about Trump and his mental state would not have swayed them one iota. Why, it would have been regarded only as "Fake News" from the lying Liberal Media!
And trust, that is how the Mueller Investigation will be viewed.
This latest Fascist attack is a harbinger.
Nay
(12,051 posts)there are many, many men who would not countenance a woman, any woman, as president. They would vote for a Trump way before they would vote for a woman. It didn't help that the woman also had been vilified for 30 years by the RW press, a process that, IMO, really crippled her. It wasn't fair, but that's what happened.