VOILA,TRUMP!

The world is ruled by psychopaths

The problem with Donald Trump isn’t Trump himself; in a country off 330 million people there are bound to be more than a few deranged ‘charismatic leader’ types. Those who suffer from anxiety, depression, etc., deserve compassion—but not psychopaths.  Free from moral constraints and self -doubt, they’re great salesmen; often attractive, confident, and charming, but with zero empathy for anyone but themselves.  Thus unencumbered, they’re often successful in their pursuits, personal, business, or political. In short, they’re what every corporate lobbyist wants in a politician, what every shareholder wants in their CEO, and what both Democrats and Republicans want in their president: the ability to promote their self-serving agenda with apparent sincerity—the concerns of the public be damned. Voila, Trump!

In the 2020 presidential campaign however, and after four years giving Wall Street, corporations, billionaires, and the national security state everything they could possibly want, the “establishment” decided to dump Trump; he was just too embarrassing, vulgar, boorish, and narcissistic for educated elites to continue to publicly support.

Trump’s arrogant and autocratic behavior was so disturbing to the mental health community that in 2017 Yale psychiatrist, Dr. Bandy X. Lee, authored a book, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” subtitled, ‘Twenty-seven psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health experts argue that, in Mr. Trump’s case, their moral and civic “duty to warn” America supersedes professional neutrality’.  The book became a New York Times bestseller.

In an interview with Dr. Bandy Lee by Ralph Nader, she made a point of stressing how disturbing it was that so many voters could like, let alone vote for such an obviously arrogant and obnoxious man.  I completely get the idea that Trump’s supporters liked his direct, unfiltered way of “telling it like it is”—but telling it like “what” is?  That police brutality is his official policy?  At a 2017 rally flanked by a large group of police standing behind him Trump said, “Please, don’t be too nice.” to the people they arrest.

David Mack @davidmackau

Here's the president of the United States encouraging police officers to be rough with people they arrest

July 28th 2017

4,045 Retweets3,961 Likes

That all immigrants are sub-human criminal “invaders”?  That only those who own a significant amount of stock count in defining the US economy?  That we should bully and insult our allies and threaten to obliterate our fabricated “enemies” with nuclear bombs?  That it’s OK to “grab celebrities by the pussy” because they like it? https://nyti.ms/2jQEhvE

“His madness is catching, too. From the trauma people have experienced under the Trump administration to the cult-like characteristics of his followers, he has created unprecedented mental health consequences across our nation and beyond.” —Dr. Bandy X. Lee

This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as "shared psychosis" or "folie à millions" (madness by the millions) among followers, a phenomenon well documented by renowned mental health experts such as Carl Jung and Erich Fromm.  “Symptoms are shared when a severely mentally-impaired person is placed in a position of influence and there is sustained exposure. The treatment is separation, after which most secondary persons will return to their baseline state, and takes care of the emotional part. It’s not all in our heads. It’s in his.”

To assert, as some do, that Trump was an “outsider” challenging the “Deep State”, Wall Street, and “the establishment" is absurd. Trump WAS the establishment.  His support for Wall Street, multinational corporations, the military-industrial complex, financial, corporate, and environmental deregulation, unprecedented tax breaks for the rich, etc., completely reflected the "values" of the bi-partisan establishment.  In a prescient act of neoliberal psychopathy, Trump directed John Bolton to gut Obama’s pandemic response team in 2018, just in time to be completely unprepared to effectively respond to the Covid-19 Sars2 pandemic.  To institutionalize his sociopathic agenda for decades to come, Trump stacked the Supreme Court with ultra-conservative right-wing judges who lack the intellect, morality, and judgment of the ‘60’s pop band, “The Supremes”.

Regarding the riot at the Capital building on January 6, 2021, Paul Jay of “The Analysis News” posits that it was indeed an attempted coup, and I agree. When Trump’s lawsuits alleging voter fraud failed in the courts, Trump’s plan was to incite those who attended the rally on January 6th enough to storm the Capital and cause enough chaos to disrupt the certification of Biden as President by the Electoral College to the extent that his newly appointed Secretary of Defense would have the justification to declare martial law, delay the certification, and call for a new election at a later date, allowing Trump to remain in office. Trump felt that he had enough support among the military and the police to accomplish this, however, 10 former Secretaries of Defense from both the Democratic and Republican parties signed a letter warning Secretary of State Christopher C. Miller not to allow the military to interfere in the electoral process, and that if they did, they could face serious criminal charges.  On January 4th, Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander of NATO published an article in Time Magazine supporting the letter signed by the 10 former Secretaries of Defense. On the same day, The Financial Times editorial board warned of a coup attempt by Trump.

This scenario seems plausible when you consider that a man of Trump’s ego and megalomania would do anything and stop at nothing to avoid losing the election, including starting a war with Iran or China. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, was so worried about Trump’s mental state he feared Trump might provoke a war with China as a distraction, breached the chain of command and phoned his Chinese counterpart to assure him that no US military action would be taken against China without his personal authorization.

No, my problem isn’t Trump; it’s his “supporters”.  Regardless of Trump’s stated political positions—even if they were identical to those of Bernie Sanders—his behavior was so obnoxious, arrogant, and narcissistic—in short, everything parents warn their children not to be—it’s hard to understand how after four years of his lunacy 75 million Americans could still like, let alone for to vote for him again, especially at a time when we’re facing a choice between dying in the heat of “global warming” or freezing to death in a “nuclear winter”.

If it’s outrageous to say that those who voted for Trump after 4 years of his incredibly irresponsible, dangerous, and destructive tenure, share the values of a sociopathic bully, then what’s even more outrageous is that the other half—‘establishment Democrats”—share those values too, but cloak their agenda in softer language. Biden’s record so far, (publicly calling Putin a “killer”, bombing Syria, Iraq, and Somalia, provoking Russia and China with military exercises on their borders, increasing sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela and Iran, etc.), to demonstrate to the world that “America is back!” documents that, as Noam Chomsky said, “Psychopaths rule the world.”

My suggestion to replace “Hail to the Chief” (by my Ecuadorian students’ jazz band):

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