In a previous book, “A More Perfect Union,” I wrote an essay titled “Is Trump Crazy?”
I answered in the affirmative, based largely upon his narcissism. I now raise the question “Is Trump unfit to hold the presidency?” There is much evidence to prove that this is also true. In a recent news briefing, Trump made the following statements: “I created the greatest economy the world has ever seen.” and “If I weren’t president we’d be at war with North Korea.” Grandiosity? Exaggeration? Delusion?
I maintain that presidents make life and death decisions. Think of JFK and the Bay of Pigs. But these pale in significance compared to the number of deaths in the current pandemic for which I blame Trump. Think of the lives lost by the failure to get the necessary equipment in the hands of our doctors and nurses.
Every recent president receives a Daily Press Briefing based upon documents that are drawn up by career experts from the intelligence community.
But we have a president who doesn’t read them. He also tells us that he knows more than the generals and admirals. (It also happens that he is not a voracious reader.) There is a joke going around that Trump was given the codes for launching World War III. He put them in a place where they wouldn’t be found. A bookshelf.
During part of January and all or February 2020, President Lysol was warned about the coming pandemic. He largely ignored these warnings and lives were lost. I charge that “there is blood on his hands.”
The number of hate crimes perpetrated against Chinese-Americans (and those mistaken for Asians) has risen astronomically. When asked at a news conference about whether he was responsible since his words had enabled these heinous crimes, Trump answered that the virus originated in China and so his designation, “the Chinese virus” was correct.
In a New York Times article, reporters Jeremy Peters, Elaina Plott and Maggie Haberman examined 260,000 words spoken by Trump. Among their findings, was that “Trump’s attempts to display empathy or appeal to national unity numbered about 160 instances an amount to only a quarter of the number of times he complimented himself or a top member of his team.”
What’s to be made of this? Psychology teaches us that empathy is a normal human reaction to suffering and that Trump’s constant need for approval is pathological.
He has no awareness that his behavior is “sick,” or he would attempt to eliminate it.
Dr. Bandy Lee is a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale Medical School. She held a conference which led to the publication of a book titled “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.”
Contributors were twenty-seven psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health professionals. It was an instant bestseller and the book’s royalties go to charity. She believes that she can diagnose the president without a face-to-face sit-down.
Her professional organization, the American Psychiatric Association, passed the “Goldwater rule” which states it is unethical to give professional opinions about public figures without meeting them.
The best counter-argument is an analogy. Smoke is coming from under the hood of your car; you notice puddles of oil beneath it; the engine is overheating and you smell burning oil. You don’t have to be an auto mechanic to know that it’s time to have your car checked; even though you have no credentials – just common sense your conclusion about a problem was correct.
There is a danger in attempting to diagnose from a distance, but when Donald Trump states he could shoot a man on 5th Avenue and his acolytes would support him, this is “looney tunes.”
Trump has revealed his racism, misogyny, narcissism, bullying and name-calling in his daily “tweets.” Here is one man’s opinion about “the Donald.” He lies, has a personality disorder, is detached from reality, he has an affinity for conspiracy theories, exhibits predatory sexual behavior, admires dictators, and when Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama he took a black “Sharpie” to include that state in the path of the storm.
Crazy or not? Fake news?
Returning to the Trump descriptors, Surely they come from some radical like Sen. Bernie Sanders or Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio Cortes, but if these were your guesses, you’d be wrong. These are the words of Peter Wehner, a lifelong Republican who served in the administrations of both
Bushes and Ronald Reagan. No Democrat could have said it better! He wrote his opinion piece in the Atlantic Monthly.
What lessons can we learn from the long nightmare we’ve lived through these last three and a half years? They are as follows; 1) politicians make decisions that result in life and death, therefore every budget is a moral document. 2) Politicians make daily decisions that are sometimes either life-threatening or life-enhancing. 3) Finally, we are still a democracy and opportunity exists in November to throw the “psycho” out!
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
