It's obvious that the guy is not well and can't handle president.
By Jim Hightower / AlterNet
It's time to face up to the obvious: The president of the United
States is deranged.
I don't mean he's merely idiosyncratic or pushing policies that I
think are crazy, nor do I say this as just another political jab. I mean that
Donald J. Trump literally is mentally ill.
OK, I'm no doctor, but you don't need a doctorate in mental
disorders to see that his behavior in public and on Twitter is beyond
abnormal—it's psychotic.
As we've seen, he routinely plunges uncontrollably into prolonged fits of petty paranoia; he succumbs to delusions of imperialist grandeur; he spouts absurd right-wing rumors as facts (while simultaneously denying that actual facts are true); and he is pathologically addicted to lying, bizarrely repeating his most blatant fabrications even after they've been debunked.
As we've seen, he routinely plunges uncontrollably into prolonged fits of petty paranoia; he succumbs to delusions of imperialist grandeur; he spouts absurd right-wing rumors as facts (while simultaneously denying that actual facts are true); and he is pathologically addicted to lying, bizarrely repeating his most blatant fabrications even after they've been debunked.
A sane, temperamentally balanced president, possessing all the
power and majesty that America's supreme office conveys to an Oval Office
occupant, doesn't get into demeaning public snits with the likes of Arnold
Schwarzenegger; doesn't feel a constant need to puff himself up with
ridiculously false claims, like his frantic insistence that the crowd at his
inaugural celebration was the largest ever; doesn't rage at media outlets that
question his competence or displease him, blasting them as "enemies of the
people"; and doesn't unleash a furious, all-out attack on Barack Obama
just because some radio talk-show conspiracy theorist made a
screwball claim that the former president had wiretapped Trump's campaign.
Indeed, his flaky behavior suggests he's on the brink of a personal breakdown, and his ever-more-frequent retreats to his posh Florida golf resort tells us he doesn't even want to do the job.
Many people who attain high public office grow in their position
of trust. Some, however, just bloat.
Trump has put bloat on spectacular since entering the White House,
where he's had a disastrous start. He chose a cabinet and staff mostly made up
of ideological quacks, incompetents and Wall Street grifters.
Yet, buoyed by his explosive ego, the president pronounced his start historic: "I don't think there's ever been a president elected who in this short period of time has done what we've done."
Yet, buoyed by his explosive ego, the president pronounced his start historic: "I don't think there's ever been a president elected who in this short period of time has done what we've done."
Sadly, he's right.
For example, they made a reckless, autocratic and unconstitutional attempt to ban millions of Muslim immigrants from our land. They embarrassed America with a hasty, failed and deadly military raid in Yemen. They had to ax the kook he chose to be his national security advisor. They've even apparently been caught colluding with Russian meddlers in our politics.
For example, they made a reckless, autocratic and unconstitutional attempt to ban millions of Muslim immigrants from our land. They embarrassed America with a hasty, failed and deadly military raid in Yemen. They had to ax the kook he chose to be his national security advisor. They've even apparently been caught colluding with Russian meddlers in our politics.
Some record!
And now Trump has embraced a GOP replacement of Obamacare, hailing
a "Trumpcare" substitute that will jack up our health care costs, cut
benefits and eliminate coverage entirely for millions of working-class and poor
people, while also sneaking in yet another underhanded tax cut for the rich.
It's so awful that even hordes of Republican lawmakers have gagged, refusing to swallow it. Yet lost in self-deception, Trump calls it "wonderful."
It's so awful that even hordes of Republican lawmakers have gagged, refusing to swallow it. Yet lost in self-deception, Trump calls it "wonderful."
We have a president who is detached from reality, careening from
one mess to another. But who will say, the emperor has no clothes?
He's so far gone that when he read his recent address to Congress straight off the teleprompter, without his usual pugnacious ranting, Republican enablers of his antics and even the media establishment he scorns applauded him for being "presidential."
He's so far gone that when he read his recent address to Congress straight off the teleprompter, without his usual pugnacious ranting, Republican enablers of his antics and even the media establishment he scorns applauded him for being "presidential."
Huh?
The speech was a nasty wad of lies and right-wing nonsense. If the occasional appearance of sanity is all we ask of Trump, then his reign of insanity will be our fault. His loved ones and his party should intervene, for his sake and for America's. But they won't. Will we?
The speech was a nasty wad of lies and right-wing nonsense. If the occasional appearance of sanity is all we ask of Trump, then his reign of insanity will be our fault. His loved ones and his party should intervene, for his sake and for America's. But they won't. Will we?
Jim Hightower is a
national radio commentator, writer, public speaker and author of the book Swim Against the
Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow (Wiley, March
2008). He publishes the monthly Hightower
Lowdown, co-edited by Phillip Frazer.