I dared not think it but I couldn’t avoid the reality. I dared to think that the vindictive nature of the President would come to the fore. Was he in his vindictiveness, by doing nothing to prevent further coronavirus-related deaths, actually punishing Americans for not voting for him? Was it possible? His personality suggests a categorical ‘yes.’
Deaths are predicted to double and hospitalisations will soar before any vaccine offers relief.
If Nero fiddled while Rome burned then Trump is guilty of golfing while people perished.
Five years ago, he was to me nothing but a celebrity of little note. A person of no redeeming features; just another tin man who loved to exhibit his wealth, his racism floated around him, narcissism and nefariousness walked with him in a way that appealed to the like-minded.
At the same time, he displayed his ability to lie in a way that demonstrated his impaired process of believing his lies to be the truth.
Then in my analysis l felt an unexpected pang of sorrow for this sad excuse for a human being. That anyone, let alone a President, would allow an expected 500,000 of his people to die when avenues were open to try and save them could only be done by someone either brain damaged or brain dead, and that person was the POTUS.
Ad Astra on these pages described him as a cult leader. He may very well correct.
Grumpy Geezer, also on these pages, said he was:
“Devoid of friends, not even a dog.
Devoid of humour he doesn’t make jokes, he doesn’t laugh. Not ever. An occasional dismal rictus, a necrotic gash in his ochre-lacquered face-bladder signifies nothing more than his satisfaction in transacting another con.
He’s a loathsome coagulation of every human failing with no compensating virtues.
A craven coward.
A sociopath.
A serial rapist.
A racist.
A quisling.
An opportunistic grifter.
An inveterate cheat.
A deceitful toad.
A chronic liar.
A shameless braggart.
An ignoramus who lacks curiosity. He doesn’t read, he doesn’t care.”
Both are correct in their assertions and views such as theirs have been voiced by good people around the world.
I have no doubt that he should be committed or institutionalised for acts against society. That he is mentally unstable is a given. I of course have no qualifications that would merit such a judgement. I only have a lifetime of studying human nature to back up my supposition.
Farron Cousins writing for Stand Up. Move Forward has been one of many professionals to voice an opinion on the President.
“Former Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Lance Dodes didn’t mince words during a recent conversation with Salon.com when he said that Donald Trump is a successful sociopath. Dr. Dodes says that Trump only cares about his own well-being, and his presidency has just been an extension of his sociopathic tendencies.
Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are tired of mincing words about Donald Trump’s mental health and they’ve now come out and been very blunt about the fact that the president is not well.”
Psychiatrists usually stick with their associations advice and don’t comment on the health of prominent public figures but any Google search on the subject will reveal hundreds of professional people prepared to diagnose this POTUS.
Having said that, we have all made an effort either in our minds or with keyboard to analyse this person of ill repute. Diagnosing on mass those who have supported him is another matter altogether.
‘Crass’ is the first word that comes to mind when I think about Donald Trump. Another is ‘superficial.’ Crass because he has one of those mouths that seem to put you offside. His vile “pussy” comment seemed to sum him up. Superficial because there was always something sinister about him that was un-presidential. He wore a coat of many colours, none of which could be trusted. A man of superficial charm that left me cold. His glibness of sole and falseness of sincerity was astonishing and lacked any conscience. He wasn’t complex as many would have it. He was a simpleton. We normal people are complex.
People of Trump’s ilk, well, you can see right through them. He lacked empathy and in terms of mortal importance only one number mattered.
He was a sexual predator who failed intellectualism. A charmer, whose merit was purely verbal and had no underlying substance.
A very “stable genius” who knew more about anything than anyone else was the way he described himself.
But all these things accumulated together with his vindictiveness never approached his capacity for untruthfulness.
“All of Trump’s lies that contradicted commonly accepted facts challenged the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment, which are premised on the belief that there are objective facts discoverable through investigation, empirical evidence, rationality, and the scientific methods of enquiry.” (brookings.edu, April 13, 2018).
From these premises, it follows that political discourse involves making logical arguments and adducing evidence in support of those arguments, rather than asserting one’s own self-serving version of reality.
Senator Patrick Moynihan’s admonition is apropos: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
“These are the diagnostic standards for a textbook sociopath.” He seems to fit them all.
Trump’s belief that as President he didn’t have to refute any charges that he wasn’t telling the truth, that as the President he didn’t have to explain himself to others.
This self-imposed God-like power suggested a highly inflated appreciation of the Presidency and that others had to accept his version of reality, or none at all.
Surprise slithered across his face when they didn’t.
Anyone for golf? No cheating.
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The Office of the American President was once viewed by its people as an office of prestige and importance. Trump has reduced it to one of ridicule and contempt.
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What a joy …Two of my favourite commentators, JL and GG, in the one post! An example of their genius; “crass … superficial …vile … His glibness of sole (sic) and falseness of sincerity was astonishing and lacked any conscience. … lacked empathy … only number one mattered … failed intellectualism ”…is such a wonderful description of our own Prim Monster Scummo Sacked from Marketing.
Great analysis of a really revolting, repulsive character, one who made a mockery of the ‘innate’ good sense of the American people.
Those millions of devoted, blind, ignorant voters who swore their loyalty to this creep, wore it on their sleeves, on their chests, brandishing banners, waving flags, screaming their misguided beliefs, carrying lethal weapons, on the streets and public places in American towns and villages, well, they are the real reason why the office of president has been trashed and stained and ridiculed by most sensible countries and governments of the world. This creep represented 72m of them and they liked him, and what’s even more depressing, they still stand behind his very word, untruthful and vulgar and dishonest. He knows his supporters and they know and love him for it. They are the problem.
John
On the lighter side we should feel sorry for his golf partners as it seems he intends spending his final days as POTUS playing golf.
Caddies have got so used to his cheating, seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway, when he had hit it into the rough, that they came up with a nickname for him: ‘Pele.’ (For those who don’t know soccer, the Brazilian Pelé was one of the best kickers of a ball in history.)
“Commander in Cheat” is an amusing book by sports writer Rick Reilly detailing Trump’s relationship with golf. In reality he is a very sad and sick puppy in need of care and medication !
.
Lord, half of america say you are wrong and 66% of Australians think scummo is the man.
We think they are all wrong.
But I am shocked that more than the rainbow postal vote think that scummo is a suitable PM.
Your thought is deep seated but I venture only a third of australians agree?
Did you not laugh at ‘merkin’? Did you believe ‘I did not have sexual relation…’
Obama rescued potus and trump re-trashed’ it.
I am biased, henry, but america deserved another 4 years of trump and only 74m agreed
ps
good book, waltz he tells of golf gimmes usually a 12cm putt but trump gives himself ‘chips’ not even on the green yet
His mental/emotional age is overstated by 70 years. Of course he wouldn’t have a pet, it would take away a chunk of the adulation he desperately requires to keep his overblown eggshell ego from collapsing.
A fair chunk of the “A” list also describes Sainty Scotty of the Skidmark down to a tee. I’ll leave it up to you which ones (it’s Monday, I haven’t coffee and laziness abounds until later today.)
Come on, folks: fair suck of the sauce bottle! You all have diagnosed him as a sick man: he’s paranoid, he’s narcissistic, he’s clearly Asperger.
But it’s the injustice of that sees him biting his pillow at night.
He wins 2016 with 3 million less votes than Clinton (possibly with a little help from a hacker – but doesn’t everyone?). He uses the same formula in 2020 with the same result: a loss of the popular vote by 3 million votes BUT he loses the election!
Obviously, Biden has outcheated him!
QED.
A great read indeed and appreciated by the responders, I have a neck pain nodding in agreement, ok a virtual neck pain.
It IS depressing that so many U.S. citizens, having lived through these last four Trump years, have not recognised this, (words alone don`t seem enough), pathetic excuse for a life form, could still believe in him, what does this say about their morals, integrity, honesty, core values, etc, etc, etc. I never had great expectations of this POTUS, but the depths that he has plumbed I could never have foreseen.
There is something seriously wrong, at least in the Republican Party, if such unsuitable candidates can make it through the selection process to be offered to the voters as their next president. There must have been a wealth of background material known about Trump that warning bells would be deafening yet they still backed him and sacrificed the people, trashed the country`s reputation, the office itself in the pursuit of power and money.
I have given up on hoping for a gracious exit from the White House, nothing Trump does or says could be considered gracious. If it takes a team of burley security men to drag him kicking, screaming, biting, in a straight jacket and finally tasered, then that would be confirmation that he never was a fit person to hold office. His price for such damage inflicted on his country over these four years, thankfully it will not extend into eight, is that he will be in a world of pain, (never enough in my book), The pain for his country will likely be generations long.
I believe much of what I have said of Trump, also applies to our fellow, the master marketer, seems he models himself on Trump so ditto the above.
Geoff l think the 2020 popular vote was 6million.
Even bigger proof that Biden cheated. If Clinton had have won the popular vote by 6.000,000, Trump’s victory would have been closer than it was, so this vote should have been closer. In 2016, the polls were wrong and Clinton won. This year, the polls predicted Biden but he won! Don’t you see? Everything points to some heavy cheating.
The Murdoch media empire has criticised Trump very much as posters have here at this site. But Murdoch has also supported Trump despite all that criticism because he is supporting the Republicans even though he might not be a Republic, rather a business man, aggressive and without too much political baggage at first. And some supporters saw him as not Clinton. Besides that. Trump made promises they liked.
But above all, Trump operated as small government. It is a major belief in the Murdoch/IPA/Coalition catechism. Even in the approach to COVID-19. No authoritarian deprivation of individual rights, such as lockdowns.
A PM can go on an overseas holiday. A PM does not work a fire-fighting hose. An energy roadmap will give you a kind of recipe of mismatched ingredients, but it will not tell you how to put it together. The right-wing government will use resources and money for its own purpose to suggest to the populace that the government is doing very well, especially as it maintains its traditional fossil fuels-based economy.
The Morrison government does not take criticism very well. Neither does the Murdoch media empire. It loves to criticise anything smacking of globalism, such as climate change or a pandemic, but is very, very scarce with reality-based solutions. Its IPA based climate change book for 2017 is full of contradictions, according to its editor – hoping that the contradictions will be reconciled. Their approach to climate change depends very heavily on the actions of private industry and the appearance of new technologies not yet discovered.
The Murdoch media is opposed to authoritarian entities, but is itself highly authoritarian. Rudd’s call for an inquiry is well founded.
good one guest any idea who voted for the rabbott to get access to unlimited cash??
Remember lucy’s 4 queensland mates? Her hubby gave them $110m each for the reef? Heard anything??
ps geoff I see you understand the voting system first past the post but you may have trouble with electoral college and how bjelke won time after time with as low as 29% of the vote?
Sorry, wam. I am not very good at Hard Quiz. I have no idea who voted for the Rabbot to have access to unlimited cash. So you could list many things that reveal the peccadilloes of the Coalition and Murdoch media, but I am not sure what that would achieve here. I am sure someone is out there doing it somewhere.
But I reckon that money sent to Lucy’s friends for the GBR went to an address on Kangaroo Island. Do I get a point for that?
wam,
You credit me with the stream-of-consciousness observation: “ps geoff I see you understand the voting system first past the post but you may have trouble with electoral college and how bjelke won time after time with as low as 29% of the vote?”, which I interpret to mean’ “P.S. Geoff, I see you understand the voting system “first past the post” but you may have trouble with “electoral college” and how Bjelke won with figures as low as 29% of the vote.”
No trouble with either.
My electoral college explained all the systems of voting to me sixty years ago but I can keep it simple for you.
If Bjelke could have won at least 29% of the votes, he would have been able to govern without the Liberals (as he did once with the help of a couple of Liberal rats). From a now fading memory, he won coalition government with as little as 19% of the primary vote.
His success, of course, depended ironically on an old Labor gerrymander when the rural areas were populated with workers who gradually drifted to the cities.
But what a man, eh? An intellectual giant in a land of pygmies. Who could forget, “Don’t you worry about that.” or …. ah. bugger it! – I can’t call to mind anything else he said or did (except one he thought he was prime ministerial material… he’d probably have a fair chance these days.