Trump is unhinged tyranny writ large. Hope lies in heeding this huge warning signal — resist, says psychologist, Lyn Bender
HE HAS been called, impulsive, infantile, unhinged, misogynistic, grandiose, sociopathic and malignantly narcissistic. Also ignorant, ill-informed, a danger to the planet, a danger to world stability and a delusional buffoon. The man who demonstrates these frightening traits and is obsessed with himself now has the nuclear code
Observing Trump in his first days as president of the United States is like watching a disaster movie unfold. He is an angry child who has been granted massive power. Americans who did not receive the promised trickle-down spoils of a globalised economy rejected the old establishment gods and voted for the new Satan. They may soon experience the poverty of their bargain as Obamacare vanishes, factories stay closed and the environment deteriorates.
A madman dwells in the White House and we are all in trouble.
Meanwhile ...
The Economist has downgraded the U.S. rating to that of a flawed democracy.
The Doomsday Clock has been revised from 3 minutes to 2.5 minutes to midnight.
Worldwide, millions of women have rallied against Trump as his approval ratings reach record lows for a new President.
Greenpeace activists have unfurled a RESIST banner on a crane near the White House.
Airport chaos and protests are growing worldwide, due to the refugee ban.
Furthermore ...
Trump’s biggest ever celebration was a flop.
As Donald Trump sat morosely, hunched at his lacklustre Make America Great Again Inaugural Concert, his facial features came to rest in an aggrieved brown study of disappointment. His downturned mouth sank below its customary disdain, as his hooded eyes stared vacantly at the stage. The soon to be anointed President nodded, keeping slow time to the mournful sounds of good old country and western. Like all narcissistic dreams, reality was less satisfying than fantasy.
This is how I interpret the demeanour and reactions of Donald Trump, the 45th President of America. Despite having a cake that replicated Obama’s cake, his celebration party was not feeling that great. His nemesis, Obama, was still ahead in the popularity stakes and Clinton had won the popular vote.
Some men who visit my practice rooms have expressed a sense of emptiness despite overt success. One middle-aged man frequently dreamt that he was on a grand podium and crowds were cheering and hailing him. He did not know what he had done to gain this adulation. It was the applause and elevation above the common and admiring throng that he longed for. Behind this fantasy was the belief that acclaim would be the antidote to feeling like a nobody.
Despite his bragged-of triumphs, golden tower, hotels and golf courses, Trump cuts a pathetic figure.
Days until achieving MAJORITY disapproval from @Gallup
— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) January 29, 2017
Reagan: 727
Bush I: 1336
Clinton: 573
Bush II: 1205
Obama: 936
Trump: 8. days. pic.twitter.com/kv2fy0Qsbp
He has the forward head posture of a stooping, aging man in denial. With shoulders puffed up with shoulder pads, he tries to live out a fantasy of everlasting youth, virility and crude macho strength. His self-belief is pathological and a cover for immense, repressed self-doubt. He defends with delusional lies. He demolishes those who contradict him with character assassination that could be applied to him. You crook, you liar, you should be locked up, says the crook and liar. His declarations are so outrageous and so public he is constantly in the news. He prefers to arouse anger than to be ignored. Bad publicity is better than obscurity. He prefers applause, but his oxygen is controversy and pugilism. His father, Fred, instructed his son to be a killer. It is a brutal metaphor that rings true in the words and actions of Donald Trump. Killers overpower or make a killing.
A man like Donald would be unlikely to accept therapy, except in the service of manipulation. He sees flaws as never residing in himself. Others are always to blame. I did not win the popular vote because 3 million illegals voted for the other side, he whines. No matter how much evidence has been presented to the contrary, he asserts his “alternative facts”. I looked out and saw millions of people. The media are dishonest. The photographs showing Obama’s (crowd) was bigger are false news.
Trump, "Alternative Facts" and the Women's March: A closer look by Seth Meyers, Late Night Live, 23 January, 2017.
Trump brings his own applauders. Standing in front of the CIA Memorial Wall he bragged that he had the biggest inaugural crowds. He boasted about his youthfulness. I feel young: 30, 35 or 39.
Growing old does not fit with the fantasy image he sees in the gold-framed mirror of his delusions.
Trump did not observe the protocol of allowing the CIA staff to sit.
Instead, he crowed about getting a standing ovation. Intelligence officials contradict this.
Deep down, Trump fears that he will be exposed as bogus and illegitimate. He is an actor playing a fantasised president.
“It’s impossible to keep him focused on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandizement for more than a few minutes,” said Tony Schwartz, ghost writer of Trump: The Art of the Deal.
In his first interview in the White House, he is obsessed with his own ratings and popularity.
Meanwhile satirists are having a field day.
'Inauguration Marred by Deranged Man Walking Right Onto Centre Stage' ~ The Shovel
"His cabinet is from opposite land and his presidency is like watching a toddler playing with a gun." ~ Bill Maher
Alex Baldwin has been hailed as brilliantly impersonating a president who is already impersonating a president.
"So that's it. Donald Trump is president. He knows the launch codes, and he hasn't tweeted them yet, so far so good!" ~ Stephen Colbert
Monologue: WTF is going on? | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO). Published 22 January, 2017.
Donald Trump is the eruption of the worst America can offer. The Grand Old Party – The Republicans – have backed him and released at least $12 billion to pay for his wall — fantasy. He is their man. They have vomited him up from all the potential candidates of their conservative tribes. He is busily signing executive orders that implement the Republican wish list. Trump is exacting revenge for his wounded narcissism
These tyrant decrees destroy health care, restore abortion-funding bans, authorise a Mexican wall, suppress climate science and fast track fossil fuel business.
Trump’s executive order immediately put a (temporary) ban on refugees from seven Muslim countries.
The Washington Post screams:
‘Trump’s erratic first week was among the most alarming in history.’
Waleed Aly has summed up the first week of the Trump’s disastrous executive orders.
Jon Stewart reads Trump's next batch of Executive Orders on the Late Show 31 January 2017.
Previous behaviours are highly predicative in Psychology. Without soul searching and intense effort to change, history repeats itself. Abusers keeps abusing, especially if the abuse is rewarded.
Trump has been rewarded with the presidency!
The sociopathic narcissist will not change. Trump’s advocacy of “forgotten people” is manipulation. Incapable of empathy, he only cares about his own shallow wounded feelings. If you echo him, you are “loved”. Oppose him and you’re fired. Acting Attorney General Sally Yates has been accused of betrayal and dismissed after she directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend President Donald Trump’s executive refugee and immigration ban. Yates was not convinced the ban was lawful.
Heaven help America.
Trump has a reptilian conscience. Placating Trump is as foolhardy as swimming with a crocodile, or appeasing Hitler with Czechoslovakia. Australia’s government has been simperingly vapid in its response. World leaders protest and Turnbull declares “it’s not my job”
Trump is unhinged tyranny writ large. Hope lies in heeding this huge warning signal:
RESIST!
Lyn Bender is a professional psychologist. You can follow Lyn on Twitter @Lynestel.
Editor's Note: you can follow #Resist being livestreamed on Twitter below:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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