As we all know, late yesterday, Defendant Trump was charged in a superseding indictment in the first Mar a Lago documents case. The grand jury charged him with several additional counts, including a 32nd charge of illegally possessing and mishandling a document containing national security information, in this case, the now infamous Iran attack plan he waved around and apparently showed to several people at his Bedminster golf club in 2021 who were not authorized to see it or hear anything about the details of the secrets it contained. The other charges had to do lying to the government and with conspiring to conceal, alter, or destroy security video that the DOJ had subpoenaed from Defendant Trump in 2022, before the FBI had searched Mar a Lago for classified documents the government believed he hadn’t turned over on June 2. They were correct of course. The FBI found 102 additional classified documents when they searched the place on August 8, 2022.
May the finale come soon - we have so many truly life-threatening problems to solve - can you say climate change? - we don’t need this MAGA Apocalypse sucking the air out of the universe.
Lately it’s been hard not to revert to a smart ass swipe at him. I agree he has a disease, if you can say a devotion to self preservation at any cost is one, which spurs his almost comic ability to offer up the stupidest statements with a straight face comedic.
He needs to face consequences not only because it’s justified to call him on his crimes and charge him, but because there’s the law, and following it isn’t negotiable.
I don't think evil should be reduced to pathology. T-Rump is pure, unadulterated evil. Nothing good can be said about him-- NOTHING. Describing him as sick, as having "a disease," implies we should feel some pity for him, try to understand him .... and thus forgive him? No way! He is entirely undeserving of forgiveness or mercy.
Yes,I agree that he is evil incarnate and an extreme malignant narcissist who has an extreme case of oral dysentery.The world would be a much better place without him and his cohort,Putin.
Maybe it sounds unorthodox or heretical, but possibly this is symbiotic: that is, it could be that the evil choices and the disease (s) are not mutually exclusive, but coexist in an uneasy tension with one another, and then the problem is solved, or rather, the pseudo-problem dissolves. There are in that case, no real paradoxes here, fortunately for the psychiatrists and mental health experts, and for the legal system's prosecutors, who can just proceed to do their jobs.
On the other hand, if anyone wants to maintain it is a real problem, surely that's their right - philosopher Raymond Smullyan explores the possible cruelty of depriving people who are chronic worriers "about nothing," of their imaginary justifications for worrying!* They are happier as worriers, while a state of stoic equanimity ( Grk. "ataraxia") makes some of them panic stricken, and even plunges some into intense despair, all because we blundered in and messed around with their modus vivendi, the ways they have adjusted to their lives!
Also, there is defintely no requirement, no pressing morally appropriate need for `pity,' in the case where we note "Trump has a disease, as described in Chapter 3 of the DSM-V," although arguably compassion is never out of place, right? We commonly say that we need to be able to express compassion for those severely damaged psychologically, which is different from feeling pity - compassion implies we understand that Trump is suffering, and wish things had turned out differently for him in his life, and thus for all the people he has abused, cheated, defrauded, lied to for political gain - but it doesn't therefore serve as a blanket, across the board endorsement of any concrete acts for which he is responsible, including those, how could it do that?
This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes, is a 1980 collection of essays about logic, paradoxes, and philosophy, by Raymond Smullyan.** It was first published by Prentice-Hall. In 2023, it was reissued by What Is the Name of This Press, with a new foreword by Donald Knuth.[1] Kirkus Reviews called it "funny" and "provocative", commending Smullyan's descriptions of Zen and noting that the book could appeal to both children and adults, but conceded that Smullyan's work may be an "acquired taste".[2]
The Washington Post has described "This Book Needs No Title" as "tantalizing",[3] while Michael Dirda has declared that (along with Smullyan's earlier "What is the Name of this Book") it has "the cleverest of all titles", positing that Smullyan may have been inspired by Denis Diderot's "Ceci n'est pas un conte".[4] *****
It's also possible that understanding - defined as comprehension of a disease and its symptoms, or any other phenomenon - presupposes no moral or ethical stance, and generates no moral or ethical conclusions.
I not only agree, I think you have pointed out my gravest concern, the lack of respect for the process of our Democracy. Not just our laws, but his role, his place, in our system of balances and checks. Does he even know what the Constitution, our living document, is? If he does not understand his place in our process, we need to put him in his place, with his crimes dictating what that place is.
"The recordings reveal a man who is fixated on his own celebrity, anxious about losing his status and contemptuous of those who fall from grace. They capture the visceral pleasure he derives from fighting, his willful lack of interest in history, his reluctance to reflect on his life and his belief that most people do not deserve his respect."
Thank you for the link to that article. Trump's deepest fears of humiliation plus his love of fighting plus his great need for adulation should have long since given the DNC some clue as to how to deal with Trump...but even after 8 years, they still seem paralyzed and clueless. I have to admit, I think the Lincoln Project does a much better job of stinging Trump and living in his head.
His utter disregard for ethics, morality and legality is staggering. That millions of Americans continue to idolize him for his abhorrent behavior is demoralizing.
Maybe because he tells them that it’s not their fault if they don’t have a job, don’t make enough money, aren’t able to find love, etc. It’s the fault of big government and the Democrats and liberals and Hillary and the ‘Biden crime family’ and blue states and their wokeness and immigrants taking their jobs away. And he is being persecuted and prosecuted by ‘crazy’ Jack Smith. And whatever is wrong with the country, he can and will fix it. “And I’m doing it all for you.”
"If it angers the Deep State globalists who stole 'ur jobs, so what?"
This guy was on the stage before Trump, and he is even more of a crackpot, track down the video or do some research, there is absolutely no lower limit with this swath of the right-wing:
If anyone ever had a profound need for the healing methods attendant with the meditation training stemming from thousands of years of development within his own cultural heritage, he is that guy.
Think of a Young American for Freedom acolyte melded with the most virulently dogmatic Ayn Rand adherent, a heapin' helpin of fanatical Scientology, Elmer Gantry addressing the hoi polloi who crave salvation with him to point the way, and the most pompous, xenophobic attitudes from Donald Trump - Ramaswamy explicitly identified himself tonight as proud to be compared with Trump, and was even described by some pundit as "most like Trump" of all the dozen or so GOP candidates in Des Moines for their Lincoln Day event - and you have some idea of Ramaswamy, but it really must be seen to be believed. The narrowly focused audience loved it, almost as much as when Trump aimed to shock with his old lie about Democrats wanting "to kill babies even after they're born," etc.
Excerpt from Wiki: "After stepping down as Roivant's chief executive in 2021, Ramaswamy co-founded and became executive chairman of Strive Asset Management, an investment firm that positions itself in opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). *****
"Ramaswamy rose to prominence in conservative circles as an "anti-woke" activist.[1] He started his campaign claiming that the United States is in the middle of a "national identity crisis",[2] which he blamed on what he termed "new secular religions" such as "woke-ism", "climate-ism", "covid-ism", and "gender ideology".[3] He is also a critic of ESG initiatives.[4][5] In April 2023, Forbes estimated his net worth at $630 million; his wealth comes from biotech and financial businesses.[6]"
The conflation of the varying movements and concerns into one flattened "new secular religion" is a debating trick sure to hornswoggle the rubes of all descriptions - and look at Ramaswamy's own education:
"He graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's in biology and later earned a J.D. from Yale Law School."
Still more proof that access to a fine Ivy League education, ending with an advanced degree, is no guarantee of sound reasoning skills, much less a functioning moral compass, an ounce of humility, or any sense of social responsibility. Cf. Brett Kavanaugh, Ted Cruz, Ron De Santis, Ben Shapiro, and that's the short list!
A minor quibble.....Trump refuses to accept limits. 'Does not understand' implies some lack of information, brain power or reasoning. Rather Trump does not want to hear it. He has spent all of his life successfully ignoring rules and continues to do so. I think that when/if he falls it will be a hard crash. As ever, a great piece. Thanks.
I wanna see him in an orange jumpsuit, cuffs and leg irons doing the perp walk. The man is a traitor and seditionist and everything else is frosting on the cake to me. Florence looms nigh!
You got it exactly: Defendant Trump doesn't understand, because he has gotten away with horrific stuff since he was 13 and his father shipped him off to military school, which is what many wealthy families did to keep their errant (polite word) sons out of the justice system. Defendant Trump will continue to act out, noisily, but he's as lost, fundamentally, as Mitch McConnell was the other day.
I am struck, repeatedly, by his falling back on the Presidential Records Act, which he seems to be confusing (or deliberately confusing) with something else. This is just one of the entities he hopes will confuse people. His people, of course... not the people with law degrees. I am still having trouble with the fact that such a man is sucking up all of the political oxygen. One wishes for better enemies than worthless destructive money runners.
I am with you, Margo! I, too, am troubled by his sucking up all of the political oxygen. It strikes me daily, this seems insane and ridiculous by any measure. I want off this ride and can't wait until he is in the rearview mirror. I will have to wait. It is a tawdry, disgusting tale.
This man still thinks that he can bluster and bully his way out of any situation. It has always worked before. He doesn't have any other tricks. He's not playing multi-dimensional chess to Jack Smith's checkers. He is really a very simple--and--sick--person. Justice will come for him. I hope that karma does, too.
It is funny when you write, effectively, "Trump is the one of the top world's best at demagoguery." I cringe at "world's best" as it denotes achievement. Alas, you are absolutely spot on. However, the reason is not his brilliant or talented approach. It is his mental illness that delivers him haplessly to fall into the role, just like he did by winning the Presidency. There was no plan. Trump did not expect to win. It just bloody happened. And he does it every day. Bat shit.............(you finish it, they ALL apply)
Trump seems to be shrinking. I don’t really think his heart or that of his supporters is really in it anymore. I believe the air is coming out of it and the continuing indictments are going to continue to deflate his movement.
I don’t think most psychiatrists or psychologists think that what Trump “has” -- a malignantly narcissistic personality, anti-social thinking, delusions of grandeur, sadomasochism, and more -- is a disease in any conventional sense of the word. “Disease” is more a metaphor for a damaged psyche that will continue to behave in a certain way because that is how it is structured. Call it what you may, the possessor should be kept a long, long way from public service and trust.
The most memorable monsters or villains in fiction are the ones that the reader can sympathize with, in that the monster is a victim of a curse or a circumstance beyond their control. trump willingly chose to become what he is and was mentored by other monsters to develop his persona into what he is today. He deserves no sympathy or even a smidgen of empathy from anyone as he is totally beyond redemption or forgiveness. And sadly, that applies to his enablers and followers…
Donald Trump is the most perfectly imperfect human being of the last 50 years. The set of circumstances required to create such an entity are a perfect storm of money, bad parenting, privilege, immorality, and malice. That 70 million American voters can't see this may be the single-greatest disappointment of my lifetime.
May the finale come soon - we have so many truly life-threatening problems to solve - can you say climate change? - we don’t need this MAGA Apocalypse sucking the air out of the universe.
Lately it’s been hard not to revert to a smart ass swipe at him. I agree he has a disease, if you can say a devotion to self preservation at any cost is one, which spurs his almost comic ability to offer up the stupidest statements with a straight face comedic.
He needs to face consequences not only because it’s justified to call him on his crimes and charge him, but because there’s the law, and following it isn’t negotiable.
I don't think evil should be reduced to pathology. T-Rump is pure, unadulterated evil. Nothing good can be said about him-- NOTHING. Describing him as sick, as having "a disease," implies we should feel some pity for him, try to understand him .... and thus forgive him? No way! He is entirely undeserving of forgiveness or mercy.
You are absolutely right. Calling people like him "sick" is a copout. He's just evil and he chooses to continue to be evil.
Evil like Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin
Although I'm tempted to compare t-Rump to those two monsters of history, he hasn't (yet) approached their level of evil.
Just give him a bit more time.
LET'S NOT. He needs to go...now.
Yes,I agree that he is evil incarnate and an extreme malignant narcissist who has an extreme case of oral dysentery.The world would be a much better place without him and his cohort,Putin.
Maybe it sounds unorthodox or heretical, but possibly this is symbiotic: that is, it could be that the evil choices and the disease (s) are not mutually exclusive, but coexist in an uneasy tension with one another, and then the problem is solved, or rather, the pseudo-problem dissolves. There are in that case, no real paradoxes here, fortunately for the psychiatrists and mental health experts, and for the legal system's prosecutors, who can just proceed to do their jobs.
On the other hand, if anyone wants to maintain it is a real problem, surely that's their right - philosopher Raymond Smullyan explores the possible cruelty of depriving people who are chronic worriers "about nothing," of their imaginary justifications for worrying!* They are happier as worriers, while a state of stoic equanimity ( Grk. "ataraxia") makes some of them panic stricken, and even plunges some into intense despair, all because we blundered in and messed around with their modus vivendi, the ways they have adjusted to their lives!
Also, there is defintely no requirement, no pressing morally appropriate need for `pity,' in the case where we note "Trump has a disease, as described in Chapter 3 of the DSM-V," although arguably compassion is never out of place, right? We commonly say that we need to be able to express compassion for those severely damaged psychologically, which is different from feeling pity - compassion implies we understand that Trump is suffering, and wish things had turned out differently for him in his life, and thus for all the people he has abused, cheated, defrauded, lied to for political gain - but it doesn't therefore serve as a blanket, across the board endorsement of any concrete acts for which he is responsible, including those, how could it do that?
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Book_Needs_No_Title
First edition
This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes, is a 1980 collection of essays about logic, paradoxes, and philosophy, by Raymond Smullyan.** It was first published by Prentice-Hall. In 2023, it was reissued by What Is the Name of This Press, with a new foreword by Donald Knuth.[1] Kirkus Reviews called it "funny" and "provocative", commending Smullyan's descriptions of Zen and noting that the book could appeal to both children and adults, but conceded that Smullyan's work may be an "acquired taste".[2]
The Washington Post has described "This Book Needs No Title" as "tantalizing",[3] while Michael Dirda has declared that (along with Smullyan's earlier "What is the Name of this Book") it has "the cleverest of all titles", positing that Smullyan may have been inspired by Denis Diderot's "Ceci n'est pas un conte".[4] *****
It's also possible that understanding - defined as comprehension of a disease and its symptoms, or any other phenomenon - presupposes no moral or ethical stance, and generates no moral or ethical conclusions.
**en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan
His disease is not cureable!
It’s called sociopathy. A serious character disorder. Prison is one treatment.
I not only agree, I think you have pointed out my gravest concern, the lack of respect for the process of our Democracy. Not just our laws, but his role, his place, in our system of balances and checks. Does he even know what the Constitution, our living document, is? If he does not understand his place in our process, we need to put him in his place, with his crimes dictating what that place is.
This is an old article that discusses what 'drives' Donald Trump.
I found it compelling and probably the most on-spot report on him ever done.
I'm including it as a free to read link because I think that even after all this time,
people should know what kind of son of a bitch they're dealing with.
"What Drives Donald Trump? Fear of Losing Status, Tapes Show"
https://tinyurl.com/4hp29thh
"The recordings reveal a man who is fixated on his own celebrity, anxious about losing his status and contemptuous of those who fall from grace. They capture the visceral pleasure he derives from fighting, his willful lack of interest in history, his reluctance to reflect on his life and his belief that most people do not deserve his respect."
Perfect!
Thank you for the link to that article. Trump's deepest fears of humiliation plus his love of fighting plus his great need for adulation should have long since given the DNC some clue as to how to deal with Trump...but even after 8 years, they still seem paralyzed and clueless. I have to admit, I think the Lincoln Project does a much better job of stinging Trump and living in his head.
His utter disregard for ethics, morality and legality is staggering. That millions of Americans continue to idolize him for his abhorrent behavior is demoralizing.
He makes up his own rules and laws. Society’s rules don’t apply to him.
Agreed. But why are so many people enthralled by his detestable behavior instead of disgusted?
Maybe because he tells them that it’s not their fault if they don’t have a job, don’t make enough money, aren’t able to find love, etc. It’s the fault of big government and the Democrats and liberals and Hillary and the ‘Biden crime family’ and blue states and their wokeness and immigrants taking their jobs away. And he is being persecuted and prosecuted by ‘crazy’ Jack Smith. And whatever is wrong with the country, he can and will fix it. “And I’m doing it all for you.”
(Anyone want to add to this list?)
"If it angers the Deep State globalists who stole 'ur jobs, so what?"
This guy was on the stage before Trump, and he is even more of a crackpot, track down the video or do some research, there is absolutely no lower limit with this swath of the right-wing:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivek_Ramaswamy
If anyone ever had a profound need for the healing methods attendant with the meditation training stemming from thousands of years of development within his own cultural heritage, he is that guy.
Think of a Young American for Freedom acolyte melded with the most virulently dogmatic Ayn Rand adherent, a heapin' helpin of fanatical Scientology, Elmer Gantry addressing the hoi polloi who crave salvation with him to point the way, and the most pompous, xenophobic attitudes from Donald Trump - Ramaswamy explicitly identified himself tonight as proud to be compared with Trump, and was even described by some pundit as "most like Trump" of all the dozen or so GOP candidates in Des Moines for their Lincoln Day event - and you have some idea of Ramaswamy, but it really must be seen to be believed. The narrowly focused audience loved it, almost as much as when Trump aimed to shock with his old lie about Democrats wanting "to kill babies even after they're born," etc.
Excerpt from Wiki: "After stepping down as Roivant's chief executive in 2021, Ramaswamy co-founded and became executive chairman of Strive Asset Management, an investment firm that positions itself in opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). *****
"Ramaswamy rose to prominence in conservative circles as an "anti-woke" activist.[1] He started his campaign claiming that the United States is in the middle of a "national identity crisis",[2] which he blamed on what he termed "new secular religions" such as "woke-ism", "climate-ism", "covid-ism", and "gender ideology".[3] He is also a critic of ESG initiatives.[4][5] In April 2023, Forbes estimated his net worth at $630 million; his wealth comes from biotech and financial businesses.[6]"
The conflation of the varying movements and concerns into one flattened "new secular religion" is a debating trick sure to hornswoggle the rubes of all descriptions - and look at Ramaswamy's own education:
"He graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's in biology and later earned a J.D. from Yale Law School."
Still more proof that access to a fine Ivy League education, ending with an advanced degree, is no guarantee of sound reasoning skills, much less a functioning moral compass, an ounce of humility, or any sense of social responsibility. Cf. Brett Kavanaugh, Ted Cruz, Ron De Santis, Ben Shapiro, and that's the short list!
They identify with him.
Yes, that too unfortunately
A minor quibble.....Trump refuses to accept limits. 'Does not understand' implies some lack of information, brain power or reasoning. Rather Trump does not want to hear it. He has spent all of his life successfully ignoring rules and continues to do so. I think that when/if he falls it will be a hard crash. As ever, a great piece. Thanks.
Lord, hear our prayer. Let him fall long and hard so that America can regain her equilibrium.
I wanna see him in an orange jumpsuit, cuffs and leg irons doing the perp walk. The man is a traitor and seditionist and everything else is frosting on the cake to me. Florence looms nigh!
You got it exactly: Defendant Trump doesn't understand, because he has gotten away with horrific stuff since he was 13 and his father shipped him off to military school, which is what many wealthy families did to keep their errant (polite word) sons out of the justice system. Defendant Trump will continue to act out, noisily, but he's as lost, fundamentally, as Mitch McConnell was the other day.
I am struck, repeatedly, by his falling back on the Presidential Records Act, which he seems to be confusing (or deliberately confusing) with something else. This is just one of the entities he hopes will confuse people. His people, of course... not the people with law degrees. I am still having trouble with the fact that such a man is sucking up all of the political oxygen. One wishes for better enemies than worthless destructive money runners.
I am with you, Margo! I, too, am troubled by his sucking up all of the political oxygen. It strikes me daily, this seems insane and ridiculous by any measure. I want off this ride and can't wait until he is in the rearview mirror. I will have to wait. It is a tawdry, disgusting tale.
Of all the instances of trump's blatant contempt for facts, I think the most teling—because it was so petty and unnecessary—was his doctored hurricane map. https://i.insider.com/6202442efa4f1f00182668c1?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/president-trump-dorian-map-sharpie/
lots of competition in this area, but the hurricane map thing has a good shot at being considered the FUNNIEST.
Yes. Lest we forget his moronic pathology in that moment.
This man still thinks that he can bluster and bully his way out of any situation. It has always worked before. He doesn't have any other tricks. He's not playing multi-dimensional chess to Jack Smith's checkers. He is really a very simple--and--sick--person. Justice will come for him. I hope that karma does, too.
It is funny when you write, effectively, "Trump is the one of the top world's best at demagoguery." I cringe at "world's best" as it denotes achievement. Alas, you are absolutely spot on. However, the reason is not his brilliant or talented approach. It is his mental illness that delivers him haplessly to fall into the role, just like he did by winning the Presidency. There was no plan. Trump did not expect to win. It just bloody happened. And he does it every day. Bat shit.............(you finish it, they ALL apply)
Trump seems to be shrinking. I don’t really think his heart or that of his supporters is really in it anymore. I believe the air is coming out of it and the continuing indictments are going to continue to deflate his movement.
Kevin, i agree. He knows he is cornered.
Revolution failed.
Odds are he will not get reelected.
Prison is on the horizon
Suicide is an option
But i worry about the large number of people that continue to support him.
Particularly those that seem to think he was sent by their god.
Is 40 plus percent of the US mentally ill?
I don’t think most psychiatrists or psychologists think that what Trump “has” -- a malignantly narcissistic personality, anti-social thinking, delusions of grandeur, sadomasochism, and more -- is a disease in any conventional sense of the word. “Disease” is more a metaphor for a damaged psyche that will continue to behave in a certain way because that is how it is structured. Call it what you may, the possessor should be kept a long, long way from public service and trust.
The most memorable monsters or villains in fiction are the ones that the reader can sympathize with, in that the monster is a victim of a curse or a circumstance beyond their control. trump willingly chose to become what he is and was mentored by other monsters to develop his persona into what he is today. He deserves no sympathy or even a smidgen of empathy from anyone as he is totally beyond redemption or forgiveness. And sadly, that applies to his enablers and followers…
Donald Trump is the most perfectly imperfect human being of the last 50 years. The set of circumstances required to create such an entity are a perfect storm of money, bad parenting, privilege, immorality, and malice. That 70 million American voters can't see this may be the single-greatest disappointment of my lifetime.
How is this going to end? Hopefully he doesn’t bring the country into deeper conflict
Serh, You correctly identified the danger