As you’ve stated, we’ve never had a Mussolini type crazy at the helm and I think it has flummoxed reporters to the point of paralysis. Or, are news organizations looking at their bottom line because 35% of the US are still supporting this psychopath? I think the real story is the undying support from Republican sycophants who long ago knew this man was a dangerous whacko and stood by him. They should be the ones standing up for democracy and screaming it from the rooftops. Adam Schiff said something along the lines of them being tied together with a steel cord. I hope history will be very unkind to them.
I believe that is true. Think of how many stories they've missed because they're hellbent on advancing the narrative of their Rethuglican Bully Daddies.
His behavior fits the diagnosis of malignant, extreme narcissism, reaching the level of psycopathy:
“A malignant narcissist is someone with a particularly dangerous type of narcissistic personality disorder. Along with the typical traits of a narcissist, "these patients also display prominent anti-social behavior, tend toward paranoid features, and take pleasure in their aggression and sadism toward others," according to a paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Among the many types of narcissism, malignant narcissism is described as the one with "the greatest level of severity."
These people come unhinged and aggressive, even violent when the fake persona they have built for themselves is threatened. This has happened in Trumps past. Ivana accused him of tearing out a chunk of her hair, ripping her clothes then throwing her on the bed and raping her after a scalp reduction technique done by a doctor she recommended went badly. I have read that she told others about this at the time and she included this in her divorce deposition. She later kind of walked it back by saying she didn’t mean rape in a criminal or literal sense but she didn’t take back her description of what he did which was clearly rape. Ivana also made it clear that this happened only once. Trump’s lawyer (Michael Cohen) falsely claimed that a husband cannot rape his spouse which he later had to correct
This kind of dangerous behavior is the classic response of a malignant narcissist whose image is threatened. That Trump’s behavior is so off the wall now is not necessarily a sign of dementia or insanity. It is what we should expect from a malignant narcissist who knows their world is collapsing — they will engage in denial at times but resort to aggression at others and become extremely irrational. And they will never, ever care about the welfare of others. WH insiders say that Trump reads the polls and knows his financial misdeeds are being exposed so is more panicked, irrational and dangerous than he has ever been.
I simply don't understand the chaos in the press over the underlying issue of Trump's behavior. He's erratic, angry, delusional, messianic, fatalistic, hubristic and about a million other things bouncing around moment to moment. Are there those in the media who don't see this or simply don't know how to address it within the confines of their news department's rules? It seems to me that Trump has thrown all the rules for behavior by a President out the window and done it since before day-one. Why are the press so reticent about calling it out for what it is?
If the newest polls are to be believed, the voting public is not having that same reticence about judging Trump - which is heartening.
Thank you Eric. Many, perhaps most journalists have failed the test of covering the Republican party and the current head of that party. Just a short lifetime ago we were screaming about his tax fraud, before that the threat of stolen election; before that Trump's disregard for the military, before that, well we all know the list. While I do see some improvement with the questioning directed at this administration, there is a second concern. What are we missing?
What is worse is the toxic virus of sociopathic behavior he has loosed upon the populace. The incivility, violence, insane ideas that are tolerated and adopted as new norms are directly tied to his example and normalization.
The press sometimes remind me of seagulls at the beach, each standing solitary and bold in formation–– until one of them gets scared then off and away they all fly.
When will a journalist ask, "What did tRump think of the socialized medical care he received at Walter Reed? Was it worth the $750 he paid in taxes????"
Honestly I think that Covid-19 is the number two disease hurting America right now. The number one disease we all need to be very concerned about is Trump's malignant narcissism. As you point out, this man is clearly out of his mind, perhaps now enhanced by super steroids cruising through his body. Trump still has the nuclear codes. We have many adversaries around the world. If the average American doesn't think we are in a very vulnerable state right now, then clearly they are not paying attention. The press unwilling to call Trump out for what he is are doing a great disservice to this nation. I just hope one day when there is a Democratic president that the press gives him or her a pass for wearing a tan suit.
Mental health professionals don’t want to make a pronouncement on Trump's mental health without personally examining him. But his main disorder is extreme, toxic narcissism, which is diagnosed by a person’s behavior. People with that disorder build up a fake image of themselves and work hard to maintain it, to go to great lengths to project that image, etc. They can be very charming in service of that goal but are vicious when challenged. If they realize that image is being destroyed they get very dangerous and can be very irrational. They don’t have to be literally “insane” to act the way Trump is acting, they just need to have an extreme personality disorder like narcissism.
If you read the best guesses of psychologists and psychiatrists who have been willing to offer an opinion they agree that Trump is an extreme narcissist. His behavior fits that to a T. He is reading the polls and knows he is in grave danger of losing and if that happens of being in serious legal and financial peril.
Most of these media fools helped enable this embarrassment INTO the White House.
To state the obvious facts about Trump now would also require acknowledgement of their own complicity in this dire state of affairs. Pigs will fly first.
“Today, there are two truths in play: Trump fits the textbook definition of a psychopath, and newsrooms don’t want to touch that story.”
This ☝️ is pretty much it in a nutshell. It reminds me of an excerpt in Mary Trump’s book describing Donald Trump’s father, who gradually declined into dementia. They were all embarrassed of him, but let him go about his business as best he could. So I’m just waiting until Trump breaks out the shoe-polish-black hair color. It’s only a matter of time.
The usual bladda bladda bladda about how we do not need to inspire panic in the populace, so let's play things down. It is not working to calm the nation.
MH appears to have the disease of access. Maybe it is a personality disorder. But it presents with frequent normalization of unacceptable behavior occasionally interrupted by a story that serves the public.
The NYT in general has the same approach. One day excoriating trump for tax avoidance, evasion and fraud, the next a puff piece about the "genius" politician and strategy making it look like a close election. Good news? At least the NYT isn't going to the Mid-west anymore interviewing "real Americans" at diners in the middle of the day, and then subjecting us to the views of mis-informed trump supporters.
As you’ve stated, we’ve never had a Mussolini type crazy at the helm and I think it has flummoxed reporters to the point of paralysis. Or, are news organizations looking at their bottom line because 35% of the US are still supporting this psychopath? I think the real story is the undying support from Republican sycophants who long ago knew this man was a dangerous whacko and stood by him. They should be the ones standing up for democracy and screaming it from the rooftops. Adam Schiff said something along the lines of them being tied together with a steel cord. I hope history will be very unkind to them.
DC press doesn’t like breaking tradition in how it covers WH—especially a GOP WH
So I guess that means the DC press doesn't care about the other 65% of Americans.
I believe that is true. Think of how many stories they've missed because they're hellbent on advancing the narrative of their Rethuglican Bully Daddies.
His behavior fits the diagnosis of malignant, extreme narcissism, reaching the level of psycopathy:
“A malignant narcissist is someone with a particularly dangerous type of narcissistic personality disorder. Along with the typical traits of a narcissist, "these patients also display prominent anti-social behavior, tend toward paranoid features, and take pleasure in their aggression and sadism toward others," according to a paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Among the many types of narcissism, malignant narcissism is described as the one with "the greatest level of severity."
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/malignant-narcissist-signs
These people come unhinged and aggressive, even violent when the fake persona they have built for themselves is threatened. This has happened in Trumps past. Ivana accused him of tearing out a chunk of her hair, ripping her clothes then throwing her on the bed and raping her after a scalp reduction technique done by a doctor she recommended went badly. I have read that she told others about this at the time and she included this in her divorce deposition. She later kind of walked it back by saying she didn’t mean rape in a criminal or literal sense but she didn’t take back her description of what he did which was clearly rape. Ivana also made it clear that this happened only once. Trump’s lawyer (Michael Cohen) falsely claimed that a husband cannot rape his spouse which he later had to correct
This kind of dangerous behavior is the classic response of a malignant narcissist whose image is threatened. That Trump’s behavior is so off the wall now is not necessarily a sign of dementia or insanity. It is what we should expect from a malignant narcissist who knows their world is collapsing — they will engage in denial at times but resort to aggression at others and become extremely irrational. And they will never, ever care about the welfare of others. WH insiders say that Trump reads the polls and knows his financial misdeeds are being exposed so is more panicked, irrational and dangerous than he has ever been.
I simply don't understand the chaos in the press over the underlying issue of Trump's behavior. He's erratic, angry, delusional, messianic, fatalistic, hubristic and about a million other things bouncing around moment to moment. Are there those in the media who don't see this or simply don't know how to address it within the confines of their news department's rules? It seems to me that Trump has thrown all the rules for behavior by a President out the window and done it since before day-one. Why are the press so reticent about calling it out for what it is?
If the newest polls are to be believed, the voting public is not having that same reticence about judging Trump - which is heartening.
Thank you Eric. Many, perhaps most journalists have failed the test of covering the Republican party and the current head of that party. Just a short lifetime ago we were screaming about his tax fraud, before that the threat of stolen election; before that Trump's disregard for the military, before that, well we all know the list. While I do see some improvement with the questioning directed at this administration, there is a second concern. What are we missing?
Trump does weirdly succeed in “flooding the zone” w/ really bad news
What is worse is the toxic virus of sociopathic behavior he has loosed upon the populace. The incivility, violence, insane ideas that are tolerated and adopted as new norms are directly tied to his example and normalization.
The press sometimes remind me of seagulls at the beach, each standing solitary and bold in formation–– until one of them gets scared then off and away they all fly.
When will a journalist ask, "What did tRump think of the socialized medical care he received at Walter Reed? Was it worth the $750 he paid in taxes????"
Honestly I think that Covid-19 is the number two disease hurting America right now. The number one disease we all need to be very concerned about is Trump's malignant narcissism. As you point out, this man is clearly out of his mind, perhaps now enhanced by super steroids cruising through his body. Trump still has the nuclear codes. We have many adversaries around the world. If the average American doesn't think we are in a very vulnerable state right now, then clearly they are not paying attention. The press unwilling to call Trump out for what he is are doing a great disservice to this nation. I just hope one day when there is a Democratic president that the press gives him or her a pass for wearing a tan suit.
Mental health professionals don’t want to make a pronouncement on Trump's mental health without personally examining him. But his main disorder is extreme, toxic narcissism, which is diagnosed by a person’s behavior. People with that disorder build up a fake image of themselves and work hard to maintain it, to go to great lengths to project that image, etc. They can be very charming in service of that goal but are vicious when challenged. If they realize that image is being destroyed they get very dangerous and can be very irrational. They don’t have to be literally “insane” to act the way Trump is acting, they just need to have an extreme personality disorder like narcissism.
If you read the best guesses of psychologists and psychiatrists who have been willing to offer an opinion they agree that Trump is an extreme narcissist. His behavior fits that to a T. He is reading the polls and knows he is in grave danger of losing and if that happens of being in serious legal and financial peril.
Remember, he is all these things and more, but completely protected by the Senators in his party.
Most of these media fools helped enable this embarrassment INTO the White House.
To state the obvious facts about Trump now would also require acknowledgement of their own complicity in this dire state of affairs. Pigs will fly first.
“Today, there are two truths in play: Trump fits the textbook definition of a psychopath, and newsrooms don’t want to touch that story.”
This ☝️ is pretty much it in a nutshell. It reminds me of an excerpt in Mary Trump’s book describing Donald Trump’s father, who gradually declined into dementia. They were all embarrassed of him, but let him go about his business as best he could. So I’m just waiting until Trump breaks out the shoe-polish-black hair color. It’s only a matter of time.
Great song choice, very mellow.
Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers - "That's What Makes Us Great" (feat. Bruce Springsteen)
https://youtu.be/zZ24d71EfLY?list=RDzZ24d71EfLY
The usual bladda bladda bladda about how we do not need to inspire panic in the populace, so let's play things down. It is not working to calm the nation.
MH appears to have the disease of access. Maybe it is a personality disorder. But it presents with frequent normalization of unacceptable behavior occasionally interrupted by a story that serves the public.
The NYT in general has the same approach. One day excoriating trump for tax avoidance, evasion and fraud, the next a puff piece about the "genius" politician and strategy making it look like a close election. Good news? At least the NYT isn't going to the Mid-west anymore interviewing "real Americans" at diners in the middle of the day, and then subjecting us to the views of mis-informed trump supporters.
"Balance" and "Objectivity doncha know.
Yep, Dr Lee has been making very persuasive case. Press won’t touch it
Brilliant Nancy. Thank you.