Trump is aware only of a world of one person — everyone else is scenery and shadow people. I think he was completely destroyed as a child and envisions a world where all worship and admire him. And almost all of the GOP are literally drunk with power and can no longer think rationally.
A high dopamine level generally refers to an excess of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. This can lead to feelings of euphoria, increased energy, and heightened sex drive, but also potentially cause issues with impulse control, aggression, and sleep problems. While dopamine is crucial for motivation and reward, excessive levels can disrupt normal brain function and lead to negative consequences.
Sad to witness this long- planned and very precise destruction of the United States of America, see the multitude of savagely destroyed and crucial lynchpins one by one, and pundits resort to blaming it all on the gauche and grinning used car salesman/realty pimp who was groomed to sit as decoy during this swiss-watch click-down, very sophisticated, sabotage. His election was part of the plan. Hard to believe that anyone could believe that the cerebral capacity of Trump could even pretend to orchestrate this scope or precision. And now, all are busy off key offering their diagnosis of the deterioriorazation of his current adolescent, tantrum-laden behavior. And all are flat wrong. Simply, he is a sociopath, as are all the CEO's who demanded and succeeded to have sociopathology removed from all medical/psychiatric texts, once they were accurately determined to be so. Psychopath? A keenly talented psychiatrist will tell you that a psychopath's real target is him/herself. (Most are men however, is closely linked to emotional maturity). Psychopaths are made, not born. Many standard docs believe psychopaths are born that way. Busy scanning the gene sheets, ignoring that the gene spreadsheets by recent study will print out the current, evolved pattern. Far more dangerous to others is a sociopath. But now, sociopaths are invisible ninjas, existing but unseen.
I think that's highly possible - his memory issues, confabulation, meandering and circuitous speech, very short attention span, irritability... But then he's also very sly, like Uncle Junior in the Sopranos.
This has proabably been his mental and emotional profile since he was a kid. With some mental impairments evaluations require a "longitudinal" history because some impairments are life long.
Need his medical record, school records.
I used to get experts who'd testify that stuff like seratonin was the basis for a number of impairments, like chronic fatigue, other somatic impairments. But recent developments are able to identify via brain mapping, which is new and is a state of change.
I go back to when most kids were misdiagnosed because we didn't have the tool that we have now. I'm so old that "experts" knew nothing about learning disabilities, etc.
I'm confident that a number of controversial mental diagnoses can be clarified by this study. Has to be substsatiated clinically.
I find the interviews from Trump's twenties and thirties noteworthy, where his speech is coherent and thoughtful, demonstrating a great deal of intelligence and thoughtfulness in his responses to various topics. I'm not sure if he's putting on a show with his current speech pattern, memory issues, confabulation, circuitous, etc. In many ways, it looks like Uncle Junior.
Bipolar is controllable, is quite common. When I worked for SSA I heard many hearings with a bi-polar diagnosis established in the record. There's no evidence that he has the kind of depression that is required for a diagnosis. A high per centage of undiagnosed bi-polar folks "self medicate." Trump doesn't drink. Adderall, which is the only medication that he may/may not be taking does not control it. May have an effect like Ritalin, that controls similar behavior in children diagnosed with hypertensive disease.
Dopamine is not a hormone. It is a brain neurotransmitter that cannot be measured directly. Bipolar disorder is controllable to the extent that people take their medication, and many stop their medication on their own, or, in many cases, never begin taking medication. Episodes of depression are not required for a diagnosis in Type 1 bipolar. People with bipolar disorder sometimes self-medicate, but they usually do not tell us about that.
I diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders for a living. What do you do?
I didn't render a diagnosis -- just said I bet he has elevated levels.
But there is NO clinical evidence of a bipolar disorder.
Read the NIH link I attached. I was an administrative law judge and over the years I took testimony in thousands of similar cases, with experts like psychiatrists and neurologists.
I also heard Defense Act cases for people who alleged mental problems for 20 years. Experts can pick up dopamine levels from imaging techniques like PET scans and MRI, as well as electrochemical techniques like fast-scan cyclic voltammetry,
12.04 Depressive, bipolar and related disorders (see 12.00B3), satisfied by A and B, or A and C:
Medical documentation of the requirements of paragraph 1 or 2:
Depressive disorder, characterized by five or more of the following:
Depressed mood;
Diminished interest in almost all activities;
Appetite disturbance with change in weight;
Sleep disturbance;
Observable psychomotor agitation or retardation;
Decreased energy;
Feelings of guilt or worthlessness;
Difficulty concentrating or thinking; or
Thoughts of death or suicide.
Bipolar disorder, characterized by three or more of the following:
Pressured speech;
Flight of ideas;
Inflated self-esteem;
Decreased need for sleep;
Distractibility;
Involvement in activities that have a high probability of painful consequences that are not recognized; or
Increase in goal-directed activity or psychomotor agitation.
AND
Extreme limitation of one, or marked limitation of two, of the following areas of mental functioning (see 12.00F):
Understand, remember, or apply information (see 12.00E1).
Interact with others (see 12.00E2).
Concentrate, persist, or maintain pace (see 12.00E3).
Adapt or manage oneself (see 12.00E4).
OR
Your mental disorder in this listing category is “serious and persistent;” that is, you have a medically documented history of the existence of the disorder over a period of at least 2 years, and there is evidence of both:
Medical treatment, mental health therapy, psychosocial support(s), or a highly structured setting(s) that is ongoing and that diminishes the symptoms and signs of your mental disorder (see 12.00G2b); and
Marginal adjustment, that is, you have minimal capacity to adapt to changes in your environment or to demands that are not already part of your daily life (see 12.00G2c).
Not enough evidence for a diagnosis.
I'd accept that he has a narcissitic personality disorder iof he were examined -- but he hasn't been.
I think he has Antisocial Personality Disorder (this used to be called Sociopathy or Psychopathy), an untreatable condition that impairs or eliminates the functioning of what we usually call a "conscience". This is in addition to what I believe to be Bipolar 1 disorder.
These two conditions in combination are very dangerous to the patient and usually very harmful to others.
Hey Daniel, for a more thorough perspective on dopamine (and other -motive neurotransmitters) in its/their quite complex roles - ie, dopamine can be more like not-yet-satiated desire than euphoria - I suggest Max Bennett’s “A Brief History of Intelligence”.
Quite current, well cited, and best synthesis of neuroscience, evolution, and systems thinking (mostly the human phylogeny v AI, with asides to other species ) that I’ve read to date. Enjoy. MARK
All of the above. I don’t think it’s any one item of the agenda. There are multiple factions, who have varying reasons to destroy democracy in America. They are coalescing into a unified front. Pretty scary. They all belong in jail. Most of them seem to represent the worst of America.
I suspect it's a combination of all of the above, although I suspect that the "burning rage and embarrassment" theory and the "Neo-Nazi racist" theory are at the top of the list. But what I find even more baffling is the number of seemingly respectable and reasonably intelligent people out there who are still supporting this crap. I guess forty years of right-wing brainwashing really does work. But as I've said before on other forums, I don't think anything substantive will change until the country hits an actual stage of "rock bottom" and so many people die of starvation, disease and government torture/abuse, and so much land will be destroyed by climate change-related disasters that there's very little left that's worth saving. At that point, the psychopaths will have nothing to rule over and those still surviving will fade away one by one. Sounds bleak, to be sure. I'd love to be proven wrong but this certainly seems to be where we're headed right now. The human race in general failed to understand when it was well off.
Noisemaker: It's super-frustrating that people of intelligence fall for conspiracy theories and cult-like language and messaging, but it's undeniable. I share your frustration with it. My understanding, as a physician, is that it is a psychological phenomenon along the lines that some people are susceptible to hypnosis, and some are not. Book to read: Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. People are prone to doing things that are not in their best interest, because our memories of events and reasoning are skewed in such a way that even things we didn't like we will remember as something we are willing to do again. (This wreaks havoc in classical economic theory.) There is a part of our thinking that is pre-verbal, lightning-fast, and cult leaders like Trump have a delivery that appeals to that. Repetition and unbreakable confidence are persuasive to many people, regardless of content. Once it breaks through the logical, slow part of thinking, it's off to the races, as people become emotionally invested in defending, explaining and immunizing their "hero", or their conspiracy theory, from any and all criticism, sort of doing the same thing that the hero is doing, psychologically. The phrase "other-blamer" captures it well. The self-image is so fragile it has to be 100% protected, which allows for zero criticism. Anyone who can never be criticized, logically, must be a perfect individual. Trump can therefore claim he knows more about virtually any topic than anyone else, even though he is clearly a seriously ignorant person. He doesn't read! Think about Trump calling the telephone call with Zelensky "perfect." What does that even mean? For Trump, it makes perfect sense. Almost everything Trump says or does falls into the "OTHER-BLAMER" paradigm - very useful.
Human consciousness isn’t that old. For millions of years we’ve depended on the first, primitive, brain to survive. Something happened to spark a brain of actual awareness beyond just ourselves or our small tribe. I believe from that stems all that creativity and ideas, imagining that are the gift that humankind has.
However, that rational, creative brain is very susceptible to governance by the primitive brain. If people are frightened for whatever reason, here in the United States,it probably is economics and people who are ‘different”. You can take that fear misdirected into hate and gain control of people. That’s what Hitler did that’s what Trump did. Perfectly intelligent people set aside their rational brain and allow the primitive brain to just run wild. Feels good to have somebody to blame.
I live with a Trumper, my twin brother is a Trumper. I have lost numerous friends and acquaintances, whom I considered intelligent, rational people to this trance. Your comment about hypnosis is very interesting because I think you’re right. That’s part of Trump’s mystic. Trump talks in a specific way. He continually repeats and drones. My understanding is people actually leave his rallies not remembering anything he said. They are just mesmerized by the illusion he creates. I am sure this phenomena will be studied for decades to come so that next time we will see the warning signs of mass delusion.
Button line for me , it’s the irrational primitive brain, being manipulated and the rational brain, in too people, being overtaken by the older more basic one. Those taken by the Trump illusion, it’s literally about survival. It’s all about fear. They just don’t recognize it.
Heard some MAGA folks that broke away because of the Epstein issue talk about regretting all the friends, jobs, and relatives they had "given-up" over TRump.
Hope springs for the others, and maybe yours see the light soon, Catherine.
I find it fascinating that so many of his behaviors and economic policies may have been discussed and modeled by his grandfather and father… emigrated to America to avoid serving in the military, started a brothel, fringe KKK, practiced racism, seemed to dislike women… I can only imagine conversations about the wealthy “robber barons” in their house (DJTs tariff strategies harken back to those times!) so it is possible that much of our dear leaders life has been dedicated to proving himself… I can hear his angry, narcissistic ancestors clapping and laughing from the grave. Nature and nurture most likely play a role.
My wife and I just finished watching a police drama in which a serial killer ended up being a 70-year-old man who was intensely jealous and resentful of women he considered "uppity" and "not ladylike" (i.e. not sufficiently subservient.) Sound familiar? I suspect there's a fair bit of that going on in MAGA world.
Thank you for your comment, Gary— that makes a lot of sense. “Other-blaming” indeed! It always amazes me what people will fall for. I’ll take a look at that book—sounds interesting. :) PS: The bit about hypnosis was noteworthy as well. I’m apparently NOT susceptible to hypnosis; it was tried unsuccessfully on me a few times. Hmmmm….
Trump is exhibiting clear signs of mental illness, including paranoia and a severely distorted perception of reality. His inability to grasp the truth as the majority of people do is only intensifying over time.
Moreover, he is undeniably very angry about the legal actions taken against him prior to his election. This toxic mix of a disordered thought process and deep-seated rage results in alarming behavior. What’s truly concerning is the lack of willingness or ability among those around him to confront this issue. He poses a genuine threat to our nation and is perfectly capable of causing significant harm before his time in power ends. He truly embodies the concept of "an inmate running the institution."
The Republican House and Senate are all 100% in support of a man who daily spews demented nonsense, forgets things, confabulates, extorts, bullies subordinates, insults allies, and sells Bibles that preach caring for the needy that he refers to as losers while cutting off their food, shelter, and healthcare. He should have been impeached by Congress for unbelievable corruption and conflicts of interest, and/or Article 25'd. But just like the Democrats, the Cabinets took no more action than the current Congress.
What is perplexing to me as a psychologist is that Trump's reckless tariffs and destruction of our government has $ignificant repercu$$ions for Trump's enablers on the Hill. Given the size of the national debt, once crypto becomes legal tender, our economy is at risk of implosion (scamplosion). All those elected scaliwags are as likely to go broke as we voters are. How can they not see that?
Tom, his cult, identifies with Trump, in Trump they see themselves. Trump is the physical embodiment of the dark underbelly of of America.
When Trump is attacked or criticized, they are being attacked and criticized. This hulla baloo over Epstein files, has caused cognitive dissonance, so many are and have been very serious about child molestation and child rape, and they can't believe that Trump is involved, but it has to be the cabal that runs the world, and they can't fathom why Trump is protecting them (the Democrats of course)
There is a small rural town, Curtis, Nebraska. A visit was paid to the senior center, the community is a taker community, but the people think that they are makers, they are all up in arms because they lost their local medical center, due to the OBBB, but they don't blame Trump. now they have to drive 40 miles, even in an emergency.
A cult never blames the leader/savior.Do believers blame their gods for tornado's, hurricanes, wild fires, earthquakes, tsunami's, polar vortex, heat domes?
Not even. Christians like Hegseth say Deus Vult, Muslims Inshallah, without stopping to ask, why would a god that is supposed to be all powerful and compassionate will such a devastation.
Absolutely right about cult members. But there are some Trump supporters who are not at 100% cult level. Some of them may peel off if the influencers they follow, like Nick Fuentes or Joe Rogan, start giving them permission to be critical of Trump. Escaping from the hold of a cult leader begins with one thing that the member/follower just can't deal with - that's the cognitive dissonance another commenters mentioned. That can begin to eat away at the party-line rationalizations. I know some people who were in religious cults and that's what they describe - it's a gradual process that starts with even just one major point the leader holds to that the member just cannot accept. Those of us engage in trying to defeat Trumpism should be vigilant for opportunities to highlight such inconsistencies and discrepancies that are proving seriously harmful to people, something they can see themselves, something undeniable, like a grocery bill, or the gardener they know and respect suddenly disappearing, while Trump is claiming everything he does is perfect.
It seems that the member of a cult cannot hold the leader of the cult responsible for anything.
In another email I learned of a rural town in Nebraska, Curtis. because of the OBBB it is going to lose it's rural Medical Center The people aren't blaming the Republicans or Trump, they are blaming the democrats.
You used the word cognitive dissonance. I;ve seen a lot usage of that word recently, it is thrown around as if the speaker was erudite and knew what the word means and entails.
Cognitive dissonance is an emotional state which manifests physically, it is the basis for lie detectors.
It is felt when there is discord between the mind and the mouth.
One cannot tell if another person is experiencing cognitive dissonance.
Here is an example of what I mean. Affect an accent, or try to speak like a female, and do it around people you know and in public. An actor can do that, for they are trained and know that they are acting, but to do that in real life.
Take Robin Williams playing Mrs Doubtfire, or John Leguizamo playing the role of Chi Chi Rodriquez,, Parick Swayze and Wesley Snipes of all people, Playing the role of Drag Queens in To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything.
That's one thing in front of the camera's, but if they had serioiusly gone out in public, hoping to pass as ciswomen, their knees would be shaking, and sweat rolling off their heads
My experience is this. I fell in love with a Panamanian, but she insisted in getting married in the Iglesia San Jose, aka Church of the Golden Altar, a historical site.But I had to convert. So I became a Catholic, didn't really believe it, and experienced cognitive dissonance, which I compensated for by becoming a rad trad Catholic, joined a rad trad organization, that was waging a war of words and propaganda with Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle and considered the Pope to be an Antichrist.
Eventually I couldn't take it and came to my senses and returned to my atheist self.
That's cognitive dissonance. I am unable to tell if someone else is experiencing cognitive dissonance, without a lie detector test., because I simply do not know what they belief or what they base their identity on.
Determining if someone is lying is a similar difficulty - no one is a true mind reader. Concluding that someone is lying, short of having deposition testimony and damning evidence, such as video, is inferential. Same deal with the cognitive dissonance - we infer, and no doubt correctly in a great many instances, that when a cult starts to crack, members begin to question something because it's just not something they can convince themselves is true. One former member of a fundamentalist Christian cult, whom I know personally, explained to me that the process from initial unresolved doubt to breaking/leaving was about six years. in this case, MAGA members have been drawn into numerous conspiracy level lies, including that Democrats are deep state pedophiles (no evidence, but that doesn't matter), while they are now discovering that their hero was best friends with a pedophile, that a massive amount of evidence was seized from this man's residence and that the FBI is sitting on it and the U.S. AG suddenly claims it's a nothing-burger, after previously describing how much there was and that they were going to go through it very carefully. Many MAGA cult members are very, very intolerant of pedophiles and this is causing a lot of trouble for them to somehow convince themselves that everything is okay with their leader. There is already an established conspiracy theory about Epstein being murdered in prison - the circumstances were obviously very, very suspicious. Hopefully, those who have given Donald Trump a million passes may finally be running out of them. I thought your remarks were well-stated and your personal experienced was very interesting, and I sympathize with how difficult that must have been.
The problem is compounded Gary, by the fact that so many people believe their own lies. It isn't just that if you tell a lie often enough that it becomes, in the minds of the listener, a fact. If you tell it often enough you begin to believe it yourself.
I am sure that Trump at first didn't believe that the voting was rigged, But he has said it so much, that he believes it now. And truth is that voting is now rigged, in his favor.
What do you mean William ‘but it has to be the cabal that runs the world, and they (MAGA?) can’t fathom why Trump is protecting them (the Epstein people?) or (the Democrats of course).
I might be slow this evening but I wasn’t certain what you meant.
I am not saying that there "must be a cabal that runs the world", I am referring to QAnon MAGAts who believe that there is a cabal of pedophiles that run the world., and they believe that Democrats are behind it all. You do remember pizzagate don't you?
When political vulnerabilities are factored in, even people to know that Trump is dangerous, ignorant, corrupt, etc., will fall in line with anything he wants. The fact that their assets will suffer is just something they have to manage as best they can. I think they see the risks you mention, but either can't bring themselves to believe it will happen, or the calculation that if it's going to happen, they'll be better off if they they are still a congressperson or Senator than otherwise. It's sad and cowardly, but it's the facts. That's my take, anyway.
My thoughts entirely. Where are his loyalists going to crawl when DJT is no longer in power. I believe they have convinced themselves that will never happen. Do his loyalists believe they have already won with this unconscionable power grab? Are Thiel, Yarvin, Vance, the billionaires
privy to some well laid esoteric plan that we voters are unaware?
Worth keeping in mind that Trump exploited the Evangelical Christian cult and most view him as the second coming. Thus, to them Trump is the Son of God whereas to most of us, he is just a scamming sonova bitch.
I agree. Consider Stalin shooting his best generals, and then refusing to believe that Hitler could invade the Soviet Union. This is what we are dealing with. Trump is incredibly dangerous not just to America but to the world, not least because he is so unpredictable. And what he is consistent about are all the negatives, discrimination, ridiculous economic ideas and the denial of climate change. Apparently he doesn't understand science so it scares and angers him, and likely he cannot accept anything bigger than himself. Not even nature.
He may know a little bit about science, but what he really knows is that there are people in the world a lot smarter than he is, and that enrages the narcissist in him, since it refutes his conviction that he is the smartest person in the world.
Validated by the book Stuka Pilot, Hans Ulrich Udel. He states that on the opening day of Barbarossa he bombed Russian airfiields, that had medium range bombers line d up. Stalin was preparing for his own offensive. https://www.amazon.com/Icebreaker-Who-Started-Second-World/dp/0241126223
Perhaps some of the rage Trump exhibits as the polemic vise tightens is partially directed somewhat to his staff and those around him instead of those outside s who are luch more threatening. perhaps a defense mechnism, where anger is more accurately described as hostility. Hostility is really a defense mechanism utilizing threat, cloaked as anger. He could very well be angry at the disclosures from the media and still be encouraging to those close, those who serve him. Instead, he threatens them all, seif-defensively. Overall, his anger is hostility and it's retroactive threats. He has done that from the beginning. I have worked with bikers, found their anger was constant hostile threats, the base being they were protecting themselves from more hurt. Being hurt brought them to the gang of similar backgrounds.
He was ‘chosen’ by the neoliberals who recognized it would take a salesman of Trump’s stature (no conscience) for them to gain power, and he is having an identity crisis because he allowed himself to believe he is the best i.e. smartest above the law and now he can’t reconcile that he is being forced to accept the consequences he thought were not in his realm.
Thiel and his fellow oligarchs used Dump to gain access to the presidency. They will cast him aside like the rotted husk he is as soon as January 21, 2027, assuming he hasn’t died or completely melted down mentally before then. They would like to see him last past the midterms so that they can “elect” Vance for two full terms, giving them 12 full years to pretend we are still a functioning “democracy” while they completely consolidate power. We must resist. First thing on every state AGs’ agenda is to ensure the voting machines are not compromised!
Larry, I think you are the closest to the Why Thom asks. In "Vox in desierto" terms, you are the first I have seen to foresee the Vance plan, (after me?). The old evidence is, the real movers and shakers have always despised Trump, etc. I have a particular hometown perspective about the Bohemian Grove brotherhood. I can't imagine Trump has ever been considered in the slightest for admission there, despite some kindred spirit in relation to what females are good for. But it seems clear that their ceremonies include a "casting off of care" which is expressly about rejecting any guilt or empathy about anything in the world that would interfere with their overweening right to self-indulgence and hegemony.
TRump was born that way---nothing to cast off. Guessing he is considered too stupid for them as well. Although I would question everything about the pack of them, including THEIR intelligence. Let's start with the decision to join and actually meet at the grove. Childish. Hateful. Criminals. Trump has that part covered, Mmerose.
Larry Bushard, I agree wholeheartedly with your first 2 sentences and with reservations about #3 sentence. The presidency opens the door to so many other doors. This administration has changed the power base through the name of Trump. I don’t for a second give him as much power as others are giving him. I also believe that the public is making this way too complicated.
Both he and his miserable, visible cohorts have handlers who have the herding power for all these loose cannons. Not that handlers control everything, but they obviously control enough to make all the promises that he initially made and also the oligarch agenda come about. It’s all about power and money and access to vast amounts of money and quid pro quo in their imagined future.
Part of the problem is looking for a logical explanation for chaotic system of competing power centers (like Nazi Germany), working towards the Fuhrer. Throw in the fact that Trump is a racist, malignant narcissist, and you have 90% of the answer,
Trump is deep into the pockets of the Russian mafia, from whom he borrowed a great deal of money when the banks no longer would lend to him Not only would the public be upset with that knowledge, so would donors and other supporters, but the Russian Mob is not above putting a bullet in Trump's other ear if he gets out of line.
In addition Trump is not smart/capable enough to engage all of these topics at one time (look at his claims about the Epstein files) so the Stephen Millers and others of that ilk are behind much of the perfidy.
I like that - a bullet in the other ear - I would love to know Trump's inner circle's thoughts on the Russian Mob theory. I bet it is true. Trump appeared very shaken, but we don't know the whole background story.
Has everyone seen the recently released (?) video from the rear of the stage after the shooting, as they moved photographers and flag into position for that Iconic Photo? Saw it briefly yesterday on phone.
It’s about the money. 2008 was the largest transfer of wealth in history. This is economic rape. Trump is INTENTIONALLY causes the economy to collapse so he can buy up foreclosed and bankrupted properties for pennies on the dollar. Now, he just needs to fire Powell so he can do it with interest free money. A leopard does not change its spots.
Investor Weekly gets it. Best explanation I’ve seen of what is going on...
Perhaps all these destructive actions ultimately derive from the inner compulsions of Donald Trump himself. He seems obsessed with gaining and exercising total control over the entire country by destroying any impediments to his decisions and orders. He wants to be a universal emperor whose will is not questioned and everyone bows and scurries to carry it out. He wants to make people like himself totally dominant, which means racist white supremacy, male dominance, and billionaire dominance, this elite crushing a groveling, degraded, miserable mass of neutered commoners. He is actualizing the ultimate narcissistic ego fantasy.
This makes a lot more sense than presuming that Trump is playing 51-dimensional chess. He is a feral responder to protect his self-image, not a long-term, deep strategic thinker. Be that as it may, things may tend to work out in a way to make it look like he planned it, due to institutional weakness, media cowardice and fealty to investors, political gamesmanship with voter suppression, gerrymandering, etc., etc.
Everybody is off the charts here. The answer is almost always the simplest answer. Trump is mentally deficient. He always has been due to his upbringing, or lack thereof. The other simple answer that dovetails with this, is that because of his character flaws, he is easily led by the hand by those who want the United States to change from a democratic republic to an authoritarian white Christian country, with the descendants of the white Europeans in charge. Predominately those of British ancestry. Appeal to his vanity and you can have whatever you want from him. It's that simple. Trump has never thought beyond anything else but his own vanity and how much money he can make at everyone else's expense. We need to be looking past trump and his character flaws and at who is pulling his strings. They are the most dangerous people right now.
Uneducated for the most part, and easily deluded, that's why. There have been studies completed lately, reporting that the average reading and writing comprehension of the average American in rural America is only at a sixth grade level now.
They are easily convinced by a charismatic politician who promises a better life by hurting those who have been demonized in the right wing media. In this case, the democrats who are labeled as rich elitists who don't care about the working class blue collar workers and farmers. It may be largely true but that is the main issue. A lack of decent education and brain washing by those who only seek power at any cost is the root cause. Income inequality is seen as the most prominent issue with a vast majority of the American people and they were led to believe that Trump and the MAGA party would fix that. And now the people are finally seeing the truth. They all lied. Both the democrats and the MAGA republicans. And now, these people are getting very mad. The Epstein issue is just the spark. The tinder has been there for a very long time waiting for that spark. I'm waiting to see how big this fire will get.
I'm not thinking of the followers. I'm talking about the ones in Congress who are kissing his butt and bending before him. Those in SC and those billionaires in the administration and outside like Bezos, etc. They are NOT powerless. And they're doing whatever he wants. Like Hawley and Lisa - they KNOW that damn bill is hurting the people who elected them. And they're still doing his bidding. Vance of "He's a Hitler" fame, Lindsey who hated his guts a few years ago, McConnell who thought he was dangerous. Those are the ones who are really bowing down to him and giving up every bit of the power they actually have. Why? What does he have on them?
And that is it exactly. Kompramat, to use an old KGB term. These butt kissers all have skeletons that Trump, like J. Edgar Hoover, is probably using to keep them in line. Or they've been promised some financial windfall for them personally. Which we know Trump would never pay out. But it all goes back to the lack of morals and backbone that these elected officials all lack these days. It's all about the money to be made on the side above and beyond their government salaries.
I submit the speculation that what Trump is telling them in those private calls is, don't worry, the "midterms" are "handled," and as long as you toe the line you are going to be in office for as long as you want.
I suspect you're right. There are a bunch of commentators and lawyers all saying the same thing. That the MAGA republicans are doing all they can with gerrymandering and voter suppression to make sure they stay in power.
I'm of the other thought, that we the people can fight that and get out there to do our best to vote all of these criminals out. We'll see how that works out for us next year.
They won't stop until we are all in our underwear behind razor wire. They are fiends for control, and they believe freedom is only an absolute, not relative, in the world which we share. They don't share. And freedom is not a right, but a privilege, accorded only to those who can pay for it.
You are right that there will be overreach. That is the major vulnerability, since eventually enough people get fed up that the control simply cannot be maintained. Even Stalin finally began to lose control. I sincerely hope America does not have to suffer that much before the resistance clears out the criminals, fascists, racists, ignorant loyalists and, especially, elected officials that are now aligned with Trump.
Republicans have invested heavily in the Reagan myth that government is hindering business, that people should prosper on their own without government help, and that government should only provide for national defense and protect private property. That, coupled with ineptness and ignorance of appointed officials who are devoted to pleasing Trump, leads directly to the chaos we are now experiencing. It is a self fulfilling cascade.
Trump is just the showman, the attention grabber, keeping people’s attention away from the people picking our pockets. Trump isn’t governing; he barely knows what is happening. His appointees are running things in self-serving and confusing ways, but the taxes on the wealthy are coming down along with regulations and the staff to enforce the few that remain. A largely orderly, peaceful society is being torn apart. Follow the money. Whose paying for this? It’s the super wealthy that are running things. 100 extremely wealthy families invested $2.6 billion in the 2024 election that put Trump back in the White House and Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. Seventy per cent of their money went to Republicans; the other thirty percent controlled the less wealthy Democratic leadership. These are the people calling the shots. But why do they think creating a dictator whether its Trump or some successor will be a good idea for them? Only a handful of the businessmen who supported Hitler survived and prospered. Several of the oligarchs who helped Putin ended up in Siberia or falling out of windows. Don’t our oligarchs read history? Is the chaos Trump’s creating better than the stable society he inherited? A Catholic priest once explained, “you can fish without a license.”
Being rich is not proof of intelligence, much less critical thinking. Anyone can be wealthy, all it takes is psychopathy, devoid of empathy and sympathy. with the ability to be a chameleon, pretend to be what you are not.
An example is Trump, I think we can all agree he is ignorant, he is devoid of knowledge except of that which is of importance to him, yet he is very astute and street smart when it comes to attaining and maintaining power and control., just like a mafia boss, he rules by reward and punishment. He rewards loyalty and punishes any perception of disloyalty.
These people are psychopaths and sociopaths. Life must be so much easier without a conscience! Twain wrote a story about that---it was a lot funnier than my snark.
Recent info I read about them appearing to be "fearless" said they do fear things; stuff like humiliation. But as for consequences, they don't see it coming. Narcissism? It's called the dark triad, and their brains are VERY broken.
Fear is a factor in the behavior of the current elected GOP. They are in so deep, they believe there is no way to turn back. Just a hunch. Very important views from so many of us who are living with dread everyday, from this regime.
Myself? Been sick since June 16, 2015, when the "Tangerine Turd" descended his "Fools' Gold" escalator and welcomed America into his hateful nightmare.
Bill the traitor Mahr is just trying to exist - stay relevant and he has been been extremely successful at being a survivor - Stephen Colbert on the other hand …well we know how that went.
I am inclined to believe that Trump and those who support him do not want a country at all. They would prefer to live in a world in which they make the laws and in which there is no social contract. If they destroy all government (shrink it as one of them said to the size of a washcloth and then squeeze the water out of it, they can then control everything.
Yes, I agree that Trump is a megalomaniac, a narcissist, and frankly, crazy (maybe not according to psychiatric diagnostics). But he is not alone in this undertaking: Thiel, for example, who is the power behind 2025 and all Trump's "enablers" cheer him on. I think they also believe that they will ultimately be able to control the world. Or that they can leave it via spaceships if they can't.
Fevered dreams of men who cannot face their own mortality (think Musk, Zuckerberg and space ships)......
Trump is aware only of a world of one person — everyone else is scenery and shadow people. I think he was completely destroyed as a child and envisions a world where all worship and admire him. And almost all of the GOP are literally drunk with power and can no longer think rationally.
Totally agree. I have said for a while to my circle that the dictionary entry for the word "solipsist" has a photo of Trump.
I'd bet that Trump's brain has an abnormal amount of dopamine. He lives on the edge. He has little or no impulse control.
I discussed it in part yesterday. I'd bet his emotional age is adolecent. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3428028/#:~:text=We%20observed%20three%20types%20of,conservative%2C%20calculated%2C%20and%20impulsive.
A high dopamine level generally refers to an excess of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. This can lead to feelings of euphoria, increased energy, and heightened sex drive, but also potentially cause issues with impulse control, aggression, and sleep problems. While dopamine is crucial for motivation and reward, excessive levels can disrupt normal brain function and lead to negative consequences.
Sad to witness this long- planned and very precise destruction of the United States of America, see the multitude of savagely destroyed and crucial lynchpins one by one, and pundits resort to blaming it all on the gauche and grinning used car salesman/realty pimp who was groomed to sit as decoy during this swiss-watch click-down, very sophisticated, sabotage. His election was part of the plan. Hard to believe that anyone could believe that the cerebral capacity of Trump could even pretend to orchestrate this scope or precision. And now, all are busy off key offering their diagnosis of the deterioriorazation of his current adolescent, tantrum-laden behavior. And all are flat wrong. Simply, he is a sociopath, as are all the CEO's who demanded and succeeded to have sociopathology removed from all medical/psychiatric texts, once they were accurately determined to be so. Psychopath? A keenly talented psychiatrist will tell you that a psychopath's real target is him/herself. (Most are men however, is closely linked to emotional maturity). Psychopaths are made, not born. Many standard docs believe psychopaths are born that way. Busy scanning the gene sheets, ignoring that the gene spreadsheets by recent study will print out the current, evolved pattern. Far more dangerous to others is a sociopath. But now, sociopaths are invisible ninjas, existing but unseen.
Oh yeah.
What you say may be true, but what we know for sure is that he exhibits virulent sociopathy with more exaggerated and malignant narcissism than most.
That's for sure....just sayin' it may be OBS, organic brain syndrome that is the basis. Undiagnosed.
This is the kind of stuff that comes up in criminal settings, also. A court should have him examined -- like when he acted out in 2 NY cases.
I think that's highly possible - his memory issues, confabulation, meandering and circuitous speech, very short attention span, irritability... But then he's also very sly, like Uncle Junior in the Sopranos.
This has proabably been his mental and emotional profile since he was a kid. With some mental impairments evaluations require a "longitudinal" history because some impairments are life long.
Need his medical record, school records.
I used to get experts who'd testify that stuff like seratonin was the basis for a number of impairments, like chronic fatigue, other somatic impairments. But recent developments are able to identify via brain mapping, which is new and is a state of change.
https://www.ninds.nih.gov/news-events/news/highlights-announcements/nih-brain-initiative-launches-projects-develop-innovative-technologies-map-brain-incredible-detail
I go back to when most kids were misdiagnosed because we didn't have the tool that we have now. I'm so old that "experts" knew nothing about learning disabilities, etc.
I'm confident that a number of controversial mental diagnoses can be clarified by this study. Has to be substsatiated clinically.
I find the interviews from Trump's twenties and thirties noteworthy, where his speech is coherent and thoughtful, demonstrating a great deal of intelligence and thoughtfulness in his responses to various topics. I'm not sure if he's putting on a show with his current speech pattern, memory issues, confabulation, circuitous, etc. In many ways, it looks like Uncle Junior.
A better explanation is that he has Bipolar 1 disorder. We can't measure dopamine levels. We can observe and record behavior.
A physician clould measure his hormones. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5259961/
Bipolar is controllable, is quite common. When I worked for SSA I heard many hearings with a bi-polar diagnosis established in the record. There's no evidence that he has the kind of depression that is required for a diagnosis. A high per centage of undiagnosed bi-polar folks "self medicate." Trump doesn't drink. Adderall, which is the only medication that he may/may not be taking does not control it. May have an effect like Ritalin, that controls similar behavior in children diagnosed with hypertensive disease.
Dopamine is not a hormone. It is a brain neurotransmitter that cannot be measured directly. Bipolar disorder is controllable to the extent that people take their medication, and many stop their medication on their own, or, in many cases, never begin taking medication. Episodes of depression are not required for a diagnosis in Type 1 bipolar. People with bipolar disorder sometimes self-medicate, but they usually do not tell us about that.
I diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders for a living. What do you do?
I didn't render a diagnosis -- just said I bet he has elevated levels.
But there is NO clinical evidence of a bipolar disorder.
Read the NIH link I attached. I was an administrative law judge and over the years I took testimony in thousands of similar cases, with experts like psychiatrists and neurologists.
I also heard Defense Act cases for people who alleged mental problems for 20 years. Experts can pick up dopamine levels from imaging techniques like PET scans and MRI, as well as electrochemical techniques like fast-scan cyclic voltammetry,
12.04 Depressive, bipolar and related disorders (see 12.00B3), satisfied by A and B, or A and C:
Medical documentation of the requirements of paragraph 1 or 2:
Depressive disorder, characterized by five or more of the following:
Depressed mood;
Diminished interest in almost all activities;
Appetite disturbance with change in weight;
Sleep disturbance;
Observable psychomotor agitation or retardation;
Decreased energy;
Feelings of guilt or worthlessness;
Difficulty concentrating or thinking; or
Thoughts of death or suicide.
Bipolar disorder, characterized by three or more of the following:
Pressured speech;
Flight of ideas;
Inflated self-esteem;
Decreased need for sleep;
Distractibility;
Involvement in activities that have a high probability of painful consequences that are not recognized; or
Increase in goal-directed activity or psychomotor agitation.
AND
Extreme limitation of one, or marked limitation of two, of the following areas of mental functioning (see 12.00F):
Understand, remember, or apply information (see 12.00E1).
Interact with others (see 12.00E2).
Concentrate, persist, or maintain pace (see 12.00E3).
Adapt or manage oneself (see 12.00E4).
OR
Your mental disorder in this listing category is “serious and persistent;” that is, you have a medically documented history of the existence of the disorder over a period of at least 2 years, and there is evidence of both:
Medical treatment, mental health therapy, psychosocial support(s), or a highly structured setting(s) that is ongoing and that diminishes the symptoms and signs of your mental disorder (see 12.00G2b); and
Marginal adjustment, that is, you have minimal capacity to adapt to changes in your environment or to demands that are not already part of your daily life (see 12.00G2c).
Not enough evidence for a diagnosis.
I'd accept that he has a narcissitic personality disorder iof he were examined -- but he hasn't been.
Can I ask about his lack of conscience? All the bipolar folks I know absolutely have one.
I think he has Antisocial Personality Disorder (this used to be called Sociopathy or Psychopathy), an untreatable condition that impairs or eliminates the functioning of what we usually call a "conscience". This is in addition to what I believe to be Bipolar 1 disorder.
These two conditions in combination are very dangerous to the patient and usually very harmful to others.
How about his just being a dope?
That, too.
Hey Daniel, for a more thorough perspective on dopamine (and other -motive neurotransmitters) in its/their quite complex roles - ie, dopamine can be more like not-yet-satiated desire than euphoria - I suggest Max Bennett’s “A Brief History of Intelligence”.
Quite current, well cited, and best synthesis of neuroscience, evolution, and systems thinking (mostly the human phylogeny v AI, with asides to other species ) that I’ve read to date. Enjoy. MARK
Absent mother, never-satisfied father, Roy Cohn teaching how to purge yourself of empathy.
All of the above. I don’t think it’s any one item of the agenda. There are multiple factions, who have varying reasons to destroy democracy in America. They are coalescing into a unified front. Pretty scary. They all belong in jail. Most of them seem to represent the worst of America.
A perfect storm. Trump is a symptom, not a cause. This counter-revolution started under Nixon. https://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/ See Heather Cox Richardson's book "How the South Won the Civil War". Also, "war Against the Weak", by Black.
Lots of codependents.
"Yuge" is the word you are looking for...
So let’s DO SOMETHING TO MAKE THEM EXTINCT!!!!
I suspect it's a combination of all of the above, although I suspect that the "burning rage and embarrassment" theory and the "Neo-Nazi racist" theory are at the top of the list. But what I find even more baffling is the number of seemingly respectable and reasonably intelligent people out there who are still supporting this crap. I guess forty years of right-wing brainwashing really does work. But as I've said before on other forums, I don't think anything substantive will change until the country hits an actual stage of "rock bottom" and so many people die of starvation, disease and government torture/abuse, and so much land will be destroyed by climate change-related disasters that there's very little left that's worth saving. At that point, the psychopaths will have nothing to rule over and those still surviving will fade away one by one. Sounds bleak, to be sure. I'd love to be proven wrong but this certainly seems to be where we're headed right now. The human race in general failed to understand when it was well off.
Noisemaker: It's super-frustrating that people of intelligence fall for conspiracy theories and cult-like language and messaging, but it's undeniable. I share your frustration with it. My understanding, as a physician, is that it is a psychological phenomenon along the lines that some people are susceptible to hypnosis, and some are not. Book to read: Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. People are prone to doing things that are not in their best interest, because our memories of events and reasoning are skewed in such a way that even things we didn't like we will remember as something we are willing to do again. (This wreaks havoc in classical economic theory.) There is a part of our thinking that is pre-verbal, lightning-fast, and cult leaders like Trump have a delivery that appeals to that. Repetition and unbreakable confidence are persuasive to many people, regardless of content. Once it breaks through the logical, slow part of thinking, it's off to the races, as people become emotionally invested in defending, explaining and immunizing their "hero", or their conspiracy theory, from any and all criticism, sort of doing the same thing that the hero is doing, psychologically. The phrase "other-blamer" captures it well. The self-image is so fragile it has to be 100% protected, which allows for zero criticism. Anyone who can never be criticized, logically, must be a perfect individual. Trump can therefore claim he knows more about virtually any topic than anyone else, even though he is clearly a seriously ignorant person. He doesn't read! Think about Trump calling the telephone call with Zelensky "perfect." What does that even mean? For Trump, it makes perfect sense. Almost everything Trump says or does falls into the "OTHER-BLAMER" paradigm - very useful.
Human consciousness isn’t that old. For millions of years we’ve depended on the first, primitive, brain to survive. Something happened to spark a brain of actual awareness beyond just ourselves or our small tribe. I believe from that stems all that creativity and ideas, imagining that are the gift that humankind has.
However, that rational, creative brain is very susceptible to governance by the primitive brain. If people are frightened for whatever reason, here in the United States,it probably is economics and people who are ‘different”. You can take that fear misdirected into hate and gain control of people. That’s what Hitler did that’s what Trump did. Perfectly intelligent people set aside their rational brain and allow the primitive brain to just run wild. Feels good to have somebody to blame.
I live with a Trumper, my twin brother is a Trumper. I have lost numerous friends and acquaintances, whom I considered intelligent, rational people to this trance. Your comment about hypnosis is very interesting because I think you’re right. That’s part of Trump’s mystic. Trump talks in a specific way. He continually repeats and drones. My understanding is people actually leave his rallies not remembering anything he said. They are just mesmerized by the illusion he creates. I am sure this phenomena will be studied for decades to come so that next time we will see the warning signs of mass delusion.
Button line for me , it’s the irrational primitive brain, being manipulated and the rational brain, in too people, being overtaken by the older more basic one. Those taken by the Trump illusion, it’s literally about survival. It’s all about fear. They just don’t recognize it.
Heard some MAGA folks that broke away because of the Epstein issue talk about regretting all the friends, jobs, and relatives they had "given-up" over TRump.
Hope springs for the others, and maybe yours see the light soon, Catherine.
Thanks…..I do keep hoping but he is a stubborn man. My twin is lost to Qnon. 😿
I find it fascinating that so many of his behaviors and economic policies may have been discussed and modeled by his grandfather and father… emigrated to America to avoid serving in the military, started a brothel, fringe KKK, practiced racism, seemed to dislike women… I can only imagine conversations about the wealthy “robber barons” in their house (DJTs tariff strategies harken back to those times!) so it is possible that much of our dear leaders life has been dedicated to proving himself… I can hear his angry, narcissistic ancestors clapping and laughing from the grave. Nature and nurture most likely play a role.
My wife and I just finished watching a police drama in which a serial killer ended up being a 70-year-old man who was intensely jealous and resentful of women he considered "uppity" and "not ladylike" (i.e. not sufficiently subservient.) Sound familiar? I suspect there's a fair bit of that going on in MAGA world.
Thank you for your comment, Gary— that makes a lot of sense. “Other-blaming” indeed! It always amazes me what people will fall for. I’ll take a look at that book—sounds interesting. :) PS: The bit about hypnosis was noteworthy as well. I’m apparently NOT susceptible to hypnosis; it was tried unsuccessfully on me a few times. Hmmmm….
Just ordered the book.
Trump is exhibiting clear signs of mental illness, including paranoia and a severely distorted perception of reality. His inability to grasp the truth as the majority of people do is only intensifying over time.
Moreover, he is undeniably very angry about the legal actions taken against him prior to his election. This toxic mix of a disordered thought process and deep-seated rage results in alarming behavior. What’s truly concerning is the lack of willingness or ability among those around him to confront this issue. He poses a genuine threat to our nation and is perfectly capable of causing significant harm before his time in power ends. He truly embodies the concept of "an inmate running the institution."
The Republican House and Senate are all 100% in support of a man who daily spews demented nonsense, forgets things, confabulates, extorts, bullies subordinates, insults allies, and sells Bibles that preach caring for the needy that he refers to as losers while cutting off their food, shelter, and healthcare. He should have been impeached by Congress for unbelievable corruption and conflicts of interest, and/or Article 25'd. But just like the Democrats, the Cabinets took no more action than the current Congress.
What is perplexing to me as a psychologist is that Trump's reckless tariffs and destruction of our government has $ignificant repercu$$ions for Trump's enablers on the Hill. Given the size of the national debt, once crypto becomes legal tender, our economy is at risk of implosion (scamplosion). All those elected scaliwags are as likely to go broke as we voters are. How can they not see that?
As a Psychologist myself, I think you will understand this:
1. Denial.
2. Cognitive dissonance.
Tom, his cult, identifies with Trump, in Trump they see themselves. Trump is the physical embodiment of the dark underbelly of of America.
When Trump is attacked or criticized, they are being attacked and criticized. This hulla baloo over Epstein files, has caused cognitive dissonance, so many are and have been very serious about child molestation and child rape, and they can't believe that Trump is involved, but it has to be the cabal that runs the world, and they can't fathom why Trump is protecting them (the Democrats of course)
There is a small rural town, Curtis, Nebraska. A visit was paid to the senior center, the community is a taker community, but the people think that they are makers, they are all up in arms because they lost their local medical center, due to the OBBB, but they don't blame Trump. now they have to drive 40 miles, even in an emergency.
A cult never blames the leader/savior.Do believers blame their gods for tornado's, hurricanes, wild fires, earthquakes, tsunami's, polar vortex, heat domes?
Not even. Christians like Hegseth say Deus Vult, Muslims Inshallah, without stopping to ask, why would a god that is supposed to be all powerful and compassionate will such a devastation.
Absolutely right about cult members. But there are some Trump supporters who are not at 100% cult level. Some of them may peel off if the influencers they follow, like Nick Fuentes or Joe Rogan, start giving them permission to be critical of Trump. Escaping from the hold of a cult leader begins with one thing that the member/follower just can't deal with - that's the cognitive dissonance another commenters mentioned. That can begin to eat away at the party-line rationalizations. I know some people who were in religious cults and that's what they describe - it's a gradual process that starts with even just one major point the leader holds to that the member just cannot accept. Those of us engage in trying to defeat Trumpism should be vigilant for opportunities to highlight such inconsistencies and discrepancies that are proving seriously harmful to people, something they can see themselves, something undeniable, like a grocery bill, or the gardener they know and respect suddenly disappearing, while Trump is claiming everything he does is perfect.
It seems that the member of a cult cannot hold the leader of the cult responsible for anything.
In another email I learned of a rural town in Nebraska, Curtis. because of the OBBB it is going to lose it's rural Medical Center The people aren't blaming the Republicans or Trump, they are blaming the democrats.
You used the word cognitive dissonance. I;ve seen a lot usage of that word recently, it is thrown around as if the speaker was erudite and knew what the word means and entails.
Cognitive dissonance is an emotional state which manifests physically, it is the basis for lie detectors.
It is felt when there is discord between the mind and the mouth.
One cannot tell if another person is experiencing cognitive dissonance.
Here is an example of what I mean. Affect an accent, or try to speak like a female, and do it around people you know and in public. An actor can do that, for they are trained and know that they are acting, but to do that in real life.
Take Robin Williams playing Mrs Doubtfire, or John Leguizamo playing the role of Chi Chi Rodriquez,, Parick Swayze and Wesley Snipes of all people, Playing the role of Drag Queens in To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything.
That's one thing in front of the camera's, but if they had serioiusly gone out in public, hoping to pass as ciswomen, their knees would be shaking, and sweat rolling off their heads
My experience is this. I fell in love with a Panamanian, but she insisted in getting married in the Iglesia San Jose, aka Church of the Golden Altar, a historical site.But I had to convert. So I became a Catholic, didn't really believe it, and experienced cognitive dissonance, which I compensated for by becoming a rad trad Catholic, joined a rad trad organization, that was waging a war of words and propaganda with Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle and considered the Pope to be an Antichrist.
Eventually I couldn't take it and came to my senses and returned to my atheist self.
That's cognitive dissonance. I am unable to tell if someone else is experiencing cognitive dissonance, without a lie detector test., because I simply do not know what they belief or what they base their identity on.
Determining if someone is lying is a similar difficulty - no one is a true mind reader. Concluding that someone is lying, short of having deposition testimony and damning evidence, such as video, is inferential. Same deal with the cognitive dissonance - we infer, and no doubt correctly in a great many instances, that when a cult starts to crack, members begin to question something because it's just not something they can convince themselves is true. One former member of a fundamentalist Christian cult, whom I know personally, explained to me that the process from initial unresolved doubt to breaking/leaving was about six years. in this case, MAGA members have been drawn into numerous conspiracy level lies, including that Democrats are deep state pedophiles (no evidence, but that doesn't matter), while they are now discovering that their hero was best friends with a pedophile, that a massive amount of evidence was seized from this man's residence and that the FBI is sitting on it and the U.S. AG suddenly claims it's a nothing-burger, after previously describing how much there was and that they were going to go through it very carefully. Many MAGA cult members are very, very intolerant of pedophiles and this is causing a lot of trouble for them to somehow convince themselves that everything is okay with their leader. There is already an established conspiracy theory about Epstein being murdered in prison - the circumstances were obviously very, very suspicious. Hopefully, those who have given Donald Trump a million passes may finally be running out of them. I thought your remarks were well-stated and your personal experienced was very interesting, and I sympathize with how difficult that must have been.
The problem is compounded Gary, by the fact that so many people believe their own lies. It isn't just that if you tell a lie often enough that it becomes, in the minds of the listener, a fact. If you tell it often enough you begin to believe it yourself.
I am sure that Trump at first didn't believe that the voting was rigged, But he has said it so much, that he believes it now. And truth is that voting is now rigged, in his favor.
What do you mean William ‘but it has to be the cabal that runs the world, and they (MAGA?) can’t fathom why Trump is protecting them (the Epstein people?) or (the Democrats of course).
I might be slow this evening but I wasn’t certain what you meant.
I am not saying that there "must be a cabal that runs the world", I am referring to QAnon MAGAts who believe that there is a cabal of pedophiles that run the world., and they believe that Democrats are behind it all. You do remember pizzagate don't you?
When political vulnerabilities are factored in, even people to know that Trump is dangerous, ignorant, corrupt, etc., will fall in line with anything he wants. The fact that their assets will suffer is just something they have to manage as best they can. I think they see the risks you mention, but either can't bring themselves to believe it will happen, or the calculation that if it's going to happen, they'll be better off if they they are still a congressperson or Senator than otherwise. It's sad and cowardly, but it's the facts. That's my take, anyway.
Co dependents.
Also consider the spoils system. He's their sugar daddy.
My thoughts entirely. Where are his loyalists going to crawl when DJT is no longer in power. I believe they have convinced themselves that will never happen. Do his loyalists believe they have already won with this unconscionable power grab? Are Thiel, Yarvin, Vance, the billionaires
privy to some well laid esoteric plan that we voters are unaware?
Worth keeping in mind that Trump exploited the Evangelical Christian cult and most view him as the second coming. Thus, to them Trump is the Son of God whereas to most of us, he is just a scamming sonova bitch.
I agree. Consider Stalin shooting his best generals, and then refusing to believe that Hitler could invade the Soviet Union. This is what we are dealing with. Trump is incredibly dangerous not just to America but to the world, not least because he is so unpredictable. And what he is consistent about are all the negatives, discrimination, ridiculous economic ideas and the denial of climate change. Apparently he doesn't understand science so it scares and angers him, and likely he cannot accept anything bigger than himself. Not even nature.
He may know a little bit about science, but what he really knows is that there are people in the world a lot smarter than he is, and that enrages the narcissist in him, since it refutes his conviction that he is the smartest person in the world.
Stalin underestimated Hitler, overestimated himself. There is a book, written by a Russian, that Stalin actually started WWII, the book is Icebreaker, the author is Suvorov https://www.amazon.com/Icebreaker-Who-Started-Second-World/dp/0241126223
Validated by the book Stuka Pilot, Hans Ulrich Udel. He states that on the opening day of Barbarossa he bombed Russian airfiields, that had medium range bombers line d up. Stalin was preparing for his own offensive. https://www.amazon.com/Icebreaker-Who-Started-Second-World/dp/0241126223
Was also paranoid.
All dictators are paranoid, you don't become powerful without doing onto others, then being worried that others are going to do onto you.
Putin must lead a miserable life.
Anyone who has power leads a miserable life, paranoid, distrustful, always looking over their shoulder, especially Trump.
The more you have, the more you lose. The higher you are up, the further you can fall.
Perhaps some of the rage Trump exhibits as the polemic vise tightens is partially directed somewhat to his staff and those around him instead of those outside s who are luch more threatening. perhaps a defense mechnism, where anger is more accurately described as hostility. Hostility is really a defense mechanism utilizing threat, cloaked as anger. He could very well be angry at the disclosures from the media and still be encouraging to those close, those who serve him. Instead, he threatens them all, seif-defensively. Overall, his anger is hostility and it's retroactive threats. He has done that from the beginning. I have worked with bikers, found their anger was constant hostile threats, the base being they were protecting themselves from more hurt. Being hurt brought them to the gang of similar backgrounds.
He was ‘chosen’ by the neoliberals who recognized it would take a salesman of Trump’s stature (no conscience) for them to gain power, and he is having an identity crisis because he allowed himself to believe he is the best i.e. smartest above the law and now he can’t reconcile that he is being forced to accept the consequences he thought were not in his realm.
Thiel and his fellow oligarchs used Dump to gain access to the presidency. They will cast him aside like the rotted husk he is as soon as January 21, 2027, assuming he hasn’t died or completely melted down mentally before then. They would like to see him last past the midterms so that they can “elect” Vance for two full terms, giving them 12 full years to pretend we are still a functioning “democracy” while they completely consolidate power. We must resist. First thing on every state AGs’ agenda is to ensure the voting machines are not compromised!
Larry, I think you are the closest to the Why Thom asks. In "Vox in desierto" terms, you are the first I have seen to foresee the Vance plan, (after me?). The old evidence is, the real movers and shakers have always despised Trump, etc. I have a particular hometown perspective about the Bohemian Grove brotherhood. I can't imagine Trump has ever been considered in the slightest for admission there, despite some kindred spirit in relation to what females are good for. But it seems clear that their ceremonies include a "casting off of care" which is expressly about rejecting any guilt or empathy about anything in the world that would interfere with their overweening right to self-indulgence and hegemony.
TRump was born that way---nothing to cast off. Guessing he is considered too stupid for them as well. Although I would question everything about the pack of them, including THEIR intelligence. Let's start with the decision to join and actually meet at the grove. Childish. Hateful. Criminals. Trump has that part covered, Mmerose.
"Don't look in the mirror," indeed!
Trump was never accepted but needed and tolerated because he was their chosen and Trump has never dealt with that dynamic.
Larry Bushard, I agree wholeheartedly with your first 2 sentences and with reservations about #3 sentence. The presidency opens the door to so many other doors. This administration has changed the power base through the name of Trump. I don’t for a second give him as much power as others are giving him. I also believe that the public is making this way too complicated.
Both he and his miserable, visible cohorts have handlers who have the herding power for all these loose cannons. Not that handlers control everything, but they obviously control enough to make all the promises that he initially made and also the oligarch agenda come about. It’s all about power and money and access to vast amounts of money and quid pro quo in their imagined future.
Part of the problem is looking for a logical explanation for chaotic system of competing power centers (like Nazi Germany), working towards the Fuhrer. Throw in the fact that Trump is a racist, malignant narcissist, and you have 90% of the answer,
Trump is deep into the pockets of the Russian mafia, from whom he borrowed a great deal of money when the banks no longer would lend to him Not only would the public be upset with that knowledge, so would donors and other supporters, but the Russian Mob is not above putting a bullet in Trump's other ear if he gets out of line.
In addition Trump is not smart/capable enough to engage all of these topics at one time (look at his claims about the Epstein files) so the Stephen Millers and others of that ilk are behind much of the perfidy.
I like that - a bullet in the other ear - I would love to know Trump's inner circle's thoughts on the Russian Mob theory. I bet it is true. Trump appeared very shaken, but we don't know the whole background story.
Has everyone seen the recently released (?) video from the rear of the stage after the shooting, as they moved photographers and flag into position for that Iconic Photo? Saw it briefly yesterday on phone.
Will try to find a link...
https://nypost.com/2024/07/16/us-news/new-footage-shows-behind-stage-view-of-the-aftermath-of-assassination-attempt-on-trump/
It’s about the money. 2008 was the largest transfer of wealth in history. This is economic rape. Trump is INTENTIONALLY causes the economy to collapse so he can buy up foreclosed and bankrupted properties for pennies on the dollar. Now, he just needs to fire Powell so he can do it with interest free money. A leopard does not change its spots.
Investor Weekly gets it. Best explanation I’ve seen of what is going on...
https://youtu.be/HuR2lFTg_z8?si=cJYtkSvfPOXtwDdq
I don't think Trump is the mastermind behind all this, he's being managed by the people who put him there, they definitely found their guy with Trump.
Yup. If you get the Bohemian Grove guest list you know who "they" are.
This is the same guy who went bankrupt 6 times. Convicted of 34 counts of fraud.
It's Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, with self created crises that the rich take advantage of.
YES!
Perhaps all these destructive actions ultimately derive from the inner compulsions of Donald Trump himself. He seems obsessed with gaining and exercising total control over the entire country by destroying any impediments to his decisions and orders. He wants to be a universal emperor whose will is not questioned and everyone bows and scurries to carry it out. He wants to make people like himself totally dominant, which means racist white supremacy, male dominance, and billionaire dominance, this elite crushing a groveling, degraded, miserable mass of neutered commoners. He is actualizing the ultimate narcissistic ego fantasy.
This makes a lot more sense than presuming that Trump is playing 51-dimensional chess. He is a feral responder to protect his self-image, not a long-term, deep strategic thinker. Be that as it may, things may tend to work out in a way to make it look like he planned it, due to institutional weakness, media cowardice and fealty to investors, political gamesmanship with voter suppression, gerrymandering, etc., etc.
May be organic.
Everybody is off the charts here. The answer is almost always the simplest answer. Trump is mentally deficient. He always has been due to his upbringing, or lack thereof. The other simple answer that dovetails with this, is that because of his character flaws, he is easily led by the hand by those who want the United States to change from a democratic republic to an authoritarian white Christian country, with the descendants of the white Europeans in charge. Predominately those of British ancestry. Appeal to his vanity and you can have whatever you want from him. It's that simple. Trump has never thought beyond anything else but his own vanity and how much money he can make at everyone else's expense. We need to be looking past trump and his character flaws and at who is pulling his strings. They are the most dangerous people right now.
Explains POS, but how to account for all the once normal Rs who are actually driving the car and destroying so much of country.
Uneducated for the most part, and easily deluded, that's why. There have been studies completed lately, reporting that the average reading and writing comprehension of the average American in rural America is only at a sixth grade level now.
They are easily convinced by a charismatic politician who promises a better life by hurting those who have been demonized in the right wing media. In this case, the democrats who are labeled as rich elitists who don't care about the working class blue collar workers and farmers. It may be largely true but that is the main issue. A lack of decent education and brain washing by those who only seek power at any cost is the root cause. Income inequality is seen as the most prominent issue with a vast majority of the American people and they were led to believe that Trump and the MAGA party would fix that. And now the people are finally seeing the truth. They all lied. Both the democrats and the MAGA republicans. And now, these people are getting very mad. The Epstein issue is just the spark. The tinder has been there for a very long time waiting for that spark. I'm waiting to see how big this fire will get.
I'm not thinking of the followers. I'm talking about the ones in Congress who are kissing his butt and bending before him. Those in SC and those billionaires in the administration and outside like Bezos, etc. They are NOT powerless. And they're doing whatever he wants. Like Hawley and Lisa - they KNOW that damn bill is hurting the people who elected them. And they're still doing his bidding. Vance of "He's a Hitler" fame, Lindsey who hated his guts a few years ago, McConnell who thought he was dangerous. Those are the ones who are really bowing down to him and giving up every bit of the power they actually have. Why? What does he have on them?
And that is it exactly. Kompramat, to use an old KGB term. These butt kissers all have skeletons that Trump, like J. Edgar Hoover, is probably using to keep them in line. Or they've been promised some financial windfall for them personally. Which we know Trump would never pay out. But it all goes back to the lack of morals and backbone that these elected officials all lack these days. It's all about the money to be made on the side above and beyond their government salaries.
I submit the speculation that what Trump is telling them in those private calls is, don't worry, the "midterms" are "handled," and as long as you toe the line you are going to be in office for as long as you want.
I suspect you're right. There are a bunch of commentators and lawyers all saying the same thing. That the MAGA republicans are doing all they can with gerrymandering and voter suppression to make sure they stay in power.
I'm of the other thought, that we the people can fight that and get out there to do our best to vote all of these criminals out. We'll see how that works out for us next year.
They won't stop until we are all in our underwear behind razor wire. They are fiends for control, and they believe freedom is only an absolute, not relative, in the world which we share. They don't share. And freedom is not a right, but a privilege, accorded only to those who can pay for it.
You are right that there will be overreach. That is the major vulnerability, since eventually enough people get fed up that the control simply cannot be maintained. Even Stalin finally began to lose control. I sincerely hope America does not have to suffer that much before the resistance clears out the criminals, fascists, racists, ignorant loyalists and, especially, elected officials that are now aligned with Trump.
Republicans have invested heavily in the Reagan myth that government is hindering business, that people should prosper on their own without government help, and that government should only provide for national defense and protect private property. That, coupled with ineptness and ignorance of appointed officials who are devoted to pleasing Trump, leads directly to the chaos we are now experiencing. It is a self fulfilling cascade.
Trump is just the showman, the attention grabber, keeping people’s attention away from the people picking our pockets. Trump isn’t governing; he barely knows what is happening. His appointees are running things in self-serving and confusing ways, but the taxes on the wealthy are coming down along with regulations and the staff to enforce the few that remain. A largely orderly, peaceful society is being torn apart. Follow the money. Whose paying for this? It’s the super wealthy that are running things. 100 extremely wealthy families invested $2.6 billion in the 2024 election that put Trump back in the White House and Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. Seventy per cent of their money went to Republicans; the other thirty percent controlled the less wealthy Democratic leadership. These are the people calling the shots. But why do they think creating a dictator whether its Trump or some successor will be a good idea for them? Only a handful of the businessmen who supported Hitler survived and prospered. Several of the oligarchs who helped Putin ended up in Siberia or falling out of windows. Don’t our oligarchs read history? Is the chaos Trump’s creating better than the stable society he inherited? A Catholic priest once explained, “you can fish without a license.”
Being rich is not proof of intelligence, much less critical thinking. Anyone can be wealthy, all it takes is psychopathy, devoid of empathy and sympathy. with the ability to be a chameleon, pretend to be what you are not.
An example is Trump, I think we can all agree he is ignorant, he is devoid of knowledge except of that which is of importance to him, yet he is very astute and street smart when it comes to attaining and maintaining power and control., just like a mafia boss, he rules by reward and punishment. He rewards loyalty and punishes any perception of disloyalty.
These people are psychopaths and sociopaths. Life must be so much easier without a conscience! Twain wrote a story about that---it was a lot funnier than my snark.
Recent info I read about them appearing to be "fearless" said they do fear things; stuff like humiliation. But as for consequences, they don't see it coming. Narcissism? It's called the dark triad, and their brains are VERY broken.
Fear is a factor in the behavior of the current elected GOP. They are in so deep, they believe there is no way to turn back. Just a hunch. Very important views from so many of us who are living with dread everyday, from this regime.
Removes Women from top management jobs in the DoD. Same for Blacks.
Threatens sovereign countries. Not unlike Hitler [at Putin's suggestion?]
Hunts down law-abiding people who've held him to account, e.g., Comey and his daughter.
Clearly, the fat pedo is a Russian puppet — "Chucky" the commie, come to life.
The man is a virus, enabling Vought and the other opportunistic diseases. Walking AIDS is he.
Encased like a sausage in that disgusting, decaying skin-suit he coats with spray-on blaze-orange paint. Hobbling around on hyper-swollen ankles.
Oh, and 90% of Rs [and Bill the traitor Mahr] still love him, notwithstanding his congenital dementia.
Imagine, America is his new Taj Mahal Casino, his Trump University scam, or even his Trump steaks gag.
Belly up. . . . Each and every one of them.
I was hungry, but now I feel a little sick. I shouldn't encourage you, Sir, but true that!
Myself? Been sick since June 16, 2015, when the "Tangerine Turd" descended his "Fools' Gold" escalator and welcomed America into his hateful nightmare.
Bill the traitor Mahr is just trying to exist - stay relevant and he has been been extremely successful at being a survivor - Stephen Colbert on the other hand …well we know how that went.
I am inclined to believe that Trump and those who support him do not want a country at all. They would prefer to live in a world in which they make the laws and in which there is no social contract. If they destroy all government (shrink it as one of them said to the size of a washcloth and then squeeze the water out of it, they can then control everything.
Yes, I agree that Trump is a megalomaniac, a narcissist, and frankly, crazy (maybe not according to psychiatric diagnostics). But he is not alone in this undertaking: Thiel, for example, who is the power behind 2025 and all Trump's "enablers" cheer him on. I think they also believe that they will ultimately be able to control the world. Or that they can leave it via spaceships if they can't.
Fevered dreams of men who cannot face their own mortality (think Musk, Zuckerberg and space ships)......
Beats me...
Oh Gloria, they do not plan on dying. They are going to download themselves onto......
Well pick something you saw in some dumb-ass science fiction horror story that always ends badly. They think they are SO DAMN VALUABLE!
I agree.. their narcissism extends beyond life......
Gloria, very well said I might add. The metaphor they use is what they really want and for me a very scary image.