America’s “legacy media” continues to downplay–or ignore–two of the most obvious sources of our current democratic crisis: Trump’s manifest mental disorders, and the undeniable corruption of the Supreme Court’s current majority. Our “papers of record”–the New York Times and the Washington Post–continue to normalize behaviors that are decidedly abnormal; they are aided and abetted by network news reports that carefully avoid even the implication that Trump’s behavior is “unusual” or that the Supreme Court’s majority is laying waste to its own jurisprudence.
There are, of course, independent newsletters and Internet sites that point to these realities, but those information sources are largely singing to the choir–Americans have long since sorted ourselves into audiences for “information” that panders to our preferred worldviews. As a result, MAGA folks are highly unlikely to have encountered the multiple psychiatric evaluations of Donald Trump–and equally unlikely to understand the radical extremism of the high Court’s majority.
One of my cousins is a cardiologist with a longstanding interest in psychiatry. He recently shared with me a column he’d written for his local newspapers, in which he reported on published psychiatric diagnoses of our demented President. I was especially interested in one published warning titled “Donald Trump, Like Hitler, is a Psychopath.”
Dodes warns that “this constitutes the most dangerous of all mental disorders, since it is the only psychological condition in which behaving in a morally reprehensible way is an essential part of its nature.” Manifestations of this disorder include the intentional creation of harm to others without guilt or remorse, for personal gain or self-gratification, which includes the sadistic pleasure of wreaking revenge against imagined enemies. Psychopaths cannot be reasoned out of their beliefs or their behavior, because they are unable to comprehend that others have value, or the concept of questioning themselves. The fact that Donald Trump has the most dangerous form of this disorder has two long-term consequences: It means that he is never going to stop intentionally harming others for his personal benefit, and it means that he will become worse over time.
Basically, the psychiatric community has concluded that “Trump lacks the ability to listen to reason and draw conclusions from facts.” (As a frame of reference, the average score for psychopathy for someone in the general population is 5; the average for felons in a maximum-security prison is 22. Experts give Trump an average score of 34.) Add to that the fact that Trump is manifesting numerous, unmistakable and increasing signs of dementia, and the danger becomes too obvious to ignore–unless, of course, you are a member of the traditional news media.
If we had a properly functioning Supreme Court, Trump’s ability to destroy our government might be slowed. But we don’t have such a Court, a fact that Josh Marshall–the eminently moderate and reasonable editor of Talking Points Memo–recently addressed in a column titled “There is no Democratic Future without Supreme Court Reform.”
Marshall noted that–in the absence of Court reform– even a Democratic trifecta taking control and passing laws supportive of democracy, separation of powers and the rule of law wouldn’t be sufficient to solve the underlying problem, which is that a substantial minority of Americans really do favor autocracy. (What he didn’t say–and I will–is that what they favor is a White Christian autocracy.)
Any repairs would be at risk the moment Republicans were once again in control.
The simple truth is that none of the laws that are essential for reinforcing the federal system against Trumpist attack would survive the scrutiny of the current Republican court majority as soon as there is another Republican president. Most would be overruled much sooner because they would, like an anti-gerrymandering law, place limits on Republican states. You cannot consider the last three to four years and doubt any of this. And what follows from that is that no plan to recover from or even seriously battle with Trumpism can have any chance of success unless reforming the Supreme Court is the first order of business. The dire corruption of the Republican majority governs everything.
I agree. But the people who really need to understand what the mental health experts and constitutional scholars are telling us are unlikely to encounter discussion of these issues unless traditional mass media sources address them. The consolidation of media ownership by America’s plutocrats makes it very unlikely that we will see those sources engage in the journalism we need–a journalism that reports the obvious.
Talk about your perfect storm….
My friend and fellow op-ed writer, John Young, this morning wrote a piece describing the action arm of this psychopathic horror: ICE. This led me to muse about some of human history that continues to be fascinated by hate, fear and self-destruction.
The world was horrified by what Hitler did in a supposedly civilized nation, a nation that had been suffering under the weight of the Versailles stupidity. The so-called war-to-end-all wars actually promulgated the worst of all wars, WW II and the opportunity to let the nuclear genie out of the jug. Yet here we are today repeating the horror of our own version of Hitler and his particular psychopathy.
Was it Citizens United v. FEC that allowed this to happen to SCOTUS, the emergence of the fundamentally corrupt Republican party and the rise of Donald Trump? I’m not a genius by any means, but these dots are too large to miss and not connect. We, like post-WW I Germany are doing it to ourselves.
It must be clear to all who are not mentally ill that humans have a fascination with evil and cruelty. No, the media is not “normalizing” our current psychopathic trajectory. The people who consume the information are doing that all by themselves. Always have.
In Rebecca Costa’s insightful book, “The Watchman’s Rattle”, she posits that the human mind/psyche is insufficiently evolved to deal with a population of over 8 billion. It’s clear that the 25% of us are still fascinated by madness and cruelty to the point of favoring monsters like Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. So, why doesn’t the 75% lock these creatures up in a tiny closet and throw away the key? Why do we allow intellectual dwarfs like Kavanaugh, Roberts, Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch to abet the clinical insanity of Team Trump, Botox Barbie the puppy killer, Secretary Brylcreem who is lusting to blow people up and Secretary Smack who REAL insanity is going to get children killed by his “actions”?
And finally: What the F*** is Christian Nationalism when it advocates for destroying EVERYTHING their alleged hero advocated? Is this just another hate group cloaking itself in self-righteousness to justify their hate and cruelty. They are part and parcel of the 25% doing the most harm to the human condition.
Trump’s “obvious” has been ignored for generations or we would not be living under his full immunity by his private Catholic Supreme Court to rule by Fascism and Dictatorship today. His 19-20 years of not paying taxes was totally public before 2015 when he slithered down that escalator and announced his run for president. Too many people in government and throughout the country laughed as this ridiculous fool, a known scam artist, tax evader and sex abuser for earlier decades.
Who’s laughing now? He laughs all the way to the banks, here and off shore, along with his billionaire constituents. Why don’t they buy their own country and deport themselves; they are not going to want their “leavings” of destruction by the end of his 2nd term.
The public seems to be ignoring the journalism which IS reporting the obvious and Trump is working to shut them down; he has already received millions in payoffs from some of them for reporting his obvious.
Oh, Trump has been a sociopath his whole life, which has been evident in his actions. He’s also narcissistic to the core. Who throws a Great Gatsby party at the same time the government is shut down, and you’re cutting off food to millions of Americans? Between the now $350 million Epstein Ballroom and his roaring twenties party, it’s Trump’s “Let them eat cake!” moment.
The problem is that while Trump and Johnson are starving women and children, as Bibi is doing in Gaza, the MAGATs are cheering him on. The “Get a job!” crowd is loving the fact that Trump is “owning the libs.” If it upsets top Democratic leadership, then they know Trump is winning even though a large percentage of the knuckleheads are on food stamps throughout the South and Midwest. What does that say about the MAGATs? #ignorance
But the real issue isn’t just the ignorance of the American people; it’s the ignorance of the American Oligarchy. Just to be clear, the oligarchy and Intel agencies ended the Kennedys’ lives and MLK’s life because they were deviating from the script they were supposed to play. MLK was given progress on the Civil Rights front, but when he started protesting the war and began visiting white churches throughout the South, he was threatening to the oligarchy.
Journalism in college is all about propaganda via “storytelling.” Most of these students are seeking jobs in Public Relations because journalistic work is too demanding for the little money it pays. The journalists who are ambitious and want to “change the world” are met with an Editor who explains to them, “This is a business – we are not here to change the world” speech.
This is podcasting, and video storytelling has skyrocketed on social media. Influencers have learned how to become impressive storytellers, and once they find a niche, it’s off to the races. Not too many people caught the fact that Tucker Carlson invited the Holocaust denier and antisemite, Nick Fuentes, on his show. Tucker’s reach is over 10 million followers. Israel and Trump have serious problems coming in the near future as people connect the dots between Israel (Mossad) and Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump has a big decision to make regarding Bibi if he wants to keep his movement unified.
Why no mental assessment of the new prophet of hate, B Netanyahu?
Christian nationalists have no where near the amount of agency as the zion-nazis.
theres a mention of. a substantial minority of Americans really do favor autocracy. they are the people too lazy and uninformed,spoiled and dont care. they need someone to tell the, what to do.(sexually a sub). from my blue collar world,this is true. theyd rather look for entertainment on tube than defend thier, er rights. no mention of other peoples rights, just theirs. ive watched them just stroke away at thier cell looking for trivial shit that wouldnt help a person/ a country in need. they want to be told how to live,as long as it doesnt interfere with thiermown little world. id look at how if, the demos take over again in 2028, how the tech bros will influence those who trump,and the ice issue, whereas they now seem to consider human life expendable,except for their own.
https://azovlobby.substack.com/p/neo-nazi-led-think-tank-gets-warm
Neo-nazi-led think tank receives warm welcome in Washington DC.
Todd nailed it this morning.
What to do, what to do, what to do.
That is the question.
Todd:
seems like the party at the end of the shining…
Yes,it would be nice if the so called “legacy media” did a better job. But, I don’t think many MAGA voters are reading the New York Times or Washington post. The biggest rock to overcome is Congress. They’re perfectly happy to let DJT or anyone else do the thinking for them. Trump must be impeached and that won’t happen until Congress feels the threat of being primaried next year. AND if tariffs are bringing in trillions of$, why isn’t that money used for SNAP or Medicaid or Medicare or the tens of thousands of government workers now on the unemployment rolls or the billions of dollars that should be available to research or… I could go on…
Life is always a balance between emotions and reason, and those who accomplish great things balance both naturally. We have great things to accomplish: the saving of American democracy from the ravages of social and entertainment media (are they two things or one?). It has to be done in time to capture the long-term benefits of AI and avoid the risks of AI and climate change that could render human civilization obsolete.
What DNC strategy would most likely help us succeed?
For that matter, what is the DNC strategy? Does anyone know?
Just like the psychopath Hitler’s rise of to power, the crisis created by the burning of the Reichstag allowed him to seize the government. We’ve had our own Reichstag moment and nobody noticed because it wasn’t nearly as dramatic. Republican speaker Mike Johnson has dissolved the Congress and with no resistance from the Supreme Court , Trump is free to do what he wants. The Senate is still making useless gestures in the corner, but maybe that’s just a distraction.
Thanks Ian for redirecting attention to the premier sociopath of the current time: B Netanyahu!
Vern,
You asked: “Is this just another hate group cloaking itself in self-righteousness to justify their hate and cruelty.”. The answer is: YES, that’s exactly what it is.
Indeed, the legacy media has ignored its Fourth Estate responsibilities. As painful as it often can be I watch C-Span often. C-Span carries every speech and utterance made by Trump. When I watch these I ask myself “why does not the major media carry at least some of these?” For if they did air at least three such speeches even many MAGA people would be saying to themselves, “Something isn’t right here”. As they witness Trump going into the same psycho-babble he had ranted on previous appearances. The major outlets would not need any setups or commentary. Trumps words would speak for themselves. Even his teleprompter readings suggest he is reading words he doesn’t really comprehend. C-Span can be difficult to watch. But there are truths revealed we simply do not see or read about in other media. Thanks fully it remains totally independent of outside corporate influences.
Going way back to “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” by Brandy Lee, M.D., M. div., of 2017, a volume of numerous psychiatrists’ evaluation of Donny Boy, and still earlier, when he was described as a (Yes, here I go again…but it seems it can not be stated enough- although this is the choir) Malignant Narcissist, the diagnosis developed to explain what the hell motivated, and ran the sick mind of Hitler, Trump’s illness has been there for all who can do it, to see.
I just read that he had something of a melt-down on “60 Minutes” yesterday that CBS, his newest propaganda organ, cut out. That was a serious failing for the American people.
That cruelty is the point of the Maga regime is illustrated by the fact that when SNAP benefits were cut stores were ordered not to discount the prices on food. Looks like it’s another step to prod the masses to violence, just what they want. It’s also reported that some of trump’s cabinet members are now living in the protection of military bases. This seems like an indicator of their level of fear. Fearful socio/psychopaths and their sycophants are the worst.
If Trump didn’t exist, the DNC would need to create him. Having El Trumpo exist narrowly focuses on the antics of his administration whilst ignoring and absolving the role of the DNC and its acolytes as to how we got here.