Donald
Trump, in the words of conservative
Washington Post columnist Michael
Gerson, “is unfit to be President of the United States.” What led Gerson to
voice this view of Trump? On the world
stage for all to see, Trump’s vile, ruthless, mocking, racist, misogynous,
xenophobic, ignorance laden, scene stealing, freakish reality show assertions might
be, in part, what Gerson is referring to. Trump is also a major source of
concern for others, as well, including members of the G.O.P.
The
crudeness with which Trump speaks of women’s bodily processes and physical
appearances, the vulgarity inferred references he makes about his hand size in
relation to his penis size all have to do with this perception of Trumps
unworthiness to have his finger on the button that, if pressed, could lead to
the existingtion large swaths of the human race. His defense of his sparing
with Sen. Marco Rubio about the relationship between hand and penis size was that “ Rubio started it.”
Such
behavior and assertions on Trump’s part have led to the conclusion of one
linguist that Trump is functioning on the level of a fifth grader in the manner
in which he expresses himself both in word usage and in his thought
processing. And from the perspective of this mental health practitioner, Trump
is functioning at the fifth grade level in emotional maturity. Certainly his reaction to “Rubio started it”…confirms
this observation. Such is the state of conservative Republican Presidential
Politics in 2016.
Then
again, we have numerous psychiatrists asserting that Trump, is a classic
narcissist. What is a narcissist and how
appropriate is it to have a narcissist in the Oval Office? Narcissism is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a
“a mental disorder in which people have an
inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack
of empathy for others. But, behind this mask of ultra-confidence, lies a fragile self esteem that’s vulnerable
to the slightest criticism.” Again
we have seen that when Trump is criticized, his response is to attack his
critic mercilessly.
In
one tellingly painful interview with the Washington Post Editorial Staff, Trump
in addition to often times demonstrating fragmented thinking, all but pleaded
that he is an intelligent person. He
stated that his uncle was smart, and that he
got good grades in school, so he must be smart.
In
this same interview he pleaded that his hands are not small and went on to give
examples of how normal his hands are. Reading
these statements and listening to the audio from the interview with this human
being brought about a sense of sadness and compassion on my part. He seems like
someone who, while aware of what he is doing in order to get the attention he
craves, he is like the emperor without clothes in terms of how his behavior is
perceived by others. His instinctive response is about winning and the
conquest. Should he win, his “trust me, I’m good at that…” won’t be good enough
and he will have to put up with policies and others who will frustrate him to
no end. In the larger scheme of things, his fragile self-esteem and his
immaturity are something that cannot be glossed over in his quest to the
Presidency.
So,
who would support this person? There
are, those who are frustrated because of the game playing gridlock in the
Congress. There are those who are mad
that their needs are not being addressed.
There are those who are angered by the financial disparity between those
on Wall Street and those on Main Street, or the feigned appropriateness to be
politically correct. And yet, in many
instances, these are the very same people
who have elected those to Congress who have done nothing, who have supported opposing everything the Obama
Administration has proposed. This
cadre of voters are, sadly, reaping what they have sown.
Many
of Trump’s supporters seem to be functioning on a fifth grade level, themselves. For many, Trump’s appeal is an expression of
the shadow side of the American
consciousness, that he is not politically correct, and that he will say and do
anything. Some of his supporters believe
that this kind of unscripted unpredictability might actually lead to some kind
of worthwhile change in what is going on in Washington and in our interactions
with others around the world. This “thought process,” if it can be called that,
seems to be what would happen if… For the fifth grade child, let’s see how long
it takes for the fire department to respond to a false alarm? Or, as adults functioning on a fifth grade
level, what would happen if Trump threatened Putin with bombing Moscow if the
two were to get into a peeing contest with one another? The emergence of ignorance on the political
stage, allows for and encourages the emergence of ignorance on the part of
people who are attracted to such a spectacle.
And
who has relished in this unreal candidacy?
Donald Trump’s candidacy would be seen as the freak show that it is, had
it not been for the likes of NPR, and other news and media outlets not
showcasing, often as a nightly lead story his every crude, vile, sexist,
unpredictable utterance and behavior. Our Fourth Estate has provided this fifth
grader with the world stage that has allowed for his emergence as a candidate
for the Presidency of the United States.
Why
would these folks do this? Media folks
would say that Trump is necessary to report about because his candidacy is what
is happening. It is also necessary
because such outrageousness brings eyes to the newsprint and the television
screens. The only mature media group in the this regard was Huffington Post who
stated that if you want to follow the Trump Parade, look for it in the
Entertainment section.
It is imperative that our Fourth Estate
functions to preserve our political process with integrity, educated insight
and the courage to speak truth to power and to call a fraud a fraud. How would Edward R. Morrow, the legendary
C.B.S. newsman who took on and dismantled Joseph McCarty in the 1950s, respond
to a Donald Trump? What about Walter
Cronkite, Tom Brokaw or McNeal and Lehrer and others of their ilk say about the
way the media has been conducting itself in relation to a freakish reality show
like Trump’s candidacy to become President of the United States?
Sadly,
today, the media often creates misleading narratives in the United States. We deserve better than what we have been
getting from those entrusted with providing us with the facts, perspective and
truthful dialogue about what’s what.
Jim Farwell
farwelljs@yahoo.com