Donald Trump’s Emotional Illness is Infecting Our American Way of Life

  

Our leaders bring with them the sum-total of who they are. Donald Trump is someone who suffers from various emotional issues, issues that he brings with him into the Oval Office. To begin with he does not tell the truth and is considered a pathological liar. The 2021 election was stolen from him when, in fact he lost the election. He still asserts this misinformation to this day.

 

He is delusional in his view of himself. He considers himself to be like Jesus or Nelson Mandela. He often has ideas and fails to see the cause-and-effect relationship between his idea and what he needs to do to bring his idea to fruition. He asserted that Mexico would build the border wall and pay for it. Mexico did not pay for the wall that Trump wanted them to build. 

 

He behaves like a racist. He has distain for immigrants and wants immigrants to be rounded up and shipped out of the country. This is another example of his not considering the cause-and-effect relationship between his thoughts and his solutions to deal with an issue.  IF he deports immigrants who will plant the crops, work in the vineyards, provide necessary services for restaurants, provide medical care for the sick or serve as teacher aides in the school, provide trained skills in the building trades? And these individuals pay taxes. What would we do with the void that his plan to deport immigrants would leave in our communities?

 

When he was President, wanted to stop the reports about the spread of the COVID virus. His solution was to stop testing for COVID so that the statistics would be reduced. He also suggested that to overcome COVID, people should drink bleach. His cognitive processing often appears to be incoherent as is his expression of his thoughts.

 

He is insecure and suspicious of others and feels and demands total loyalty from those who work with him. He wants those who work with him to believe that the 2021 election was stolen as a precondition to be on his staff in any capacity. 

 

He has been deemed to be a sociopath by the mental health community. This means that he disregards other peoples’ needs and feelings. He is often vulgar in his description of others who he dislikes; ‘who would vote for a face like that?’ He has shown himself to regard women as eye candy and as objects for sexual pleasure. One only need listen to the Access Hollywood Tapes to get a picture of his views of women.

 

He is also a staunch supporter of the White Male Christian group, the Oath Keepers, and the Proud Boys. He supports and believes in the use of violence in relation to those who are antagonistic to his will and ways. Using executive orders, he pardoned those who participated in the violent attempt to disrupt and overturn the peaceful transition of power from his administration to the Biden Administration. 

 

He loves to create shock and awe. He thrives on destroying programs and institutional ways of providing necessary services to citizens. He is interested in cutting back on veteran’s services, enforcing hiring freezes on trained medical staff. He wants to cut back on FEMA which provides monetary support to communities that have been impacted by natural disasters. He is even considering eliminating FEMA altogether and having the states take care of their own natural disasters.

 

Trumps emotional illness is infecting our country. His desire is to destroy the essence of what America is made of. He thrives on being the center of attention and will say things that are not true or behave in ways that that are deliberately provocative. As was mentioned previously his thought process and expressing of himself is often incoherent. This is who we have residing in the Oval Office, today. 

 

What do we need to do to begin to relate to this flawed, limited human being? His use of retaliation intimidates those who would stand up to him. Our need is to stand by what is true for us and express that truth to anyone who tries to control us by intimidation. Trump is the man child who craves to have limits set for him. Our need is to express our truth and by doing so, we set our limits to all whose path we cross in life.

 

 

 

 

 

The Contrast Effect: By Experiencing the Worst, We Are Put in Touch With its Opposite

 The worst of something will often put us in touch with its opposite…By seeing people being mistreated, we see the pleasure of treating others as we would want to be treated.

 

Kurt Lewin did work with this notion in the 1930’s. Interest has

been rekindled regarding this way of making sense out of our thinking process in today’s world of war and misinformation. The innocent 46,000 Palestinian men, women and children who have been killed in Gaza in the last 15 months, requires our coming to terms with the horror of this inhuman behavior.

 

In today’s political world in the United States, Contrast Effect is beginning to become a talking point in relation to Trump and the Mega group as they begin to tout the mass deportation of migrants, in the discontinuing of Social Security and Medicare, the raising of taxes on the average citizen to off-set the cutting of taxes for the wealthy and their outright lies and conspiracy theories.

 

As people suffer, the ways of doing away with such suffering can become more evident within our communities, and why might this be so? The Dali Lama has written something that speaks to who we are in our very essence. He writes, ‘Whether one is rich or poor, educated, or illiterate, religious or nonbeliever, man, or woman, black, white, or brown, we are all the same. Physically, emotionally, and mentally we are all equal. We all share basic needs of food, shelter, safety, and love. We all aspire to happiness, and we all shun suffering. Each of us has hopes, worries, fears, and dreams.  Each of us want the best for our family and loved ones.  We all experience pain when we suffer loss and joy when we achieve what we seek.  On this fundamental level, religion, ethnicity, culture, and language makes no difference.’

 

Within each of us lives an essence of awareness and compassion.

Jon Kabat-Zinn has written ‘When we are truly present, in the now, our natural state of being is to be compassionate, to feel empathy with another person or living thing.’

 

I find myself put in touch with my essence in relation to animals who are in distress and need.  There are commercials that present starving dogs, who have been abandoned, trembling in the cold. When I see these commercials, I want to hug our two Rhodesian Ridgebacks and promise them that they will never be abandoned, again. This is a simple example of Contrast Effect.

 

By our experiencing the worst, we can be put in touch with our essence and begin to heal what we see before us. This is a natural process that takes place within us and can bring us back to the present moment that connects us with our compassion and caring nature.

 

Wishing you a Happy New Year

 

 

 

It is Against the Law for Donald Trump to Serve As President of the United States

  

I am writing this as an ordinary American Citizen who is sick and tired of observing the vulgar and disregarding of other peoples’ needs and feelings that is Donald Trump. He, to my eyes, is a seven-year-old school yard bully who has never been held accountable for his words and behavior.

 

Since 1970, at least 26 women have publicly accused this man-child of rape, kissing, and groping without consent: looking under women’s skirts and walking in on naked teenage pageant contestants. 

 

On May 9, 2023, a New York jury in a civil case found Trump guilty of sexually abusing and defaming Jean Carrol in 1996. She was awarded a five-million-dollar settlement for damages.

 

If anyone needs more evidence of Trump’s attitude toward women, all they would have to do is to listen the Access Hollywood tape in 2016, while he was a candidate for President. This was exposed by the Washington Post for all to see and hear.

 

Then we have the January 6^th event that was to overturn the will of the People who voted for Joe Biden. Trump orchestrated this act of sedition, encouraging his followers to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from his Presidency to the Biden Presidency. He even called for the hanging his vice president for not supporting his act of insurrection. 

 

The Fourteenth Amendment Section 3 clearly states ‘that no one shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress or elector of President or Vice President, having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the government of the United States, or given aide to comfort to the enemies thereof.’

 

To me, Trump personifies the worst in what a person can represent by his words, behavior, and inability to be truthful. And he is legally disqualified from being able to run for or function as President of the United States by his seditious behavior on January 6. I ask, how can we stand by and watch someone like Trump whose behaviors have been illegal and disqualifying of him to serve as our President, serve as role model for our children and serve as our national leader?

 

When will we wake up and take responsibility to correct the absurdity of having a sexually deviant, racist, an insurrectionist, a convicted felon, and a cognitively and emotionally limited 7-year-old in the Oval Office?

 

For me, according to our Constitution, Trump is ineligible to be my President. His being allowed to continue moving into the Oval Office is illegal. Anyone who has facilitated his illegally becoming President, should be held accountable to the full extent of the law.

 

 

Does Trump Really Think Things Through, Or Is He Cognitively Limited, Or is He Just Suffering the Pains of Old Age?

I watched Trump’s recent Meet the Press interview with Kristen Welker. I listened to her questions and his answers. I came away with the sense that Trump has limited ability to listen to, understand and process questions that he was asked. He comes to conclusions that are not truly connected to the question with which he was presented. He often seems to be unable to see the cause-and-effect relationship between his thoughts and the effect his thoughts have on others. His thoughts and expression of his thought are increasingly becoming more and more incoherent over the course of the past four years.

 

His belief, for example, is that a 60 percent tariff would not cost an American an increase in the price for a television that has been imported from Canada. A television that costs 100.00 dollars in Canada would carry an additional tariff of 60.00s. When the T.V. is delivered in the United States, the store that is buying the product will pay an additional 60.00 and the total cost for the store owner would be 160.00. In Trump’s thinking, the store owner would not pass on that 60.00s to the customer who would only pay the 100.00.

 

His famous ‘Mexico would pay for the border fence to keep immigrants out’, was his assumption about what would happen. No such agreement was ever made or agreed to by Mexico.

 

In another discussion, during the Pandemic, he refused to take the preventative vaccine because he did not have the COVID virus. He did not see the connection between the vaccine and its role to help prevent his catching of the COVID Virus. Again, he many times fails to see the cause-and-effect relationship between his thought and the reality of a given situation. In this he often fails to see the potential consequences for his behaviors.

 

In the Meet the Press interview, he indicated that he wants to remove immigrants from American communities.  He believes that immigrants ‘poison the blood of our citizens.’  He talked about families where children were born into a family where the parents were not American citizens. The children of such parents automatically become an American Citizens. He asserts that he does not want children born into such situations to become American Citizens.

 

He also stated that, ‘in order for children who are born into American citizens to not be torn away from their families, all family members will need to be removed and sent away to the parent’s country of origin’, again if the country of origin agrees to accept by the family. 

 

Such issues focus on Trump’s limited thought process. He fails to consider how much will it cost to send immigrants away from the United States. How will this be done? How will these people be rounded up? Who will replace these folks in our American work world? Who will plant and tend to the crops? Who will maintain our vineyards? What about replacing skilled carpenters and trades people? Who will take over food service positions? What about health care providers and those in medical support positions? And each of these individuals contribute to the American economy by paying taxes to the United States Government. It has been said that to remove these immigrants from our work force would be financially disastrous to our basic American economy.

 

His pulling out of NATO is another example of where he fails to see the cause and effect of such thinking. Since NATO there have been 80 years of peace since the end of World War II. Without the United States presence, there would be no guarantee of such continued peace in the region. By the United States leaving NATO, the whole region would be negatively impacted by Trump’s disregarding of the United States role in the region and on the world stage.

 

 

I had just saw an interview with New Jersey’s newly elected United States Senator, Andy Kim, whose parents migrated to the United States from Korea over 50 years ago.  He and his sister were born in the United States and became citizens years before their own parents became citizens. I wondered, where in Trump’s world, would Andy Kim fit? Would he have to be removed from the United States Senate because he was born in the United States to immigrant parents from Korea?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can We Have a President Who Wants to Destroy the Constitution, Eliminating a Government Of the People By the People and For the People?

  

In 2017 Brandy Lee called together a gathering of psychiatrists and mental health professionals to discuss Donald Trump’s mental and emotional fitness to be President of the United States.  The product of this gathering was the publication of ‘The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump’ which contained 27 essays written by those who participated in this gathering of mental health professionals. 

Their conclusion was that Trump is not mentally stable or competent to be President of the United States. Their conclusion was that Trump is emotionally capable of unleashing violence against others.  He also engages in the predatory manipulation of his vulnerable followers. 

 

In the past seven years, as someone who has worked in the field of behavioral and emotonal needs,   I have experienced similar discomfort around Trump's treatment or mistreatment of others. Those who need a savior turn to him to be saved. People are for him, objects to be manipulated and not human beings with needs and feelings. His view of women is that they are objects, eye candy, a ‘pussy’ to be grabbed or an orgasm to be had. As crass and vulgar as those terms sound, it is his view of women.

 

His desire to terminate a woman’s right to have an abortion, regardless of her having life threatening health issues, or having been raped or manipulating her ability to obtain contraception, to have her menstrual cycles monitored are all ways he views as being able to control a woman, her needs and feelings and her health. 

 

His advocacy of violence is often evident in his threats to use the military in relation to American citizens’ protesting his views and ways. Instead of using the court system, he will often encourage people ‘beating up’ those who are not compliant to what he is advocating or are not supportive of his view of what should be. In his mind, the legal system does not apply to him, he is above and beyond the law. The Supreme Court has reinforced his legal freedom.

 

In his running for the Presidency this time around he outright lied to the American People. He said that he wanted to be the President. In fact, he wants to be a dictator. A President is bound by the Constitution and is required to take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. In fact, he wants to destroy the Constitution and a government of the people, by the people and for the people. 

 

He does not want separate but equal branches of government. He detests the notion of a government of checks and balances. He wants to be the center of attention, in charge of all aspects of everything. He demonstrates his disdain for our Constitutional Institutions by choosing ill prepared and  inexperienced people to head his Cabinet Departments. His singular choice of a Kash Patel as Director of the FBI, someone who advocates violence and has created a hit list of those who need to be punished for their lack of support of Trump, screams out as an example of Trump’s illegitimacy as President of the United States.     

 

 

Where Are We and What Do We Need

 

 For the past ten years, during his attempt to achieve his Presidential place in American politics, Trump has consistently featured a   dishonesty, a tendency to destroy what is and a disregard for the needs and feeling of others, particularly women and people of color.

 

 His recent want to run for the Presidency was his latest example of not being truthful with the American people. To become the President of the United States requires taking an oath of office that pledges a loyalty to the very document that serves as the bed rock of our system of government and political way of life. 

 

Trump wants is to become a dictator, not a President. He has said so publicly. He wants to destroy the Constitution and our very way of government. The idea of separate but equal branches of government, a government of checks and balances goes totally against his grain.  He wants no checks and balances. He wants to do as he wishes and goes so far as to make a mockery out of attempting to fill his Presidential Cabinet.  He selects people who are to serve as the various leaders of his Cabinet agencies that meet the needs of citizens, people who are totally ill prepared to lead their respective agencies. Matt Gaetz is one such example of an ill fitted Cabinet head as the Attorney General of the United States. Fortunately, Gaetz withdrew from Trump’s appointment. 

 

A second appointment that was off the charts was the choice of Robert Kennedy as Director Health and Human Services. Kennedy has no medical experience or training. He is against the use of vaccines and certain medicines and promotes turning away from medical experts to those who are fellow conspiracy theorists. He is a trained environmental lawyer. Decisions about our countries’ health are in the hands of an opinionated, untrained, person whose track record has left numerous deaths in the wake of his ‘leadership’ attempts. 

 

Trump seems to thrive in making his selection of Cabinet members a joke. His is an attempt at testing the waters in his selection process with the notion that ultimately, he will have the last word in any decisions that his Cabinet will make. In essence, the government of the United States will be his government not a government ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’, in the words of Lincoln. 

 

One more aspect of Trumps ‘leadership’ as a Dictator, is to change our national position on the world stage. He wants to remove America from NATO and eliminate our checking of other countries from attacking fellow NATO members. Our role for the past 80 years has kept peace in Europe, and he wants to change that political equation. The reason for this is that he seems to shy away from anything that takes the focus off him personally. By sharing the stage with other European leaders, he seems to feel like one of the many and not the one, who is.  He also wants to remove our involvement with the United Nations hypothetically for the same reason as his removing us from the NATO community. 

 

On the economic front, Trump holds onto the notion that tariffs are the only way to go in dealing with trade issues with other countries. The fact that tariffs will increase the cost of good for Americans, seems to be of little consequence to him. It is as if his ignorance of the impact that tariffs will have on American citizens makes no difference to him.

 

Other issues that need to be brought up for our consideration are what the MEGA focus is on today’s societal scheme of things. MEGA wants to promote a White Christian Nationalism societal focus. This groups concern is that today there is too much coming together of mixed racial and societal groupings and that the male dominated white Christian nationalistic front is losing its political footing. The removing of immigrants, the removal of women’s rights around maternal health care issues, are but two instances of where Trump and his cohorts are attempting to change America’s way of treating citizens, notably women and nonwhites. His is an ego driven attempt to control life forces. 

 

Trump’s ways defy all Mindfulness approaches in what brings people together and how it is that communities of people grow and prosper together. Trump’s approach alienates community members from one another and destroys all that he encounters.

 

The Buddha has taught that ‘suffering occurs when we believe in a thought that is at odds with what was, what is or what will be.’ Trump’s thoughts have caused much pain, dissention, and suffering. One of my favorite teachers, the Dali Lama has written, ‘Compassion and love are not a luxury; they are essential to our existence. Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. If we are to survive, human beings must develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. We must learn to work not just for our own self, family, or nation, but for all of humankind.’ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trump, Better Suited to a Psychiatric Unit Than to the Oval Office

 

Recently, Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, told the world, that in Springfield, Ohio, Haitian immigrants are stealing pets from neighbors and were eating them. These immigrants, it was further stated, were in the United States illegally. Trump’s implication being that these or any immigrants cannot be trusted and are a blight to our way of life. He has gone so far as to say that ‘immigrants are poisoning the blood of our communities.’ He is constantly and flagrantly spreading racism when it comes to those who are not white. 

 

In truth, these folks are legally in the United States, they do not steal and eat the pets of their neighbors. In fact, they have helped save Springfield from becoming a waste land of declining population. These fifteen thousand people from Haiti, not the thirty-four thousand that Trump says, are saving the economy of Springfield by their working in the factories and in other areas of need in the community.

 

Since Trump and Vance have lied about the Haitians in Springfield, there have been bomb threats all over the community. Schools have been closed, children and the families of children are living in an environment of constant fear, not knowing what to expect next.

 

Trump and Vance acknowledge that they are comfortable lying about what they are saying. What they say, Vance offers, is intended to force Americans to face issues that they would not otherwise face. In misspeaking the truth, they are also making it difficult to address the realities of issues that plague us as our democratic community. If you cannot believe what you are being told, how can you make the decisions that are necessary for our society to grow and to heal.  

 

What this misinformation about Springfield shows is how Trump creates conflict and hardship on minority groups who migrate into the United States. He has no regard for the negative impact that his assertions have on others. As a sociopath, he has no regards for the feelings and needs of others. As a sociopath, he lies as a matter of course. He cannot be believed and yet the suffering and fear that he creates in what he says is unconscionable. His belief in the use of violence against those who are not in his favor is real and his goons will harass individuals and families all over the United States. The Proud Boys recently began walking the streets of Springfield. It used to be that if a public figure were to threaten fellow citizens with physical injury, he or she could be arrested, tried in court, and sent to jail. Why is Trump getting a free pass in what he says and threatens?

 

Trump’s narcissistic need for being the center of attention, triggers his making those things that he says that cause others pain to be intensified, so that even more attention is paid to him. His ability to have attention paid to him, no matter what he says or does, knows no bounds. His assertion that the 2020 election was stolen from him is an example of delusional thinking. When he speaks, his thoughts are often delusional and incoherent and make no sense at all. Over the past four years, his verbalizing of his thoughts has become what is referred to as an incomprehensible word salad.

 

Of late, he seems to be acting as though the 2024 Presidential Election is already lost, and he is planning to interfere, again, with the peaceful transfer of power from the Biden Presidency to the Harris Presidency. He has his supporters attempting to take over the various voting places and making the accurate counting of votes more difficult, if not impossible. 

 

Instead of nonwhites from any part of the world poisoning the blood of our American Family, it is Trump, himself, whose words, and behaviors are destroying our Democratic way of life and our democratic institutions. He is unfit for the Oval Office. He needs psychiatric care as he manifests delusional thinking and demonstrates that he has no regard for the needs and feelings of others.  

 

Maintaining our democratic institutions and way of life is our responsibility as members of ourAmerican Community. We need to demonstrate this responsibility by voting on November 5^th for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.