Mary Trump, a psychologist, has suggested that her uncle, Donald Trump, suffers from psychological disorders dating from childhood, and that they have only become worse and more dangerous as he has become older, a situation rather worrisome given the fact that he happens to occupy what is said to be the most powerful position on the planet—namely president of the United States. Trump’s behavior is indeed a matter of concern; we can debate if Joe Biden has slowed down a tick, but what can’t be debated is that Biden has behaved in a far more humane manner than Trump, and a little humanity and humility is what this country needs right now.
According to my trusty Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010 edition, which was the last one released on optical disc (it also happened to be the year Microsoft released its last version of Office on optical disc), schizophrenia is defined as “any of a group of severe mental disorders that have in common such symptoms as hallucinations, delusions, blunted emotions, disordered thinking, and a withdrawal from reality.” One variety, called “hebephrenic or disorganized type of schizophrenic, displays shallow and inappropriate emotional responses, foolish or bizarre behaviour, false beliefs (delusions), and false perceptions.” Another variety is “the paranoid type, which usually arises later in life than the other types, is characterized primarily by delusions of persecution and grandeur combined with unrealistic, illogical thinking, often accompanied by hallucinations.”
Well, other than the hallucinations part—but then again, who knows—we know who these characteristics describe, because we see it every day on television and on twitter feeds, and it is not the kind of behavior that we would like to see from someone with their finger on the nuclear button. A recent Vanity Fair article suggests that in private, even Sean Hannity thinks Trump is “bat-shit crazy”—and Hannity has given Trump plenty of opportunities to prove it during his frequent “call-ins.” What is worse, is that “There is no cure for most patients with chronic schizophrenia, but the disease's symptoms can in many cases be effectively treated by antipsychotic drugs given in conjunction with psychotherapy and supportive therapy.”
Now, I know that even the most ardent Trump haters think that he possesses some major form of megalomaniacal psychosis, they are unwilling to go so far as to believe that someone less than mostly sane is running this country. It is certainly a frightening thing to believe, isn’t it? Unfortunately for all of us, those highlighted symptoms also describe people like Stephen Miller, Tucker Carlson, Hannity, Laura Ingraham and a host of far-right Republican politicians, particularly the “Freedom Caucus” and QAnon-types in the House of Representatives.
We have to look at the facts. Trump never admits to making policy mistakes, ever, even when as in the case of his COVID-19 response people die because of it. He just doesn't care about anyone else but himself. Trump calls himself a “very stable genius,” and only people who have accute delusions of grandeur are prone to openly proclaim such a thing. Neither Trump—or for that matter Jared Kushner and the other Trump familiars—have any shred of humility for their endless blunders, basing policy decisions on false beliefs (delusions), and false perceptions as well as unrealistic, illogical thinking.
We have also seen Trump repeatedly engage in shallow and inappropriate emotional responses, foolish or bizarre behavior. Almost on a daily basis we Trump showing a lack of understanding or empathy for people who exist outside his walled-off biosphere, his bizarre behavior during press conferences in which when challenged he simply walks away, or doesn’t seem to be able to compute normal or rational human responses, rather behaving like one those of an one-celled lifeforms that responds instinctively to “negative” stimuli.
Of course not all of what we have seen escape from Trump’s Pandora’s Box of insanity can be "comfortably" explained in clinical terms. Take for instance, Laura Loomer, who just won the Republican primary in Florida’s 21st congressional district, which is “solidly” blue, so one would think that she doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected, right? But then again, not even Trump thought he was going to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Loomer’s resume, if it can called that, would normally get her on the ballot in an inmate election for the criminally insane. Perhaps those who voted for her just want to be troublemakers, or they are themselves bat-shit crazy. This is what this country has come to in the Age of Trump?
Loomer’s Islamophobia, her
(unsuccessful) “stunts” to “prove” illegal
voting, her getting a lifetime ban from a Shakespeare festival after storming
the stage during a performance of “Julius Caesar” and giving her own “soliloquy”
to a stunned and bemused audience, a history of “crashing” events she was not
invited to and causing disruptions, and promoting various highly offensive conspiracy
theories, such as the Las Vegas mass shooter being affiliated with ISIS and
that recent mass shootings at schools were “staged” events, with the victims “actors”—have
all contributed to getting her banned from Facebook, Twitter and other social
media outlets, as well as GoFundMe and PayPal. There may be various definitions of what "normal" behavior constitutes, but only people like Trump actually think that Loomer's behavior can be described as that of a normal human being.
A white nationalist and anti-immigrant fanatic, Loomer is also—you guessed it—another Jewish racist (who are not supposed to exist), and you know Trump likes to have Jewish racists around. Trump, of course, endorsed Loomer, who is running in his new “home” district, Trump having vacated the unfriendly climes of Manhattan, where unfortunately for him he still can’t escape from his crimes being investigated by state and federal courts. The fact that Trump endorses such people as Loomer confirms for us, as the old saying goes, “It takes one to know one.”
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