The ultimate selfie; portrait of a narcissist

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“How much longer does the country have to endure this nightmare?”—James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, following Donald Trump’s 77-minute boastful self-serving rant Aug.22 in Phoenix. Petulant Donald spent close to half an hour of his non-stop diatribe in his obsessed ongoing attempt to transfer his own “fake news” habit into a specter on the back of a scapegoat news media. Throughout the aimless flight of fancy by his runaway mouth, he attempted to denigrate the character of about every individual who has opposed his undisciplined spur-of-the moment official actions and pre-election antics of the past year.

Clapper denounced Trump’s “behavior and divisiveness and complete intellectual, moral and ethical void . . . I really question his fitness to be, his ability to be, in this office . . .” Clapper undoubtedly condensed and expressed the thoughts of many millions of Americans.

The takeaway from Trump’s continuing efforts to milk applause from his crafted audience of idolators included such things as his threat to shut down the federal government if Congress does not finance his wall to deter Mexican immigrants. Also his veiled promise to pardon ex-Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, convicted of refusing to abide by court orders to quit his profiling of Latinos (What, one wonders, is the motivation for that—other than endorsing racism). 

In verbally revisiting Charlottesville still again in an effort to revise his own image after the fact, he pretty much ignored the murder of  Heather Heyer by one of his demented supporters. Much in the way that he had responded briefly “that’s too bad” when receiving news just the previous day of 10 missing sailors after the destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with a ship near Singapore. If all this doesn’t identify the absence of compassion in a narcissistic sociopath, I don’t know what would.

It must have galled Donald that he would have to acknowledge that the U. S. Navy has a ship named after war-hero McCain—whom he’s been bad-mouthing—while he himself is trying to pose as the hero-leader of today’s military. So skip quickly over any kind words for 10 patriots lost wearing the uniform of our country. He’s not a hard read.

Trump apparently moved into office with the belief that he would merely give orders and others would hasten to obey. He would sign new laws with a flourish and his ego would thrive in the light of pomp and ceremony. And he could play golf every Saturday and Sunday (as he did in July, save one day he was en route somewhere by plane). The millions of taxpayer dollars expended on security for his leisure activities and his trips to diverse pockets of strong political support in search of applause are stupendous.

The Secret Service already has sought  budget enhancement following Donald’s first seven months in office.

I’ll say it again and again, Donald Trump is a self-serving racist (and homophobe, and misogynist) blinded by  his own ego. He’s not really overly-intelligent. He’s not really concerned about other people. Psychopath: “a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity. . . “ Psychopathy: “sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is traditionally defined as a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, egotistical traits.” A serious lack of social conscience appears to weigh heavily into things. I”m just sayin’, there seems to be some sort of mental disorder, including overtones of paranoia manifested in a victim complex.

No, I am not a certified psychiatrist or psychologist, merely a minor in psych in college (including a course in propaganda) many years ago and 88 years of encountering a diversity of people, especially during my newspaper years. It’s not difficult to see what makes people tick, especially when they insist on calling attention to themselves at every opportunity. I’ve always been curious to see the income tax returns of Donald, who so zealously guards them from the public. I suspect that for one thing, despite his many claimed billions, there is next to nothing in the way of donations to charity.

Here’s a bit on journalists by Donald regarding the American Press during his Phoenix harangue: "For the most part, all they do is complain. … These are really, really dishonest people and they're bad people and I really think they don't like our country. I really believe that.” I take umbrage at that both personally and on behalf of the journalistic profession. We who labored hard or who still are doing so with long hours and rather unimpressive financial reward certainly were not inspired by the type of status-seeking greed of a Donald Trump. We have common bond with educators who have taught us and who teach our children. We all are driven to inform and to open minds. The teaching profession also is looked down upon by the likes of a Donald Trump. It reveals reality and inspires, rather than pandering to the philosophy of a class society accommodating only the wealthy.

It’s the same old “keep ‘em barefoot, pregnant, ignorant and throw them a bone once in a while” philosophy of plutocrats with regard to the masses.

Speaking the day after Phoenix at an American Legion conference in Reno, Trump  sought to paint over his Tuesday tirade with such high-sounding remarks as “We are defined by our shared humanity, our citizenship in this magnificent nation and by the love that fills our hearts”  (speech-writer stuff). Illustrating related hypocrisy, that same day, a New York Times story reported: “WASHINGTON, Aug 23: — President Trump is preparing to give the Defense Department formal authority to expel transgender people from the military in an upcoming order, barring the Pentagon from recruiting transgender troops and cutting off payment for sexual reassignment surgery and other medical treatments for those already serving.

“A White House memo that is expected to be sent to the Pentagon in coming days gives Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense, six months to enforce the transgender ban that Mr. Trump announced abruptly last month in a series of tweets. The directive was confirmed Wednesday by a person familiar with its contents but who was not authorized to discuss its details and spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

The Times story noted: “The president’s order-by-social media caught senior military officials by surprise and short-circuited the customary interagency policy process that attends such sweeping decisions.” This leak will undoubtedly effect more enraged 5 a.m. tweets by Donald as he screams about “fake news” and the “failing New York Times.”

How can we expect any respect for human dignity from someone who has no concept to it?

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