Many Of America’s Leading Mental Health Experts Have Repeatedly Warned That Trump Is An Apparent Sociopath Or Psychopath Who Does Not Care If The American People Live Or Die
By
Chauncey DeVega and Salon
January 01,
2021
More than
400,000 Americans will soon be dead from the coronavirus pandemic, which by
some standards could make 2020 the "deadliest year in U.S. history,"
with a 15% increase in fatalities from 2019.
President Donald J. Trump joins U.S. Army Cadets during the 121st
Army-Navy football game Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, at Michie Stadium at the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (Official White House Phot
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Public
health experts have concluded that the actual number of people killed in the
U.S. by the coronavirus is probably much higher. Many more Americans will have
shortened lifespans from complications caused either directly by the virus or
indirectly by the conditions of the pandemic.
The final
year of Donald Trump's presidency has had such a negative impact that U.S.
birth-rates are predicted to decrease in 2021.
Unless
immediate relief is offered millions of Americans may face eviction. More than
10 million Americans are now at least $5,000 behind in rent payments. There are
long lines for free food and other essentials in cities and towns across the
country, and all regions of America are experiencing near-record levels of
unemployment and underemployment.
The
country's already threadbare social safety net is about to collapse: In the
midst of the holiday season, millions of Americans may not receive their
unemployment benefits — perhaps even for several weeks — because of Trump's
unconscionable delay in signing the coronavirus relief bill.
By
comparison, the very richest individuals and corporations have become even
wealthier and more powerful during the pandemic, while average Americans (as
well as many small businesses) face financial ruin and deprivation.
Trump has
been at his Florida resort since before Christmas, playing golf, sabotaging
relief efforts and waging a last-ditch campaign to overturn the results of the
2020 election. Such behaviour should not come as a surprise: Many of the
country's leading mental health experts have repeatedly warned that Trump is an
apparent sociopath or psychopath who does not care if the American people live
or die.
Ultimately,
it appears that Trump is punishing the American people for voting him out of
office.
He has even
punished his own party by refusing to sign the coronavirus relief bill until
Sunday evening. This delay did not reflect any care or concern for the American
people — his demand for larger relief checks is clearly a political stunt — but
rather an act of revenge against the Republican Party for failing to publicly
support his coup attempt with more enthusiasm and vigor.
At the
Guardian, former labor secretary and public policy expert Robert Reich explains
the implications of Trump's anti-social and fascistic behavior:
Most of the
74,222,957 Americans who voted to re-elect Donald Trump — 46.8% of the votes
cast in the 2020 presidential election — don't hold Trump accountable for what
he's done to America.
Their
acceptance of Trump's behavior will be his vilest legacy…. The appalling
reality is that Trump may get away with it. And in getting away with it he will
have changed and degraded the norms governing American presidents. The giant
windows he's broken are invitations to a future president to break even more.
Nothing will correct this unless or until an overwhelming majority of Americans
recognize and condemn what has occurred.
Trumpism
has left the United States in a condition where it is a morally and ethically
undead country, shambling on by instinct and compulsion with no real direction
or vision. President-elect Joe Biden will have to be a type of political
sorcerer or exorcist to somehow heal America. Such a task is likely too great
for any one person or presidential administration. A society-wide
reconstruction project will be necessary.
Fintan
O'Toole describes
the broken state of America in Trump's last days in a new essay for the Irish
Times:
D'Antonio is also a frequent commentator on
CNN. His essays and other writing have appeared in the New York Times Magazine,
the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Esquire.
Michael D'Antonio is an American author, journalist, and commentator on
CNN. He shared the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting with a team of
Newsday reporters for their coverage of the Baby Jane Doe Case.
------
In our
conversation, D'Antonio warned that Trump will do anything to stay in power and
will accept any help, legal or otherwise, that he believes might enable his
ongoing coup attempt to succeed. He also discussed why — with a few notable
exceptions — the mainstream news media normalized Trump's presidency for years
and refused to warn the public about the dangers presented by Trump and his
incipient fascist regime.
Finally,
Michael D'Antonio predicted that once Trump is finally deposed on Jan. 20, he
will continue to be a looming, menacing presence in American life — perhaps by
creating his own TV network and opening a theme park-style temple for his tens
of millions of followers.
Donald
Trump's coup attempt is ongoing. He recently met with his cabal in the Oval
Office where they discussed using the military to overturn the results of the
2020 presidential election. Why is this not the lead story at every news outlet
in the country?
What Trump
is doing is disgusting. The media's response to what is happening is puzzling.
I suspect that the press is on the fence about when to pull the plug on paying
attention to him. I do believe that the mainstream press went through a time
period where it eventually decided that it had to confront Donald Trump for who
and what he really is. In a way, they did cross the Rubicon, so to speak, and
started describing him as a liar, and also tried to document what he was really
up to.
I think the
American press has also communicated that Trump is attempting to subvert the
country's democracy and that he has attacked our democratic institutions. The
major struggle has been between Trump — who is attempting to overturn an
election, and through what is essentially a coup stay in power — and a court
system that has so far stopped his coup attempt. But it is not time to take our
eyes off the ball yet.
This is a
very dangerous period where Trump is not only trying to continue to overturn
the election but is also making a great effort to hinder Joe Biden as he comes
into office and attempts to restore some sort of normalcy to the country and
the presidency. Trump is doing things that no other president has done. I do
not believe that we have had a more subversive and traitorous federal official
in our history — and certainly since the Civil War. For the American press to
ease up and place the scandal of Trump's meeting in the Oval Office, where
martial law other parts of a coup plot were discussed, anywhere but on the
front page is a mistake.
I've had
lots of conversations with people in the mainstream press. They are trying to
figure out what is the responsible thing to do in the public interest. But I
must ask: Has the American news media served the public interest in the
preceding four years?
If what
Donald Trump and his agents are doing to subvert democracy were taking place in
another country the narrative from the mainstream news media would be totally
different.
Yes, if we
were watching these events in another country there would be warnings of a
coup. The United States ambassador might be raising alarms. The world community
might be threatening sanctions. It may be that we are all so eager to put Trump
and all that he has done to the country behind us that we are moving too
quickly to do so.
There are
so many examples of how the mainstream news media has failed in its
responsibilities to hold Donald Trump accountable by speaking truth to power
about his fascism, his racism and his violent assaults on the country's
democratic norms and values. One of the greatest failings has been a refusal to
describe Trumpism as a type of political cult. That framework might have helped
people understand Trump's enduring power.
Many
journalists are isolated. If you are a person who has never attended a
Pentecostal church service, or has never known people who were in a cult, or
has not tried to understand right-wing Christian evangelicals and the lifestyle
that many of those people live, then you are not going to be able to recognize
what Donald Trump has been doing. His campaign events and rallies are more like
a religious crusade.
For most
journalists, this is beyond their experience. It may well be that the
separation of the journalistic community from the community of the faithful in
conservative evangelical communities perhaps explains the anger felt by the
evangelicals. They know that the mainstream press either doesn't get them or
doesn't care to get them and may even look down on them. Therefore, when Trump
says, "They hate you" and says that the press is "the enemy of
the people," he has a ready and receptive audience.
The
journalistic imagination of the mainstream media is very limited. Another
example is the way they continue to be surprised by Trump's evil and cruelty
and other aberrant behavior. Trump has been behaving this way for years in his public
life. Why the perpetual surprise? Why do so many public voices keep asking
questions about Trump and his movement to which they should already know the
answers?
There is a
great deal of fear in newsrooms of giving mental health professionals much leeway
when discussing someone like Donald Trump. Part of this is a long tradition of
hiding behind sourcing, the idea that you always have to have a source make the
observation because a journalist is somehow not allowed to do such things.
That is a
holdover from the ideal of a certain kind of fairness that came with an
assumption that people are operating from some basis of goodwill. There was not
any corner of the mainstream media that was prepared to deal with a person as
malevolent as Trump, who was not operating out of any commitment to the country
or to the oath of office. The press was paralyzed by the enormity of Trump's
malevolence. Reporters kept waiting for the moment when they could say,
"Oh, see, he is capable of something better. We were right not to declare
him depraved." The mainstream news media waited so long for such a moment
that now their judgment has become irrelevant.
It was so
utterly apparent to anyone who bypassed the news and just watched Trump on
television that he was fascistic, that he's a racist, that he's perfectly
comfortable fomenting violence if he believes it's in his own interest to do
so. Trump broke the minds of the national press. Trump and his behavior
exceeded their imaginations. Even when there were mental health experts
sounding the alarm from the very beginning about Donald Trump, such as Dr.
Bandy Lee and others, the mainstream news media couldn't hear it.
With
three weeks or so left until Biden is inaugurated, many journalists and other
members of the chattering class are now speaking out against Trump, finally labelling
him as a fascist and a white supremacist and a political criminal. But many of
these same voices spent the last four years downplaying the threat of Trumpism
and saying that those of us sounding the alarm about the danger he represented
were exaggerating or hysterical. Now they want to be on the record to protect
themselves from history's judgment. Am I being unfair?
There is an
element of that. It may even be subconscious. I do believe it is unfair to say
that nobody was speaking out about how dangerous Trump is. On the evening news
programs, especially, there have been voices calling attention to Trump's harm
and great danger. Impeachment spurred many journalists to start speaking out
more boldly. Right now, there are journalists making their case against Trump
and mourning about the fact that fascism found fertile ground here in this
country. But yes, some in the press are making sure that they are on record
before the end of Trump's term.
Many journalists
were frozen by the shock of Donald Trump and his attacks on democracy and other
unprecedented behavior. And it kept getting worse. But that is another amazing
element to this saga, which is that while so many people were assuming there
would be a moment when Trump would hit bottom and bounce up to a higher level
and come closer to the norm, it just never happened.
I can't
tell you how many times I spoke to editors who said, "This must be as low
as he can get. Time to publish that piece saying Trump has finally hit the
bottom." But if you have never been abused yourself — I mean really abused
by somebody powerful — you may not understand what is happening. You might not
even know that people like Donald Trump exist and that there will be no bottom,
no "bouncing up" to normal.
The
dominant narrative about Trump's coup attempt is that it has "failed"
and he is "incompetent" so there is no real danger. How can we better
explain to the American people how dangerous Donald Trump really is, even at
this late stage of his presidency?
If Donald
Trump could be a military dictator, he would eagerly assume that role. For me,
the best way of explaining Trump is that he does not share common reference
points for what life is really about. Love is not one of his reference points.
Service to others is not one of his reference points. Joy, as you understand
it, is not understood by him. All he knows is the pursuit of power through
dominance over others. Trump will achieve that dominance through whatever means
are necessary. If it is violence, then Trump will use it. If it's the law,
he'll use it. If it's mere persuasion, that's fine too.
And because
Trump wants to conserve his energy, he will use the least powerful means first
and hope that serves his goals. But again, Donald Trump is not the kind of
human being most people are used to dealing with. The individuals who do know
how to deal with and control people like Donald Trump are in law enforcement,
perhaps in the national security establishment and in the mental health field,
because Donald Trump is closer to a psychopathic mob boss than anything else.
Let's be
even more direct for purposes of clarification. If someone came to Donald
Trump, be it a hostile foreign country, a criminal organization, military
generals or other powerful forces, and they told him that they have a plan to
keep him in power indefinitely, would he say yes or no?
Trump would
say yes in a heartbeat. Anyone who arrived in the Oval Office with a plan for
keeping him there would get a long hearing. Other people in the White House
would have to keep such ideas from becoming actions. Donald Trump becomes
desperate quickly.
Even though
he has so much money and power he still somehow sees life as a constant battle
for survival. That Trump thinks about life in such a way does not compute for
most people, because they do not understand that Trump is disturbed. Once you
accept how Trump thinks and lives, then you realize, "Well, if a guy with
his resources and no human values thinks of life as a desperate fight for
survival, God help the person he deems a threat."
Why was
Donald Trump not impeached by the Republicans? They have gotten their panoply
of horrible policies enacted by his administration. Why not impeach him and
move on?
Donald
Trump was not impeached because the Republican senators fear him and the
members of his cult. What is quite interesting is that I do not believe that a
single United States senator was in the cult, or is in the cult now. But they
do fear Trump's cult. Therefore, the Republicans will continue to pay attention
to what Trump says because he is such an effective demagogue. Donald Trump is
going to continue to go around the country with his crusades. He will be
holding rallies in the states of senators who disagreed with him. If there is a
primary challenger, that person will make the pilgrimage to see the Dear Leader
Donald Trump. Trump will then give them his endorsement.
Trump is a
genius at escaping accountability. He is also a genius at setting the scene for
whatever drama is about to take place. His entire life has been devoted to
convincing people to be afraid of him, as well as convincing people to see in
him something of themselves. When he campaigned in 2016, Trump persuaded those
who voted for him that he was one of them. He showed the members of the Senate,
who were Republicans, why they should be afraid of him.
Once
Trump is removed from office, what do you think he does next? Elsewhere you
have suggested that he may actually have his own TV network and theme park.
I believe
that if Donald Trump does not have his own TV network, he will have something
close to it. His children will have media outlets of some sort as well. I also
believe that there will be a Trump headquarters in South Florida, and it will
become a destination location for members of his cult and people who will feel
compelled to go to TrumpWorld every year. They will visit the Trump
presidential library and stay in a hotel that looks like the White House where
every bedroom is a Lincoln Bedroom.
Visitors
will maybe catch a glimpse of one of the Trumps in the TV studio. There will
probably be tours of the Trump Leadership PAC offices. There will be a theatre
in TrumpWorld as well. There may even be a small stadium. TrumpWorld will be
some combination of a presidential library, Dollywood and Scientology's gold
base, and Trump will rule over it all. It will be very lucrative for him.
There is
a narrative out there that naively suggests that Donald Trump will be tried and
convicted for his crimes and then be put in jail. Your response?
I do not
believe that Donald Trump will be put in prison. I also doubt that he will be
criminally charged. I think there will be a deal involving a lot of money that
has already been put in the bank. Trump's followers have already donated it. I
doubt there is anything to prevent him from using that PAC money to keep
himself out of prison.
I do think
that some Trump entities will disappear. There may be a fire sale on the golf
courses. Someone may buy the licensing deals for the hotels and change the
name. They may lose some of their assets. But in the end Donald Trump is not
going to jail. Moreover, none of Trump's inner circle are going to prison
either. He was not convicted after being impeached because he understands the
weaknesses of the Republican senators.
In the end,
Donald Trump will likely not go to prison because he understands the American
tradition that stands in the way of putting a former president in prison.
America has a sense of itself which will not allow a former president to be
imprisoned. Like so many sociopathic people, Trump takes advantage of the
decency of others, who cannot bring themselves to deal with him in the way that
he deserves.
Original
Headline: 'This is a very dangerous period': Author says Trump is the most
'traitorous' official since the Civil War
Source: The Alter Net
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