Day: 1/3/2018

Certified Nutcase Donald Trump Tries His Hand at Psychoanalyzing Steve Bannon

Posted by on January 3, 2018 at 2:04 pm. 4 Comments :

The fate of the world is shifting by the minute. On Tuesday Donald Trump was tweeting threats to Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea, and comparing the size of his “nuclear button” to that of Kim Jong Un. By Wednesday the battle royale was between Trump and his former friend and White House aide, Steve Bannon.

Trump/Bannon

A new book by Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury, presents a revealing look into the Trump White House. Some of the first publicly released excerpts show how Bannon really feels about the president he once served with such apparently fawning loyalty. And it’s not a pretty picture. Bannon is reported to have said that Don Junior’s meetings with Russians were treasonous and that Daddy Trump knew about them, despite his denials.

The book contains many other revelations that expose Trump as a flagrant fool who commanded no respect from those around him. Rupert Murdoch, CEO of Fox News, reportedly called him a “f**king moron.” And an aide tasked with explaining the Constitution described Trump as becoming bored and unwilling to continue past the Fourth Amendment. But it’s the Bannon comments that have caught the attention of Trump and, therefore, the media. Consequently, Trump released an official reply from the White that was as unhinged as anything we have ever seen from this acutely disturbed pseudo-president. He said in part:

“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates. […] Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue.”

This is typical Trumpian behavior that he employs to distance himself from close associates he later turns against. Although the degree of unrestrained anger reflects someone shockingly unglued from rational thought. Often Trump’s wrath is aimed at those he regards as having personally betrayed him. Even when he initiated the break in the relationship as he did in this case by firing Bannon. Shortly after his termination, Trump had this to say about his former senior counselor: “Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone.”

Contrary to Trump’s outburst, Bannon was not merely a “staffer” on the sidelines of his presidency. Bannon was his campaign manager, and later the White House Chief Strategist with a seat on the National Security Council. In other words, the coffee boy. And Trump had a decidedly different opinion on the day that Bannon was released from his White House duties last August:

Just prior to his dismissal, Trump described Bannon in glowing terms calling him “a good person and I think the press treats him frankly very unfairly.” Now Trump asserts that Bannon has “lost his mind.” That’s a subject that Trump can claim some expertise on. Many psychiatric professionals have concluded that Trump is “too mentally ill to serve.” A group of psychiatric doctors and academics who met at Yale University found that Trump displays symptoms of a variety of mental illnesses, including antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders. That assessment agrees with others that found Trump suffering from “malignant narcissism” and an “inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality.” More recently, a doctor writing for The Atlantic noted Trump’s abnormalities in speech and movement that justified implementing routine mental evaluations for presidents.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump’s unbridled rage and fluctuating opinions are obvious symptoms of an acute mental disorder. And if something isn’t done about it soon, we can expect it to manifest in ever more perilous ways. That includes the potential for anything from continued soap opera melodrama in the White House to military conflicts and nuclear showdowns. And the more Trump feels threatened, either by former colleagues or special counsel investigations, the more dangerous he will become.

Fear and Desperation Spur Trump to Announce His Own ‘Reality TV’ Fake News Awards

Posted by on January 3, 2018 at 8:42 am. 4 Comments :

The current President of the United States is someone whose previous job was hosting a so-called reality TV game show. And that utterly irrelevant experience is showing as Donald Trump continues to embarrass himself and the nation on the world stage. His obvious intellectual and emotional inadequacies prove that he is ill-equipped for the job of president, which may explain why he spends so little time doing it.

Donald Trump

Much of the world faces crises that threaten the stability of international affairs. At times like these it is important to have a leader who recognizes the risks and provides security and solutions. Unfortunately, Trump offers just the opposite. In a series of ignorant tweets on Tuesday, the President managed to inflame everyone from Iranians to North Koreans to Pakistanis to Palestinians to his own “Deep State” Department of Justice. And true to form, his approach was childish and ego-driven. He actually got into a phallic showdown with Kim Jong Un over whose “Nuclear Button” was bigger.

Amidst this crazed tweetstorming, news broke that tightened the legal noose around Trump’s neck. In an op-ed for the New York Times, the founders of Fusion GPS say there are credible allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and that Republicans in Congress are suppressing it. So consistent with his psychological pathology, Trump is seeking to mask his fear with diversionary tactics. On this occasion his desperation could not be more transparent. He posted a tweet slamming the media in a way only a former TV game show host could:

Well gosh, we can all hardly wait for that. Who will win his BS awards? Do you think it might be the “failing” New York Times or “fake news” CNN? Perhaps there was a clue on his website where Trump posted a poll seeking to “Crown the King of Fake News.” The poll had only three questions, each asking whether a particular news item was “fake,” “faker,” or “fakest.” (Here’s a screen shot). Trump foreshadowed this gala awards ceremony a few weeks ago with a tweet that said:

So Trump has been thinking about having this contest for some time. And he was smart enough to exclude Fox News from the competition. He must have have known that Fox would dominate every category. In fact, shortly after that tweet Rasmussen Reports conducted a survey based on Trump’s fake news trophy idea. And surprisingly, for the notoriously right-wing pollster, “40% of all voters think Fox News should be the winner of the first annual Fake News Trophy.” CNN came in a distant second with only twenty-five percent of the vote.

We’ll be watching for Trump’s announcement on Monday for the results of his awards show. Even though the outcome could not be easier to predict. But no matter who “wins” the true award will still go to Donald Trump for being trusted less than the media he despises. Recent polling shows that, despite Trump’s attempts to smear the media, most Americans continue to trust the press more than they trust the President. It’s not even close. And part of the reason is that he engages in stupidities like this fake news award. Americans are smart enough to know that he’s only doing it to divert attention from his criminal and treasonous behavior that is being revealed more every day.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.