The malignant narcissism of Donald Trump has been observed by many mental health professionals for as long as he has been a public figure. It is the central driving force of his belligerence and hostility toward anyone who is even mildly critical of him, or less than unflinchingly worshipful.

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Trump’s egomaniacal behavior is evident in nearly every thing he says and does. Longtime Trump watchers were aware of his self-centered maliciousness when he was posing as a Manhattan real estate mogul, when he playacted as a successful businessman while hosting a reality TV game show, and most disturbingly, during his past and current occupations of the White House. Through it all he was unable to disguise his severe cognitive infirmities.

SEE THIS: WHO’S DERANGED? Trump on Biden Clones, Transgender Mice, Autopens, and His Own Mental Anguish

So no one should be surprised that Trump’s priorities for implementing policies are most closely associated with his personal perceptions of how reverentially he is treated by others. And just to make it crystal clear, Trump has formally announced it to the world in statement he made to the press on Wednesday morning. The decree came in his answer to a question from a reporter about whether there would be any impact on his allocation of wildfire relief in California as a result of his contentious relationship with Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump’s reply and Newsom’s response follow (video below). Trump raged that…

“Yeah, maybe. The man is incompetent…Hatred is never a good thing in politics. Where you don’t like somebody, you don’t respect somebody, it’s harder for that person to get money if you’re on top.”

And there you have it. After rambling incoherently about “cleaning the forests,” Trump admitted that he doesn’t care about the welfare of the American people. He doesn’t care about those who have suffered from natural disasters or other misfortunes. He will only provide assistance if he actually likes the governor or the residents of the state where those people happened to live when misfortune struck them. And if he doesn’t like them, to hell with them. To that Newsom said…

“Sucking up to the President should not be a requirement for him to do the right thing for the American people…Only a truly disturbed person would threaten to withhold aid from victims because they don’t like someone.”

This isn’t the first time that Trump has publicly revealed that his personal opinion of the potential recipients of largesse from the U.S. government would determine whether any funds would be forthcoming. He said the same thing just yesterday with regard to the dispensation of foreign aid, telling UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer that “The UK is very well protected. You know why? Because I like them, that’s why.”

This is classic Trump. If he likes you, he – not America – will protect you. But he will stop liking you if you criticize him.For the record, he likes dictators such as Putin, Xi, Kim, and Orbán. He doesn't like democratic leaders such as Macron, Carney, Sheinbaum, or Zelenskyy.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-06-17T09:58:32.889Z

This also isn’t the first swipe that Trump has taken at Gov. Newsom. Trump has been rattled by what he falsely claims are “riots” in Los Angeles, but are actually mostly peaceful demonstrations against Trump’s unconstitutional deployments of the National Guard and Marines against Americans exercising their First Amendment rights to “redress grievances.” Trump them blamed the ensuing chaos on Gov. Newsom and called for him to be arrested. To that, Newsom had an appropriate response that spelled out the imminent threat that Trump represents to American democracy.

The lesson from all of this is that Trump does indeed aspire to authoritarian control of the country, and that any soft-pedaling of that threat is dangerously naïve. Trump should be removed from office as quickly as possible, through either impeachment or the invocation of the 25th Amendment declaring him unfit to serve. Any delay will only accelerate the potential for harm.

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