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A LIFE–AND PRESIDENCY–BASED ON HATRED

In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Politics, Social commentary on September 22, 2025 at 12:05 am

During his 1992 Presidential campaign, Bill Clinton had “It’s the Economy, Stupid,” as his mantra for staying focused on the issue that recession-suffering Americans most cared about.

Donald Trump’s mantra—as Presidential candidate and President—could be summed up as: “It’s the Hatred, Stupid.”

From June 15, 2015, when he launched his first Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, Trump fired almost 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions that had somehow offended him— in politics, journalism, TV and films.

Donald Trump

The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them. Among his targets:

Women
Blacks
Hispanics
Asians
Muslims
News organizations
The disabled
POWs

And his base is equally motivated by hatred—of the same persons and organizations whom Trump regularly attacks. During the 2016 campaign, countless such voters told interviewers: “He says what I’ve long been thinking!”

Trump didn’t implant hatred in them—he simply gave it legitimacy. And they love him for it.

And since coming to power once again as President on January 20, Trump has given his lust for hatred free reign.

Issued pardons to about 1,500 of his followers who violently tried to overturn the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election in the January 6, 2021 attack on Congress. Move than 250 of those pardoned had been convicted of assaulting police.
Withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Suspended all foreign aid for at least three months.
Withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.
Through his appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, has declared all-out war on established medical institutions.
Ordered the dismissal of 5,000 FBI agents who investigated his incitement of the January 6 riot and his own hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Declared “a national emergency” targeting migrants—legal and illegal.
Sought to cancel automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children, known as birthright, and enshrined within the United States Constitution.
Withdrew the security detail assigned to former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley for rightly criticizing him as a wannabe dictator.
Cancelled travel to the United States for refugees, including those who had been approved to resettle within the country.
Withdrew the security detail assigned to Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. Fauci’s crime: Contradicting Trump’s lies about the dangers of COVID-19.
Ordered all Federal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility offices, positions, plans, actions, initiatives or programs to be scrapped within 60 days.
Through his Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Brenden Carr, forced CBS to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”—a fierce Trump critic.

Upon being named Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler ruthlessly moved to make himself absolute dictator.

During his first eight months since again taking office on January 20, Donald Trump has ruthlessly moved to make himself absolute dictator

* * * * * * * * * *

As non- and anti-Fascist Americans have watched Trump’s behavior with fear and morbid fascination, many of them have asked: “What makes him do the things he does?”

It’s a question asked—and answered—in the 1993 Western, Tombstone. And the answer given in that movie may just hold the answer to the question so many Americans are now asking about Trump.

Tombstone recounts the legendary blood feud between the Ike Clanton outlaw gang and the Earp brothers—Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil—in the famous gold-mining town in 1880s Arizona.

Wyatt Earp has been challenged to a gunfight by quick-trigger gunman Johnny Ringo. Although he impulsively accepted the challenge, Wyatt now realizes he’s certain to be killed. Thus follows this exchange with his longtime friend, the pistol-packing dentist, John H. “Doc” Holliday:

WYATT EARP: What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does?

JOHN H. “DOC” HOLLIDAY: A man like Ringo’s got a great empty hole right through the middle of him. He can never kill enough or steal enough or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.

EARP: What does he need?

HOLLIDAY: Revenge.

EARP: For what?

HOLLIDAY: Bein’ born.

Donald Trump was born into a world of wealth and privilege. His father gave him $200 million, which he channeled into a real estate empire. He has claimed to be worth a billion dollars.

He has been linked—often by his own boasts—to some of the most beautiful women in the world. He has been a major force on TV through his “reality show,” The Apprentice. He has literally stamped his name on hundreds of buildings.

And now he holds the Presidency of the United States, the most powerful office in the Western world.

Yet he remains filled with a poisonous hatred that encompasses almost everyone.

Since taking office, he has offered nothing positive in his agenda. Instead, he has focused his efforts on what he can take from others. At the top of his list: Declaring war on millions of illegal immigrants—many of whom hold menial jobs most other Americans refuse to take.

As first-mate Starbuck says of Captain Ahab in Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby Dick: “He is a champion of darkness.”

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FASCISM’S APPEAL–IN HITLER’S GERMANY AND TRUMP’S AMERICA: PART TWO (END)

In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 19, 2025 at 12:10 am

Throughout the 1930s, Fascism seemed to be on the rise, democracy seemed to be on the wane.

The latter was especially true in Great Britain and France.

World War 1 had left Europe devastated and disillusioned. Britain had lost 880,000 men, which amounted to six percent of the adult male population.

For France, the losses were worse: About six million, including 1.4 million dead and 4.2 million wounded. This amounted to roughly 71 percent of those who had fought.

The Cenotaph, in London, honoring the unknown British dead of World War 1

Nazi Germany, by contrast, seemed robust and purposeful, not waiting for the future but creating the future it desired: “Volk” festivals, party rallies, awards, uniforms, pageantry were everywhere—climaxed by the country’s hosting of the 1936 Olympics.

In foreign affairs Germany proved equally on the march: First retaking the demilitarized Rhineland between itself and France (1936); then annexing Austria (1938); then Czechoslovakia (1938).

Today, many Right-wing Americans believe that democracy no longer serves their needs—or even ensures their survival. They have turned to authoritarianism—rule by a strongman who demands strict obedience at the expense of personal freedom.

And the strongman they are rallying behind—for now—is Donald Trump.

In the 2023 novel, The Mitford Affair, by Marie Benedict, Sydney Bowles, the matriarch of the aristocratic Mitford family, cheers for a Nazi victory over Great Britain: “We must not win this war….What will become of your sisters if Great Britain wins?

“I mean, Diana and [her husband, Oswald] Mosley are here in England, but they’ve publicly aligned themselves with fascism generally and [Adolf] Hitler specifically. We must follow their lead and do all we can to make sure the right thing happens. And Unity—“

This is a reference to Unity Valkyrie Mitford, the sister who has spent five years in Germany hoping to seduce its Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, into becoming her own.

Nancy Mitford, Sydney’s other daughter, is appalled: “Not only is she placing the needs of her two favorite children above the rest…but she’s putting them above what’s best for the entire nation. And urging me to commit treason—like her and my sisters apparently—in the process.”

During a visit to Diana’s home, Nancy is further outraged by a series of silver-framed photos of her sisters taken during their visits to Nazi Germany: “I am barraged by pictures of Diana and Unity with Hitler, [Joseph] Goebbels and decorated Nazi officers.…

Unity and Diana Mitford posing with SS soldiers

“There are my sisters giving the Nazi salute, smiling against a backdrop of soldiers, and even sharing a meal with the Nazi leaders.”

A warning from her cousin, Winston Churchill, the future prime minister, finally leads her to betray Diana’s plans to set up a pro-Fascist radio station to aid Nazi Germany:

“Imagine what damage a radio station in enemy hands broadcasting across England could do—creating easy communication between the enemy within and the enemy without, as well as sending out propaganda and false information to the British people.”

Today, in the United States, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s role in placing Donald Trump in the White House in 2016 is well-known. So are Trump’s sympathies with Putin.

And so are those of many Republicans—such as the two men who showed up at a Trump rally in 2018 wearing: “I’d Rather Be Russian Than Democrat” T-shirts.

Repeatedly, Trump has made clear his antagonism toward NATO, the 76-year alliance between the United States and Europe that has contained Russian aggression.

Yet while Trump viciously attacked the patriotism of Democrats generally and President Joseph Biden in particular, Democrats were unwilling to directly call Trump a traitor.

Trump called those arrested for violently trying to overturn the 2020 Presidential election “hostages” and “patriots.” He also predicted “a bloodbath” if he wasn’t re-elected in 2024.

The Biden administration could have borrowed a lesson from England: After Hitler launched his invasion of France, Churchill unleashed Defense Regulation 18B. This gave the government the power to detain anyone deemed a threat to the nation’s safety or subject to foreign influence.

Instead, it chose the appeasement “strategy” of disgraced Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Marie Benedict ends her novel on a warning note for Americans: Fascists don’t change.

After being imprisoned separately, Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists [BUF] and his wife, Diana, are allowed to be confined together. Witnessing their prison reunion is Diana’s sister, Nancy.

“It’s really me, my darling. And we will never be parted again,” says Mosley.

“Never,” says Diana, with a fierceness that shocks Nancy, who thinks:

“I watch as my sister bestows upon her husband a wide, knowing, secret smile, and it is clear she remains entirely in his sway, just as I believe Unity was under Hitler’s.…

“I know with utter certainty that Diana could sacrifice everything—country, family, her own life—for this man and his cause.”

Similarly, there is literally no crime that Trump-–and his fanatical followers—are not willing to commit to establish a Right-wing dictatorship.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration—through ineptitude and cowardice—created the Right-wing dictatorship it could have prevented.

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FASCISM’S APPEAL–IN HITLER’S GERMANY AND TRUMP’S AMERICA: PART ONE (OF TWO)

In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 18, 2025 at 12:06 am

Sometimes a historical novel can tell frightening truths about not only a past time but the present one.

Such is the case with The Mitford Affair (2023), by Marie Benedict.

The years 1933 through 1939 saw the rise of Nazi Germany and the embrace of Fascism by millions—not only Germans but those outside Germany.

Among these were members of England’s aristocratic Mitford family. As the book’s cover blurb states:

“Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters―each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next―dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes.

“Though they’ve weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister’s lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she’s become Adolf Hitler’s mistress.

“As the Nazis rise in power, novelist Nancy Mitford grows suspicious of her sisters’ constant visits to Germany and the high-ranking fascist company they keep. When she overhears alarming conversations and uncovers disquieting documents, Nancy must make excruciating choices as Great Britain goes to war with Germany.”

From 1933 to 1939, Adolf Hitler moved from triumph to triumph—rearming Germany, largely eliminating unemployment, lifting the morale of the vast majority of Germans. And as he did so, Fascism became increasingly popular, even chic.

Millions saw Fascism as their only protection against Communism. Democracy was widely regarded as too weak to compete with the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin’s legions.

While England was plagued by widespread unemployment and continuing disillusionment over the traumas of World War 1, Hitler’s Germany radiated a newfound pride and purpose.

Sisters Diana and Unity Mitford had their own private reasons for their attraction to Deutschland. Diane had married Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). From Hitler, she hoped to gain funding for the BUF, and eventually did.

Jessica, Nancy, Diana, Unity and Pamela Mitford in 1935

Later, she and Mosley sought the creation of a German-financed ratio station to aim propaganda at their fellow Britons. Both expected—and celebrated—the future conquest of England and its total domination by Hitler.

Unity, meanwhile, became obsessed with Hitler the man. She studied German to speak conversationally with him, and for 10 months staked out his favorite restaurant in hopes of meeting him.

Adolf Hitler

Her patience bore fruit when, after repeatedly noticing her, Hitler, through an adjutant, invited her to his table. He was charmed by her knowledge of German—and her middle name: “Valkyrie.”

In Norse mythology, Valkyries were maidens sent by the god Odin to choose the dead warriors who merited a place in Valhalla.

She won even greater favor from Hitler by giving an anti-Semitic speech at a Hitler Youth festival at Hesselberg and posting an open letter in Der Sturmer (“The Daily Stormer”), the rabidly anti-Semitic newspaper run by Julius Streicher:

“The English have no notion of the Jewish danger. Our worst Jews work only behind the scenes. We think with joy of the day when we will be able to say England for the English! Out with the Jews! Heil Hitler. P.S. please publish my name in full, I want everyone to know I am a Jew hater.”

Unity Mitford

Eva Braun, Hitler’s secret mistress, saw Unity as a rival and attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. She survived, and this led Hitler to bestow greater attention on her.

For five years—at dinners, concerts, party rallies and private meetings–-Hitler remained charmed by Unity and Diana. He reveled in the company of two beautiful women who were members of the British aristocracy—and proudly and openly Fascist.

And they, in turn, remained charmed by him—and excited at their proximity to his lethal power.

Yet, in the end, all three met with disaster.

Diana never got the German radio station for her husband. Instead, she and Mosley found themselves imprisoned as German collaborators after England declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939.

Oswald Mosley

Unity, devastated that the two countries she most loved were now at war, shot herself in the temple with a small pistol Hitler had given her for protection. She survived, but remained a vegetable for the rest of her life.

Hitler paid her doctor bills, and when she was able to speak asked her if she wanted to remain in Germany or return to England. She chose England, so Hitler arranged her transportation by ambulance to neutral Switzerland. Her mother and youngest sister, Deborah, met her there and escorted her back to England.

She died on May 28,1948, of meningitis caused by the cerebral swelling around the bullet.

On April 30, 1945, having lost the war he had unleashed, Hitler shot himself in his underground bunker.

The Mitford Affair ends in April, 1941, so there is no mention of the death of Unity or Hitler, or the release of Diana and Oswald Mosley from prison in 1943 due to Mosley’s ill health. They were placed under house arrest until the end of the war and denied passports until 1949.

Although the novel centers on characters and incidents that reach back almost a century ago, it’s packed with truths increasingly relevant to America as it nears the 2024 Presidential election.

Those truths will be explored in Part Two of this series.

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ALBERT ANASTASIA HAS A MESSAGE FOR DONALD TRUMP: PART TWO (END)

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on August 21, 2025 at 12:10 am

From June 15, 2015, when he launched his first Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, Donald Trump fired almost 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions that had somehow offended him— in politics, journalism, TV and films.

The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them.

Among his targets:

Hillary Clinton
President Barack Obama
Actress Meryl Streep
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Comedian John Oliver
News organizations
The State of New Jersey
Beauty pageant contestants

Donald Trump

Recently, Trump resurrected his longstanding feuds with megastars Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.

On May 19, he spent several hours on his website, Truth Social, attacking Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce and Bono for having supported Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 Presidential campaign.

In a 2 a.m. post on May 16, he charged that Harris could have paid Springsteen for an “illegal campaign contribution”––without providing any evidence to support it:

“HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT?,” Trump wrote. “WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN’T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ? …AND HOW MUCH WENT TO OPRAH, AND BONO???

“I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter. Candidates aren’t allowed to pay for ENDORSEMENTS, which is what Kamala did, under the guise of paying for entertainment. In addition, this was a very expensive and desperate effort to artificially build up her sparse crowds. IT’S NOT LEGAL! For these unpatriotic “entertainers,” this was just a CORRUPT & UNLAWFUL way to capitalize on a broken system. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!”

And he added: “This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just “standard fare.” Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

Bruce Springsteen

Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

When a 34-times convicted criminal controls the Justice Department and threatens to investigate a singer for endorsing a political candidate, there is nothing to prevent him from persecuting anyone.

Trump’s rant was triggered by Springsteen’s comment to a crowd a week earlier in Manchester, England: “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.

“They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society. They’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.”

Nor was Springsteen the only celebrity Trump declared war on. On May 16, he posted: “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’”

At least in the past, Trump clearly had a soft spot in his pants for Swift. In November, 2023, he told Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh: “I think she’s beautiful—very beautiful! I find her very beautiful. I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually—unusually beautiful!”

Taylor Swift

iHeartRadioCA, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

That apparent one-sided infatuation ended on August 18, 2024, when Trump posted AI-generated images that falsely suggested that Swift endorsed his presidential campaign. The images showed women wearing “Swifties for Trump” t-shirts.

In turn, Swift posted on Instagram: “Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation.

“It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

Five days after Swift endorsed Harris, Trump, like a spurned lover, posted on Truth Social in all caps, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”

Republicans have shown they’re willing to tolerate—if not enthusiastically support—Trump’s

Brazen pardoning of about 1,500 criminals for attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021;
Supporting Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine;
Attacking America’s allies Canada and Greenland;
Slashing Medicaid, which provides medical care for the poor.

But they might—at last—be unnerved by the spectacle of Trump’s unhinged attacks on musical superstars Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.

Both are more than entertainers; they are role models who command huge influence among even conservative voters Republicans fear alienating.

When Albert Anastasia threatened to become a liability to the ruling chieftains of the Mafia, they decided it was time for him to go—in a hail of bullets.

House and Senate Republicans won’t put a contract out on Trump. But they may decide that it’s time to stop reflexively supporting his every act of aggression, cruelty and egomania.

It’s also possible that members of his Cabinet—including his ambitions Vice President J.D. Vance—may decide it’s time to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment. They could issue a written declaration that Trump is emotionally unable to discharge his duties.

And cite his increasingly erratic behavior—such as his feud with Springsteen and Swift—as evidence.

Only time—and Right-wing ambition—will tell.

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WHEN A PSYCHOPATH RULES THE WHITE HOUSE: PART THREE (END)

In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 11, 2025 at 12:45 am

Donald Trump’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 2, 2019 was an occasion for rejoicing among his supporters.

But for those who prize rationality and decency in a President, it was a dismaying and frightening experience.

For two hours, Trump gave free reign to his anger and egomania.

Among his unhinged commentaries:

“We have people in Congress that hate our country.”

If you don’t agree 100% with Trump on everything, you’re a traitor.

“He called me up. He said, ‘You’re a great President. You’re doing a great job.’ He said, ‘I just want to tell you you’re a great President and you’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.'”

Trump attributed these remarks to California’s liberal governor, Gavin Newsom. On February 11, 2019, Newsom had announced he was withdrawing several hundred National Guardsmen from the state’s southern border with Mexico—defying Trump’s request for support from border states.

Donald Trump at CPAC

“You know if you remember my first major speech—you know the dishonest media they’ll say, ‘He didn’t get a standing ovation.’ You know why? Because everybody stood and nobody sat. They are the worst. They leave that out.”

Once again, he’s the persecuted victim of an unfair and totally unappreciative news media.

“And I love the First Amendment; nobody loves it better than me. Nobody. I mean, who use its more than I do? But the First Amendment gives all of us—it gives it to me, it gives it to you, it gives it to all Americans, the right to speak our minds freely. It gives you the right and me the right to criticize fake news and criticize it strongly.”

Trump has repeatedly called the nation’s free press “the enemy of the people”—a slander popularized by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. And while Trump brags about his usage of the First Amendment, he’s used Non-Disclosure agreements and threats of lawsuits to deny that right to others.

“For too long, we’ve traded away our jobs to other countries. So terrible.”

While this remark got rousing applause, he failed to mention that his own products are made overseas:

Ties: Made in China
Suits: Made in Indonesia
Trump Vodka: Made in the Netherlands, and later in Germany
Crystal glasses, decanters: Made in Slovenia
And the clothing and accessories line of his daughter, Ivanka, is produced entirely in factories in Bangladesh, Indonesia and China.

“By the way, you folks are in here—this place is packed, there are lines that go back six blocks and I tell you that because you won’t read about it, OK.”

He’s obsessed with fear that the media won’t make him look popular.

“So we’re all part of this very historic movement, a movement the likes of which, actually, the world has never seen before. There’s never been anything like this. There’s been some movements, but there’s never been anything like this.”

Trump sees himself as the single greatest figure in history. So anything he’s involved with must be unprecedented.

“But I always say, Obamacare doesn’t work. And these same people two years ago and a year ago were complaining about Obamacare.”

In 2010, 48 million Americans lacked health insurance. By 2016, that number had been reduced to 28.6 million. So 20 million Americans now have access to medical care they previously couldn’t get.

“But we’re taking a firm, bold and decisive measure, we have to, to turn things around [with North Korea]. The era of empty talk is over, it’s over.”

Trump has boasted that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un “fell in love.” Then he met with Kim in Vietnam—and got stiffed on a deal for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
On July 16, 2018, Trump attended a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There he blamed American Intelligence agencies—such as the FBI and CIA—instead of Putin for Russia’s subversion of the 2016 Presidential election.

“I’ll tell you what they [agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement] do, they came and endorsed me, ICE came and endorsed me. They never endorsed a presidential candidate before, they might not even be allowed to.”

Trump can’t stop boasting about how popular he is.

“These are hard-working, great, great Americans. These are unbelievable people who have not been treated fairly. Hillary called them deplorable. They’re not deplorable.”

On the contrary: “Deplorable” is exactly the word for those who vote their racism, ignorance, superstition and hatred of their fellow citizens.

A FINAL NOTE: Trump held himself up for adoration just three days after Michael Cohen, his longtime fixer:

Damned him as a racist, a conman and a cheat.
Revealed that Trump had cheated on his taxes and bought the silence of a porn “star” to prevent her revealing a 2006 tryst before the 2016 election.
Estimated he had stiffed, on Trump’s behalf, hundreds of workers Trump owed money to.

And, only two days earlier, Trump had returned from a much-ballyhooed meeting in Vietnam with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. Trump hoped to get a Nobel Peace Prize by persuading Kim to give up his nuclear arsenal.

Instead, Trump got stiffed—and returned empty-handed.

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WHEN A PSYCHOPATH RULES THE WHITE HOUSE: PART TWO (OF THREE)

In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 8, 2025 at 12:24 am

“Is Donald Trump simply crazy, or is he crazy like a fox?”

That was the question that Bandy X. Lee, an assistant clinical psychiatry professor at the Yale School of Medicine, wanted to answer.

And she tried to do so as the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.

“It doesn’t take a psychiatrist to notice that our president is mentally compromised,” she and colleague Judith Lewis Herman asserted in the book’s prologue.

According to Dr. Craig Malkin, a Lecturer in Psychology for Harvard Medical School and a licensed psychologist, Trump is a pathological narcissist:

“Pathological narcissism begins,” Malkin writes, “when people become so addicted to feeling special that, just like with any drug, they’ll do anything to get their ‘high,’ including lie, steal, cheat, betray and even hurt those closest to them.

“When they can’t let go of their need to be admired or recognized, they have to bend or invent a reality in which they remain special despite all messages to the contrary. In point of fact, they become dangerously psychotic. It’s just not always obvious until it’s too late.”

Lance Dodes, a retired psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, believes that Trump is a sociopath: “The failure of normal empathy is central to sociopathy, which is marked by an absence of guilt, intentional manipulation and controlling or even sadistically harming others for personal power or gratification.”

But an observer didn’t need to be a psychiatrist to feel frightened by Trump’s behavior at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on March 2, 2019.

For two hours, in National Harbor, Maryland, Trump delivered the longest address (so far) of his first term as President—and of any American President.

“You know, I’m totally off script right now,” Trump said early on. “This is how I got elected, by being off script.”

And from the moment he embraced an American flag as though he wanted to hump it, it was clear: He was “totally off script.”

“How many times did you hear, for months and months, ‘There is no way to 270?’ You know what that means, right? ‘There is no way to 270.'”

Once again, Trump reveals his obsession with his win in 2016—as if no one else had ever been elected President.

“If you tell a joke, if you’re sarcastic, if you’re having fun with the audience, if you’re on live television with millions of people and 25,000 people in an arena, and if you say something like, ‘Russia, please, if you can, get us Hillary Clinton’s emails. Please, Russia, please.'”

Here he’s trying to “spin” his infamous invitation to hackers in Vladimir Putin’s Russia to intervene in an American Presidential election by obtaining the emails of his campaign rival. Which they did that same day.

“So now we’re waiting for a report [from the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller] and we’ll find out whether or not, and who we’re dealing with. We’re waiting for a report by people that weren’t elected.”

It doesn’t matter to Trump that America’s foremost enemy—Russia—tried to influence a Presidential election. What matters to him is that the report might end his Presidency.

“Those red hats—and white ones. The key is in the color. The key is what it says. ‘Make America Great Again’ is what it says. Right? Right?”

Color matters. Words, ideas don’t.

“Now, Robert Mueller never received a vote, and neither did the person that appointed him. And as you know, the attorney general says, ‘I’m going to recuse myself.'”

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller and Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were career Justice Department officials. They weren’t voted into office.

Robert Mueller

“Number one, I’m in love, and you’re in love. We’re all in love together. There’s so much love in this room, it’s easy to talk. You can talk your heart out. You really could. There’s love in this room. You can talk your heart out. It’s easy. It’s easy. It’s easy.”

Trump apparently finds it easy to fall in love—with Right-wing audiences and Communist dictators such as Kim Jong-Un.

“And from the day we came down the escalator, I really don’t believe we’ve had an empty seat at any arena, at any stadium. They did the same thing at our big inauguration speech. You take a look at those crowds.”

Once again, he must brag about how popular he is and how many people want to listen to him.

“A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are. They are the enemy of the people. Because they have no sources, they just make ’em up when there are none.”

By January 20, 2020, The Washington Post found that Trump had made “16,241 ‘false or misleading claims” in his first three years in office. He is in no position to talk about integrity.

“But we’re going to have regulation. It’s going to be really strong and really good and we’re going to protect our environment and we’re going to protect the safety of our people and our workers, OK?”

To “protect our environment,” Trump appointed Andrew R. Wheeler, a former coal company lobbyist, to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

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WHEN A PSYCHOPATH RULES THE WHITE HOUSE: PART ONE (OF THREE)

In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 7, 2025 at 12:12 am

What would happen if the President of the United States went stark-raving mad?

That is the premise of the 1965 novel, Night at Camp David, by Fletcher Knebel.

At the time of its release, its plot was considered so over-the-top as to be worthy of science fiction:

Iowa Democratic Senator Jim MacVeagh is summoned to Camp David, the Presidential retreat, by President Mark Hollenbach. MacVeagh is expected to become Hollenbach’s next Vice President. But he becomes alarmed that Hollenbach is clearly suffering from intense paranoia.

Hollenbach wants to develop a closer relationship between the United States and Russia—while cutting ties with American allies in Europe. Moreover, he believes the American news media are conspiring against him with his political enemies.

Only one person possesses evidence that Hollenbach is losing his grip on sanity—his mistress, Rita. Desperate to retain his power, Hollenbach orders the FBI to investigate both MacVeagh and Rita.

So why was a 53-year-old novel re-released in 2018? The answer lay in two words: Donald Trump.

In a November 30, 2018 review of Night at Camp David, Tom McCarthy, national affairs correspondent for the British newspaper, The Guardian, wrote:

“The current president has seen crowds where none exist, deployed troops to answer no threat, attacked national institutions – the military, the justice department, the judiciary, the vote, the rule of law, the press – tried to prosecute his political enemies, elevated bigots, oppressed minorities, praised despots while insulting global allies and wreaked diplomatic havoc from North Korea to Canada.

“He stays up half the night watching TV and tweeting about it, then wakes up early to tweet some more, in what must be the most remarkable public diary of insecurity, petty vindictiveness, duplicity and scattershot focus by a major head of state in history.”

And the nightmare isn’t over.

Among the outrages Trump has committed since returning to power on January 20:

Pardoned about 1,500 of his followers who violently tried to overturn the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election in the January 6, 2021 attack on Congress. Move than 250 of those pardoned had been convicted of assaulting police.
Withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
Ordered the dismissal of 5,000 FBI agents who investigated his incitement of the January 6 riot and his illegal hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Declared “a national emergency” targeting migrants—legal and illegal.
Tried to cancel birthright citizenship—enshrined within the United States Constitution— for U.S.-born children.
Demanded a military parade for his 79th birthday, poorly disguised as a salute to the 250th anniversary of the United States Army.
Fired without cause the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Angrily fired the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics following a weak jobs report, triggering fears about his extortionate tariff policy.

Donald Trump

Demanded that the media refer to the Gulf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America” and banned the Associated Press from the White House for refusing to do so.
Ordered the closure of all Federal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility offices.
Fired the inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies.
Demanded that Canada become the 51st state and aggressively raised tariffs on Canadian goods.
Aggressively stated that he wanted the United States to acquire Greenland, its longtime ally.
Issued executive orders revoking the security clearance of Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Krebs’ “crime”: Preventing lies spread by Russians—and Americans—on social media platforms from swaying the 2020 Presidential election to Trump.
Threatened Harvard University with the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding, claiming that 2023 student protests about Gaza violated the civil rights of Jewish students.
Accepted a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar for his personal use, a violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

Trump’s vindictiveness, his narcissism, his compulsive aggression, his complaints that his “enemies” in government and the press are trying to destroy him, have caused many to ask: Could the President of the United States be suffering from mental illness?

One who has dared to answer this question is John D. Gartner, a practicing psychotherapist.

John D. Gartner

Gartner graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, received his Ph.D in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts, and served as a part-time assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Medical School for 28 years.

During an interview by U.S. News & World Report (published on January 27, 2017), Gartner said: “Donald Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president.”

Gartner said that Trump suffers from “malignant narcissism,” whose symptoms include:

anti-social behavior
sadism
aggressiveness
paranoia
grandiosity.

“We’ve seen enough public behavior by Donald Trump now that we can make this diagnosis indisputably,” says Gartner, who admits he has not personally examined Trump.

More of that behavior was on full display on March 2, 2019 at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland.

For more than two hours, Trump delivered the longest speech (so far) of his first term as President to his fanatically Right-wing audience.

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WHEN A PSYCHOPATH RULES THE WHITE HOUSE: PART TWO (OF THREE)

In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 4, 2025 at 1:28 am