My meeting with Donald Trump: A damaged, pathetic personality...

[babylonsister]

Last edited Sat Aug 12, 2017, 10:21 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.salon.com/2017/08/12/my-meeting-with-donald-trump-a-damaged-pathetic-personality-whose-obvious-impairment-has-only-gotten-worse/


Saturday, Aug 12, 2017 07:00 AM EST
My meeting with Donald Trump: A damaged, pathetic personality — whose obvious impairment has only gotten worse
I didn't get his endorsement when I ran for governor — but the severely troubled man I met has only gotten worse
Bill Curry

snip//


By 2016, the private Trump was on permanent public display, raging over mere slights, seeing plots in every ill turn of events and, as always, stunningly self-absorbed. He was called a racist, a sexist and a bully. But his mental health issues were euphemized as problems of “temperament.” He lied ceaselessly, reflexively and clumsily, but his lies were called merely “unproven” or, later, “false.” The New York Times called the birther story a lie only after Trump grudgingly retracted it. Not till he was safe in office claiming that millions of phantom immigrants cast votes for Clinton did the paper of record use the word “lie” in reference to a tale Trump was still telling.

In 2016, the precariousness of Trump’s mental health was clear to all with eyes to see, but like extras in a remake of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” reporters averted their glances. The day after the election, they were all in a state of shock, like staff at an asylum who woke one morning to find that the patient who thought he was Napoleon had just been named emperor of France. Once he took office, many publications began keeping running tallies of his lies. But all take a more cautious approach to questions of their origins in his deeply troubled psyche. To date, no major network, newspaper or magazine has run an in-depth analysis of Trump’s mental health.

snip//

One thing Trump has taught us is that the drafters of the 25th Amendment weren’t thinking about mental illness. It is unlikely anyone it puts in charge would have the courage to take action. In any case, progressives must put their primary emphasis on crafting a blueprint for political reform and economic justice. While they’re at it they could try making better cases on national security and climate change.

They must take another lesson from Trump: to say out loud things they never said before, not as Trump does, but with honesty, decency, reason and specificity. Trump got to be president in part because there were so many things Democrats and the media didn’t think or couldn’t bring themselves to say. Trump’s whole life is a fraud that Robert Mueller may soon expose as a criminal enterprise. His business career was a disaster till a book someone else wrote and a TV show someone else produced made him a celebrity. He then fell into the only line of work he ever prospered in: licensing that celebrity. He does it pretty well, but Zsa Zsa Gabor did it first and Kim Kardashian did it better and neither of them should be president.

In 2016 Trump’s real vulnerabilities were his mental health and personal finances. We can now add his proto-fascism and his possible or intended treason to the list. Trump was lucky in the draw. His defects were so monumental, so toxic, we had no protocol for talking about them. There are effective and responsible ways to talk about all such things, but first our media and political elites must find the courage to name them. They know as well as you or I who he is.


Bill Curry was White House counselor to President Clinton and a two-time Democratic nominee for governor of Connecticut. He is at work on a book on President Obama and the politics of populism.

[dalton99a]

1. The media helped install a demented sick fuck

who is unfit to be dogcatcher

[deurbano]

20. It still makes me furious that BOTH the NYT and Washington Post posted excerpts from "Clinton Cash,"

the Breitbart sponsored garbage, right as Clinton was announcing her candidacy. The WP began to redeem itself somewhat during the campaign, but there was still too much straining for "balance" from both publications. And then there was Comey! They could have done much more to expose his background as a Whitewater prosecutor, and to underline how unprecedented and prejudicial his July press conference was, and to refuse to give breathless coverage to the non-revelations of his October surprise. I think they were just used to bashing Clintons (a reflex), they couldn't imagine that orange pile of dung would actually win... and they simply didn't have the experience or the right methods for reporting on someone who lies about everything, is thoroughly corrupt, violates every norm of decency, has a well documented (but overwhelming) history of deplorable behavior, consorts and colludes with the most vile people imaginable, and says and does egregiously abhorrent things multiple times a day, every day. He is so unprecedented that they didn't know--and still don't entirely know-- how to effectively cover him. But if they had resisted the reflexive Clinton bashing in the first place, she would have stood a better chance of overcoming Comey, voter suppression, Russian meddling and the rest.

[pansypoo53219]

29. they pimped him HARDER than reagan AND HILLARY. the sheeple were manipulated.

i saw this shit coming.

[pangaia]

2. Pretty damn well laid out.

As if it all weren't so obvious.

But then the truth, when spoken, always is obvious.

[onit2day]

28. Very well said. If only the MSM said it daily

[pangaia]

30. Right you are

[malaise]

3. MUST READ

Rec

[DeminPennswoods]

40. Agree, it was a great read

with lots of good observations.

[malaise]

42. Yes indeed

and welcome to DU

[DeminPennswoods]

43. Thanks

nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. And we saw these horrible qualities during the campaign!

We could see he was nuttier than squirrel shit. People who've dealt with him in NYC knew he was a hot mess of psychological defects who couldn't be trusted to manage a 7-11, let alone the US government, but the election system as a whole didn't have a way to deal with a candidate who was clearly barking mad but who was also a skilled con artist. I think Curry nailed it exactly with this: "His defects were so monumental, so toxic, we had no protocol for talking about them."

[JohnnyLib2]

6. "had no protocol...." is a superb way to look at America's Greatest Mistake.

[JohnnyLib2]

5. Read! Read it all! No one has said it better.

Highly recommended!

[GusBob]

7. "the infantilization of the American male". Love it

This American male agrees with that description 100%

Lots of powerful words in the link.

Put me in the "must read" camp

[Nitram]

10. Ironic, ain't it. Those "infantilized" males are most worried about "feminized" males.

[GusBob]

13. It's a new concept to me and blows my mind

And you are spot on.

There are so many aspects to it, from Hillary hate to the popularity of Internet porn

To the guy at the breakfast place demanding where his food was from the poor teenage girl behind the counter: Sir, you order here and pick your food up where is says "pick-up here"

Poor little fella his mommy never raised him right and he still needs his nappy changed

[ismnotwasm]

8. K&R

[Nitram]

9. Excellent analysis of Trump and the reasons he has continued

to get away with what no one has been able to get away with before. The Founders would not have believed it possible that a man with such deep psychological pathology could be elected president. Of course, they were counting on the Electoral College to prevent that, even if the stupid masses voted for a madman. Ironic that Trump was actually elected by the EC, not the popular vote. The Founders never expected the (right wing) media to betray their country so brazenly by reporting negative lies about liberal presidents and candidates, and positive ones about right wing presidents and candidates.

[Paladin]

11. Great article. K&R.

All of us need to work toward an open and widespread public admission that our current president is severely mentally ill. Terrific article by Bill Curry.

[nolabear]

12. Sharing far and wide.

[leftstreet]

14. DURec

[Honeycombe8]

15. The media DID use the word "lie" and point this out about Trump, & were blunt about it.

The Washington Post and the New York Times repeatedly called him out for lies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/opinion/campaign-stops/the-lies-trump-told.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/22/all-of-donald-trumps-four-pinocchio-ratings-in-one-place/?utm_term=.6cc9801c6245

Hillary Clinton did on CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-lies/index.html

Plenty of people on CNN noted Trump's lies during the campaign. http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/10/16/trumps-dangerous-talk-about-a-stolen-election.cnn

NBC reported on the Trump lies during the campaign. http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/does-donald-trump-get-pass-telling-lies-because-he-s-n677971 (a poll shows that TRUMP polled higher than Hillary Clinton on trust and truthfulness! NBC wonders if Trump gets a pass on his lies because he's a man).

The late night show comedians had a field day with the Trump lies.

SNL got historical ratings with Baldwin playing a lying Trump.

The internet sites were on it early on. Politifact comes to mind.

ABC did an in-depth fact checking of Trump's statements at the Republican Convention, noting that almost all were either totally or partially false.

And so on. It's false to state that the media didn't clearly and repeatedly point out that Trump lied repeatedly and often. Add to that the fact that the citizens could easily see that themselves as regards certain things.

It's just that Trumpers were okay with that.

[mnhtnbb]

16. The Trumpsters did not care that Trump was a liar because they agreed with his racism,

his misogynism, and his bigotry.

I agree that the lies were repeatedly pointed out by many, many sources and reported in the media. And it was all over the internet.
The Trumpsters just did not care.

I believe that Trump will be removed from office--eventually--or will die in office. What scares me most, though, is that his
behavior has made it ok for other racists, misognynists, bigots and authoritarian types to crawl out from under their rocks.
Look at what is happening at UVA. There is going to be more of that.

I have never been so frightened for the future of our country.

[Honeycombe8]

19. I totally agree. nt

[Nay]

39. I completely agree as well. Democrats who still think that they can sway Trump

voters with education, logic, etc., are baying at the moon. Trump won because most of his voters LIKE WHAT HE IS AND ARE LIKE HIM THEMSELVES.

Now, where do we go with that information? One of the places we SHOULDN'T go is to the idea that we can tease, wheedle, and entice Trump voters to vote for a Democrat by being mealymouthed about Democratic principles. Nope.

It's time to GOTV among non-voters and young folks. Forget the Trumpsters. They have certainly written us off for all time.

[MrPurple]

17. People brainwashed by shit media saying Hillary was more of a liar

1/3 or more of society has tuned out fact checked reality and been brainwashed by right wing propaganda.

On mainstream message boards (like a political forum on a NE Patriots fan site) I see them today, discounting Trump/Russia allegations, yet posting threads about Debbie Wasserman Schultz's IT staffer, the "antifa" menace, or Seth Rich. These people are unreachable. I'm not sure they're really even racist, they're just utterly in the thrall of media that demonizes the left and demonizes the media that reports actual reality.

[Honeycombe8]

18. I disagree. I just pointed out numerous circumstances & stories that disprove your statement. nt

[MrPurple]

22. I'm saying that these fools have tuned out the "liberal MSM"

It doesn't matter what the Washington Post or Seth Meyers say because they've discounted those sources as much as I've discounted Breitbart and Fox. They exist in their own bubble where the main problems they're worried about are condescending metropolitan liberal elites and globalism.

I think they're somewhat to blame for their ignorance, but there is a sophisticated, multitiered, relentless media campaign to inculcate them in these beliefs. It's been expanding for decades, starting with Limbaugh around 1990.

If we had the same media landscape as 1975, with everyone getting their info. from Water Cronkite and their daily local newspapers, I don't think Trump would be possible. If you wanted extremist ideology then, like the John Birch Society or something, you had to get pamphlets and personally connect with shady groups. Now it's all a click away and actively disseminated through social media.

[Nitram]

21. No, "the media" did not call Hillary more of a liar.

The right wing media did. If you are living in the 21st Century, you have to figure out which media are reliable. The media I rely on called Trump a liar on a daily basis. To Trump supporters that was proof that Trump was no a liar because they only believe right wing sources.

[MrPurple]

23. That's exactly what I was saying, it's shitty "media", but these people have bought into it

[3catwoman3]

24. A most worthy read.

Here is my favorite sentence from the whole article, found in the section where the author is discussing whether or not it is appropriate/possible to diagnose a psychological disorder from afar -

"But you don’t need to be a botanist to tell a rose from a dandelion."

[Bradshaw3]

26. Yes lots of great points and original quotes

I liked this one too:
"The issue isn’t the bros in the beer ads; we assume they have jobs. It’s the tinderbox we create by mixing ignorance and inequality with dashed hopes and an overwrought sense of victimization. They say presidents lead us down the paths we’re already on. It’s our job to make sure this one doesn’t."

[BadgerMom]

25. K/R

[red dog 1]

27. K&R - Great article!

[stuffmatters]

32. Whoops, I put my comments on the wrong post. Posting there instead

[NRaleighLiberal]

33. years of hate radio and hate tv prepared the soil for this to happen.

[DFW]

34. My sister had the dubious honor as well

Though a professional singer, she also takes odd theatrical jobs when they don't conflict with gigs. These run from playing Peanuts characters at White House Easter Egg rolls to small gigs put on for underprivileged ghetto kids in New Jersey.

Once, at a seaside park in New Jersey, for some reason Donald Trump was scheduled to put in an appearance for the children. Maybe because he was a TV personality in the States, I don't recall the how or the why. But he was the celebrity "guest," if you can call it that. Anyway, so here they were, and a noise approaches from the coast and it's Trump's helicopter. It lands, Trump gets out, and is greeted and brought over to talk to the ghetto kids. He tells them that if they really work hard in life, that some day they'll have their own helicopter just like he does. He then turns around, gets back in his helicopter, which flies him off back to Fantasyland, or wherever it was he flew in from. The ghetto kids were left with a bewildered expression on their faces and WTF murmurings, and that was the end of their celebrity visit.

Inspiring, right? Makes one wonder just what kind of person he DOES inspire. Well, now after Charlottesville, maybe no one has to wonder any more.

[progressoid]

35. Ugh. I still can't fathom what sort of mental gymnastics

supposedly sensible people had to go through to come to the conclusion that voting for him was a good idea.

[DFW]

36. Lenin knew

"A lie, shouted loud enough and often enough, becomes the truth."

The Republicans shouted very loudly and very often.

[Sunlei]

37. to late salon

[WinkyDink]

38. The Trump voters had one over-riding reason: They HATE, and VIRULENTLY, the very idea of a

woman as President (yes, present verb tense), never mind one named "Hillary Clinton."

Besides their being consummate gulls of a consummate con-man.

That is to say: The truth about Trump and his mental state would not have swayed them one iota. Why, it would have been regarded only as "Fake News" from the lying Liberal Media!

And trust, that is how the Mueller Investigation will be viewed.

This latest Fascist attack is a harbinger.

[Nay]

41. Sadly, I believed this to be true before the election -- Hillary would lose because

there are many, many men who would not countenance a woman, any woman, as president. They would vote for a Trump way before they would vote for a woman. It didn't help that the woman also had been vilified for 30 years by the RW press, a process that, IMO, really crippled her. It wasn't fair, but that's what happened.