It’s been an exhausting year under the “leadership” of Trump
After 365 days with Donald Trump posing as the “leader of the free world”, I have a flaming case of “Trump Fatigue”. I often have fantasies about Trump being “frog-marched” out of the Oval Office by Elliot Ness and his G-men to a waiting jail.
I must confess that my antipathy for Trump has little to do with his policies, his criminal conspiracy with Russia in the 2016 election, or his money laundering for the Russian Mafia. My objection to Trump is personal. So don’t expect me to be objective. He is a vile, indecent human being.
He has the impulse control of a toddler and, by all accounts, is a sexual pervert. His confession to Billy Bush about sexually assaulting women is just the beginning. He allegedly had unprotected sex with a porno actress four months after the birth of his son Barron, which featured the actress spanking Trump with a magazine. Then he is accused of paying the actress thousands of dollars in “hush” money.
Trump’s most obvious feature is that he is a pathological liar. Fact checkers have documented thousands of distortions, misstatements, and “pants-on-fire” lies. If his mouth is moving, he is lying.
He is abysmally ignorant of the world at large and is clueless about his own ignorance. This ignorance, in combination with the fact that he is a malignant narcissist, makes a very toxic personality.
He thinks the world revolves around him. His grandiosity leads him to believe in his own superiority. He believes that he is smarter, more talented, and more capable than anybody else. His needs take precedent in any circumstance and he expects others to meet his needs and please him. He surrounds himself with “boot lickers”. He chronically overestimates his own value and underestimates the value of others.
His narcissism leads to misbehavior. He is a bully. What some see as “counterpunching” is actually a very typical response to “narcissistic injury.” His cyberbullying is despicable. He has attacked everyone from his own cabinet to war heroes and their families on Twitter.
Trump is a racist. He has used his bigotry to appeal to white supremacists and their supporters and enablers. He began his campaign by attacking Mexicans. He encouraged violence against African-American at his rallies and pledged to ban Muslims from entering America. “Trump’s Wall” is a direct appeal to racism and white fears of becoming a minority in the future. He found “good people” among Neo-Nazis and called African countries “shitholes”.
Trump’s policies have damaged America. Tax cuts for the rich, weakening protections for workers, environmental degradation and undermining our national security apparatus will have long term negative consequences for America.
However, the damage of having an indecent, narcissistic, lying, racist bully representing our nation can’t be overestimated. Trump’s deplorable character has been the elephant in the room. For a year, many Americans have, for whatever perverse reason, ignored it. We continue this denial at our own peril.
Terry Stulce served two combat tours in Vietnam, one with the 101st Airborne and one with the 69th Border Rangers. He was an LCSW and owner of Cleveland Family Counseling before his retirement in 2009.