• Donald Trump has all the traits of Narcissistic Personality Disorder NPD including a grandiose sense of self-importance, a sense of entitlement, together with a belief that he is specially unique or “chosen” which requires constant and excessive admiration in order for him to function. (See “Reason” #30 for more.)
• As part of his NPD, he believes he is better, more successful than anyone else at just about anything. But to maintain his success he will exploit others to achieve his goals with no empathy for those hurt; when there are failures (like lost business or lost elections), he will deny the truth, and lie with frequency to the point of self-delusion. (See also “Reason” #29 for more.)
• Contributing to this NPD and other pathologies is having been raised in a loveless home and a lifelong need to earn the love of a cruel father. That, together with “Donald’s having continually been given a pass and rewarded not just for his failures but for his transgressions–against tradition, against decency, against the law, and against fellow human beings. His acquittal in the sham Senate impeachment trial was another such reward for bad behavior. … He rants about the weakness of others even as he demonstrates his own. But he can never escape the fact that he is and always will be a terrified little boy. … Donald today is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning, or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in and synthesize information.” [from Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man, by Mary L Trump, PhD, Simon & Schuster, July, 2020, pages 205, 210, & 197.]
• Complicating all of the above, Donald Trump is probably functionally illiterate (See also “Reason” #32 for more). This handicap, terrifying to him and us for different reasons, is why he lacks knowledge on so many basic and critical subjects. (See also “Reasons” #31, #32, and #33 for more).
And This is What Republicans Who Worked with Trump, Saw in Trump:
Gen. H. R. McMaster: He’s a “dope” with the intelligence of a “kindergartner”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: “He’s a moron.” “Tries to do illegal things.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis: Has the understanding of “a 5th or 6th grader.”
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin: “He’s an idiot.”
Economic Advisor Gary Cohn: “He’s dumb as s–t.”
The 1st Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: “He’s an idiot.”
The 2nd Chief of Staff John Kelly: “Unhinged” and “an idiot” and “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Attorney-General William Barr: His 2020 election fraud claims are “detached from reality.”
“There have been few White Houses, and maybe no White Houses –ever– in which the entire senior staff believes that there is something wrong with the President of the United States. … Everybody around him feels that he is appallingly stupid.” –Michael Wolff, author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House on video interview.
The condensed information in “Reasons” #29-34 should be reason enough to vote for Harris and Walz to ensure that Trump has no power in our government again. Perhaps it will also ensure that the Republican Party chooses a nominee in the future that is competent and untainted by the MAGA delusions endorsed by Trump.
Resources:
- Gen. H. R. McMaster – “He’s a “dope” with the intelligence of a “kindergartner” (Vanity Fair, 11/20/17): https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/hr-mcmaster-calls-trump-idiot-dope
- Rex Tillerson – “He’s a Moron” (NBC, 10/4/17): https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/tillerson-s-fury-trump-required-intervention-pence-n806451… ALSO (CNN, 10/15/17): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_xjQTwiQSk … ALSO: (Washington Post, 12/7/18): https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/12/07/rex-tillerson-trump-undisciplined-doesnt-like-read-tries-do-illegal-things/
- Jim Mattis – Has the understanding of “a 5th or 6th grader” – (Politico, 9/4/18): https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/04/trumps-insults-idiot-woodward-806455
- Steve Mnuchin: “He’s an idiot” and
- Gary Cohn: “He’d dumb as s–t” and
- Reince Priebus: “He’s an idiot”
- All three of the above – (Vox, 1/9/18): https://www.vox.com/explainers/2018/1/9/16860598/michael-wolff-fire-fury-donald-trump-book
- Michael Wolff interview (Free Library of Philadelphia, 1/16/18): https://youtu.be/Y3-snvMvRhU?feature=shared (Also the source of the quote in red type above.)
- John Kelly: “Unhinged” and “an idiot” (The Hill, 9/4/18): https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/404932-kelly-called-trump-unhinged-and-idiot-woodward-book/ … ALSO: “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” (A Very Stable Genius, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, Penguin Press, 2020, page 38.)
- William Barr: “Detached from reality” (NPR, 6/13/2022): https://www.npr.org/2022/06/13/1104634760/barr-trump-detached-from-reality-jan-6
- Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House – An interview with author Michael Wolff conducted by Dick Polman, sponsored by the Free Library of Philadelphia. https://youtu.be/Y3-snvMvRhU?feature=shared
