We are all familiar with, if not actually experienced with the childhood scenario of the well-off kid being getting angry on the court/playground and saying/doing the “I’m taking MY ball & going home routine – and with no ball to continue the game with ruining the other kid’s day. Is there anyone who can’t picture one Donald J. Trump doing (if somehow he found himself playing with regular kids) that very thing? Hell, he’s pulled a variation on the theme relatively recently at one of his golf properties. A whole bunch of rich folks didn’t appreciate getting hit with a 200k special assessment and submitted resignations from the club. Alas, the bylaws didn’t allow them to simply get back the money they’d paid in but would go unused due to their resignation. No sir. They were (again, according to the rules they’d agreed to) placed on awaiting list, and only when a new member had joined the exclusive (and now much more expensive) club would the member be allowed to resign, a process that could be expected to take as much as several years. In the meantime they were on the hook for money (IOW annual dues) due to the club. So, and again according to the rules they could continue to play golf there and enjoy the full benefits of the membership. That is they could until the owner (Trump) said to hell with that and barred them from using the club! But he still expected them to pay their dues! It’s been an interesting court battle btw.
It really isn’t that hard to find examples of the fully grown Donald Trump revealing his inner man-child and throwing tantrums, including destructive ones. Not just self-destructive ones but the kind that makes others suffer too because like the kid in the schoolyard (the only one who could afford the ball) if he couldn’t have his way he was going to ruin things for everyone else. A majority of the country realized how dangerous such a personality could be in a President and voted for Hillary. Sadly however just enough people voted to roll the dice on the petulant, spoiled man-baby now residing in the White House. It’s been clear all along that the GOP establishment, as well as millions of hard core conservative voters who could be heartless but weren’t insane chose (stupidly) to hope against all reason that the man they saw in during the election season (and who’d been that way his entire life, much of it in the public eye) would somehow change once the weight of the Presidency settled on his shoulders. For them, deep in the throes of the “Mother Of All Cases” of Clinton Derangement Syndrome literally anything, including Donald Trump was worth any amount of risk.
But as some of us have feared all along, the risk is far greater than some “I’m taking my ball and going home – screw all of you” tantrum. No, it’s far more serious. Worse, it’s frighteningly dangerous.
You may think I’m extreme but people who find themselves cornered do extreme things. Like the criminal who is surrounded and trapped, who rather than surrender decides that even though it will cost him his life he’s going to take as many people (be they hostages/innocents caught up in the situation, law enforcement or both groups) as he can with him. Some even plan for just that scenario. So you know that there are people who for whatever reason sometimes reach a point where they are not only going to refuse to go down without a fight, but choose (whether spur of the moment or planned ahead of time “just incase”) instead to go out with a bang. Sometimes literally. Sometimes that final F#@% YOU to the world is appallingly destructive – not just to property but human life.
Considering all this, think about what this President does when he doesn’t get his way. He lashes out, even in self-destructive ways & against all reason and advice even his family gives him. He literally can’t help/control himself. Worse, he sometimes stews for a while, trying to “behave” like those he trusts have begged him to do but he simply can’t contain himself and when the tantrum comes it’s all the more worse. Worse than that though is that holding a grudge and getting “payback” no matter what the cost is part of his DNA. When he feels wronged, or even challenged his instinct is to lash out & as we’ve seen he often does just that. Even when he (if only for the moment) holds off he literally obsesses on whatever it is that angered him – and then lashes out & also creates false narratives that require evermore and bigger lies. For example his repeated attempts to challenge the fact that a majority of voters picked Hillary Clinton over him last fall. In his mind something, anything other than the truth (more people decided Clinton was the better choice) happened so we get the repeated claims of “massive voter fraud” and even a ludicrous commission to “prove” it. As you know there are plenty of other examples.
This President both narcissistic and insecure and while his level (of either trait) is disturbing in any President the combination of the two is truly dangerous. And last night in WV both came together in a frightening way. We know how he feeds his narcissistic need for validation with his “rallies” – and while you may not like Trump you have to admit he knows how to work a crowd. His ad libs and rambling seem ridiculous to us but his crowds eats up every bit and ask for more. Even and especially when he condones, or even calls for violence such as promising to pay the legal bills of his crowd roughing up protesters. Or suggesting they “send a message” to the media, both present and in general. These and other provocations have led to what’s known as the “Trump Effect.” Every week we see another instance (sometimes more than one) if not on the news then on social media of some Trumpkin engaging in hate speech, or worse. Any thoughts that the election of Barack Obama proved this country had made a giant stride forward in race relations & Civil Rights have been exposed as wishful thinking. A dark undercurrent has been out there, fed by right wing talk radio (which dominates the airwaves), Fox News and more recent players like InfoWars and Breitbart. Trump didn’t so much embolden them as much as set them loose by providing “cover.” It literally began when he announced his candidacy, and both then & pretty much ever since the media has blasted every outrageous Trump statement into the national consciousness. By comparison the very real consequences (IOW the Trump Effect) gets barely a mention. Sure, sometimes part of a news cycle will “tut tut” over this or that incident but there’s always the fresh new outrage from the dual spigots of Trump’s mouth and Twitter-addicted thumbs for them to talk about.
A recognition settled in long ago that this President knows how to work the news cycle, and that if not knowledgeable about the Office he holds (or most things for that matter) he is in fact quite savvy in manipulating the news. Frankly, he’s proven a master at the art of using Weapons of Mass Distraction and has shown zero concern about the consequences for individuals victimized by his followers taking his rhetoric to heart and acting out their rage & frustrations. In fact he dishes out more “red meat” for them to feast on. In his spoiled from birth life he’s never accepted responsibility for his own misdeeds so why would anyone expect him to now? Even if he were to feel any guilt (which I doubt) over people beaten and even murdered because his followers felt they’d been given permission by none other than the President it was ok to do what they do/did, it’s clearly not been enough for him to give up an invaluable tool for maintaining support from his base. His sense of morality, what’s right and wrong and/or ethical or not begins and ends with himself – if in his mind something benefits him or pleases him then it is ok. Period. No further consideration, much less discussion required.
I doubt I’ve said anything that would surprise anyone reading this. People have been thinking, writing and saying similar things for a long while now. So what happened last night that made my blood run cold? Something was said in that rally in WV that I find truly terrifying. We’ve heard the “lock her up” and similar crap countless times before. As well as plenty of other ramblings and adlibs that make his crowds roar with approval. But last night he injected something new into his shtick. You can watch a short clip of the remarks I’m referring to here:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/politics/west-virginia-trump-rally/index.html
Note that his comments seem measured, especially the specific line that prompted this diary:
"They (Democrats) can't beat us at the voting booths so they are trying to cheat you out of the ... future that you want. They are trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us and most importantly demeaning to our country and demeaning to our Constitution."
This wasn’t some off-the-cuff “word salad” line he came up with in the heat of the moment. The delivery was measured, and given with a style and emphasis that had been rehearsed. As one pundit noted later it was straight off the teleprompter. IOW, this is a carefully crafted strategy – to convince his base that forces (and not just Democrats if you pay attention to other things he’s been saying & tweeting in recent days) are out to “get” him, and by extension all those people that show up at his rallies or would leap at the chance to do so if one was within a few hundred miles of where they live. The careful, measured way in which he said what he did was intended to park the concept deep in his voter’s minds – that forces are working to cheat them! It’s important to take note of specific language Trump used. The man who reflexively makes things all about himself, clearly and carefully emphasized not I or me, but (at first) we/us, and then made multiple references to “you” – out of the future you want, out of the leadership you want.
This is by design all right. There’s no question at all in my mind that with his base he’s planted not seeds but roots in of a new concept – that “others” are trying to cheat them out of what they want which is him in the Oval Office. By now, or at least before the weekend is out virtually every one of his supporters will have watched this “highlight” if not the whole speech.
Anyone want to bet what happens next? I say this will become a standard line in his stump speech, and he will start working the crowd with him delivering this line & then tossing out questions like: “Are you going to let THEM getaway with it?” “Are you going to let THEM cheat you out of our victory?” Then, if not right away rallies and tweets will after this spiel add a call to action, as in “Are you going to let THEM get away with it?” And even: “It’s up to you to stop THEM!”
I fear the “Trump Effect” is about to get much, much worse. Papa Putin gave Trump his “ball” (first a fabulous lifestyle after Trump had blown all of his real daddy’s money, and now the Presidency) and just as Trump worked so hard to please his biological daddy, he has been fighting like hell to please his new “Papa.” He also knows “Papa” can cut him off at anytime, and the punishment (being exposed as the fraudster and criminal he is) is something Trump simply cannot and will not endure – at least not alone. Trump is EXACTLY the type of person who, if made to suffer will do anything and everything in his power to make sure everyone else suffers more. And he doesn’t care who or what gets hurt in the process. That includes provoking civil unrest that’s sure to become increasingly violent, and will explode like cluster munitions across this country and even the world. I believe with all my heart Trump is that sick a person. And he’s not just starting the process of inciting mass revolt by his supporters, Trump is also letting the rest of us know just how far he’ll go.
If the intricacies of the U.S. vs. Soviet Union Mutually Assured Destruction(appropriately called MAD) is beyond Trump’s intellectual capabilities, the overall concept is simple enough – each side was capable of and willing to say to the other “destroy us & we’ll destroy you.” The difference is that generations of leaders on both sides fervently hoped things would never get to that point, and they even built in safeguards to reduce the chances of the nukes ever being launched. There were some close calls, the mutual desire to avoid the unthinkable prevailed. But we are talking about Donald Trump here. He’s creating a Doomsday Bomb and packing it with the hatred and fear he stokes in his supporters. And he will set it off if he can’t have things his way, if he is exposed/humiliated in the eyes of all but his supporters. Just like the cornered and well-armed criminal who rather than surrender will die instead – but take as many with him as he can. The longer it takes to remove him from Office, the worse the resulting explosion will be. Because he’s capable of exploding in a vindictive rage of “If I burn we all burn” and pushing the button on his Doomsday Bomb regardless of how even his own family might try to talk him out of doing so.
We’d better be ready, because this will get far worse before it can get better. And the wounds will take generations to heal, if ever.
(I’m sure some who read this will think I’ve “gone round the bend.” I’ll bet Michael Moore who showed an uncanny understanding of Trump and his supporters & predicted a Trump Presidency long before anyone else would agree with me. If he ever saw this diary anyway.)