As a Canadian, it has been fascinating watching the US response to COVID-19, comparing our government's response to the USA. One thing that has become clear is the Donald Trump is clearly going through a narcissistic meltdown. But not only Trump, the Republican Party and elected GOP, Fox GOP apologists, and even Republican voters are showing meltdown signs too. While less visible, there are also rumors that wealthy capitalists, CEOs, etc, are pressuring Trump to get people back to work, as they are desperately scared of losing profits, or worse, of losing equity.
Clearly the Plantation Owner Mentality has never died out in the United States, it’s just been better concealed until now.
Absolute Authority
Recently Donald Trump claimed that he has Absolute Authority as President. This is clearly the kind of ‘magical thinking’ that narcissists, megalomaniacs, dictators, and tyrants tend to engage in. Certainly, China, with its authoritarian government, seemed to deal with the crisis quickly, but they are hardly transparent, and well they do have the kind of Absolute Authority that Donald Trump craves. On the other hand, China embraces science and scientific thinking, as opposed to Donald Trump and most Republicans.
First, Recognize Narcissism for what it is: an unconscious human defense mechanism. Narcissists are preoccupied with their public image, because their very shaky self-image is managed by trying to look superior in public. Images of wealth, having honorable status, trophy spouses, children in the best schools, etc. often help narcissists cope with a deep underlying sense of powerlessness and inadequacy. When the public image is shattered, many narcissists cannot cope. Some become violent toward others, often those closest to them, who they blame for their own problems in their distorted and dangerous thinking. Others blame themselves. In either case, violence becomes a much higher risk.
While Donald Trump is not innately violent (according to Michael Cohen), he shows many characteristics of the classic ‘malignant narcissist’. In particular, Trump has often shown himself as a sadist who especially enjoys harming his opponents and detractors.
Already it is clear that the US Federal Government is punishing states with Democratic governors and rewarding states with Republican governors in terms of strategic supplies of PPE, ventilators, etc. As Trump’s meltdown advances and accelerates, his baser narcissistic instincts will prevail.
Capitalism Is Inherently Incompetent and Amoral
Unchecked capitalism ultimately leads to the ‘the goose that laid the golden eggs’ scenario, where the farmers are the capitalists and the goose is the laborers. The countries that tend to be more stable are generally called ‘Democratic Socialists’ but in the USA they are simply called Socialists (and with disdain). In reality, these countries enjoy a balance of Capitalism and Socialism, where democracy governs the balance between the two.
"Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor but because we cannot satisfy the rich" —Anonymous
Capitalism is also inherently amoral. Consider that several senators sold stock based on insider information prior to public knowledge of COVID-19. In the worse case, Richard Burr, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was briefed in January/February by intelligence officials of the pandemic threat, but he publically played down the thread, privately warned friends and family of the threat, and ultimately sold stock before the market crash.
When congress voted over two trillion dollars in aid packages to save the economy from the ravages of COVID-19 sequestering, Republicans focused on saving and rewarding wealthy capitalist donors, to the exclusion of American workers, while trying to clandestinely control where the money when, without oversight.
In practice, the United States of America, the cathedral of capitalism in the world, has had the worst response to COVID-19 because capitalists are more afraid of losing their capital than they can empathize with the workers on the front lines who are the foot soldiers in the war against a pandemic.
The Big Meltdown
So while Donald Trump undergoing a narcissistic meltdown, the US economy is melting down into a recession or depression, the national debt is skyrocketing, Republicans are melting down to reveal they are even more amoral and psychopathic than ever before. Just as Donald Trump is unbalanced, so is the US economy, and it’s hard to say how bad things will get.