Regarding the steady flow of revelations pertaining to Trump’s efforts to overthrow the election and retain power, Jeffrey Engel, the director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, observed in the New York Times that voters had become desensitized, if not numb, to Trump’s attacks on democracy: “I actually think the American public is dramatically underplaying how significant and dangerous this is because we cannot process the basic truth of what we are learning about President Trump’s efforts—which is we’ve never had a president before who fundamentally placed his own personal interests above the nation’s.”
Donald Trump, first and foremost, is a teacher. He taught me not to trust my species because a large swath of it is suicidally stupid. I do not know where this tale of the malignant leading the blind ends but it is not in a happy place.
'Is Trump’s wickedness too immense for us to absorb?' This was TC's question that came closest to the Trump Effect on me. He eats up space, fills ours ears, and assaults the senses. This piece by TC calls up the pain and suffering that is Trump. It uncomfortably reminded me of many millions who flock to him. His ugliness looks like a winner, a shiny gold mountain of success to his worshippers.
There are many questions around Trump. What is the America that elected him to the presidency? It isn't only the flaccidity of the Republicans; what of our government; what about his force so able to dominate and to have gotten away with evil for so long? It is very disturbing to feel him clinging to us. We cannot shake him. Trump has been carrying on for so long that he's inside us. Do we have a sense of guilt for not ridding ourselves of him? We don't want to absorb Trump, but he worked his way into our pores, our heads and our hearts. I think that we understand him; that we have absorbed him and that we cannot stand it. Trump dulls our hopes and our resiliency.
As a side note, comparisons between evil and wicked are as such:
'The two adjectives wicked and evil both have similar meanings; they both mean immoral or sinful. However, the adjective wicked also has some alternative meanings which sometimes have a very different meaning from evil. The key difference between wicked and evil is that wicked can have connotations of mischief, playfulness whereas evil is indicative is malevolence, immorality and sin'
Not exactly on point, but on one occassion when Jack Warner tried to invoke the shetl background, his interlocutor laughed and said: Come on, Jack. You were born in Canada.
Of course, there is the ongoing debate that long predated 1/6, over whether Trump was a Batman villain or Bond villain.
I've long accepted that the former president is an evil person and a serial lawbreaker. What I can't accept is the possibility verging on probability that he'll get away with it because the people who are responsible for enforcing the law have rationalized away their willingness to do their jobs. If the Select Committee actually holds public hearings and they are serious like the Watergate hearings were, that will be a good first step but, absent jail time, heavy fines and a permanent ban from holding elected or appointed office in this country, the hearings themselves will accomplish nothing.
Of all those who know him best, I put my money on Mary Trump. She has life experiences with him and has a PhD in clinical psychology. I'm a retired educator, but my expertise is not in that arena. However, I rely on Wikipedia and others with pedigrees that DO qualify them to diagnose and understand those monsters among us who are morally depraved. (I would venture to guess that most of them are locked up somewhere - if not in prison, then in some sort of institution. Think "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.")
Here's a definition of sociopath: "A person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience." Here's a definition of psychopath: "A person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior."
Given what we know now about this monster, as a lay person struggling to understand mental incapacitation, I would guess the latter. His proclivity to harm others, insult others, and his gleefulness at the violence on J6, his desire for revenge and retaliation, put him in a category with others who are turned on by violence, in my uneducated opinion.
That said, I do think we who are somewhat "normal" have a hard time wrapping our brains around a monster who defies everything we have ever been taught about decency, and socially acceptable behavior, much less the difference between "right" and "wrong." Personally, I think I'm suffering from PTSD as a result of this monster. I keep using that term (monster) because it's the only one that seems to fit such a person.
Absolutely! I have no words to add to what you've written. (Of course I'll add a few!)
I think we have a difficult time using the words wicked and evil. They sound so Byzantine, so "right wing christian-small c". But they apply to the former "president". I think apt likenesses are Hitler and his crowd. Idi Amin and other killers at the heads of nations through centuries. Unfortunately the guy seems to reveal the reflection in the mirror of a nation that has counted on bluster, huge amounts of money, subterfuge, cruelty and manipulation to reach its "goals". That isn't all we've had as a nation, and we know that. There has been plenty of good, of caring, of humility, of honor, of action to right the wrongs of the past and the present. But what the guy seems to have proven is that the system of rapacious capitalism birthed here does indeed rot the organism from the inside out. We are all individually and together that organism. He is the Hollow Man. The prophet Amos tells us, the rich lay on their ivory beds with others of their own ilk, and make their plans without regard to the outcome for any but themselves. That's what makes the current situation so terrible. That he was not convicted by the gop led Senate especially following the attempted coup proves how venal that group have become. I too welcome the April hearings. We must not flinch.
People are attracted to shiney objects. The golden calf story comes to mind. What did Moses and Aaron do to dissuade the masses from their obsession to a golden (orange) object? What motivated them to abandon their well-intentioned leaders? Age old lessons sometimes ring true.
Donald Trump, first and foremost, is a teacher. He taught me not to trust my species because a large swath of it is suicidally stupid. I do not know where this tale of the malignant leading the blind ends but it is not in a happy place.
'Is Trump’s wickedness too immense for us to absorb?' This was TC's question that came closest to the Trump Effect on me. He eats up space, fills ours ears, and assaults the senses. This piece by TC calls up the pain and suffering that is Trump. It uncomfortably reminded me of many millions who flock to him. His ugliness looks like a winner, a shiny gold mountain of success to his worshippers.
There are many questions around Trump. What is the America that elected him to the presidency? It isn't only the flaccidity of the Republicans; what of our government; what about his force so able to dominate and to have gotten away with evil for so long? It is very disturbing to feel him clinging to us. We cannot shake him. Trump has been carrying on for so long that he's inside us. Do we have a sense of guilt for not ridding ourselves of him? We don't want to absorb Trump, but he worked his way into our pores, our heads and our hearts. I think that we understand him; that we have absorbed him and that we cannot stand it. Trump dulls our hopes and our resiliency.
As a side note, comparisons between evil and wicked are as such:
'The two adjectives wicked and evil both have similar meanings; they both mean immoral or sinful. However, the adjective wicked also has some alternative meanings which sometimes have a very different meaning from evil. The key difference between wicked and evil is that wicked can have connotations of mischief, playfulness whereas evil is indicative is malevolence, immorality and sin'
Not exactly on point, but on one occassion when Jack Warner tried to invoke the shetl background, his interlocutor laughed and said: Come on, Jack. You were born in Canada.
Of course, there is the ongoing debate that long predated 1/6, over whether Trump was a Batman villain or Bond villain.
I've long accepted that the former president is an evil person and a serial lawbreaker. What I can't accept is the possibility verging on probability that he'll get away with it because the people who are responsible for enforcing the law have rationalized away their willingness to do their jobs. If the Select Committee actually holds public hearings and they are serious like the Watergate hearings were, that will be a good first step but, absent jail time, heavy fines and a permanent ban from holding elected or appointed office in this country, the hearings themselves will accomplish nothing.
Interesting assessment. It certainly seems to fit; we cannot conceive that level of wickedness carried out with such malevolent intent.
Of all those who know him best, I put my money on Mary Trump. She has life experiences with him and has a PhD in clinical psychology. I'm a retired educator, but my expertise is not in that arena. However, I rely on Wikipedia and others with pedigrees that DO qualify them to diagnose and understand those monsters among us who are morally depraved. (I would venture to guess that most of them are locked up somewhere - if not in prison, then in some sort of institution. Think "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.")
Here's a definition of sociopath: "A person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience." Here's a definition of psychopath: "A person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior."
Given what we know now about this monster, as a lay person struggling to understand mental incapacitation, I would guess the latter. His proclivity to harm others, insult others, and his gleefulness at the violence on J6, his desire for revenge and retaliation, put him in a category with others who are turned on by violence, in my uneducated opinion.
That said, I do think we who are somewhat "normal" have a hard time wrapping our brains around a monster who defies everything we have ever been taught about decency, and socially acceptable behavior, much less the difference between "right" and "wrong." Personally, I think I'm suffering from PTSD as a result of this monster. I keep using that term (monster) because it's the only one that seems to fit such a person.
Absolutely! I have no words to add to what you've written. (Of course I'll add a few!)
I think we have a difficult time using the words wicked and evil. They sound so Byzantine, so "right wing christian-small c". But they apply to the former "president". I think apt likenesses are Hitler and his crowd. Idi Amin and other killers at the heads of nations through centuries. Unfortunately the guy seems to reveal the reflection in the mirror of a nation that has counted on bluster, huge amounts of money, subterfuge, cruelty and manipulation to reach its "goals". That isn't all we've had as a nation, and we know that. There has been plenty of good, of caring, of humility, of honor, of action to right the wrongs of the past and the present. But what the guy seems to have proven is that the system of rapacious capitalism birthed here does indeed rot the organism from the inside out. We are all individually and together that organism. He is the Hollow Man. The prophet Amos tells us, the rich lay on their ivory beds with others of their own ilk, and make their plans without regard to the outcome for any but themselves. That's what makes the current situation so terrible. That he was not convicted by the gop led Senate especially following the attempted coup proves how venal that group have become. I too welcome the April hearings. We must not flinch.
People are attracted to shiney objects. The golden calf story comes to mind. What did Moses and Aaron do to dissuade the masses from their obsession to a golden (orange) object? What motivated them to abandon their well-intentioned leaders? Age old lessons sometimes ring true.
TC, this is deep. Will respond later. Excellent.