Ex-president Donald J.Trump is criminally, mentally ill. His particular mental neurosis is best diagnosed as Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
NSD is a serious and dangerous pathology. Some persons with NSD suffer from a relatively mild case of this condition, and can be treated with therapy, understanding and patience.
Unfortunately, former president Trump’s mental condition is equivalent to that of a psycho-sociopath.
The 5thedition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders described NSD as: characterized by an exaggerated sense of importance of one’s experiences and feelings; ideas of perfection; a reluctance to accept blame or criticism; a lack of empathy; a grandiose sense of self-importance; feelings of entitlement; a preoccupation with fame, wealth, and achievement; a craving for admiration, attention and praise; excessive emphasis on displaying beauty and power; the belief that one is special and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions; a tendency to take advantage of others to achieve one’s own ends; and arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.
Knowing this diagnosis of Trump to be absolutely true, how could the Republican Senators not vote to convict him in the first or second impeachment trials?
In his summation at the first impeachment trial, Adam Schiff warned the Senate jury members that if Trump was not found guilty, Trump would repeat the same or similar crimes and misdemeanors for which he was impeached, or worse. Then the worst, the unbelievable, the unimaginable happened.
But was the idea that Trump would attempt a coup if he did not win the election not imaginable. An individual with such a serious mental disorder such as Donald Trump was all but preordained to refuse to accept a reality that challenged the very essence of his personality and even, existence.
Would an individual who was“arrogant and haughty,” (self explanatory), who “took advantage of others to achieve his own ends.” (ask any reputable person who served in his administration and was fired by tweet), who believes that “he was special and unique” and who could only be“ understood by or should associate with, other special or high-status people,” (such as Putin and other autocrats), who “craved admiration, attention and praise,” (that first cabinet meeting where craven cabinet members tried to outdo each other in praising Trump), who was “preoccupied with fame, wealth, and achievement,” (again, self explanatory), who had “feelings of entitlement,” and who had a “grandiose sense of self-importance,” (again, self explanatory), who “lacked empathy,” (who else but Trump could be so blasé about more than a million Americans dying of Covid on his watch), who was “reluctant to accept blame or criticism,” who had delusional “ ideas of perfection,” (that otherwise hard to explain description of “that was a perfect phone call” and that was a “perfect letter”), and last but not least, an “exaggerated sense of importance of one’s experiences and feelings.”
In an article in the Sept.4th, AJC, Indictment, Trial would put Trump back on Center Stage, Mona Charen discussed the wisdom of what she described as sacrificing “justice on the altar of prudence.” She characterized adherents of prosecution as willing to “pursue justice though the heavens fall.” She also characterizes the “prosecute and be damned party” as believing that failure to hold Trump accountable is appeasement and cowardly submission to the insurrectionists.
Charen admits that not prosecuting Trump would seem to be a victory for “bullying and intimidation.”
In fact, not prosecuting Trump for his numerous crimes to the fullest extent of the law would be a victory for larceny, obstruction of justice, bank fraud, insurance fraud, city, state and federal tax fraud, perjury, misappropriation of federal funds, misappropriation of campaign donations, suborning perjury and noncompliance with lawful authorities by dangling pardons, violating his oath of office, conspiracy to commit insurrection and to overturn a lawful federal, (presidential) election, and also half a dozen state elections, conspiracy to commit treason, and quite possibly treason itself, and his latest crimes, stealing and mishandling highly classified federal documents.
Many Americans were angry at President Ford for pardoning Richard Nixon. Other citizens did not want to set a precedent of prosecuting presidents for the crimes they may have committed, for fear our system of peaceful transition of power would mutate into a new version of the late Roman Empire, where emperors were deposed at the whim of powerful political interests.
But Nixon was a beaten man, and he posed no threat to the body politic.
Charen writes that if Trump is indicted, he would be a “Vesuvious of trust dissolving venom. He would impugn every aspect of the justice system. It will all be“corrupt,” and “a disgrace” and “so unfair.”
Yes, all that and more.
But in fact, Trump is doing all that now.
Charen writes that after the Mar-a-largo raid, the whole Republican party snapped back to cult status, ready to tear down the FBI and the Justice Department, and more.
But Trump has been doing that for years. It’s not clear that Trump is a “fading former leader,” or that “half of Republicans were ready to move on from Trump in 2024.”
Charen points out that an enraged Republican Party, egged on by Trump, “is fully capable of nominating someone indicted for a felony.” Of course, that’s true, But Trump can’t run if he is indicted and convicted for multiple felonies and is fuming in the Fulton County jail or even a Federal Prison /Spa for wealthy criminals.
Charen writes that the“country would be transfixed by every piece of evidence, every bit of testimony and every legal argument.”
That would be a good thing. As pointed out above, Trump is a mentally ill, criminally minded sociopath. If he can’t have her, the country, no one can. The sooner his supporters realize the truth, the sooner the nation can begin to heal.
Having said that, there are those who support Trump who are irredeemable. The nation will pay a price in the years ahead as those people who were criminally minded and treacherous before Trump will lash out at the government and harm innocent citizens, because treasonous is who and what they are.
The moment Trump walked down the escalator and announced his candidacy, millions of Americans and millions of people around the world were potentially endangered by Trump’s madness. He is a mortal curse and a threat to humanity. Ignoring him and hoping that he will simply go away is a false hope and a delusion.
Trump will never go away voluntarily. The only way to stop Trump and Trumpism from doing grave harm to our system of government and the American people is to indict him, put him on trial, and upon a guilty verdict, imprison him for years.
Sen. Susan Collins said after the first impeachment trial that surely Trump learned a lesson. She, and the other Republicans who refused to vote to convict Trump, were tragically wrong. They share the blame for the lives lost and the riots and disorder.
Donald Trump will never stop being mentally unstable, a criminal, unscrupulous, dishonest, without shame, unethical, amoral, dishonorable, corrupt and treacherous.
Trump cannot stop being who he is, and he will continue to be a threat to democracy until he has been convicted and sentenced to prison for his numerous crimes.