During the primary season, as Donald Trump’s bizarre outbursts helped him crush the competition, I thought he was being crazy like a fox. Now I am increasingly convinced that he’s just plain crazy.
I’m serious about that. Leave aside for the moment Trump’s policies, which in my opinion range from the unconstitutional to the un-American to the potentially catastrophic. At this point, it would be irresponsible to ignore the fact that Trump’s grasp on reality appears to be tenuous at best.
So begins Pulitzer Prize writer Eugene Robinson in this column for Tuesday’s Washington Post.
It is interesting that an increasing number of prominent voices are questioning Trump’s stability — some properly raise the question of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Others wonder about ministrokes, Alzheimers (no), or other mental deficiencies.
I would instead point to a person who grew up without any development of moral compass. He may have had tendencies, but what we know of his father (arrested at a KKK event) and his behavior in the military school to which he was sent after being expelled from another school, it is clear that by the time he reached young adulthood he lacked quite a few things — empathy, social responsibility, and more.
I am not going to go through all the items Robinson cites. You can read the column.
He does pose the possibility that on some issues it is theoretically possible that Trump is telling the truth and everyone else is not, but then responds
No, Trump is clearly a liar.
And then, sounding almost like Hillary Clinton, he follows with this sentence:
Also, he’s alarmingly thin-skinned.
He also notes
Finally, there’s ample evidence that Trump is the worst kind of bully.
That we know. And if you had any doubt, I suggest you go to Upshot blog at The New York Times to read The 250 People, Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List. That notion is also well supported by the way he does business, and the kinds of verbal insults he has unloosed in this campaign, from the earliest part of the primary season.
I would actually argue that like many bullies and those with NPD, he is actually very insecure, because he cannot stand to be criticized or belittled.
So let me jump to the end of this very good column. Robinson is responding to the totally bullying remarks of Trump about Ghazala Khan:
There’s no need for me to defend Ghazala Khan, who spoke eloquently for herself in a Post op-ed. But tell me: What kind of man has so little empathy for a grieving mother’s loss? Is that normal? Is it healthy?
The presidency comes with far-reaching powers. Not everyone should be allowed to wield them.
Indeed.