Heather “Digby” Parton worries whether Trump’s demanding that Congress investigate Obama for wiretapping Trump tower may be an effective diversion:
Although the Sunday morning hosts were aggressive in questioning Trump surrogates, their equally aggressive questioning of President Obama’s spokesmen, such as the interviews by Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week,” at least partly legitimized Trump’s accusations and calls for congressional investigations, simply by the “he said/she said” nature of the format.
It seems ridiculous that Trump could actually create a counter-narrative out of this nonsense. But the Republicans managed to turn Benghazi into a major scandal without much to go on. And when they found out Hillary Clinton had a personal email server, they managed to get the media so excited they could hardly speak of anything else. That’s not likely in this case, since Trump’s administration is a dumpster fire that flares up on a daily basis. But it would be a mistake to think it’s impossible. Trumping up scandals are what Republicans do best.
I’ve attempted to analyze the psychopathogy of Trump, an evolving project which I began in April. As we saw more and more behavioral evidence that, in addition to manifesting every indication of malignant narcissism, impulse control disorder, and other mental dysfunction, he was paranoid.
The old saw “even paranoids have enemies” reinforces his paranoid ideation, because Trump has more enemies than Putin, and he can’t have them eliminated the way his guru does. So he aims a Tweet at them.
He now finds himself and the grandiose mansions he enjoys absolute rule over are under assault by the most dangerous army in the world — a coalition of Democrats, a slowly increasing number of Republicans, the press, and the majority of Americans who are suspicious about his Russian connections.
No matter how well protected his fortresses are, he might as well be in The Alamo.
However, so far his his Tweet bombs have been working. For the present, he’s created a firestorm of controversy. His surrogates are spinning this like crazy.
The diversion on the face of it would seem to be working. Thus it’s likely Trump is having his paranoia reinforced. On a psychological level this will probably lead to convincing him that all of his paranoid thoughts are both true and need to be shared.
On a related matter in the news today are reports leaked out of the White House that Trump is expressing rage, excoriating top staffers and storming about while shouting expletives. This is what extreme narcissists do when they perceive a narcissitic injury. It’s called narcissistic rage.
Narcissistic rage is a reaction to narcissistic injury, which is a perceived threat to a narcissist's self-esteem or self-worth. Narcissistic injury (or narcissistic scar) is a phrase used by Sigmund Freud in the 1920s; narcissistic wound and narcissistic blow are further, almost interchangeable terms.[1] The term narcissistic rage was coined by Heinz Kohut in 1972.
Narcissistic injury occurs when a narcissist feels that their hidden, 'true self' has been revealed. This may be the case when the narcissist has a "fall from grace", such as when their hidden behaviors or motivations are revealed, or when their importance is brought into question. Narcissistic injury is a cause of distress and can lead to dysregulation of behaviors as in narcissistic rage.
Narcissistic rage occurs on a continuum from instances of aloofness, and expression of mild irritation or annoyance, to serious outbursts, including violent attacks and murder. Narcissistic rage reactions are not limited to personality disorders and may be also seen in catatonic, paranoid delusion and depressive episodes. It has also been suggested that narcissists have two layers of rage. The first layer of rage can be thought of as a constant anger (towards someone else), with the second layer being a self-aimed wrath. Wikipedia
Ultimately, this will be good for those of us who see benefits in Trump demonstrating how unhinged and unstable (mentally ill) Trump is.
We just have to wait until we see these reactions to not always getting his way reach a critical mass.
Monday, Mar 6, 2017 · 3:28:59 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Celebrities on Trump the Paranoid:
- “Tries acid once.” More seriously, he added, “He will do anything to distract from the Russia story. Journalists who weren’t fooled by a new suit and temp tone can’t stop digging.” Zach Braff
- “We’re three days away from Donald claiming he can control the weather. This is ‘admitted to Bellevue’ level crazy. Eventually Trump WON’T send a series of nutty Tweets at 3am. Instead, he’ll launch nukes. He won’t get less crazy, you know that.” Patton Oswalt
- “Obama tapped Trump’s phones IN PERSON! Went in wearing a Con Ed coverall. Michelle stood guard while O spliced the lines. SAD! Stephen King
- “He is a very sick untreated mentally ill 70 yr old man #impeach #treason #unstable #craycray.” Rosie O’Donnell
- “Donald, if your phones were being tapped, it was only because you were running Trump Tower like it was Moscow on the Hudson.” George Takei
- “As the paranoia now grows at an extreme rate, the sociopath becomes a psychopath and the country – the planet – faces a painful decision…” Michael Moore
- “The good news is paranoid sociopaths in positions of power always works out great!” Sarah Silverman
-