We all have watched movies and tv shows where the naive heroes have trusted a character we know or suspect is going to turn on them and betray them, or worse, kill them. “Don’t trust the new nanny” we want to scream” at the screen.
The chance that our country is being run by a gullible fool and his toadies, tools, and minions is more chilling than any horror movie.
In real life, we are once again watching this “Alice in Wonderland” meets “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” story play out as Trump, this time along with Mike Pompeo. The president and Secretary of State are so far trusting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia to provide a concocted story about how journalist Jamal Khashoggi met his end.
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If you already know my take on Trump’s personality disorder you can skip the following part.
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Trump has demonstrated time and time again that he is the gullible fool, whether believing Putin’s denial of election meddling or buying hook, line, and sinker conspiracy tales put for by the right-wing media. This appears to be a subcategory of Trump’s overriding malignant narcissistic psychopathology which makes him worthy his own diagnosis in the next psychiatric diagnostic manual. Malignant narcissism is a hypothetical diagnosis which I believe fits Donald Trump. This is a psychological syndrome comprising an extreme mix of narcissism, antisocial behavior, aggression, and sadism. These people are grandiose and always ready to raise hostility levels, the malignant narcissist undermines families and organizations in which they are involved, and dehumanizes the people with whom they associate. Read more.
If the diagnosis ever makes it into the official psychiatric lexicon Trump’s diagnosis, probably in the appendix since it is rare, would include “all of the above” plus at least four of the following:
- paranoid ideation and beliefs
- delusional thinking
- pathological lying
- objectification of women
- inability to process factual information that contradicts core beliefs
- poor verbal and Tweeting impulse control
- periodic impairment of judgment evidence by the inability to appreciate negative long-term consequences of one's action
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When it comes to the Khashoggi murder it is difficult to believe Trump is so delusional that he believes "rogue killers" are responsible although he may have initially thought it might be true. We know he can be a gullible fool, but can he be that gullible? I rather doubt it.
If the Saudis insist on whatever their rogue killers story turns out to be, I think there’s a 50/50 chance Trump will try his often successful ploy of denying the obvious. He’d say that this is fake news (even saying the tapes the Turks have are fraudulent) and he'd say he believes the Saudi’s explanation. To do otherwise he would have to impose severe sanctions on the Saudi government.
The alternative if the Saudis go along with it is to accept that MBS is responsible but that it was a mission gone wrong, and that he will bargain for a public apology from them and impose meaningless sanctions.
Mike Pompeo, on the other hand, has demonstrated no suggestion he has a personality disorder or is a gullible fool. This leads me to conclude he is a total Trump tool. But we already knew that.
The next few days will give us the answers.
Update: From Politico:
Just this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo published an essay arguing that one major reason President Donald Trump’s foreign policy vision will succeed is its “moral clarity.”
But then there he was: The same Mike Pompeo, in the same week, smiling and chatting amiably with Saudi leaders suspected of orchestrating the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Pompeo expressed confidence that the Saudis will conduct a legitimate probe into the case and hold wrongdoers accountable — a stance many in Washington found hard to believe.
Pompeo’s performance can be chalked up to any number of factors, including the inevitable trade-offs most U.S. administrations find they must make in dealing with unsavory allies who happen to be key to American interests. But it was also an example of Pompeo — a former Army tank commander who loves tough talk — toeing the Trump line, even if it risks tarnishing his image.