First, let’s get the simple dictionary definition of mercurial out of the way:
Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind: his mercurial temperament.
Here’s a sample from a Google search of Trump and mercurial:
Jan 11, 2019 - From changing his positions to undermining his vice president, President Trump has left even his own party baffled as lawmakers search for a …
Apr 21, 2019 - Note-taking in the White House, a practice previous administrations shied away from to protect the president, has become a way for Trump …
Jul 6, 2017 - Leaders and members of President Trump's party in Congress have implored him to stop his compulsive and personally abusive tweeting.
Donald J. Trump's mercurial ways may be a source of great concern or indifference, depending on your ideological leanings. But Wall Street doesn't seem…
Mar 5, 2018 - On NBC's “Meet the Press” yesterday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross did his best to defend Donald Trump's upcoming trade tariffs on steel …
Sep 27, 2017 - The 71-year-old president switched from genial grandfather to cantankerous old white man in a heartbeat at an impromptu White House press …
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….. and this is just the first page.
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I’ve heard some of Trump’s defenders on MSNBC trying to dismiss some of Trump’s most glaring and egregious flip-flops as harmless manifestations of his mercurial personality. The good news is that this is making Mick Mulvaney and others in the White House go cray-cray trying to keep up with his shape shifting ways (see
“Mulvaney aims for 'more proactive, less reactive' Trump message” in Politico). The bad new is that this man is president.
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The word mercurial is derived from the property of mercury visible when a drop of it is placed on a smooth surface. In the era of mercury thermometers some of you may have played with it when one of them broke. I did. It was fun to watch the globs seperate and come together again. What our parents didn’t know at the time was that we were absorbing poison into our skin.
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This brings me to the non-medical definition malignant: evil in nature or effect; malevolent.
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Put the two together and we have a DefCon Level for the country and the world that is at least in the yellow zone all of the time and may move into red and get close to crossing over into white from time to time depending on the changeable moods and impulsivity of this unstable president.
Arguably Trump could be more of a dangerous case being malignantly mercurial than because he’s a malignant narcissist (the extreme mix of narcissism, antisocial behavior, aggression, and sadism) because it makes him so impulsive. Add the two together with the power of the presidency and perhaps the title of the best seller edited by forensic psychiatrist Bandy E. Lee, MD, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, now in it’s second updated edition might be re-titled for the third edition:
Poll question: Signs of anxiety
- Excessive intrusive worrying
- Aggitation (feeling shaky, dizzy, etc.)
- Restlessness
- Fatigue
- Difficulty concentrating, not get jobs done
- Irritability
- Muscle tension
- Sleep problems
- Somatic problems, new or existing getting worse
- Panic attacks
- Social isolation
- Irrational fears not having to do with Trump
- Not enjoying things you used to (including sex)
- Driinking or using cannabis more than usual
- No anxiety per se but add in new or increased depression to your poll rating
- The lowest level is what’s called “free floating anxiety” where you always feel it but it is generally without significant symptoms. This would rate between 2 and 3.
On the poll 1 is no signs of anxiety at all.