The repugnant anti-democratic malignancy of Trump’s personality and his beliefs all came out both in Trump’s State of the Union Address (see NAACP response) and his address to the National Prayer Breakfast (Video) this morning.
by Hal Brown
So let’s do the simple math with the dictionary definitions of what I see as the primary characteristics of the president.
fascism: an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. • (in general use) extreme authoritarian, oppressive, or intolerant views or practices.
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narcissism: excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one's physical appearance. • In Psychology: selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy (i.e. lacking the ability to understand and share the feelings of another), and a need for admiration.
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hypocrisy: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform.
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sociopath: a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes, i.e. contrary to the laws and customs of society and devoid of or antagonistic to sociable instincts or practices and behavior) and a lack of conscience.
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bigotry: intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself.
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cult: a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figureor object, a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person.
What does this add up to?
Matt Goetz wants an ethics probe of this (below). Pelosi addressed this to reporters yesterday and in her news conference today.
Pelosi told reporters after the speech that she had ripped it up “because it was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.” In her news conference she said she’s a speed reader and had read through the entire speech in the first few minutes of the address. My impression is that she had considerable time to decide whether or not to tear up her copy of the speech and that she did it upon careful consideration as to the message it would send and the blowback from Republicans.