By Hal Brown, MSW, Trumpologist and blogger
I don’t think that a highly experienced psychotherapist could have conducted a more revealing diagnostic assessment interview with Trump than Jonathan Swan did.
This is the best thing Trump could manage to say about John Lewis contribution to civil rights:
“He was a person who devoted a lot of energy and a lot of heart but there were others too.”
On "Morning Joe" I watched the portion of the Jonathan Swan interview with Trump where Swan asked Trump about John Lewis.
It was an appalling display of Trump's malignant narcissism. Not that anyone reading this need to be reminded:
Malignant narcissism is a psychological syndrome comprising an extreme mix of narcissism, antisocial behavior, aggression, and sadism. 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 Wikipedia
Trump couldn't bring himself to say a nice thing about Lewis. All he could do was brag about all he, Trump, had done for the black community, minimize what Lewis had accomplished by saying others had made contributions too, and especially in a blatant display of malignant narcissism repeatedly lament the fact out he didn’t attend State of the Union addresses or go to the inauguration.
This is a grudge Trump can’t let go of. Consider: Trump rips John Lewis as Democrats boycott inauguration — The congressman and civil rights icon said he doesn't view Trump as legitimate, and the president-elect fires back on Twitter” from Politico, 1/14/17.
Donald Trump lashed out at Rep. John Lewis on Saturday after the civil rights icon said he doesn't view Trump as a "legitimate president” — and the confrontation threatened to trigger a broader boycott of Trump’s inauguration by Democratic lawmakers already on the fence about attending.
Trump showed yet again that no one who crosses him — no matter how revered or respected, as Lewis is among both parties in Congress — will necessarily be spared his ire. Lewis was one of the top organizers of the 1963 March on Washington, and his skull was fractured by law enforcement authorities on "Bloody Sunday," the civil rights protest in Selma, Alabama, two years later.
"Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to......mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk — no action or results. Sad!" Trump wrote in two tweets Saturday morning.
The tweets, two days before the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, came after Lewis questioned Trump's victory in the presidential race in a pre-taped "Meet the Press" interview that aired Friday on NBC.
Rev. Al Sharpton had a great response to Trump's whining about the inauguration which prompted me to make this tweet. I wasn’t sure how to spell “yinny” but it was a perfect characterization of the thin skinned self-absorbed narcissist. Let’s hope we can all do the “yinny, yinny, yinny” dance when Trump goes down to a humiliating defeat in an historic across the board Democratic landslide.
You can watch the entire Jonathan Swan interview from Axios here. I think it deserves a Pulitzer Prize.
I don’t think that a highly experienced psychotherapist could have conducted a more revealing diagnostic assessment interview with Trump than Jonathan Swan did.
Here’s a related story: PIERS MORGAN: President Trump's painfully deluded train-wreck HBO interview proved he hasn't just lost control of the coronavirus – he's lost control of reality. Morgan has been friends with Trump for more than a decade and supported him throughout his 2016 campaign. The British media personality has become increasingly critical of the American president. He calls the Swan interview extraordinary and toe-curling.
