UPDATED (scroll down) for a dive into the fever swamp of Trump’s psychopathology.
Salon writer Brian Karem’s essay is worth reading and asking yourself whether he’s engaging in wishful thinking or not. Is Trump’s lifetime grift in its final act? He writes about how in his travels through red states he has found a begrudging acceptance among Trump supporters that President Biden has been, if not a good president, at least not a horribly bad president. He talked to people who still liked Trump but were growing tired of him.
There’s some good word-craft in his essay, for example:
Wherever Trump is this morning, the walls are probably painted in ketchup and broken china. His yellow, dilated eyes are evidence of his growing fear. The combination of terror, sweat and expelled body fluids have combined to make his turgid, fetid nest smell like Satan's outhouse. His fear is palpable and a big part of that fear is that he doesn't know what the Justice Department knows. That's why he wants someone, anyone, to tell the world what the FBI is up to.
Karem writes that he’s “content to let the wheels of justice grind on in their natural course because, having spent four years covering Donald Trump...” he goes on (my bold)… “I know where this will inevitably lead: to his prosecution, conviction and imprisonment.”
Then he concludes his essay as follows:
(Trump) cannot avoid the reckoning he is due, no matter how much he cries. Garland is a meticulous, smart prosecutor who won't give Trump the fuel he wants to ruin the prosecution. Careful, stealthy and quiet is the perfect way to investigate Trump, who is careless, bombastic, loud and rude.
Remember Trump is a hollow man and we all know how they end: "Not with a bang, but with a whimper."
Trump is whimpering not just because the world is catching up with him but because his lifelong grift is nearing its end. The world is putting him in its rearview mirror.
He sees it. He knows it. He fears it. And ultimately, he can't escape it.
He's done.
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Update below
Thursday, Aug 11, 2022 · 1:55:04 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Combined with the prospects of losing money and/or going to prison scenarios Trump may be in deep denial over, there is the chance he has allowed himself to wonder who, if anyone ratted him out. This could lead to his not trusting anyone, to becoming more and more distrustful of people he thought wert loyalists.
The talking heads on MSNBC are speculating about who, if anybody, “flipped” on Trump. Depending on what Trump knows about how and where the seized documents were found he may be worried about somebody he trusted informing on him.
This could go far beyond merely being suspicious of those who had knowledge of the documents at Mar a Lago but turn into outright paranoia. By this I mean that he becomes anxiously obsessed with looking for signs just about everyone in his world may be the rat.
Consider: Trump Is Reportedly A Paranoid Wreck, Wondering Which Of His Cronies Is A ‘Rat’ And If Friends Are Wearing Wires from UPROXX.
Therapists like me who have tried to figure out whether or not Trump’s psychopathology could end up with him having a near impossible to hide psychotic break, think of him having conversations with hallucinations or anxiously screaming gibberish. Alternatively he could descend into a deep depression, one so severe he is unable to function, think not being able to get out of bed in the morning.
Trump may be seen as a psychological aberration when in fact he isn’t. As Mary Trump has pointed out he is psychologically insecure and hides his fragility behind a mask of narcissism and bravado. The more isolated he feels the closer he may come to this. If he starts to see the prospect of losing everything from his money to his freedom going from being impossible to possible to likely the more I would consider the chances of his succumbing to a debilitating psychiatric disorder.
I wrote this in 2020: What psychotherapists can't tell us about Donald Trump. Why does he lie? Will be become psychotic?
Also: Psychiatrist warns Trump may be 'at significant risk for deteriorating into full-blown psychosis' by Kerry Eleveld
From Mary Trump: Donald Trump In A 'Panic' Over FBI Raid, Shocked DOJ Took Action
Obviously there are a number of articles about this subject. Here’s one from Common Dreams. Is the Clock Running Out on Donald J. Trump?