Have We Reached a 25th Amendment Moment Yet?

Asked about the Kashmir crisis, President Trump says that “Kashmir is a very complicated place. You have the Hindus, and you have the Muslims, and I wouldn’t say they get along so great. And that’s what you have right now.”

President Trump: “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat – I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge, or great disloyalty.”

Sal wrote:

Well, when you have a base who are almost as crazy as you are, and keep acting like Trump was "appointed by god," then I guess the impulse to see how far you can push it becomes irresistible.



"Things get confused out there... power, ideals, morality... out there with these natives, it must be a temptation to... be god. Because there's a conflict in every human heart, between the rational and the irrational, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph. Sometimes the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. Every man has got a breaking point. You and I have them."

And Donald Trump has reached his. Very obviously he has gone insane.

So he quotes a guy who basically says that Trump is the King of the Jews and the second coming... words that would embarrass most people, but who Trump passes on because he, too, believes them.

And then, just a while ago, to a gaggle of reporters, Trump announced, "I am the chosen one."

I don't know if Trump is insane... or he knows that his base is.

What's scariest is, no matter what he does, they don't turn on him. They're "good Germans." They're idiot cultists. They're Branch-Davidian-Jonestown-Scientologist-Hale-Bopp-Manson-family level cultists, and nothing Trump does -- even blaspheming the god they claim to believe in -- is going to be too much for them. They'll just weep and throw their hands up and bask in the glory because they'll believe that shit. They're trained.

I'll be happy if they prove me wrong by standing up to him and saying, "No, Donald, you aren't god." But will they, in any significant numbers? I would not fucking bet on it.

I keep saying it -- Trump is a problem, but he's temporary. The bigger problem is that there's enough crazy, brainwashed idiots in this country to elect such a person and follow him. 19% of the people in America voted for Trump. I'm sure he's shed a few who have become alarmed at how he turned out, and he may have picked up a few mindless toady sheep who just get swept up and fall in behind whoever's marching, but, in any case, around one out of five people are, essentially, looniebirds who'll buy into something like this now. I have no idea what we're going to do about that... but a country with that many crazy people isn't a functional country, it's an asylum that the rest of us have to tend to. I don't see how that's sustainable.

One way or other, Trump will go. But the shitheads who think he was a good Godly man who was doing a great job are just gonna be scrambling to elect another psychotic. And there are plenty out there who are eager to exploit their stupidity.

othershoe1030 wrote:There is a documentary, now on Netflix, called The Family. It goes into the history of the group started by Abraham Vereide, an immigrant from Norway who had the "spiritual inspiration" that Jesus came to speak to the powerful in the world, not the poor. It is this group that started the National Prayer Breakfast. All their followers, of which there are many, believe Trump was chosen by God. OMG.

It reminds me of the divinity of royalty ascribed to in Europe, the idea the Founding Fathers basically ran away from. How they can believe he was chosen by god, because he got elected is bass-akwards to say the least but, there you have it. There is no reasoning to counter their position, as they function on a different plane.

Yep. Exactly. They make up the "reality" that they want, and reject everything that doesn't fit it.

Trump's followers make very little sense, anyway. They all claim they're for "freedom and liberty," but everything they want to do is so open-ended that it ends up giving the government more power.

Like last week, Trump took up for his brownshirt Proud Boy thugs by wanting Antifa declared a "terrorist organization." First up, Antifa is not an "organization." Conservatives live in squeaking terror of these kids (because bullies always live in fear of anyone who hits back), but they know fucking nothing about them. They think George Soros funds them, etc. Anybody into punk rock knows that's full of shit, and Antifa have been around for a hell of a long time. The kind you see now started in punk rock, keeping Nazis out of the punk scene. They have their own bands, etc., but they aren't "organized." And all they want to do is fight with Nazis. They don't have their own rallies, they just show up to counter Nazis. But conservatives fear and hate them so much they're willing to give the government the power to decide who's "antifa" and who's not. A lot of conservatives brand everybody in the crowd opposing them to be "antifa," and want them all shut down. I think most of us here would be against the Proud Boys, and any other fascist group, but most of us aren't "Antifa," looking to have a ruck with 'em. And already right-wingers are lying like hell about who's "Antifa." They're claiming the Dayton shooter scumbag is an "Antifa," and there's no evidence of that. He liked Elizabeth Warren -- that's it. For them, that's like "Hey, close enough!" So far there's no political motivation found for his shooting.

Basically, they just want a license to consider all their political opposition to be "terrorists," and "Antifa" is so open-ended that it works for 'em. And right-wingers, with all their "don't tread on me, don't trust the gubment, gotta form militias to water the tree of liberty with the blood of yadda-yadda-bing-bang" horseshit are fiiiiiine with that, 'cuz they figure that government will only kill off their enemies.

Same with immigration. Make it all "merit based." Who gets to determine who has merit? It's open-ended. Basically, it says, "Let in only people right-wingers like." The end. That's freedom'n'liberty, right? Freedom and liberty enough for people who really don't care about any such thing, and who'll put up with anything as long as it "pisses off the libs."

News. Anything that's not flattering to their side is declared "fake." All media is "biased" even if they're just reporting reality... because the right doesn't like reality, they like slanted-toward-them. And if it isn't, they cry "no fair."

And on and on and on. They give their leaders massive powers to make decisions about open-ended things, trusting they'll be benevolent toward them and hopefully hateful-and-cruel-to-those-liberals.

Hell, maybe it's NOT crazy that Trump declares himself god. His followers have kind of made him one already. He's just acknowledging it.

Trump as sociopath: This is the most frightening thing you’ll read this week

1 comment
Posted by steve on Mar 4, 2019 in News, Opinion, Politics | 1 comment

I write a lot about Trump’s unfitness for office, above and beyond anything he does, policy-wise. You may agree or disagree with him on taxes, or global warming, or immigration, or transgendered people in the military, and on and on (I happen to disagree with him on just about everything). But even if he were 100% correct on all the issues (an impossibility), he’d be the worst president ever because of his moral and psychological degeneracy. Now, we know that there’s an underlying psychological illness that describes all the things Trump is: sociopath. The word comes from socio, (social, enjoying the company of others) and path (sick, diseased); a sociopath is a person who has hateful feelings towards his fellow humans.

Recently, Raw Story, a Washington, D.C.-based progressive website, ran an interview with a retired Harvard professor of clinical psychology, Dr. Lance Dodes, on Trump’s “severe, continuous mental disorder.” Dodes explained the nature of sociopathy, whose official diagnostic name is Antisocial Personality Disorder, and told why people suffering from it are so dangerous. Sociopaths “lack both normal human empathy for others and a normal human conscience. Cheating, conning, lying, stealing, threatening are all done with no remorse.” This would make any sociopath at the very least unpleasant, and at worst someone to avoid like the plague. But when the sociopath in question is the most powerful person in the world, the consequences are potentially disastrous: “First, there is a serious risk that [Trump] will start a war to distract the country from his multiple failures and his attempts to become a one-man ruler. Second, there is a serious risk of his destroying democracy in this country.”

We mostly think of sociopaths in terms of murderers: John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, for example. But most sociopaths aren’t killers. The blogger Tanya J. Peterson, who writes for the online mental health resource, Healthy Place, distinguishes between two types of sociopath: high-functioning and low-functioning. Donald J. Trump is a high-functioning sociopath, by which she means he is “intelligent, can exude charm when he wants to, is goal-driven, calculating and clever, and moreover has the patience” to wait “until the time is right to make his move… All sociopaths are dangerous whether labeled high-functioning or low-functioning,” Peterson notes, but “a high-functioning sociopath can dream bigger and manipulate better than other sociopaths. They can cause a great deal of damage.”

Dodes, in Raw Story, lists seven traits of sociopaths, as defined in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the official guidebook for psychiatric professionals. Trump, Dodes finds, “meets every one of them”:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors.
2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying … or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
4. Irritability and aggressiveness
5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.
6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

Search your head for your own memories of Trump’s worst statements and behaviors as you scan the list. I’m sure you’ll recognize him throughout. Now, back to the two worst consequences of having a high-functioning sociopath as president, which I described above. The first is “starting a war to distract the country…This is most likely to occur,” Dudes warns, “as he is stressed by challenges to his position as president.” One can easily imagine that as the Mueller/Southern District legal walls close in on him, a frightened, endangered Trump, cornered like a rat, will lash out at another country—Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, who knows? And then, we’re in deep trouble.

The second consequence, you’ll recall, was “destroying democracy in this country.” Trump clearly has already begun this process: attacking the courts and his own Justice Department and Intelligence services, the news media, and the half of America that is Democratic, and threatening to defy the Constitution by ignoring Congress, if it suits him. “These are well-known tactics of would-be tyrants,” Dudes observes, “and are signs of sociopathy…”. If he continues on this path—and there’s no reason he won’t, as long as 90% of the Republican base supports him—Trump could well do precisely what many worry about: nullify the results of the 2020 elections. By utilizing his powers as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, Trump could make his position impregnable.

Trumpians will argue that such conjectures are fever-dreams, symptoms of Trump Derangement Syndrome. I disagree. We have in the White House a seriously sick sociopath. Such a man is incapable of being reasoned with. Like the Ted Bundys and Jeffrey Dahmers of this world, he has acquired a taste for what he does. The only way to stop such a menace is through force. My advice to America is to gird your loins, know whom your friends are, likewise your enemies, and get ready to organize for the 2020 elections like nothing you’ve ever done before.

http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2019/03/04/trump-as-sociopath-this-is-the-most-frightening-thing-youll-read-this-week/comment-page-1/

************

There's no mental health professional worth their salt that promotes a diagnosis without direct clinical consultation.

See: political hack

PkrBum wrote:There's no mental health professional worth their salt that promotes a diagnosis without direct clinical consultation.

See: political hack

SEE: SPAM, TROLL, DRUGS, CHEAP SELLOUT

PkrBum wrote:There's no mental health professional worth their salt that promotes a diagnosis without direct clinical consultation.

See: political hack

I think it is important to note that the observations being made by large numbers of professionals in the mental health field are something to take into account when evaluating DJT. This is not an odd-ball, one-off opinion There are significant numbers of mental health professionals so concerned about his mental state and personality traits that they are willing to go public with their warnings. This is not something that can be safely swept under the rug. His comments in the last few days would be enough to have him fired or put on leave if he were in any other position of authority from a CEO to an airline pilot. The only reason he is still in the White House, ironically, is that he is still in the White House.  It is the one place in this country that renders him, at this point, untouchable. Now, THAT is Crazy.

The mental health professionals writing in the Times, however, felt compelled to speak out: “We fear that too much is at stake to be silent any longer.” Susan Radant, a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist and director of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, says she was motivated to sign by her worries about Trump’s competence, including his emotional stability, integrity and honesty. “I am hoping this letter will inspire both citizens and, particularly, the Congress to do their jobs,” she wrote in an e-mail, “and step in before our country and the world are permanently damaged.”
Radant thinks it is time to get rid of the Goldwater rule. She says mental health professionals are well qualified to offer certain diagnoses from a distance, pointing out the press, sans training, freely makes such assessments.

Fellow signatory Alexandra Rolde, a psychiatrist affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Newton–Wellesley Hospital, both in Massachusetts, emphasizes the letter does not attempt to diagnose Trump but rather highlights personality traits she and her colleagues find concerning. She does not believe any mental health professional should make a diagnosis without seeing a patient, but thinks it can still be appropriate to comment on how a person’s mental health may affect other people and his or her ability to perform.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/psychiatrists-debate-weighing-in-on-trumps-mental-health/