Diagnosing Trump, and Trying To Help

SOCIOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND PSYCHIATRY are all rather new sciences, having been born in modern form only in the nineteenth century, and only now just barely beginning to make some sens of human society and the human mind. we have come far in our understanding, but we have along way to go, and, like Einstein said about the universe: "we don't know one millionth of one percent of anything." Until quite recently it was believed that emotions originated in the heart, and that mental illness was caused by bad morals and demonic possession. now we are taking detailed pictures of the brain, and identifying the function of each part of it. So, we are starting to learn. For obvious reasons, the psychiatric profession, which deals with mental health, has a strict code of conduct for it practitioners; they are treading on unstable ground, even when practicing their craft with extreme caution. with extreme caution. When presidential candidate Barry Goldwater started talking a bit too loosely about the possibility of using atomic weapons against America's enemies in the 1964 presidential campaign, his opponent, Lyndon Johnson, warned the country about Goldwater's gun slinging personality, and the American psychiatric Association issued dire warnings about his personality type and possible mental illness. Aware of potential unintended consequences, such as inadvertently destroying the career of a perfectly healthy, competent person, the psychiatric profession rapidly backtracked, and made it illegal for practicing professional to publicly offer opinions and diagnoses of politicians seeking office. this restriction does not apply to psychology professors and researchers, of whom approximately forty thousand signed a letter shortly after Trump's election warning of his potential mental poor health. now, more than two years into the Trump presidency, the chickens, so to speak, would appear to be coming home to roost. Among mental professionals, there is widespread consensus that the president is not mentally well. This consensus is long standing, but is deepening by the day, as Trump's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and painfully bizarre. Trump has always been paranoid, vengeful against people who fail to do his bidding, dishonest, and narcissistic. When Donald was a young man just starting to branch out on his own in his expansion of his father's real estate empire, Ed Koch, the mayor of new York, commented: "I wouldn't believe a word Donald Trump says if he had his tongue notarized." In the cut throat world do competitive big business, a bit of paranoia, mistrust, and tough minded retaliation can be an advantage; Trump's father, who was born in the Bronx, not Germany,taught this to his ambitious son. Now, however, confronted with the stressful requirements of the presidency, all these neuroses are getting rapidly worse, getting out of control, becoming a toxic, lethal combination of full fledged pathological psychoses. There was a time when Trump's constant lies revealed a pattern. he distorted and destroyed the truth whenever it suited his political agenda. He attacked people who were a very real threat to his personal ambitions. Thus, in his mind, millions of Mexicans were pouring across the border, all intent on rape, pillage, and murder. Hillary Clinton was, in his criminal mind, a criminal, worthy of incarceration. now, there is no rhyme, reason, nor discernible purpose. he seems to actually believe that his father, not his grandfather, was born in Germany. In the past, he claimed to be of Swedish ancestry, to facilitate business transactions with the Jewish community in New York. And then, suddenly, there's the windmill cancer thing. This is the most bizarre manifestation of delusion yet. There was a time when Trump was able to use half way reasonable sounding, if transparent lies to attack sensible, progressive policy proposals. Now, this pathological claim. Everyone is making fun of it, perhaps cruelly. His supporters are, as usual, ignoring it. This brings to mind an even greater threat to American social stability: the bizarre behavior of Trump's millions of supporters, their evident refusal to acknowledge and accept the reality of any of this. Like Trump, they seem intent on stubbornly continuing their refusal to believe in man made climate change, despite the overwhelming proof which basic science has long been providing. Climate change, like Trump's mental illness, is beyond obvious; it is a great white elephant in the room, one of many. Mental health professionals tell us that mental illness can be and often is contagious; it often spreads to and afflicts family members and friends. And that appears to be precisely what it happening among millions of Trump supporters, as they retreat into a state of denial. Renowned scholar and social observer Noam Chomsky calls Trump and his inner circle "criminally insane". Chomsky's flaw is that he fails to tell the entire truth. the entire truth, tragically, is that there are millions of mentally ill Americans, just as there are millions of physically ill Americans. the mentally ill have all congregated conveniently, and made themselves easy to identify; they are the one in the red MAGA caps.