At first, he was called a bully, a charlatan, a narcissist, an egomaniac…thin-skinned, arrogant.
At first, some were beguiled by Donald Trump’s behavior.
As the campaign intensified, so did the attributes ascribed to Trump: Racist, bigot, xenophobe, vindictive, misogynist and so on.
Many were no longer bemused by his chicanery, his antics and his circus act.
As we now enter the general election, more and more people are concluding that those attributes do not fully explain the bizarre, almost grotesque conduct of this man.
More and more people question and are concerned about the strange, unacceptable behavior of a man who aspires to be president of the United States, but who may be unfit to serve.
I am no expert in psychoanalysis, so I will defer to those who are, or claim to be.
Just from media reports in the last two days.
Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing columnist for The Washington Post in “There is something very wrong with Donald Trump”:
One wonders if Republican leaders have begun to realize that they may have hitched their fate and the fate of their party to a man with a disordered personality. We can leave it to the professionals to determine exactly what to call it. Suffice to say that Donald Trump’s response to the assorted speakers at the Democratic National Convention has not been rational.
Kagan explains why he feels that Trump’s “psychological pathologies are ultimately self-destructive” and hopes that Trump’s “defects will destroy him before he reaches the White House.”:
He will bring himself down, and he will bring the Republican Party and its leaders down with him. This would be a tragedy were it not that the party and its leaders, who chose him as their nominee and who now cover and shill for this troubled man, so richly deserve their fate.
Earlier in the year, Kagan had already written, “Trump is the GOP’s Frankenstein monster. Now he’s strong enough to destroy the party.”
Eugene Robinson, also at the Washington Post, asks “Is Donald Trump just plain crazy?” and notes, “His bullying and lying have become so shameless as to disqualify him for the presidency.”
Robinson:
During the primary season, as Donald Trump’s bizarre outbursts helped him crush the competition, I thought he was being crazy like a fox. Now I am increasingly convinced that he’s just plain crazy.
Citing numerous examples of Trump’s shameless lying, bullying and “alarming” thin-skin and referring to Trump’s most recent calumny against Gold Star parents, Robinson concludes:
There’s no need for me to defend Ghazala Khan, who spoke eloquently for herself in a Post op-ed. But tell me: What kind of man has so little empathy for a grieving mother’s loss? Is that normal? Is it healthy?
The presidency comes with far-reaching powers. Not everyone should be allowed to wield them.
Ed Rogers, who has “never been in the ‘Never Trump’ camp,” and who has “kept the door open for Trump, waiting for him to clear the bar with a rational basis for his candidacy and to begin acting like someone who could actually be president of the United States,” calls “the latest debacle” with the Gold Star parents “beyond surreal”:
I don’t have the words to describe the indescribable. How could it be that Trump could think what he said was appropriate? What else goes on inside a mind that allows such thoughts? Trump’s reoccurring displays of ignorance and idiocy are putting him close to a tipping point or a point of no return with a lot of Republican voters…
Today, on CNN, Representative Ruben Gallego — yes, a Democrat from Arizona but also a veteran who served in Iraq — said, referring to Trump, “This man is unstable, he’s unfit to be a presidential candidate,” while discussing Trump’s attacks on the Khan Gold Star parents.
When pressed by CNN’s Carol Costello, “Like mentally unstable?” Gallego replied:
I do believe he’s mentally unstable…Who in their right mind would attack a Gold Star family? And not only that, once they’ve actually done that, then turn around and double down, and then accusing a Gold Star mother of not being able to speak because of some weird religious bias that he believes that she had.
Gallego continued:
For someone to call themselves a national leader but not having the temperament or understanding of what the word sacrifice means to a Gold Star family, and then when pushed against the wall, just turning around and lashing out in a very idiotic and irresponsible manner, really tells me one thing: This person’s not ready to be president…And for any politician that considers themselves a sane and responsible politician to still be endorsing someone like Donald Trump, really makes me question whether or not they are truly looking out for the welfare of this country.
Finally, Dr. Drew Pinsky, the physician and media personality told Don Lemon on CNN, “Trump does not fit the stringent legal definition for insanity — but he does show signs of multiple mental illnesses.”
There’s two definitions of sanity, one is legal definition, and that is somebody who is so out of it they don’t know the difference between right and wrong,” Pinsky told CNN’s Don Lemon. “That is a very high standard for insanity, (and) very few people meet that standard. When you’re legally insane, you’re really not functioning. Clinically, medically, usually when we talk about insanity, we mean psychotic, hearing voices, hallucinations.
However, Pinsky tells Lemon “that Trump did not fit either the legal or clinical definition of insane.” What a relief!
Pinsky says Trump shows enough troubling signs of mental instability to raise concerns about his fitness for office. But:
The question, though, is, are some of the reckless qualities that everyone is getting so disturbed about on the campaign going to be translated into office should he get elected?…That’s a pretty hard thing to predict. I don’t know if this is just somebody playing politics, or is this somebody who really can’t contain their impulses?
Then, Pinsky moves the spotlight to Trump’s supporters:
“What’s more fascinating to me, Don, is not him but his supporters that seem to not be concerned about any of this,” Pinsky said. “That, to me, is fascinating. As always, what is up with us?”
Excellent question!
Lead image: DonkeyHotey.com
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.