To tell the story of Trump 2.0, one has to start with his hypomania. According to psychologist Dr. John Gartner (“The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President,” edited by Bandy Lee, 2017), hypomaniacs trust their own ideas and judgment over anyone else’s, “no matter how crazy or idiotic other people think it is.” This is especially true after what they judge big successes. For example, after Donald Trump’s “absolute destruction” of Iran’s nuclear facilities, we had the attacks on alleged “drug-running” boats.
Next up, the successful snatching of Nicolas Maduro. Trump is now, in his mind, once again, untouchable and, once again, on an utterly unhinged bender. So, now, in his on-again, off-again role as omniscient and omnipotent ruler, Trump is caught threatening a host of people from his dominance playbook: “If the new Venezuelan leader, Delcy Rodríguez, doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro”; and “Columbia is very sick, too. Run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it in the U.S., and he’s not gonna be doing it very long.” Add recent threats against Greenland, Mexico and Iran, and you get the point.
Sadly, the above just scratches the surface of Trump’s post-Maduro awfulness, both here and abroad. His treatment of the tragic shooting in Minneapolis is just the latest. Rather than allowing a full investigation to take place, Trump and his minions are treating us to an unbelievable level of gaslighting (utterly denying what is plainly visible in numerous videos) and telling the Minnesota authorities to bug out. Robert Hubbell says what so many of us are thinking: “When will it stop? It will stop when enough of us say so. It’s that simple and that hard.”
Frederick Longacre
Hockessin
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