8/28/22: Former
Attorney General Bill Barr has finally figured out what
most human beings figured out in the summer of 2015 or early 2016. Or - if they
knew Donald J. Trump personally - long before. The guy is a terrible human
being.
And he’s nuts.
(My wife, for one, rightly pegged Donald as suffering from Narcissistic Personality
Disorder in early 2017.)
Barr, center, also said Trump's "stolen election" claims were "bullshit." He told him so more than once.
Asked recently in an interview about his “most
awkward” moment working for the former president, Barr responded, in apparent
reference to a meeting on June 1, 2020: “The
president was bellowing at a number of his Cabinet secretaries and especially
the military guys, the DoD secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and
calling all of us ‘f-cking losers’ at the top of his lungs.”
This was around the same time that an unhinged,
vengeful president was asking why he couldn’t call out active duty U.S. troops,
and clear peaceful protesters outside the White House. “Why can’t you just
shoot them, just shoot them in the legs, or something?” he mused.
When rational individuals resisted, President Maniac
lost his sh*t.
Barr took his usual shots at Democrats and
left-wing types in the interview But if we filter out the partisan lines,
we’re left with this. Barr went after his old boss
and gave him the kind of roasting he deserved.
Taking note of the former president’s business
career, Barr expressed surprise. “One would think that an executive would have
a better idea how to operate with people and manage people.” Trump did not.
Barr called him “a poor manager of people,” and his “own worst enemy.”
(This blogger would change
that to “America’s worst enemy”).
Barr told his interviewer that he was “disgusted,”
“mortified,” and “angry” while watching the January 6, 2021, attack on Capitol
Hill. He said Trump was “morally responsible” for the
attack. It was “a shameful episode. It was a shameful
riot,” he continued. “And the president certainly precipitated it.”
“In fact, he’s incorrigible,” Barr said of
Trump. He “doesn’t take advice from
people and he does his own thing, and you’re not going to teach an old dog new
tricks. So I was under no illusion when I went in, but I felt there was a
chance he would rally to the office and be more disciplined in his behavior.”
Barr would not be Barr without attacking the Left,
and accusing those of us who cherish the U.S. Constitution and long feared Trump, of suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
I’d argue that we figured out, starting with
the pussy-grabber tape, if not before, that Donald J. Trump had no business
setting foot in the White House. Not even as visitor. Electing Trump in 2016, was
like electing Bill Clinton in 1992, if he had campaigned on a promise to
force White House interns to provide blow jobs under his desk.
Barr told a reporter that he warned Trump at
the beginning of 2020 that he would lose the election if he failed to “adjust”
his behavior. His words were wasted, and the president “continued to be
self-indulgent and petty, and turned off key constituents [sic] that made the
difference in the election.”
Even worse, Barr claimed, was what Trump was doing
to the Republican Party. “The tactic that Trump is using to
exert this control…is extortion,” he said. “What other
great leader has done this? Telling the party, ‘If it’s not me, I’m going to
ruin your election chances by telling my base to sit home. And I’ll sabotage
whoever you nominate other than me.’ It shows what he’s all about. He’s all
about himself.”
Barr
did have hope. “There’s never been more consistent conservatism within the
Republican Party than there is today,” he said. “The idea that there are RINOs,
people that really don’t support Republican principles, is simply not true. What the
president is defining as RINOs are people who are true-blue Republicans and
conservatives but who just have a problem with Trump personally,” he continued.
“This is all personal to Trump.”
Yeah.
Classic Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Like I said, my wife had that
figured out, and I posted my agreement no later than October
25, 2017.
10/25/17:
This much would seem true: Says former Sen. Tom Coburn, a conservative
Republican, “We have a leader who has a personality disorder.” We know Trump
craves unconditional love. Increasingly, this is clear: What he most desires is
to be fawned over like Kim Jong-un.
By now, even his fans probably suspect that the president
suffers from what experts call a “narcissistic personality disorder.” According
to the Mayo Clinic, this condition is rare, with only 200,000 cases in the
United States every year. Let’s check the symptoms Trump has displayed.
____________________
Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
____________________
Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance (slaps name
all over buildings, biggest inaugural crowd ever)
Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive
admiration (see creepy cabinet meeting)
Short version.
Long version.
Expect to be recognized as superior even without
achievements that warrant it (making comparisons to all other presidents,
has done more, etc.)
Exaggerate achievements and talents (brags about
legislative accomplishments)
Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power,
brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate (I went to the best schools, I have a
great mind)
Believe they are superior and can only associate with
equally special people (loves to hang out at Mar-a-Lago and his private clubs)
Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people
they perceive as inferior (rampant)
Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with
their expectations (demands loyalty from F.B.I director, et. al.)
Take advantage of others to get what they want (marital
history, Trump University)
Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs
and feelings of others (Gold Star mothers, widows, pretty much everyone)
Be envious of others and believe others envy them (knows
Obama was more popular, knows Hillary got more votes, can’t deal with it)
Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as
conceited, boastful and pretentious (belittles aides, calls Jeff Sessions an
“idiot”)
Insist on having the best of everything – for instance, the
best car or office (calls the
White House “a dump”)
At the same time, people with narcissistic
personality disorder
have trouble handling anything they perceive as
criticism, and can:
Become impatient or angry when they don’t receive special
treatment (attacks mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Have significant interpersonal problems and easily feel
slighted (can’t get along even with Republicans)
React with rage or contempt and try to
belittle the other person to make themselves appear superior (“Liddle Bob
Corker,” “Lyin’ Ted,” “wack job,” “loser,” “sick guy,” “she’s a pig”)
Have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior (easily
frustrated; can’t stop talking about Hillary, even to Boy Scouts)
Experience major problems dealing with stress and adapting
to change (whines because no one knows how hard his
job is)
Feel depressed and moody because they fall short of
perfection (aides must present him daily information praising him)
Have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability and
humiliation (okay, I'm guessing here; possibly a small penis?)
*
CERTAINLY, we know Trump’s biggest fan is Trump. Questioned
by reporters, he giveshimself a “10” for hurricane relief. He grades all
his efforts “A+.” At the nine-month mark he told reporters he’d
done more than
any other president in such a span. You had to think he’d like to see blasting
start on Mt. Rushmore, and if they had to blow up Abe to make room for Don,
he’d be fine.
Just yesterday, our Narcissist-in-Chief described a White
House luncheon with GOP senators as “a love fest.” Trump wanted the entire
nation to know he had received “multiple
standing ovations.”
The number will rise once unemployment offices, swamped by applications,
catch up with paperwork.
Closing down the country to stop a killer virus has wiped out all
the jobs added to the U.S. economy since 2013.
____________________
If it’s not clear to you that Trump is afflicted with the
Narcissistic Personality Disorder you need to look up the symptoms yourself.
____________________
Still, if you had any doubts about what kind of person the
president is, you should have learned a cold, hard truth this week. The man who
previously loved to boast about creating “jobs, jobs, jobs,” will be lucky (and
we, as a nation, will be lucky) if he doesn’t go down in history known as “Depression
Don.” Yet, in the bitter end, the only job Donald J. Trump cares about is his
own.
That’s why you could find him tweeting angrily Thursday, the same day
the nation learned that all those millions of men and women were out of work, about
the great ratings he was piling up with his daily press conferences. After the Wall
Street Journal criticized him for appearing on TV too often, rambling on too
long, doubling back and repeating himself, getting facts wrong, and contradicting
health experts, Trump fired off this narcissistic gem:
Only Trump.
Only such a man would be talking about “Monday Night Football” and
“Bachelor Finale” numbers at a time like this, when the only numbers that should
matter are 16.8 million men and women suddenly out of work.
Only someone like Trump could be bragging about “ratings” at such
a moment in history.
In large part due to Trump’s failure to take the threat
of a pandemic seriously, the U.S. “rates” #1 in total confirmed cases of
COVID-19 (532,879), and #1 in deaths (20,577), as of Saturday evening.
But this is who Trump is. If it’s not clear to you that the man is
afflicted with the Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) you need to look up the symptoms yourself. Why be
surprised that he’s capable of talking about great ratings at a time of
national despair? He cheated on his first wife. He didn’t learn a lesson, even
when his children were hurt. He cheated on his second wife. He still didn’t
learn a lesson, save for the lesson a person with NPD might be expected to
learn. That he was rich and if he hurt others his wealth would protect him from
pain.
He moved on and remarried. Then he cheated on his third wife, too,
and not just once.
This is who Donald J. Trump really is.
One of the symptoms of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder is “a
lack of empathy,” and when you ignore the pain of 16.8 million newly
unemployed, and the loss of more than 20,000 lives, that’s lack of empathy writ
large.
So, he repeated his tone-deaf boast Friday, in another disgusting tweet:
Because the T.V. Ratings for the
White House News Conference’s are the highest, the Opposition Party (Lamestream
Media), the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats &, of course, the few
remaining RINO’S, are doing everything in their power to disparage & end
them. The People’s Voice!
*
TO FOCUS our point, let’s consider a handful of jobs lost and
gained this past week. One who found himself out of work was Captain Brett
Crozier, commander of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt. Crozier
had made the mistake of making Trump look bad.
With the coronavirus spreading, he fired off a letter to top
leaders of the U.S. Navy (and by implication to the president himself) demanding
action to protect the 5,000 men and women aboard. By the time the letter leaked
to the press, dozens had taken sick. Given the cramped living conditions on the
warship, Crozier warned the situation could only get worse.
There were press
reports immediately, that Trump wanted the captain fired. He let Acting
Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly do the dirty deed and then backed Modly up
when he canned Crozier.
“I thought it was terrible,
what he did, to write a letter,” the president said of the captain just last
week.
“I mean, this isn’t a class
on literature. This is a captain of a massive ship that’s nuclear powered. And
he shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter.” Trump said he agreed with the decision to fire
him, “100 percent.”
Modly claimed he fired Crozier because he broke chain of command. Then
Modly visited Guam, where the TheodoreRoosevelt was anchored,
and tried to explain his decision in a talk over the ship intercom. All he
really did was anger most of the men and women who heard him speak.
Meanwhile, Crozier’s warning proved true. First, he fell ill with
COVID-19. Then the virus spread, even as the Navy began evacuating the ship. By
Thursday, there were 416 confirmed cases among the officers,
sailors and Marines.
“His
motives were pure. He was looking out for his crew.”
By Friday, the commander of the 7th Fleet, Vice Admiral Bill Merz, was talking to CNNand admitting that the crew was in a bad
place. “There was lots of anxiety about the virus,” Merz told Barbara Starr,
the respected Pentagon reporter. “As you can imagine the morale covers the
spectrum, considering what they have been through.” Starr noted that Merz
repeatedly described the crew as “capable and performing well,” which could be
read as validation of Crozier’s leadership before he was axed. The men and
women of the Theodore Roosevelt were justifiably concerned.
The carrier crew was “struggling in the wake of losing their CO [commanding
officer] and their perception of the lack of activity regarding fighting the
virus,” Merz said.
Merz suggested that the crew did not appear to have been given a
comprehensive and clear sense of the various steps the Navy was taking to help
the Roosevelt deal with the virus outbreak onboard. That lack of
information may have caused some stress, he suggested, feeding the very visible
anger many crew members displayed when [Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas] Modly
visited the ship and addressed them about Crozier’s dismissal.
“I think we could have told them earlier what we knew” about the
virus Merz said. “The degree of accuracy against the virus at any level is a
little sketchy, but I think we could have at least bought them in earlier and
started having this dialog up front.”
“The specific
questions [Merz fielded] clearly indicated we needed to give them more
information about the true dangers of the virus” and how the Navy was handling [sic]
aboard the ship, he said.
Of Captain Crozier, Merz added, “I certainly
don’t question his motives. I think his motives were pure. He was looking out
for his crew.”
Starr also reported that a sailor
who had tested positive had been found unconscious by “his buddies.” He had
been rushed to an intensive care unit on Guam.
Suddenly, the Narcissist-in-Chief woke up to the threat. He wasn’t
worried about Captain Crozier. He wasn’t worried about the sailor in intensive
care or the hundreds who had been infected. He was worried about himself, as
any narcissist must be. If the firing made him look bad, if sailors died for no
good reason, and that angered active duty military and their families – he might not keep his job come November.
That meant he had to act. Trump sent out Secretary of Defense Mark
Esper to tell reporters that he, the president, was “open” to reinstating Crozier to command. “We’ve taken nothing off the table,” Esper told CBS
News. “My inclination is always to support the chain of command, and to
take the recommendations seriously.”
So: Crozier was
out because he made Trump look bad.
Then Crozier might
be in again, because bringing him back might make Trump look good.
And now Modly
was out – having resigned – because he had
to take the fall to ease the criticism aimed at his boss.
So, add another
American to the unemployment line.
*
AS THIS BLOGGER readily admits, he does not care for this president
at all. But this blogger is a fan of the facts. So here are a few facts about one
lucky individual who landed a plum job last week.
In case you missed it, the White House has a new press secretary,
the fourth to hold that post under Mr. Trump. Her name is Kayleigh McEnany.
(Fact.) She’s blonde. (Fact.) McEnany must be smart. (Supposition.) She has a
law degree from Harvard. (Fact.) She has insisted that Trump “doesn’t lie.”
(Fact – that she said that. Absurd that she did.)
McEnany said in February that the coronavirus wasn’t coming to America,
and said as late as March 11, that it posed no threat. (Fact and fact – that she said that – not that she was correct.)
Just for fun, imagine you had the choice of hiring anyone
in this country to fill this post. The job of the White House Press Secretary is
(in theory) to stand before reporters and the American people and tell the
truth, or the best version of the truth you can present. Would you, if you were
making this hire, dig deep in a pile of manure and pluck out a woman who made
her name as a “birther,” denying that Barack Obama had a right to serve as our nation’s
top executive?
You would if you were Donald J. Trump. Because you would suffer from
a Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Citizen Trump made the same false claim for years, until finally,
he realized late in the 2016 campaign that his racist-tinged lies were
hurting him in the eyes of moderate, undecided voters. Then, and only then,
did he do what a narcissist does. He did what was best for himself.
He did it in the least words possible and never apologized or
admitted he had been wrong. He didn’t recant because he cared about truth. He recanted
in service to the only “greater good” a narcissist ever sees.
He did it for himself.
McEnany, then, is the perfect person to shield the
Narcissist-in-Chief from any harsh truths.
The blogger was curious. Who exactly was this new White House Press Secretary, and what made
her tick?
It turned out to be fun to revisit
some of her comments from 2015 and 2016, before she sold her soul for a chance
to get paid to sneer at reporters. Commenting on then-Candidate Trump, she was
spot on when condemning his comments, after coming down the escalator to
announce he was running for president. After he called almost all Mexicans “rapists”
and “killers,” she was clear. “To me,” she said, “a racist statement is a racist
statement. I don’t like what Donald Trump said.”
She
said it was “inauthentic” to call him a Republican. In fact, she laid the
“RINO” tag on her future boss, describing him as a “Republican in name only.”
“Donald
Trump has shown himself to be a showman,” she said during the campaign. “I
don’t think he’s a serious candidate. I think it’s a sideshow. It’s not within
the mainstream of the candidates.”
Asked recently how she squared her comments then with her work as White House
Press Liar now, she said she had been led astray after “listening to CNN.”
