How the mighty have fallen.
- What does Trump being a narcissistic sociopath say about us? I have some ideas;
- How another confrontation by a child to her Trump-voting father does not go well;
- More about Trump’s, and Biden’s, garbage comments;
- How Trump fans are already planning to contest the election;
- And how Trump promises to protect women “whether they like it or not.”
Despite the “again” MAGA clearly believes the United States is the greatestest country in the whole world ever, because of Jesus and whatnot, despite all the Democrats, and the press, and the elites on coasts, and Puerto Rico. And despite the Constitution, which they flout at every turn. Cognitive dissonance indeed.
LGBTQNation, Molly Sprayregen, 31 Oct 2024: Donald Trump is a narcissistic sociopath. So what does that say about us?
The essay is mostly a summary of comments assessing Trump both recently and since the beginning of his career. And… it turns out the question in the title is rhetorical; the article doesn’t propose an answer. It just wonders. It ends:
How did Trump, someone who clearly suffers from serious personality disorders, garner enough support from the electorate in 2016 to have vanquished 16 Republican candidates and his Democratic challenger and win the right to occupy the most important and powerful position in the world?
Does Trump’s meteoric ascendancy reflect a collective narcissistic sociopathic personality disorder in the broader U.S. body politic?
Is there a line over which his supporters will not cross as he descends further into the abyss? The upcoming election may answer these questions.
Dare I suggest what this says about Americans? Something like this. Americans are actually no different or better than any other large group of humans. We’re unique in our complex history of being immigrants from many nations, from our expansionist movement across a continent (and the forceful evacuation of natives), from our history of slavery, from our largely Christian backgrounds. We may or may not be unique in our sense of “exceptionalism” — because note how many other nations, especially the authoritarian ones, claim their special roles in history as reasons for policies intended to dominate or absorb neighboring populations. America’s size and diversity is what has created its dominate role in science and technology, not to mention athletics, but culturally, Americans are all subject to the same prejudices and biases and xenophobia as citizens of any other nation. If it seemed for a while as if Americans might actually be “better”… because they led the world in the civil rights movement, feminism, gay rights movement, and so on, which came about precisely due to America’s size and diversity … it may turn out these were only temporary advances. The moral arc may ultimately swing forward, but my impression is that it does so at best in a three-steps-forward, two-steps-back fashion. The forces of tribal human nature (which entails religion) are always at work to challenge the advances in knowledge and experience which threaten the verities that bind tribes. You can always appeal to peoples’ basic instincts. And that is what Trump is doing. Ultimately, he’ll be gone, and Americans will move on.
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There’ve been pieces like this before, about children confronting their fathers (it’s always the fathers).
Slate, Katie Krzaczek, 31 Oct 2024: Voting in Pennsylvania With My Trump-Loving Father, subtitled “For years now, my dad and I have settled into an uneasy truce. But this cycle, something else was on my mind.”
The writer, concerned especially with reproductive freedom, tries one more time. It doesn’t work.
His response was quick, curt, and struck through with confused Republican talking points that have been blanketing our swing-state media and the Trump campaign at large. You see, he is voting for my future kids and me—in the form of a “secure border, less taxes … free speech, schools that teach reading, writing, math, and history.” This, he promises, will “give you and your children law and order.”
The self-assured confidence in his reply reminded me of why I’d imposed a moratorium on these conversations. There is no reasoning with him, no common ground left to be found. That’s what happens when you live in different realities. No matter who wins on Tuesday, the distance between what’s true in his world and mine seems destined to only grow.
And *my* response is that this is another illustration of simplex thinking. This man, like so many others, has a handful of issues in mind — border, taxes, education — and he evaluates and assigns them to one party or the other in the simplest possible way. Without any consideration of actual evidence or data, of course.
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But one theme today in politics was the fallout of that “garbage” comment by an irresponsibly unvetted comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
The Guardian, 31 Oct 2024: Trump stages garbage truck stunt in bid to turn tables over Puerto Rico backlash, subtitled “Republican nominee in high-vis vest says ‘250 million Americans are not garbage’ as he capitalises on Biden gaffe”
Yes, Biden misspoke, not necessarily inaccurately; but is Trump doing himself any favors by drawing attention to this?
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The Independent: George Takei provides a crisp response: “In fairness, it’s not really a Trump garbage truck until it’s on fire.”
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How Trump fans plan to challenge the election:
- CNN, 31 Oct 2024: ‘January 6th is going to be pretty fun’: How MAGA activists are preparing to undermine the election if Trump loses. Once again, these people do not actually believe in the Constitution, or the rule of law.
- On the other hand: Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin, 31 Oct 2024: Opinion
Trump may try to overturn the election. But it won’t be easy., subtitled “Past experience suggests Trump will not succeed in contesting a Harris win.” Their problem will be lack of evidence, and bogus lawsuits.
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The second theme in today’s political news is how Trump claimed to support women’s rights protect women. “Whether they like it or not.”
NY Times, 31 Oct 2024: Trump Says He’ll Protect Women, ‘Like It or Not,’ Evoking His History of Misogyny, subtitled “Polls show Donald Trump is already facing a significant deficit with female voters in his race against Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Former President Donald J. Trump said at a rally on Wednesday that he would protect American women “whether the women like it or not” — remarks that he cast as paternal but only served as reminders to many of his critics of his history of misogynistic statements and a civil court case that found him liable for sexual abuse.
This evoked for many Trump’s presumptions about controlling women. Including (I didn’t capture the link) reactions from some young people who had never heard his infamous brag about “grabbing a woman by the pussy” and were astonished that such a person is still respected.
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LA Times, Megan Lebowitz, 30 Oct 2024: Trump says he would ‘protect’ women, ‘whether the women like it or not’, subtitled “Vice President Kamala Harris quickly highlighted his remarks, saying Trump ‘thinks he should get to make decisions about what you do with your body.'”
Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would “protect” women “whether the women like it or not,” a comment the Harris campaign immediately pounced on.
Trump said at his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that his “people” previously told him they did not think he should say that he wanted to “protect the women of our country,” comments he has previously made on the campaign trail.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m going to do it, whether the women like it or not,'” Trump said. “I’m going to protect them.”
