Trump Cabinet Picks: Manic Machiavellian megalomaniac runs amok, by Hal M. Brown, MSW

Let me lean back this morning and light up my metaphorical Freudian cigar and try to burn back a few layers of the multiple layers that encircle the inner core of Donald Trump which fuel his nuclear reactor of a mind.

So far we have three Trump Cabinet picks that have caused pundits to speculate why Trump would select three uniquely unqualified people to serve in positions vitally important to the security of the country. 

When you consider that Pete Hegesth for Secretary of Defense is the least bad of the three (Update: Although as new information comes out you have to reassess him - read here) you have to wonder who could be worse than he is. Who is the second worst? That would be the nominee for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard who repeated Russian propaganda about Ukraine housing U.S.-funded bioweapons labs. Then we get to the top of the bottom and it is a mind blower, Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. (Update: We have just found out that even though she was on the plane with him when he made the selection Susie Wiles was not aware that he was going to do this. Read story)

There is well deserved hand wringing among Republican members of Congress over these choices. They bought it, Trump broke it, but they have to own it. Think of a sign in a pottery store: "If the owner breaks it, sorry sucker, you have to buy it."

Among the punditry there is speculation as to why Trump would have picked these people. I've heard some MSNBC panelists suggest this may have been a tactic on Trump's part so he would have one or more of them not get confirmed by the Senate to make way for a more qualifed person who would turn out to be just as bad  but more effective at being bad.

I propose that Trump's motivation was not strategic. I think he is in a manic state and wants to lash out at all of his critics. John Bolton said it well:

"I thought [Gabbard] was the worst Cabinet-level appointment in history until I heard the Matt Gaetz appointment," Bolton said. "Really, my reaction was that this is like the legend of Caligula, the Roman emperor who wanted to nominate his horse as a Roman consul. You had to be a Roman senator at the time to be a consul, and it was intended to show how demeaned and degraded the Roman Senate had become. RawStory

Trump is not just riding high on his victory. My assessment is that he is in a manic state. He feels he can do anything.

He's always been a megalomaniac. By "always" I don't mean just as an adult. 

A strict Freudian interpretation of Trump's megalomania is that he never fully resolved a normal stage of psychological development. Freud and Freudians believe that at a young age children go though a phase when they feel omnipotent. They believe that a "child lives in a sort of megalomania for a long period; he knows only one yardstick, and that is his own over-inflated ego ... megalomania, it must be understood, is normal in the very young child". (Wikipedia)

In normal psychosocial development children pass through the various phases or stages but some have portions of their personality fixated, or stuck, at some stages for reasons having to do with family dynamics too complex to go into here.

For more information read 

Freud’s Psychosexual Theory And 5 Stages Of Human Development

Here's an illustration from that article:

Click above to enlarge

In the above chart you can see how partial fixations in each phase can lead to characteristics we see in Tump.

Add to all of the above is that Trump is a psychopath. This is how psychoanalyst Dr. Justin Frank puts it in the Chauncey DeVega Salon article: 

"Criminal labels and orange jumpsuits": Experts on how Trump weaponizes his own fears.

Lacking a conscience or morality to limit his sadism, and believing in his worth above all others, leads Trump to think he has the right to destroy anyone who does not submit to him. Without the innate capacity for empathy toward others and a sense of right and wrong, Trump is an extreme outlier in human psychology.

DeVega himself wrote:

It is true that Donald Trump is a pathological liar. But he has been remarkably honest and transparent in his desires and plans to become America's first dictator and unleash a reign of revenge and tyranny.

The only way to understand Trump and what he does is to understand that the why. The only way to understand the why is to realize that Trump has a personality that fits what is called the Dark Triad. 

Wikipedia describes the dark triad as:

All three dark triad traits are conceptually distinct although empirical evidence shows them to be overlapping. They are associated with a callous-manipulative interpersonal style.

.

• Narcissismis characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.
• Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulationand exploitation of others, a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interestand deception.
• Psychopathy is characterized by continuing antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness.

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website.

Of course inchwormy House Republicans inching towards Biden impeachments will impeach him.

 

Click above to read article

By Hal Brown

Today's blog includes musical interludes and entomology.

Of course the House Republicans will impeach President Biden. 

Matt Gaetz  is candid about the reasons.

Matt Gaetz Says Biden Impeachment A ‘Platform’ To Tarnish President Before 2024

“The purpose of that impeachment, from my standpoint, is not to force a vote that loses ― it’s to put on a trial in the Senate, and by the way, not for the sake of conviction,” the Florida Republican said.

It matters not that there's no there there while there were many theres there in Trump's two impeachments the Republicans can call Biden the once impeached president. This is weak sauce compared to how Trump is often referred to as the four times indicted and twice impeached former president being charged with 91 felonies, but weak or not at least for them is is sauce.

The cases against Trump are Sriracha compared to the watered down tomato sauce of any case against Joe Biden.

The chair of the committee that would conduct the impeachment inquiry or hearing or whatever they decide to call it is the decidely uncharismatic James Comer:

Click above to read New Republic article

Moving gradually towards opening the impeachment show, "inching" towards the premier,  McCarthy has a chance to both guage public opinion and hype the main event. By teasing the prospect of impeachment he can try to provide counterprogramming to compete with coverage of the MAGA trials.

Inch worms (or inchworms) are the larvae or caterpillars of the geometer moth and there are thiousands of species (article). They are called inchworms obiovusly because they are about an inch in length and move in small increments. They eventually turn into moths like these:

The Republicans know that there's no way that their inchworms will actually turn into moths which can fly their their way into a Senate conviction of President Biden.

This blog comes with a song inspired by the title of the HUFFPOST story from the top of this page. Perhaps it will be played prior to every meeting of the House impeachment committee by wishful thinking Republicans.

Read more about the song here, and then listen to the famous Danny Kaye version from the 1952 musical Hans Christain Andersen. It is a lovely song which is quite the contrast to what I the hearings will be.

Lyrics:

Refrain]
Two and two are four
Four and four are eight
Eight and eight are sixteen
Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two

[Chorus]
Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigolds
You and your arithmetic
You'll probably go far
Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigolds
Seems to me you'd stop and see
How beautiful they are

David Bowie said the song was the inspiration behind his 1980 song "Ashes to Ashes" which you can hear him sing here:

Ashes To Ashes wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t have been for Inchworm. There’s a nursery rhyme element in it, and there’s something so sad and mournful and poignant about it. It kept bringing me back to the feelings of those pure thoughts of sadness that you have as a child, and how they’re so identifiable even when you’re an adult.

I think the best theme song for the House Republicans is Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy":

The New York Post included it on their list of the 20 worst songs ever written:

From The NY Post: Righteously blasted in the lyrics of “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy, McFerrin’s whimsical a cappella hit also attracted withering criticism by reader Dave Richard, who regarded it as a “real steaming pile of crap.”

Indeed, this Republican show will also be a real steaming pile of crap. 

Double Take on seeing that the House Ethics Committee reaching out to witnesses in revived Matt Gaetz probe. Did I read this right?

 

Middle: Rep. Michael Guest

Load only this page, includes Disquis comments.

By Hal Brown

This news came after Matt Gaetz's attempt to make FBI Director Christopher Wray look like a ciminal who is trying to protect a nefarious crime family: see 

Rep. Matt Gaetz Grills FBI Director About Hunter "Shakedown" Message: "Are You Protecting The Bidens?"

Links to article, not to Twitter

I did a double take when I saw that the House, the GOP House and home not only to Gaetz but the Freedom (to be Conspicacy Spinning Lunatics) Caucus which he's a member of, was reviving the ethics probe of Gaetz which began when the Democrats were in control.

From the CNN article:

Now chaired by Republican Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi, the panel quietly restarted its investigation earlier this year without publicly laying out its targets anew. The decision to begin reaching out to witnesses, made by Guest and ranking Democratic member, Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, is the first formal step the committee has taken since the ethics investigation resumed. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told CNN this week he doesn’t “know anything about” the investigation, noting that he’s barred by House rules from discussing it with committee members. The Republican-led investigation into Gaetz comes as the Florida congressman finds himself repeatedly at odds with his party’s leadership. 

“I never know anything on (the) Ethics Committee,” McCarthy told CNN. “I don’t know what investigations they have. I don’t know anything about it.” 

Asked to comment on whether he thinks the investigation should move forward, McCarthy declined to do so and referred questions to the committee.

I'd never heard of Rep. Michael Guest so, of course, I checked him out on Wikipedia (here).

He was born in the Woodbury, New Jersey which is in the southern part of the state and a suburb of Philadelphia. I don't know how he ended up living in Mississippi although his official website tells us that he graduated from high school there and went to college and law school in the state:

Congressman Guest is a Rankin County resident and a graduate of Brandon High School. He and his family are members of Brandon Baptist Church, where Congressman Guest serves as a Sunday school teacher for young men in high school. He received a degree in accounting from Mississippi State University and his law degree from The University of Mississippi. Congressman Guest is a member of the Rankin County Bar Association and the Mississippi Bar Association. He is married to the former Haley Kennedy of Brandon, and they have two sons, Kennedy and Patton. The Guests' newest family addition is their dog, Winston Churchill.

What may be the most relevant aspect of his chairing this committee as it investigates Gaetz may be in the second paragraph (highlighted) about his tenure in the House (below from Wikipedia):

In December 2020, Guest was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated^[9] Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.^[10][11][12]

On May 19, 2021, Guest was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6, 2021 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.^[13]

In June 2022, after a leaked decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to revoke the right to abortion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Guest wrote to the Department of Homeland Security to demand action in the wake of attacks by Jane's Revenge, which Guest called an "anarchist extremist group" that targets crisis pregnancy centers and other anti-abortionorganizations.^[14]

In August 2022, Guest was named ranking member of the House Ethics Committee upon the death of former ranking member Jackie Walorski.^[15]

Guest was among the 71 Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House.^[16]

Considering that there are 222 GOP members of the House being one of 35 crossing the aisle in this controversial vote may prove to be an indication he is will to put poltics aside and risk retribrition from hard right members of the House GOP who consider Gaetz to be one of their own.

As far as justice prevailing, Trump is a giant orange rockfish and Gaetz is a baby shrimp. 

Even so, frying him with a finding that he violated House ethics would barely whet the appetite for holding people accountable, but it would be satisfying to see that something came of it.