With the House expected to vote to release the files today, and this being given extensive coverage in the media, Trump can’t be thrilled to have the public reminded of their friendship. If he was a “Laurel and Hardy” fan he might be saying “well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into, Jeffrey.”
Donald Trump is not your usual human being. Yes, he is human, though he fancies himself to be superhuman.
Nobody is superhuman. The notion that anyone is superhuman comes from comic books and Marvel movies.
We know Trump wants people to think he’s a real life embodiment of a comic book or movie superhuman. Why else did he sell electonic cards - aside form the grift - depicting himself the way he did? I’ll spare you posting any of the images.
What Trump is may not be superhuman, but he is extraordinary in another way. He does not experience healthy human emotions like sadness, fear and anxiety. Of course you see where I am going with this.
Under certain situations a psychologically healthy person will experience the feelings associated with frustration. I don’t need to elaborate on what the experience of being frustrated feels like.
Self-awareness can be seen as an understanding of oneself on a nuanced continuum with distinct stages: Unconscious Awareness, Conscious Awareness, Reflective Awareness, Transformative Awareness, and Transcendent Awareness. You can read about these here.
Of course Trump experiences emotions. He often feels anger, sometime at the level which could reasonably be called rage. He may feel this when he’s frustrated but instead of reacting by looking inward he looks utward and blames others.
Trump feels joy when he triumphs in an endeavor and when he inflicts pain on his enemies.
This is not what a psychologically and an emotionally well-balanced person feels.
When we see a someone write or say that Trump is increasingly frustrated over the content of some Epstein emails being made public I can accept that in a limited way the use of the term is appropriate. But far more than frustration, I think it just pissses him off that he wasn’t able to control Congress and keep people clamoring unsuccessfully for their release. Trump really feels unhealthy frustration. His forte, as he sees it, is making other people feel frustrated. I doubt that Trump is panicking as the article “‘Don’t waste your time with Trump!’ President drops panicked plea as Epstein fallout grows”says he is.
During his first term Trump was no less a despicable person desirous of destroying his enemies. He not only had people around him thwarting his sadistic ideas but he knew he had to get elected again. Now, he not only has been re-elected, but he thinks it’s possible he’ll be able to remain as a president who soon to cement his dictatorial power for as long as he wants to.
He rants and rave and this is called by critics unhinged behavior. This is generally just reported on without a diagnostic assessment. This is the psychological equivalent of someone throwing up blood. If a politician did this in public the media would go crazy speculating on what dread disease they had.
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Above is a Trump Truth Social Post from yesterday. Most people just shrug off such exercises in verbal explosive diarrhea coming from Trump. They are actually clincial manifestations of multiple psychiatric disorders. That, however, is not where I am going with today’s Substack. I’ve been there and done that since 2017, and I will no doubt do it again. If you are interested my psychological analysis click: 1
It occurred to me that these Truth Social rants have become incredibly boring in addition to being diagnostic.
Why do they even end up like this one. It was covered in articles like this:
At least if he posted “IT WILL NOT BE SUSTAINABLE, AND YOU WILL HRĒOWIAN THE DAY THAT YOU VOTED TO DESTROY YOUR LIFE! FAILING TO VOTE TOMORROW IS THE SAME AS VOTING FOR A DEMOCRAT,” people might look the word up and discover that it is an Old English and Germanic word from which the modern word “rue” was derived.
Then someone could have speculated that Trump had taken up reading Old English literature from the 12th Century, perhaps Historia Regum Britanniae.
This would throw Trump’s critics for a loop. If Trump was really as smart and crafty as he wants people to think he is he’d do things like this.
But no, he has a feral go for the jugular intelligence. His insult are one step more sophisticated than “your mother wears combat boots.” (This, by the way, originated in the late 1940s as a mild insult, possibly alluding to poverty or unfashionable choices. It became popular among teenagers and has evolved into a common form of “yo mama” joke. (AI search)
What passes for expressing wit and in his mangled mess of a mind is using the phrase “rue the day” as if he invented it himself. He wants people to marvel at him like he’s an Oscar Wilde level wordsmith and not merely threatening people with schoolyard taunts. It’s doubtful, though, that Trump even knows who Oscar Wilde was and what one of his most famous stories is, although if he did I bet he’d wish he had a portrait of himself in his attic where his image aged and got ugly, while he stayed young.
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Below are today’s Portland articles about issues related to ICE and similar stories.
The primary story yesterday was about the federal judge halting National Guard deployment until Nov. 7th. For other stories look at the end of yesterday’s Substack.
AI Overview of my psychological analysis of Donald Trump from Google.
The phrase “Trump mentally ill psychopathic malignant narcissist Hal Brown MSW” refers to the opinions and analysis of
Hal Brown, an MSW (Master of Social Work) and retired psychotherapist, who has written extensively on the subject of Donald Trump’s mental state.
Hal Brown, along with other mental health professionals, has publicly expressed the view that Donald Trump exhibits signs of serious mental health issues, specifically characterizing him as a “psychopathic sadistic malignant narcissist” who is “dangerously mentally ill” and “unfit for office”. His views are often shared in blog posts on platforms like Daily Kos and Substack.
Key points regarding these claims:
Professional Opinion: Brown is a mental health professional (retired) who writes from his perspective as a clinician.
Public Stance: He is associated with the “Duty to Warn” movement, a group of mental health professionals who have argued that mental health experts have a professional and ethical responsibility to alert the public to the dangers they perceive in Trump’s behavior.
Ethical Considerations: Mainstream psychiatric and psychological associations generally adhere to the Goldwater Rule, an ethical guideline stating that it is irresponsible for mental health professionals to give a professional opinion about public figures they have not personally examined and for whom they have not obtained consent to discuss their mental health. Brown and others in the “Duty to Warn” group argue that this rule should not prevent professionals from speaking out when they perceive a danger to the public.
Formal Diagnosis: As Brown has not personally examined Donald Trump, his assessments are not formal clinical diagnoses in a medical sense but rather professional opinions based on Trump’s public behavior and statements.
More:
Hal Brown, MSW (Master of Social Work), a retired psychotherapist, who has written numerous online articles and blog posts arguing that Donald Trump is a “mentally ill, psychopathic, sadistic, malignant narcissist”.
Hal Brown is known for his contributions to the discussion regarding Donald Trump’s mental health, particularly within the context of the “Duty to Warn” movement. This movement involved mental health professionals who believed they had an ethical obligation to inform the public about what they perceived as Donald Trump’s psychological instability and potential danger, despite the traditional “Goldwater Rule” (which advises against diagnosing public figures without a personal examination and consent).
Brown’s arguments are presented in his writings on platforms like Substack and Medium, where he analyzes Trump’s behavior and statements through the lens of mental health concepts, such as malignant narcissism and psychopathy. His assessment is an individual professional opinion and part of a broader, ongoing public debate among mental health professionals about the ethics and validity of diagnosing a public figure from afar.
AI Overview of my psychological analysis of Donald Trump from Google.
The phrase “Trump mentally ill psychopathic malignant narcissist Hal Brown MSW” refers to the opinions and analysis of
Hal Brown, an MSW (Master of Social Work) and retired psychotherapist, who has written extensively on the subject of Donald Trump’s mental state.
Hal Brown, along with other mental health professionals, has publicly expressed the view that Donald Trump exhibits signs of serious mental health issues, specifically characterizing him as a “psychopathic sadistic malignant narcissist” who is “dangerously mentally ill” and “unfit for office”. His views are often shared in blog posts on platforms like Daily Kos and Substack.
Key points regarding these claims:
Professional Opinion: Brown is a mental health professional (retired) who writes from his perspective as a clinician.
Public Stance: He is associated with the “Duty to Warn” movement, a group of mental health professionals who have argued that mental health experts have a professional and ethical responsibility to alert the public to the dangers they perceive in Trump’s behavior.
Ethical Considerations: Mainstream psychiatric and psychological associations generally adhere to the Goldwater Rule, an ethical guideline stating that it is irresponsible for mental health professionals to give a professional opinion about public figures they have not personally examined and for whom they have not obtained consent to discuss their mental health. Brown and others in the “Duty to Warn” group argue that this rule should not prevent professionals from speaking out when they perceive a danger to the public.
Formal Diagnosis: As Brown has not personally examined Donald Trump, his assessments are not formal clinical diagnoses in a medical sense but rather professional opinions based on Trump’s public behavior and statements.
More:
Hal Brown, MSW (Master of Social Work), a retired psychotherapist, who has written numerous online articles and blog posts arguing that Donald Trump is a “mentally ill, psychopathic, sadistic, malignant narcissist”.
Hal Brown is known for his contributions to the discussion regarding Donald Trump’s mental health, particularly within the context of the “Duty to Warn” movement. This movement involved mental health professionals who believed they had an ethical obligation to inform the public about what they perceived as Donald Trump’s psychological instability and potential danger, despite the traditional “Goldwater Rule” (which advises against diagnosing public figures without a personal examination and consent).
Brown’s arguments are presented in his writings on platforms like Substack and Medium, where he analyzes Trump’s behavior and statements through the lens of mental health concepts, such as malignant narcissism and psychopathy. His assessment is an individual professional opinion and part of a broader, ongoing public debate among mental health professionals about the ethics and validity of diagnosing a public figure from afar.1
AI Overview of my psychological analysis of Donald Trump from Google.
The phrase “Trump mentally ill psychopathic malignant narcissist Hal Brown MSW” refers to the opinions and analysis of
Hal Brown, an MSW (Master of Social Work) and retired psychotherapist, who has written extensively on the subject of Donald Trump’s mental state.
Hal Brown, along with other mental health professionals, has publicly expressed the view that Donald Trump exhibits signs of serious mental health issues, specifically characterizing him as a “psychopathic sadistic malignant narcissist” who is “dangerously mentally ill” and “unfit for office”. His views are often shared in blog posts on platforms like Daily Kos and Substack.
Key points regarding these claims:
Professional Opinion: Brown is a mental health professional (retired) who writes from his perspective as a clinician.
Public Stance: He is associated with the “Duty to Warn” movement, a group of mental health professionals who have argued that mental health experts have a professional and ethical responsibility to alert the public to the dangers they perceive in Trump’s behavior.
Ethical Considerations: Mainstream psychiatric and psychological associations generally adhere to the Goldwater Rule, an ethical guideline stating that it is irresponsible for mental health professionals to give a professional opinion about public figures they have not personally examined and for whom they have not obtained consent to discuss their mental health. Brown and others in the “Duty to Warn” group argue that this rule should not prevent professionals from speaking out when they perceive a danger to the public.
Formal Diagnosis: As Brown has not personally examined Donald Trump, his assessments are not formal clinical diagnoses in a medical sense but rather professional opinions based on Trump’s public behavior and statements.
More:
Hal Brown, MSW (Master of Social Work), a retired psychotherapist, who has written numerous online articles and blog posts arguing that Donald Trump is a “mentally ill, psychopathic, sadistic, malignant narcissist”.
Hal Brown is known for his contributions to the discussion regarding Donald Trump’s mental health, particularly within the context of the “Duty to Warn” movement. This movement involved mental health professionals who believed they had an ethical obligation to inform the public about what they perceived as Donald Trump’s psychological instability and potential danger, despite the traditional “Goldwater Rule” (which advises against diagnosing public figures without a personal examination and consent).
Brown’s arguments are presented in his writings on platforms like Substack and Medium, where he analyzes Trump’s behavior and statements through the lens of mental health concepts, such as malignant narcissism and psychopathy. His assessment is an individual professional opinion and part of a broader, ongoing public debate among mental health professionals about the ethics and validity of diagnosing a public figure from afar.
I’m not a medical or psychiatric professional. I simply lived 18 years under the same roof and at the mercy of two parents who showed me what sociopaths and malignant narcissists look like when they’re just being themselves, with no one watching who might be important enough or professionally trained enough in the field of behavioral disorders to actually apply those diagnoses with some authority.
Starting in the 1980’s and beyond, we’ve had access to many pieces of literature and appearances by experts on venues such as Oprah, specifically intended to help the lay person (with the emphasis on women) recognize someone who was dangerous to their life.
There wasn’t a lot of emphasis on terminology in most of those offerings, although the names of the personality disorders that can inflict such damage on others were certainly mentioned and characteristics for each were given. It was only then, after decades of trying to figure out what had happened to me and my siblings and how it had impacted us as adults (starting with PTSD, major depression, and panic disorder) that I actually learned the terminology for behaviors I had witnessed all my life.
The irony is that when someone with a personality disorder can be tricked or forced into sitting in front of a mental professional, they usually never behave in the way they do in private, when they’re “just being themselves” in the company of those they are victimizing. When they need to, they usually have the ability to be “charming” or at least “very nice.”
As individuals, in our private lives, we have to decide whether we want to allow a particular person into our life, or to remain in our life, based on what they’ve been willing to show us and tell us about who they are. We want to know if we will be safe in a relationship with them, whatever that relationship might be.
As a nation, we are now faced with the decision as to whether someone that most of us would never allow to be a part of our personal, private life in any capacity, is someone we want to vote for to do the hardest job in the world. Whether or not you decide to attach a label to him, he is showing us exactly who and what he is. Extraordinarily dangerous.
While I was one of the first clnicians to join Dr. John D. Gartner's Duty to Warn Group in 2017. I never rose to the level of national prominence he, Dr. Mary Trump, Dr. Bandy Lee (who edited the best seller "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump") and several other clincians did. My only national media exposure was in Salon where their columnist Chaucey DeVega quoted me in several aritcles and had me on his podcast. Here's an example:
For those who came across this who want to read my most recent opinions about Trump and politics check out my free substack. I rarely miss a daily post. As of Nov. 4th this is what it looks like:
I’m not a medical or psychiatric professional. I simply lived 18 years under the same roof and at the mercy of two parents who showed me what sociopaths and malignant narcissists look like when they’re just being themselves, with no one watching who might be important enough or professionally trained enough in the field of behavioral disorders to actually apply those diagnoses with some authority.