By Hal Brown, MSW, Retired psychotherapist
Trump's gaffe-filled speech yesterday where he said he beat Obama before and will beat him again and will prevent World War II was covered, and mocked, on "Morning Joe" as examples of declining cognitive ability tied in with his age, that is, his physiology.
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There's another way of looking at this which Mika did allude to, his psychology. What we may be seeing is that this off-the-wall speech was an indication that his anxiety over his legal jeopardy is manifesting itself and he isn't thinking clearly due to this.
Later on Morning Joe Al Sharpton spoke directly to this:
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This is what former federal prosecutor Harry Litman said on Sunday on "Meet the Press"
He's not afraid of prison and doesn't even think about it.
Here's the thing about this notion. It is true that if someone doesn't think about having something horrible happen to them, prison in Trump's case, they may not experience fear. Prison for Trump, after all, isn't inevitable like death. Thoughtful self-aware people think about their own mortality from time to time, and as death from disease or merely old age gets closer they think about it more often.
They key term above is thoughtful self-aware people. I defy anyone to give indesputable examples of Trump having this characteristic.
Depth psychology tells us that the unconscious mind exists. Harry Litman opined the following about what Trump thinks:
Instead, it's nothing more than a political witch hunt he assumes will disappear under the law.
I suspect that this indeed is what is in Trump's conscious mind.
He has had minor setbacks with the law but for him these were nothing more than what for a normal person would be a $25 parking ticket that wouldn't raise our auto insurance costs or add driving infraction points. It costs as much as a meal at Applebee's but won't break the bank.
Trump has believed he's so far above the law he'd need a powerful telescope to see it, and that's even if he cared enough to look. He doesn't look because at some level in his unconscious there's an awareness that he'd see it if he looked hard enough. It may seem far away and impotent to him but he should learn about trying to fight the law from the song “I Fought the Law”.
The song was written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets which became popularized by the Bobby Fuller Four, who had a top-ten hit with it in 1966. Below is the 1979 version from The Clash:
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Trump seems to be playing a version of the song which goes "I fought the law and I won" in his mind.
This is the belief system of a grandiose narcissist who has his belief in his invulnerability from the consequences of bad acts baked in.
Addendum:
I nominate "I Fought the Law" as the official theme song for Trump. It's has been ranked No. 175 on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004, and the same year was named one of the 500 "Songs that Shaped Rock" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It can only help its standing as a rock classic if it is played at Trump on loudspeakers outside of his rallies.
Perhaps someone can record a version that goes "he fought the law, and the law won" sometime soon.
