Trump, love, and stuff.

There are updates to this here.

Is Trump lovable or unlovable? I suppose it depends on who you ask. Mary Trump says the following:

"Nobody likes Donald. He's unlikable and he's unlovable." (Read article “Trump's psychologist niece spills about 'great trauma' that made him who he is” and listen to her interview here.)

If you ask, as I did, Perchance AI for an illustration of Trump on a Valentine’s Day card, aside from a few like the one on the top of this page, you come up with a rather unlovable looking fellow:

Perchance AI photo generator had its own “opinion” about who Trump really loves:

Many of the comments to the RawStory article, probably the majority since I haven’t read all 189 of them, lambast Trump in one way or another. For example from Kerry Kalvert:

Nature or nuture?

I have never encountered examples of a sewer rat born into a pack of cannibals grow up to be anything other than a cannibal.

It is a chicken or egg proposition.

But I am pretty sure if Trump’s mother was the virgin Mary and his brother was baby Jesus, baby Jesus would have been thrown out of the manger into the pig sty and we would not be infested with Christians.

Only a few address his psychopathology or the childhood experiences which shaped his malevolent personality. Some commenters suggest it is not relevant to understand him at all to which I respond with Sun Tzu’s dictum in “The Art of War” about how important it is to know the enemy, and oneself in order to be victorious.

One of the comments from a frequent RawStory commenter, Ricardo Santos, who I agree with follows.

Like I said many times, the motherfcker suffers from Mother issues (losing out on his bonding stage of development) which makes him needy, seeking approval, validation and adulation. As well as, being sociopathic having no empathy, bullying (defense mechanism) in getting what he wants, and being a serial killer. Though he does not actually do the killing, we saw that he is capable of doing, seeing millions die because of his Covid decisons. I asked and have been asking, will he beat his record of 1+ million Covid death, or beat Stalin's murdering of 20+ millions of his own citizens. Well, 16 people died from tornados 3 days ago do to lack of weather announcement, the airplane disasters occurring now, and how many have died because of the cancellation of the Foreign aid funding? Add the 30 million that are going to lose their Medicaid? He also suffers from Father issues, feelings of inadequacies (raping/sexually abusing women), though he is a narcissist displaying signs of self aggrandizement (I'm better than my generals, posting AI images of himself), never wrong but knowing he is a failure, intimidated by intellectual men and women who oppose him, because it reminds him of daddy dearest who rejected his incompetence! He carries so much hate and anger and he wants his revenge for being born. Like Doc Holiday said, "A man like Ringo (Trump) has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it." Or like Mary's book Titled says, "Too Much and Never Enough

Mary Trump said the following:

"Much of Donald's characterological disorder is based on the fact that he is an extremely weak person, and this is going to sound reductive but I promise you this is true, who has never gotten what he most needed and wanted in life, which is to be loved. That is still what he most needs and wants."

In his classic book “The Art of Loving” Eric Fromm writes in the preface: that the book does not provide instruction in what he terms the "art of loving", but rather argues that love, rather than a sentiment, is an artistic practice. Any attempt to love another is bound to fail, if one does not commit their total personality to learning and practicing loving. He states that "individual love cannot be attained without the capacity to love one's neighbour, without true humility, courage, faith and discipline." (Wikipedia)

I generally agree with Mary Trump but in this case I take issue with her when she says nobody likes her uncle and that he’s both unlikable and unlovable. She doesn’t take into consideration here that there are people who have their own pathological needs which developed when they were children for various reasons to love someone like Donald Trump. You can see this manifest in the extent to which they exhibit their feelings for him, to how much they fawn over him and seem to worship him. Some of course are kowtowing to him to curry his favor because he has power over them and they may actually dislike him, or even despise him. Some may dislike themselves for being so duplicitous, but I have no doubt that many of them have true feelings of what for them can reasonably be called love even if it is pathological. Maybe they never had a cold and distant father and crave any morsel of attention from Trump because he is a father figure to them.

If Trump could be unflinchingly honest with himself he’d realize that very few people in his life truly loved him. He’d see that the people who say they love him are attracted to his power and love him to satisfy there own needs, some healthy (Ivanka when she was a child comes to mind) and others for what I suspect are pathological reasons having to do with their own childhood experiences (Marjorie Taylor Greene, Laura Loomer, and many female members of his cult for example). It is debatable whether any of his wives loved him for healthy reasons.

Eva loved Adolph, so anything is possible.

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The hell with attempts at clever wordsmithing, plain and simple in two days Trump proves how he's a mentally unwell rageaholic. By Hal M. Brown, MSW, With his revenge fueled rapid rampages and rants no objective person can deny he's a rageaholic.

The two posts above should constitute enough proof that Donald Trump is a mentally unwell rageaholic. The first could stand alone. It is a response to highly critical things Bruce Springsteen said about him on his overseas concert tour. The second comes out of the recesses of Trump’s fevered mind. Taylor Swift hasn’t been in the news saying anthing critical of Trump. She merely exists as a hotter than hot superstar and Trump can’t stand this. Therefore, why not follow-up an attack on The Boss with an attack on Swift. She could be called The Boss if Springsteen already hadn’t earned that name.

Attacking Taylor Swift doesn’t make sense. That is, it doesn’t make sense unless you’re Donald Trump.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d have thrown in an attack against Joe Biden just for good measure.

Amend that…

I just checked Truth Social. He did at 5:34 this morning:

Then this morning we have these stories which provide further justification for my “diagnosis” of Trump as an unwell rageaholic.

Trump rampages after 'bad and dangerous day'

and

'Historically criminal event': Trump rants about 'bigger scandal' in early morning blow-up

Most people know what a rageholic is. This is as good a defintion as any (from Psych Central):

Rageaholic definition

“Rageaholic“ isn’t a diagnosis recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5).

This doesn’t mean rageaholic symptoms aren’t real, or that the uncontrollable flashes of anger you experience aren’t significant.

Rageaholism does exist. It’s been written about and explored in research Trusted Source, and it’s an informal term used to describe someone who seems unable to control their temper.

Often, a rageaholic will display unprovoked bouts of rage or a level of anger excessive for the given situation.

Trump’s rage attacks are part and parcel of his narcissistic personality disorder, that is, his exaggerated feelings of self-importance, excessive need for admiration, and a diminished ability to empathize with other people's feelings.

Trump postures as a strutting peacock who delights in showing off his feathers.

In reality under the pretense of supreme self-confidence are deeply buried feelings of inferiority. Therapists have written about this but none with the inside knowledge of his niece Mary Trump who diagnoses him as having a narcissstic personality disorder (read “A Provocative Psychological Analysis of Trump by a Trump”)

There is a phenomena which occurs with extreme narcissists called narcissistic injury (see Wikipedia). We see aspects of this with Trump but he never actually experiences the hurts of the injury. Consider this from Wikipedia:

A narcissistic injury will oftentimes not be noticeable by the subject at first sight. Narcissistic injuries, or narcissistic wounds, are likely a result of criticism, loss, or even a sense of abandonment. Those diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder will come off as excessively defensive and attacking when facing any sort of criticism. While the average person would likely react by expressing vulnerability, a person dealing with a narcissistic wound will do the opposite, causing them to come off as narcissistic, despite feeling hurt inside. The reaction of a narcissistic injury is a cover-up for the real feelings of one who faces these problems

Trump doesn’t come off as defensive when criticized because he instantly goes into attack mode. He does not experience an assault on his self-esteem even for a conscious nano-second.

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Flying the flag upside down, By Hal M. Brown

I find the flag debate, such as it is, to be an interesting sidebar issue. I flew a 3x4 foot American flag upside down at a recent protest and stood next to a man who was wearing a Vietnam vet hat flying a right side up flag. I asked him how he felt about what I was doing. He thanked me for asking and I explained to him why I did this, pointing out the history going back to sailing days when it was used as a distress signal. As the two of us stood next to each other I think we made a powerful statement.

The photo is of Ann and I at demonstration by the road in front of the senior community next to ours. You can’t see other protesters. There were about 45 of them. We are having another protest in front of the facility where we live tomorrow.

What I expect will happen as far as the protest movement goes is that we will see more and more American flags with most displayed the normal way and gradually we'll see more upside down. The more people who display the distress-indicating flag the more people will understand that this does not disrespect the flag.

This flag is described on Amazon as an “Upside Down American Garden Flag - America Is In Distress Flags Double Sided 12x18 Inch, Patriotic Outdoor Decoration” and sends an unambiguous message as to what it means:

The display of an upside down flag has been in the news since Trump won the election. Yesterday it was on the main page of HUFFPOST:

This Google News search come up with many articles.

A good website page to look at that explains the history is Operation Military Kids here.

The website Grunge had a good article about this last week (here).

For the present we intend to display our own American flag in the traditional manner. We make a further statement. We ordered a smaller Pride flag and extensions to the pole so we will fly both as shown in the top photo.

Prior to deciding to using the flag at protests we were among the the majority of people with signs. These were two of ours.

These are some photos I took at a large protest along a busy road at a nearby shopping center.

When we arrived at the protest we were walking from our car and saw a pickup truck with an American flag and another flag flying from the back of the truck. We thought “uh-oh” thinking it was a MAGA provocateur. Then we saw who it was. 

I talked to the man and got permission to use my photos of him in my Substacks because he doesn’t look like the kind of man you’d expect at an anti-Trump protest.

I wll be looking for him at the next protest at this location. I’m curious as to whether he’ll still be flying the flag right side up or will have it upside down.

There are many anti-Trump signs available here on Amazon.

Then there’s the meaning of displaying the Pride flag at anti-Trump demonstrations. 

Because Trump and MAGA have declared war against “woke” and DEI this flag does far more than it used to when it indicated you were a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community or that you were in solidarity with them. 

While it still does this, it also says that you object to Trump and MAGA’s demonization of not only this group but, by association, to their overall bigotry. 

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MAGA minds soft as shit in a sneaker. By Hal M. Brown -- I doubt there are enough Little Dutch Boys to save us from a democracy demolishing dike disaster.

 

This morning I was talking on the phone to my good friend from back east where I used to live. We were discussing politics as we often do. She got into talking about how she finds it so puzzling and upsetting how people can worship Trump the way they do. Her own sister is one of these people. To say she’s smitten by Trump is an understatement. Then she used a term I’d never heard before. 

If you are a regular reader of my Substacks you know how I like descriptive alliterations, my own and when they are used on the main page of websites like HUFFPOST.

She said that these MAGA’s have minds as soft as shit in a sneaker.

Twice a week my partner, Ann, and I go over to her kid’s house and walk their little dog. Of course we always pick up her poop but the last time we walked her she went into some high grass and pooped there. Ann couldn’t find her deposit and pick it up with the poop bag. I told her to give up because nobody walked there. Then I recalled when there were no such things as doggie poop bags and people just let their dogs do their doody anywhere. I recalled the number of times I had the decidely unpleasant experience of stepping in dog doo.

Don’t say I don’t provide references in my Substack for your enlightenment:

Dog poop bags were invented in the mid-1980s as a way to clean up after dogs. They quickly became popular and are now a common sight in parks, on sidewalks, and in other public areas. While some people still prefer to use plastic grocery bags, most dog owners now use specialized poop bags that are made from biodegradable materials. (Reference)

MAGA minds can be described as soft meaning these people are gullible, get their news from far right media, lack the ability or inclination to engage in critical thinking, and when a few do try to get more information they succumb to confirmation bias.

In another way, their thinking isn’t soft, it is hard and rigid. Once they have an established constellation of beliefs which in sum confirm that Trump is a god and his actions are the best thing for themselves and the country they are not subject to change their minds.

Only drastic actions that they can attribute to Trump which hurt them personally may put a hole in the dike that holds back the flood of the destruction of the democracy they enjoy for themselves.

The story of the Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates, which includes the hole in the dike story (but only in some versions), isn’t where this tale originated. It is from from “Dr. Boli’s Fables for Children Who Are Too Old to Believe in Fables “where it was titled .“The Little Dutch Boy Who Saved Holland” (here).

Here’s how that fable begins:

ONCE THERE WAS a little Dutch boy who discovered a leak in the dike.

What should he do? From a single leak, a terrible breach might grow. The whole country could be flooded, and everyone he knew would drown.

So he did the only thing he could think of. He stuck his finger in the dike, and the leak stopped.

Of course, now he was stuck. He couldn’t move, because as soon as he did, the leak would start again.

So he stood there for quite some time. He was rather tired, and his finger felt a bit numb from the effort of holding back the North Sea, but he knew he was doing his duty.

Obviously I mean this to be a metaphor as, perhaps, the author of this did. Consider that as the story goes on the Burgomaster passes by, sees the boy and realizes he is stopping a catastrophe and tells him he will be rewarded but to stay there.

The story continues:

So the boy stood there with his finger in the dike for a few more days.

It was not long, however, before another leak sprang in the dike, a little bit farther down the way.

“What shall we do?” the Burgomaster asked the Burghers. “There is another leak.”

“As private enterprise has so admirably solved the previous problem,” one of the Burghers responded, “the solution to this new leak is obvious. We need only persuade another heroic boy to stick his finger in it.”

So they went into the local school and found another boy who, after much persuasion, was willing to stick his finger in the dike.

It was, however, only a few days later that two more leaks appeared. This time it was much harder to persuade boys to stick their fingers in the holes; and when, a week later, half a dozen more leaks appeared, no volunteers were to be found.

When no boys would volunteer to plug the new holes more were forced to do this lest the dike collapse.

The story concludes:

“What shall we do?” the Burgomaster asked the Council. “We have run out of heroic little boys. At this rate, we may have to plug the leaks with our own fingers.”

“That would be moderately inconvenient,” one of the Burghers remarked.

So the Council voted to remove the North Sea by digging a new seabed somewhere in Germany; and they voted themselves a number of solid gold spades, befitting their dignity, for the purpose. And if you go to suburban Wilhelmshaven right now, and look into the field to your right as you drive westward on the Friedenstrasse, you will see a number of Dutch burghers very busy with their spades, trying to dig a new bed for the North Sea. It is lucky for them that the people of Wilhelmshaven have mistaken the burghers for a party of archaeologists looking for ancient Saxon remains, which has allowed them to continue the work uninterrupted.

I see this as a metaphor for what we face today. There’s no one hero trying to save democracy. There are lots of us. But it remains to be seen whether there are enough.

Addendum:

The following is from this article about The Silver Skates:

The most famous part of Hans Brinker is actually far removed from both the A and B plots (or even the C plot surrounding the race). It is the famous story of the Dutch boy who stuck his finger in the hole in the dike and saved his town. This incident is a folktale facsimile which is apparently based on nothing, but Dodge makes it feel so credible that she convinced whole generations this was an old story – despite appearing in the text only as an English school lesson. It took on a life of its own, and Dutch Genealogy did an interesting article on the topic.

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