Good News
An IRS whistleblower gave the Democrats information about possible misconduct relating to the IRS audit of Trump’s taxes.
www.huffpost.com/entry/whistleblower-trump-tax-returns-audit_n_5d5eeaece4b02cc97c8aa623
And he got caught inflating his Scotland golf course by 165 million!
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-scotland-golf-courses-inflating-value_n_5d5c1ccce4b05f62fbd5f559
Perhaps it's a false dilemma fallacy, debating whether the man literally believes he's "the chosen one" or whether it's just another clever con. Maybe it isn't one or the other, but both—and a little of something else*.
DT obviously isn't a religious man, so his claim isn't messianic in the classic sense. If he were a believer, that kind of statement would classify as madness, certifiably. Which makes it not only totally unwise, but very poorly thought out if it was just a strategic play to the evangelical base. (Besides which, not every evangelical can be happy about it—that sort of thing was still blasphemy last time I checked.)
It might appear on the surface that DT has no genuine ideology, but he does have a longstanding and faithful personal conviction and practice, one shared by his father and grandfather before him (even before Norman Vincent Peale popularized some of its tenants, apparently). The Drumpf family version isn't "the power of positive thinking." It's a crude, reductive blend of American capitalism, Western mysticism, and absolute belief in the power of personal will. And its only ritual, so far as I know, is to speak one's will into the world, often and "bigly"—and to as many people as will listen.
It's not so much that DT doesn't believe in God. It's that, if you're special enough to know the secret to manifesting power and material wealth, and manipulating peoples' opinions and actions, then you ARE God—the only kind that matters. Point is, he believes he is "chosen" because he did the choosing. And I mean that literally: DT had been speaking publicly about becoming president for decades. According to his own philosophy, he willed it.
The problem for him is that he's a fundamentalist of his own system. His greatest fear is that anyone in the world can defeat him with only words. He behaves as though the slightest (perceived) criticism has the power to destroy his material reality because there's a hole in his personal religion the size of his insecurities, and it's far better to battle imaginary enemies than stare truth in the eye. So, not a very powerful god, but like the Old Testament version, he is: keen on preemptive strikes and overzealous counterattacks; enjoys "testing loyalty" in increasingly weird and cruel ways; generally horrible to women; and is fond of establishing arbitrary and sadistic laws, and threatening unimaginably sick torments for those who break them.
I think all of the above can be explained by DT's extreme grandiosity, tendencies to paranoia, and the sadism that are part and parcel of his Dark Triad nature, i.e., narcissistic personality disorder, Machiavellianism, and his particular strain of sociopathy.
*The more relevant thing to consider maybe is that, unlike some other personality disorders, the malignant narcissist doesn't mellow with age. He deteriorates—cognitively, behaviorally, functionally.
By the time they're of a certain age, they have fractured every relationship that matters (i.e., sources of "narcissistic supply") and alienated everyone around them to the point of no return. This makes them more brutal than ever, not less.
Where they might have been subtly manipulative once upon a time, with age, they become aggressively bullying and overtly bigoted, lashing out wholesale at any group they deem beneath them. Even if these people weren't overtly or consistently sexist, homophobic, racist, or classist in their younger days, the bottom drops out. No one is safe. Because they cannot tolerate their own decline, they frequently attack other people for being "too old" or for "going senile"—that kind of thing.
Rages and psychosis episodes aren't uncommon. You know, the stuff horror films are made of if they take place in a nursing home. Or the White House.
P.S.
For anyone here who's dealt with a parent, family member, or spouse who fits that description, I'm sending you a lot of love. I get it. ❤️
Well said everyone! @Sagetarotpices I think you are righton! Dump doesn't think he reacts then acts. iI also believe he is running scared. He has lost a lot of his rich supporters including the Mercers. He is getting criticised by a few more Repubs who know their constituits (?) are dropping like flys. More and more Repbus are being confronted at their local town halls by people angry about health care, Social Security and those with a social conscious, the children in cages. I believe even more than a few Repubs are appalled by the kids in cages. Who in their right mind wouldn't be. Yes I know that many of Dumps supporters are mental cases like him, but their are still decent people in this world. I think we all need to remember that.
I also believe alot of his reteric is an act. Don't forget his MO is distract, distract, distract then deny! My acupunturist was looking at a close up of Dumps face and his puples are hugh. I believe he is on some kind of medication, whether perscribed or not. He has BillyBarr fighting tooth and nail to block the House getting his financials. I believe it is just a matter of time before they have a big chunk of them, maybe not all but hopefully enough.
I know times are dark right now and I know how hard it is not to get angry or depressed and worried. I try to use the old addage Count Your Blessings and beathe deep. We all have to do what we can to continue the fight. Even if it's a daily prayer. I take one minute when I wake up in the morning and meditate on the word PEACE. Just repeat it very slowly. It gives me the strength to get up and go about my day. It helps to keep the darkness out of my mind. Andtrust me after being hacked Wednesday My mind got pretty dang dark!
DANG ! I just signed onto Yahoo News and DAVID KOCH is dead. It should be interesting to see how this effects the elections. The Koch Bros are large Repub supporters. (I'm not trying to sound like this is good news just interesting)
@jeanne-mayell and @laura-f, thank you. ?
@yogagirl, I'd wager Koch's death will have significant impact, but I'm not sure in which direction. I want to believe that his passing will create a sudden vacuum large enough to cause significant chaos among the shadowy donors and members of the Koch Network and every other affiliate. Though it's also possible this could give Drumpf and his backers a little hope.
What's happening today with his total freakout on China over the tariff war he created, demanding ("hereby order[ing]") that US companies start pulling out all business from the country, is arguably more damaging than the litany of (truly) insane stuff he said two days ago.
This Virgo stellium is really pricking his hackles. If he doesn't calm down, he's going to give himself a stroke.
@vestralux, re the "chosen one" post: I was feeling a lot of what you powerfully expressed, but was unable to articulate it. I was beginning to drive myself crazy. Thank you for unscrambling my muddled brain!
David Koch, I think people know, had withdrawn from Koch Industries a few years ago when he became ill. His older brother, Charles, I sensed was the number one driving force in the family's efforts to control the U.S. governments, federal and state, to meet their financial interests, with the younger David as number two.
I don't think much will change because of David's death, since he'd already withdrawn.
To recap the Koch's for anyone who is unfamiliar, they claim to be libertarians, but not when it comes to their own self interest. Then they are happy to use government money to fuel (sorry about the pun) their businesses, the biggest of which is petroleum.
It's also notable that the libertarians' original money came from government money. What would they have done without government tax revenues? Fred Koch, their father, processed petroleum for Stalin and then for Hitler, providing original wealth for them and helping those regimes, according to Mayer.
David Koch had been funding various arts initiatives in recent years, like PBS scientific documentaries which I felt were designed to distract people from climate change.
If anyone wants to know more about them, there's a detailed chapter on them in the book Dark Money by Jane Mayer. The New Yorker just re-published this 2010 article, also by Jane Mayer, about their war on Obama. According to Mayer's well researched book, they operated their businesses like organized crime.
The whole idea of changes in Koch influence is worth meditating on, however, since DT came in under Russian oligarchs, not the Kochs. The Kochs have been working on turning state governments to the right in order to get Constitutional amendments.
well, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is being treated for pancreatic cancer. Yikes. The poor woman, she is trying to hold on. He'll probably nominate Mickey Mouse, who will be confirmed immediately.