Search This Blog

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Joe Biden Is Wrong: Trump’s Refusal to Concede Befits His Legacy

   We all remember 2016, when Donald Trump said he would only accept the election results if he won. So it is no surprise that he won’t accept the election results now that he has lost.

Never mind that it defies the constitution and threatens national security. Trump has provided adequate evidence that he doesn’t care about either.  He only cares about himself and his fragile ego.

My July 2nd “Talking Turkey” reported on Dr. Vincent Greenwood’s psychiatric analysis of the president as meeting most of the 20 criteria of a psychopath. Refusal to accept loss is not one of them, but it is certainly consistent with them. Reviewing those 20 criteria now makes them ring truer than ever. Only two or three don’t apply:

1. Glibness/superficial charm

2. Egocentricity/grandiose sense of self-worth

3. Proneness to boredom/low frustration tolerance

4. Pathological lying and deception/gaslighting

5. Conning/lack of sincerity

6. Lack of remorse or guilt

7. Shallow affect

8. Callous/lack of empathy

9. Parasitic lifestyle

10. Poor behavioral controls

11. Promiscuous sexual behavior

12. Early behavioral problems

13. Lack of realistic long-term goals

14. Impulsivity

15. Irresponsibility

16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions

17. Many short-term marital relationships

18. Juvenile delinquency

19. Revocation of conditional release

20. Criminal versatility


News Flash: Trump’s a Loser

Yes, Donald Trump is now a loser, whether he accepts it or not. He is even on record saying that he’s a bad loser.

A Nov. 7 Fast Company column by Joe Berkowitz has the simple headline, “Donald Trump is a Loser,” In it, he wrote that Trump has in fact been a loser in many ways (e.g. getting Mexico to pay for his wall) and lists 14 things we will lose with his departure:

1)  The “fascist cruelty of Stephen Miller.”

2)  Acceptance of white supremacy, “making racists feel happy, comfortable and validated.”

3)  Loss of international esteem.

4)  Denial of climate change.

5)  Conversations about building “the wall.”

6)  The “top-down politicization of the pandemic.”

7)  A Trump-dominated news cycle.

8)  Distrust of White House announcements, which typically focus on Trump’s inherent greatness.

9)  Spite “as the prevalent motivating force,” aimed at “making liberals cry again.”

10)  Loyalty to the president as the primary employment qualification.

11)  The concept of “alternative facts”

12)  The idea that the media is the opposition party and “enemy of the people.”

13)  The president as a negative role model for children.

14)  The president’s sense of infallibility, that he can do no wrong.

But this is such a limited list, isn’t it? I can think of several more things I look forward to losing.

1)  “Shooting from the hip” without thinking and without consultation with advisors. Example: Middle-of-the-night tweeting in general, but specifically announcing troop withdrawal from Syria, abandoning our Kurdish allies.

2)  The president thinking he knows it all — more than the generals, more than epidemiologists, more than climate scientists or scientists in general.

3)  The president making policy decisions based solely on the desire to reverse the policy of his predecessor, regardless of whether the policy was a good one.

4)  A president who is a psychopath, unable to express compassion, such as upon the death of Sen. John McCain, calling him a “loser.”

 

2 comments:

  1. Jim,

    I agree with your description of Trump and am so grateful he was not re-elected. The state of NY will prosecute him for many crimes once he leaves office. While Trump is a loser and he knows it I think we should focus on the greater good. The media continues to call him a loser which doesn't really help with the bigger issue which is to get him to leave office and transfer power respectfully. Plenty of time to bad mouth this horrible human being after January 20. Trump needs to save face and the only way to do that is to have his advisors and others tell him what a wonderful president he was, tell him to run in 2024 and help him get donations. All of this will work short term which is what is needed. President Elect Biden is moving forward without a concession speech which is required by tradition, not law. He has selected Ron Klain as COS. A great choice and I suspect there will be no turnover in that position during Biden's first term in office. Trump got 70 million votes, more than in 2016. Frightening, upsetting and normal voters like you, me and the 74 million others have 4 years to find ways to diminish Trump's base and minimize Trumpism. Not an easy task.

    ReplyDelete
  2. From Michael Stipek (in an email to me):

    Thanks for the column, Jim!

    After spending nine days with a rabid pro-trumpist, I’ve found that an intellectual conversation about the pros and cons of our current (soon-to-be out!) president was impossible. How did this come about?

    From 10/23-11/5 was worked as a Ballot Security Judge for the Denver Elections Dept. Along with another person of an opposite political party (yep, a Republican), as required by State law, we set up all of those voting apparati at two Rec centers, then collected ballots from those locked drop boxes 3-5 times per day plus re-supplied and picked up ballots from inside the two voting centers. I worked with several opposite members, but nine of those days with spent with a retired professional. We put in 11 hour days, with 11/3 a 15 hour day (we had to lock down the lock boxes at 7 pm, plus close out the voting centers when the last voter was through, then box up all of the amazing amount of stuff that it took to have people register and vote).

    The retired professional was the designated driver, so I had to listen to his radio station of choice. Yes, it definitely Fox! I heard Hannity, who had been calling Dems Socialists and Commies switch over to call us Totalitarians and Fascists (!). I tried to get the guy to define these terms, but he was too deep into the Kool-Aid to do more than mouth the chyrons that Fox scrolls across their minds. Even when I tried to give Trump credit for trying to get $2.4T for US workers, vs. Nancy Pelosi’s $2.2T, but it was being hamstrung by Mitch (just called me Heinrich Himmler) McConnell with his counter offer of $300B, he blew up and blamed Pelosi for all of the problems in Congress (not even considering she had tried to get this money back in May).

    So, after this I studiously kept my silence, gritting my teeth over listening to Hannity and his scurrilous gang of nitwits spout some incredible lies and perverted truths. Why can’t these people even try to have an intellectual conversation? Why the rage in the machine?

    And now we have to deal with the SocioPath-in-Charge disrupting the already messy process of our Democracy. If the Georgia Senate races don’t both go Dem, we will four years of Rep. blocking of anything effective, to add to the approx. 800 bills sitting in McConnell’s office, gathering dust.

    Take care! Go Joe and Kamala!!!

    ReplyDelete