The Madness of King Donald

      It is time for all media especially those legacy news interviews and analysis programs, major newscasts, front page of news sites and newspapers and cover stories in magazines to begin discussing the implications of a president who is, to put it insensitively, crazy. 

     This is not about mental illness or stigma, or the challenging life of those who suffer, but it is about the world that must suffer the consequences of a petulant narcissist who is damaging lives and what can or should be done about it. 

    It is past time to seriously address the abnormality and danger of our status. If you are not interested, enjoy the photos and click away. Otherwise we will explore this historic crisis just ahead.

OUT AND ABOUT

   A friend who was, among other careers, a human development psychologist, says it well. 

    "Trump has made the USA as narcissistic as he is. On the world stage we now have allegiance for no one and will use, manipulate, extort, bully and coerce our adversaries and allies alike for our own self interest."

    Now we have seen the 9th international military action of this young administration. This does not account for the 148 people who have been murdered in the 43 airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean and  Eastern Pacific all without evidence or proof of wrong doing. They are extrajudicial killings ordered by the  president. 

    Please understand this is not about policy or politics. It is not even about his incompetence or lack of character.

    When in American history has a President behaved as this man? We can argue power and politics, and have in this space, this is about insanity. The Rubicon in my analysis was when he began putting his name on buildings, and hanging his face on banners, and talking about naming airports and terminals.

    Trump is becoming more delusional, a captive of the narcissist personality, a disorder he suffers and increasingly displays. This is from the American Psychiatric Association.

    "Many people may be familiar with the casual use of the term narcissist, referring to a person who is very self-centered, boastful and hungry for attention and admiration. However, narcissistic personality disorder, a condition described in the DSM-5-TR*, is more severe, persistent and problematic.

Narcissistic personality disorder is complicated and nuanced. It is defined as a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (sense of superiority in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and occurring in a variety of contexts (APA 2022; see symptom list below). An estimated 1% to 2% of the U.S. population has narcissistic personality disorder (Weinberg & Ronningstam, 2022)."

    As someone who has reported on American politics and governance since 1968 I've seen no limit of debates and arguments about policy, legislating, the arm wrestle over war powers, quality of leadership and etc. It has been absurd watching media and national political analysis put the actions of the Trump regime into a frame work as though this is just another policy cycle. 

    From the beginning this regime has broken things; mores, values, alliances, history, policy, stability, the economy and lives. It's not only that he lies, or that he and his gang are incompetent, corrupt, operating by his whims, unrestricted by his lack of preparation or capacity. We are living under a sick and delusional man who has taken the world to the brink of complete disorder. 

    Criminals, including police killers, are pardoned. US citizens are assassinated, our military is killing people in the name of all of us, under his orders. We are changing the nature of our very being under his intentional divisive directives. 

  When will all of this be lifted to a point of priority discussion. This is not politics. This is consequence of a human being with a clear record; he has lived a life of corruption, racism, venality, vulgarity, bullying and deceit. (That he got elected is a discussion for another day.) Now even some who put him in office are bailing, he has one of the lowest approval ratings in history, but now he has escalated his reach and has turned this nation into a lawless pariah. Perhaps we should excuse our desire to keep things normal and simply acknowledge the insanity is taking over the American soul. Have you seen the size of the warehouses he wants to convert into detention centers? The inmates have taken over the asylum.

    These are not normal times. There is nothing normal. We must be honest and begin the discussion, no matter how painful, fraught and challenging it may be; what are we to do about the madness of the tyrant. This is a new and frightening time in US history. 

    He talks about Trump derangement syndrome. It's real, he is deranged and the world is suffering, that's the syndrome. 

     The world has been here before, even in the lifetime of some who remain with us. It's time to deal with the truth. These are not policy debates, these are the actions of a madman, belligerent, aging, sick, and caring about and obsessed only with himself. What could go wrong? Ask yourself what kind of people offer such fealty and serve such a man? What could go wrong? 

    It's time to make this discussion page 1, lead story, framing all of his actions by reference to his illness. We must persist until the cancer is excised. 

    See you down the trail.

An American Statesman-Lee Hamilton

Lee Hamilton 1931-2026

     Any list of the greatest to serve in the US Congress will include Lee Hamilton.

     Hamilton served with distinction from 1965 to 1999 and during that tenure was chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee and after leaving congress co chaired the 9/11 Commission. Presidents and potentates sought his advice. He was universally admired by Democrats and Republicans. He was considered one of wisest and most even dispositioned to serve in US History.

   He was presented the Lifetime Contributions to Diplomacy Award by the American Foreign Service Association. He was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Despite his renown and international credential he was always down to earth, sincere and a great listener.

    In 1965 I was on duty on the news desk of an Indiana radio station when the buzzer on the door sounded. As I opened it there stood a tall man, with a short cropped haircut in an open trench coat with a stack of papers in his hand. It was Lee Hamilton, newly sworn into office, back in the state delivering a "Newsletter" on the congressional session underway. That was the beginning of a relationship that became a friendship.

    Until I retired from journalism and broadcasting Lee Hamilton was a source of knowledge and information that helped me translate and report to viewers and readers events on a global scale, in the inner rooms and offices of the national security, intelligence and diplomatic realms, and in American politics. A Lee Hamilton inspired character figures into the plot line in one of my historical intrigue novels. 

    Hamilton was also a good man, a decent and admirable human being. He evinced an integrity and was a watch dog for the principles of the democratic republic delineated in the Constitution. But he was a sober eyed realist in a world that seems bent on self destruction.  As we sat in a little known chamber in the capitol dome he told me "there are things that must be done that may not look so positive in the light of day." He was discussing the options that must be available for the conduct of a sound foreign policy. He served in the depth of the cold war. 

    Though he was born in Florida, he was a pure Hoosier, imbued with common sense, a questioning mind, and bedrock virtue. He was also a hoopster. He led his team to the state finals in 1948, when Indiana High School Basketball was legendary. He was injured, but tried to play until forced to the sideline. They lost the championship. He won, what is considered by Indiana basketball aficionados and purists, the greatest award,The Trester Award for Mental Attitude.

    One of my favorite memories with Lee was the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. The Indiana delegation, staying in Buckhead, hosted a party one night. I was there with the media as we mixed with the political stars and delegates. It wasn't long before Lee, Frank O'Bannon, soon to be Lt. Governor and eventually Governor, and this writer found ourselves at one of those little basketball games using a miniature ball and a bright score board. O'Bannon had been a good player in his day. So here we are, three guys, long beyond their prime getting very serious about who was hitting the most shots. An evening passed filled with many chuckles and stories of games and anecdotes. I can't recall who won, but I was happy not to have been last.

   Back in that Cold War era, my late investigative colleague Ben Strout and I worked months to expose a KGB officer, posing as a cultural attache, who was seeking to infiltrate staff of important US officer holders before an upcoming summit. Lee's congratulations, after the exposed officer was recalled, was a point of immense pride.

    Those who were in attendance will attest to the brilliance of a remarkable evening. I was president of the Indianapolis Press Club and we hosted an evening conversation with Senator Richard Lugar, a brilliant foreign policy light and power in his own right, and Lee Hamilton. It came as the USSR was collapsing, the wall coming down, a new world order being established. Those hours of those two men, off the cuff, both with first hand experience, chatting and debriefing each other was one of those moments than can occur only once. The brilliance of the analysis that night was beyond your imagination. 

  And so it is, Richard Lugar, joined in eternity by his friend Lee Hamilton.

Stars in the firmament of wisdom, decency, and the dying breed of Statesman. 

   See you down the trail.