(03-06-2017, 02:57 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(03-06-2017, 02:05 PM)David Horn Wrote:(03-06-2017, 12:18 PM)TeacherinExile Wrote: My doubts about Trump's fitness for command are diminishing by the tweet. It's still possible that he's not crazy as some in the press have recently speculated...just "crazy like a fox," instead.
Here's the real danger as pointed out in this passage from the WaPo article you cite:
What happens in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, during a natural disaster or amidst an economic crisis? He’ll desperately need the American people to trust and rally behind him, but he will have drained the reservoir of goodwill. That is when Trump’s credibility gap is going to become a cataclysmic problem for his presidency and, frankly, for the country.
I've said it before in a previous post: I want our president to succeed--with some qualifications. There is simply too much at stake for the country, indeed for all of us, if Trump should fail. Especially if he should fail spectacularly in a moment of renewed crisis.
I heard what may be the most generous version of why Trump is the way he is: he lives in the perpetual 'Now'. Whether that qualifies as a mental issue is open to the opinion of a more qualified person than me, but, if it's true, he's unlikely to ever be ready for what's coming or able to restrain himself in responding to any slight.
Living in the perpetual now is all anyone can ever do, but I would put it like Drump is too "reactive;" like brower mentioned about the freudian concept of the id. He is a slave to his appetites and reactions. Most of us are, to some extent. But he is more so than others who have been elected to leadership positions. He is certainly a narcissist; his ego is uppermost in his mind. Using another freudian concept, it appears he has little ability to make "reality checks." To make wild charges and claims with no evidence seems to be part of his modus operandi. Sometimes he can make it part of his ingenious marketing technique, which appeals to his public that likes prejudice and passion, but it frequently just takes him off the rails.
When Obama was President I frequently gave the retort to his detractors:
President Obama plays chess, and those who oppose him play slot machines.
Chess requires players to see a few moves ahead with the prospect of getting a checkmate, overwhelming strength, or an enforceable advantage. Even a subtle difference in strength (like a two-pawn advantage that the other player can do nothing about) can decide the game. Beginners might make such a blunder as grabbing a pawn with a queen only to set up a knight fork that guarantees a material gain for his opponent. Intermediate players see three moves ahead. Chess masters see perhaps six moves ahead. Ten? That is simply too many moves to process. I'm not saying how good a chess player I am... but there is a big difference between Barack Obama and Donald Trump that has nothing to do with scruples.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.