Donald
Trump is getting desperate — and his mental pathology is getting worse every
day
As mental health professionals, we
see a disturbed and destructive man whose psyche is unraveling before our eyes
ALAN D. BLOTCKY - SETH D. NORRHOLM
OCTOBER
21, 2020 11:00AM (UTC)
Despite the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus at the White
House, Donald Trump still insists that "it's going to
disappear." To make matters worse, he proclaims, "We have a
cure." We have lost 220,000 Americans to a deadly pandemic. And what
does he say? "I'm immune. So the president is in very good shape to fight the battles." He
continues to promulgate lies and misinformation about the pandemic.
At his rally in Florida in front of 7,000 supporters, Trump
announced, "I feel so powerful. I'll walk into that audience, I'll walk in
there, kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful
women, just give you a big fat kiss." This is hypomanic hypersexuality
from our president.
Last Thursday evening at his town hall on NBC, Trump admitted
that he had retweeted a QAnon conspiracy theory that
the killing of Osama bin Laden was fake and had been staged by Barack Obama and
Joe Biden. A bizarre conspiracy theory gone awry.
On Friday, Trump told a crowd in Georgia that he "might
have to leave the country" if he loses the election to Biden. That sounds
like a semi-confession of his corruption.
At a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, he asserted that
the National Guard's physical altercations with protesters
were "beautiful." Trump's glorification of violence.
At his rally in Michigan on the same day, he criticized
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — recently the subject of a kidnapping plot busted
by the FBI — and the crowd chanted, "Lock her up." His response:
"Lock them all up." Trump's vindictiveness toward political foes.
Donald Trump is a desperate man. His recklessness is growing by
the hour as his poll numbers are failing and his presidency is coming to a
crashing end. His mental pathology is front and center. His psyche is
unraveling before our eyes.
Trump is in an existential crisis of his own making. George
Conway — a lifelong Republican, Washington attorney and co-founder of the
Lincoln Project — summed it up best when we reached out to him: "We've
seen how he is continuing to reach new depths. He realizes he is headed toward
destruction."
Trump is now wildly out of control with his ranting tweets, lies, conspiracy theories, threats,
gaslighting and erratic behavior. His pronouncements are
getting more disturbed and destructive. He is telling senior citizens that they
are not vulnerable to the coronavirus. He is telling the public that they
should not let the coronavirus dominate their lives. He even stated that he
must be a perfect physical specimen because he
recovered from COVID-19 so quickly (completely disregarding the powerful
cocktail of drugs he received). He was recently live on the air twice in
one day on Fox News, airing his unmoored grievances, soothing his injured ego,
projecting ridiculous grandiosity and collecting narcissistic fuel.
Alarmingly, Trump is losing his grip on reality. He is agitated.
He seems to be hypomanic — quite likely exacerbated by his COVID-19
medications. He has become paranoid. He has been calling out for his political opponents to be indicted. He has
been preoccupied with a totally fake conspiracy theory about Barack Obama
and Joe Biden spying on his campaign. He is lashing out at some of his most
loyal cabinet members. He is even blaming Gold Star families for giving him
COVID-19.
Trump is on a collision course with self-destruction. He has
lost all ability for rational and reasonable discourse with the American
people. His performance during the presidential debate on Sept. 29 was
shocking and disheartening. He was hostile and rude. He showed no self-control.
He was flailing. Trump even canceled his second debate with Biden — he was
looking for a way out.
Trump now feels cornered and exposed. His sense of
entitlement is threatened. His grandiosity and superiority are crumbling. What
he fears most is being embarrassed and humiliated. After all, he has spent his
whole life branding himself as smarter and stronger and richer than anyone
else. His "false self" persona is being chipped away hour by hour.
The emperor is about to have no clothes.
As Trump's desperation grows, his mental pathology is becoming
more amplified. He is looking unhinged because he is unhinged. It is all we can
see — a man who is erratic and unrestrained and debilitated. He is always
defensive. He grumbles and roars and blames others. He is incapable of taking
responsibility for his own decisions and behavior. He is incapable of leading
and governing.
Trump's desperation includes a scorched-earth mentality. If he is going down, he
wants to bring everyone and everything down with him. He has no hesitation to
break laws or destroy people. Democratic institutions and principles mean
nothing to him. All that matters is his survival, his preservation, his
continued power.
The end is in sight. But Trump will go down fighting. He will
hold onto power until the last possible moment. It will have to be stripped
away from him. He will not facilitate a peaceful transfer of power to Biden. He
will cry out that he is the victim of a conspiracy. Unbelievably, he will seek
sympathy for himself. He will urge his supporters to strike out in anger and
aggrievement. He will bask in the glow of his victimhood.
Trump will leave behind a deadly pandemic. He will leave behind
a country that is divided and tribal. Racism and xenophobia and terrorist
groups have become prominent. Far too many of us have stopped believing in
science, the truth and the free press.
We are facing two more weeks of Trump's desperation and mental
pathology. Each day will seem unending. Each day will be exhausting.
Two more weeks until our votes are finally cast and
counted.
Two more weeks until Trump's chaos, incompetence and corruption
can be ended.
ALAN D. BLOTCKY
Alan D. Blotcky, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in
Birmingham, Alabama.
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SETH D. NORRHOLM
Seth D. Norrholm is an associate professor of psychiatry in the
Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.
