Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
Fri May 2, 2025, 12:23 PM 22 hrs ago

Why is Trump obsessed about taking children away from their parents?

Last edited Fri May 2, 2025, 01:26 PM - Edit history (1)

We saw this in his first term. The deliberate kidnapping of children from their parents.
The deliberate separation of children from their mothers.

I think this goes back to Trump's childhood.
His mother was reportedly ill and in and out of hospitals when he was a child.
(Perhaps she was mentally ill or wanted to get away from her abusive husband.)

Trump was left in the care of a sister, only a child herself.
Or left to the care of servants. Trump's father is said to have not hired a nanny for the children?
So who knows what happened to these kids?
And Trump's father was abusive.

This is the source I believe of Trump's rage and anger.
His anger at his mother for abandoning him.
Which he keeps acting out over and over.

We see this in his hatred of women.
Raping women, disrespecting them.
And then acting out the abandonment from this own childhood over and over
in his immigrant policies.

We see a mentally ill President of the United States acting out his psychopathology
over and over.

ETA: The point I am making is that Trump could have used many methods
to terrify people and make them docile and compliant like all dictators do.
But why does he keep going back to the specific trauma of kidnapping children from parents?

37 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Why is Trump obsessed about taking children away from their parents? (Original Post) Irish_Dem 22 hrs ago OP
Because it's about the meanest thing you can do to someone Ocelot II 22 hrs ago #1
It is just an explanation, not an excuse. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #14
I agree. I think you nailed it TommieMommy 22 hrs ago #2
I don't know that Trump is particularly obsessed with that Fiendish Thingy 22 hrs ago #3
This!!! WestMichRad 22 hrs ago #5
Child trafficking? NoMoreRepugs 22 hrs ago #4
Yes I have long held that Trump sold some of the children in this first term. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #15
that's my guess. mopinko 21 hrs ago #18
Yes I think Betsy sold some of the kids to childless parents. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #19
i wonder what her fees were. mopinko 21 hrs ago #20
She made money or curried favor. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #28
That's how you subdue a group of people. ananda 22 hrs ago #6
Yes it also serves to make for a terrified and docile, compliant population. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #16
In 2018 Trump said he was separating immigrants from their children to deter them from coming across the border. sop 22 hrs ago #7
Yes I agree, but why did he choose this specific method? Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #17
In Trump's (Stephen Miller's) mind the cruelest punishment imaginable is the most effective deterrent. sop 20 hrs ago #34
Our son once said, "it all comes down to your mother" vapor2 22 hrs ago #8
Honestly, I don't think he gives a shit either way, but is happy to accomodate Stephen Miller's sadism... hlthe2b 21 hrs ago #9
Trump is a known rapist who loves to torment his victims. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #21
I'm most certainly NOT blaming this all on Miller alone. I think they feed off each other. hlthe2b 20 hrs ago #32
Trump is a psychopath who surrounds himself with other psychopaths. Irish_Dem 19 hrs ago #35
Yes... although it is clear the 2025 crowd (Vance, Miller, Thiel & the other Billionaire Tech Bros) are hlthe2b 19 hrs ago #36
He's testing the populaces willingness to look the other way while committing atrocities. Ping Tung 21 hrs ago #10
Yes of course, but the specific method of torture is a reflection of his psychopathology. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #22
Because his own parents hated him. Basso8vb 21 hrs ago #11
And mother issues. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #24
That's a very empathetic take on Trump's monstrosity. Aristus 21 hrs ago #12
A clinical analysis is never an excuse. It is an explanation. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #25
Once a trafficker, always a trafficker. RockRaven 21 hrs ago #13
Yes I believe Trump was involved in Epstein's sex trafficking trade. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #26
Because he's a shitty 'human' being. spanone 21 hrs ago #23
Yes he is an evil monster in laymen's terms. Irish_Dem 21 hrs ago #27
Mommy sent him to reform school Captain Zero 21 hrs ago #29
This act of deliberate cruelty is aimed at those who are most vulnerable. patphil 21 hrs ago #30
CRUELTY is a feature, not a bug Martin Eden 20 hrs ago #31
He is not capable of empathy. everyonematters 20 hrs ago #33
Maybe he always wanted somebody to take Don Jr. and Eric away so he keeps re-enacting his allegorical oracle 17 hrs ago #37

Ocelot II

(124,499 posts)
1. Because it's about the meanest thing you can do to someone
Fri May 2, 2025, 12:25 PM
22 hrs ago

without physically torturing them. It might be because of a shitty childhood, but lots of people have shitty childhoods and still manage to grow up to be decent human beings. I don't know exactly what's wrong with him, but I do know that he really likes hurting people.

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
14. It is just an explanation, not an excuse.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:21 PM
21 hrs ago

Yes of course, other children suffer far worse and don't end up
being serial killers, rapists, kidnappers.

Yes I have been saying for some time that Trump is a sexual sadist.
He gets off on torturing others.
Like Putin does as well.

Fiendish Thingy

(19,200 posts)
3. I don't know that Trump is particularly obsessed with that
Fri May 2, 2025, 12:35 PM
22 hrs ago

Stephen Miller, on the other hand, is a Sado-Fascist who I’m sure delights in the misery Trump allows him to inflict upon others.

Trump has delegated almost all foreign policy, trade, and immigration decisions to Miller.

If Musk is the co-president for domestic/budget issues, Miller is the co-president for everything else.

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
15. Yes I have long held that Trump sold some of the children in this first term.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:23 PM
21 hrs ago

Sex trafficking ring.

mopinko

(72,393 posts)
18. that's my guess.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:25 PM
21 hrs ago

iirc, betsy devos has an adoption agency. for as much as the magats hate brown ppl, the childless 1s r happy to take any kid they can get.

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
19. Yes I think Betsy sold some of the kids to childless parents.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:27 PM
21 hrs ago

They were the lucky ones.
The other kids were not so lucky.

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
16. Yes it also serves to make for a terrified and docile, compliant population.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:24 PM
21 hrs ago

This is typical of abusers.

sop

(13,938 posts)
7. In 2018 Trump said he was separating immigrants from their children to deter them from coming across the border.
Fri May 2, 2025, 12:50 PM
22 hrs ago

'Trump says family separations deter illegal immigration'

"'If they feel there will be separation, they don't come,' he said of migrants during comments to reporters at the White House."

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/trump-says-family-separations-deter-illegal-immigration-idUSKCN1MO02M/

sop

(13,938 posts)
34. In Trump's (Stephen Miller's) mind the cruelest punishment imaginable is the most effective deterrent.
Fri May 2, 2025, 02:52 PM
20 hrs ago

Taking away one's child is the most horrible thing these ghouls could come up with.

hlthe2b

(109,407 posts)
9. Honestly, I don't think he gives a shit either way, but is happy to accomodate Stephen Miller's sadism...
Fri May 2, 2025, 12:55 PM
21 hrs ago

As much as I hold Trump responsible for all that happens and as much a sociopath as any in the WH, a lot of it might well not happen/might NOT have happened without Stephen Miller. He is now his Deputy COS and has both constant access and power and TSF apparently trusts him. Most of us know that he is a NAZI-level psychopath and totally drunk on his power. Just look at his super-aggressive press bits. My GAWD, he's like a rabid animal from the first word out of his mouth. Trump still tries to come across as "likeable" in at least some settings. Miller doesn't give a shit about that...

My assessment... Others may differ...

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
21. Trump is a known rapist who loves to torment his victims.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:33 PM
21 hrs ago

Last edited Fri May 2, 2025, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)

We can see this in how he premeditated the SAs against EJC and Stormy.
He planned it carefully to set them up and trap them, back them into a corner.
He loves it.

Blaming all of this on Stephen Miller is missing the fact Trump is a ruthless vicious psychopath.
Who loves torturing others.

hlthe2b

(109,407 posts)
32. I'm most certainly NOT blaming this all on Miller alone. I think they feed off each other.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:57 PM
20 hrs ago

As I said, Trump is a known sociopath as well.

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
35. Trump is a psychopath who surrounds himself with other psychopaths.
Fri May 2, 2025, 03:33 PM
19 hrs ago

But he is the mob boss.

hlthe2b

(109,407 posts)
36. Yes... although it is clear the 2025 crowd (Vance, Miller, Thiel & the other Billionaire Tech Bros) are
Fri May 2, 2025, 03:39 PM
19 hrs ago

waiting in the wings. And don't think the 25th Amendment or "sudden death" is not a possibility.

Trump's dementia is progressing...

Ping Tung

(2,262 posts)
10. He's testing the populaces willingness to look the other way while committing atrocities.
Fri May 2, 2025, 12:55 PM
21 hrs ago

Like the "good Germans" who "knew nothing" about the deportations, concentration. or extermination camps.

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
Voltaire

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
22. Yes of course, but the specific method of torture is a reflection of his psychopathology.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:34 PM
21 hrs ago

Aristus

(69,812 posts)
12. That's a very empathetic take on Trump's monstrosity.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:00 PM
21 hrs ago

Personally, I think he likes it because separation from their parents makes children vulnerable. Vulnerable to sexual assault, for sure; and we know he grooves on that kind of nauseating evil. He can live out his fantasies of child-rape either personally or vicariously. But I'm not enough of a believer in the "he's just a poor lonely child" narrative to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
25. A clinical analysis is never an excuse. It is an explanation.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:39 PM
21 hrs ago

Trump is a vicious, ruthless, sadistic psychopath.
He will rape, kill, steal, rob anyone at anytime for personal benefit.
He will destroy the US for his personal gain and enjoyment.

He is a monster in laymen's terms.

What I am doing is similar to what the FBI psychologists do when explaining
why serial killers commit their specific crimes. And can predict future behavior.
It is how the FBI can track and arrest killers.

Irish_Dem

(69,082 posts)
27. Yes he is an evil monster in laymen's terms.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:41 PM
21 hrs ago

But I am explaining why he keeps committing the same crimes over and over in an obsessive fashion.

Captain Zero

(7,838 posts)
29. Mommy sent him to reform school
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:48 PM
21 hrs ago

At age 13 he got shipped out to a military school, which for the rich is reform school, because he was feckless and incorrigible, and oppositionally defiant.

He still is all those things.

patphil

(7,738 posts)
30. This act of deliberate cruelty is aimed at those who are most vulnerable.
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:52 PM
21 hrs ago

Does he take satisfaction in inflicting this lifelong pain on all those children?

Martin Eden

(14,206 posts)
31. CRUELTY is a feature, not a bug
Fri May 2, 2025, 01:57 PM
20 hrs ago

This POtuS gets off on using his power to inflict emotional trauma on people he hates.

allegorical oracle

(4,762 posts)
37. Maybe he always wanted somebody to take Don Jr. and Eric away so he keeps re-enacting his
Fri May 2, 2025, 04:54 PM
17 hrs ago

fantasy. Joking, of course.

Seriously, he's flat-out cruel -- recall how he treated his brother Fred Jr. (Mary's dad). He's always been cruel because he believes that he "wins" if he's meaner than everybody else. It explains why so many of his acolytes are drawn to him -- Miller, MTG, Noem, Bondi, Kari Lake. They're mean, nasty bullies, too. When he's being nice it's nothing more than an act.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Why is Trump obsessed abo...