A journey into Trump's psyche [View all]

Some thoughts on Trump's psyche.

Obviously the man feeds off external adulation and affirmation. That's why he loves his rallies full of adoring fans. That's why he wants his buildings and properties to be bigger, more glaring and garish. That's why he always talks about himself in such gargantuan terms. It must be eating away at him, gnawing at him like a growing cancer, that he isn't getting anything like the adulation and affirmation that he probably believes is his due from most Americans. That's why he lashes out at protestors, SNL, the cast of Hamilton, and even the mostly servile and empty news media when they offer even a hint of negative coverage. You see he doesn't just crave external adulation and affirmation, he demands it as his due.

Now ask, given that psyche, what he is to do, internally, with the reality that he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. How is he to psychically process that fact? Clearly, he has to run from it, he has to re-narrate it, not as a rejection, but as an affirmation and a resounding one at that. That is why he now praises the "genius" of the electoral college which he had previously scorned. And that is why he went on the road for his bizarre thank-you tour. He had a desperate and pathetic need to recreate the adoring crowds in order to reassure himself that the people, at least the people that matter, love him still, affirm him still. But then there comes the late breaking news that though he may not really be the people's choice, he was certainly Putin's choice and that Putin did everything in his power to try to install Trump into the presidency of the United States.

And finally, ask how this plays in Trump's warped psyche. Clearly it threatens to take away the last shred of his legitimacy. Trump will not suffer that threat easily. The lashing out has already begun. Now let you imagination be as unconstrained and as creative as possible in imagining what is to come. Ask yourself what we are in for over the next weeks, months, and possibly years, as the depth of Russian involvement becomes clearer and clearer, as Trump becomes more and more unhinged, as his illegitimacy becomes more and more manifest to all. It is not a pretty picture.

A Dark Drama lies ahead. Mark my words. It will make the darkest days of Watergate look like a dress rehearsal for the true meltdown of American Democracy.