Apparently, it's not a good idea to eat pizza before bed. Sunday night, after wolfing a couple slices, I had nightmares of zombies chasing me. Waking up in a cold sweat, I turned on the morning news to get my mind off nightmares. When famed pollster Nate Silver predicted, “Donald Trump has a better than 50-percent chance of becoming president,” I went back to bed hoping to dream of zombies chasing me.
The New York Times and Warren Buffett have compared Trump to the late Joe McCarthy, the ethically challenged U.S. Senator who led the witch hunts of Communists during the 1950s. (And who never found one.) McCarthy wound up drinking himself to death at 47. (For those interested, Trump doesn't drink.)
Trump attacked the Times, “They don't write good there.” (At least he didn't say “goodly.”) I think Trump is afraid of Buffett because he's a real billionaire. (And didn't inherit $150 million from daddy.) Buffett says of Trump's inheritance, “If a monkey had thrown a dart at the stock page, the monkey would have done better than Trump.”
A defining moment in McCarthy's fall from grace took place as he bullied his way through the Army Hearings in 1954, which were televised. Joseph Welch, General Counsel for the Army, pleaded with McCarthy. “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” I'd ask Don the Con the same question but I think we know the answer. I'm just hoping that Trump's hideous attacks on a Gold Star family, who happen to be Muslim, will be such a turning point in Trump's fall.
In June, 2015, when Trump rode down the escalator at the Trump Tower to announce his presidential candidacy, I foolishly thought it was hilarious. Now the joke is on the country, though not too many people are laughing. Meg Whitman called Trump a “dangerous, dishonest demagogue” and urged fellow Republicans to vote for Clinton and Newt Gingrich said, “Trump is proving himself more unacceptable than Hilary.”
When Trump trashed John McCain I began to see Trump, and forgive the technical term, as totally “cre cre.” Moderator, Frank Luntz, had complimented McCain and, given Trump's insatiable ego, apparently he couldn't stand not being the center of attention. The McCain attack was a red flag. Since then, Trump's campaign has been a parade of red flags.
Take Trump's cruel comments about Carly Fiorina's appearance. (As if Trump, with his orange complexion and bizarre comb-over should talk.) With McCain and Fiorina, Trump lied afterwards when the whole country had seen or read the truth. He didn't care. That's not just lying, that's pathological. As Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson observed, “I used to think Trump was crazy like a fox. Now I just think he's just crazy.”
Then Trump callously attacked a disabled reporter. Who attacks the disabled? Somebody without a soul. In fact, the co-author of “The Art the Deal,” Tony Schwartz, who spent 18 months and hundreds of hours observing Trump, says “He has more sociopathic tendencies than any candidate in my adult life.” Just one of Trump's 3,500 lawsuits in the last three decades, he's suing Schwartz. Surprise, surprise.
Curious about Trump's mental state, I emailed Washington D.C. psychiatrist and Georgetown University Professor, Dr. Justin Frank, author of the popular books "Bush on the Couch" and "Obama on the Couch." Frank is indeed concerned about Trump. He noted how he lashes out at perceived enemies, his narcissism, paranoia, inability to process facts, and attention-deficit disorder. (Recently, Trump paused a sit-down Washington Post interview five times to watch TV!)
Regarding Trump's inability to admit to mistakes, Frank said, “You can't argue with a narcissist.” In Frank's view, Trump's limited vocabulary and overuse use of “amazing,” “huge” and “winner” and “loser” and “disgusting” to smear opponents, are indicative of a child struggling with ADD and lack of impulse control.
And then there's Trump and the nuclear codes. A president notified of a possible nuclear attack might have six minutes to respond. Trump changes his mind six times in six minutes. Joe Scarborough reports that, in meeting with a military and international affairs expert, Trump asked, “What's the point of having nuclear weapons if you can't use them?” Yikes!
It was at the Democratic convention where Khzir Khan unnerved Trump. Khan, whose son was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star, rhetorically asked Trump if he'd ever read the U.S. Constitution. To a cheering crowd, he even offered to lend Trump his pocket copy.
Khan added that Trump had “sacrificed nothing and lost no one.” Trump responded on This Week with George Stephanopoulos with his hackneyed “I've provided tens of thousands of jobs.” He's comparing losing a son in battle to creating jobs? Nobody can be that shallow. Almost nobody.
Since then, Trump has attacked fire marshals and kicked a mother with a crying baby out of one of his rallies. (Instead of kissing babies, Trump throws them out?) To a retired Lieutenant Colonel who gave Trump his Purple Heart, Trump said, “I always wanted one of these,” holding the medal like a trading card, “this is much easier.” Good grief.
Trump, nor his kids, ever spent a day of their privileged lives serving in the military. And to earn a Purple Heart a soldier has to be wounded in action. Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War vet who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down, sent Trump a photo taken in the hospital right after her surgery, reminding him how one normally “earns” a PH.
So why does Don the Con want a Purple Heart so desperately? So he could be a fake hero? I suppose. After all, he's been a fake everything else.
Dr. Justin Frank's website is www.obamaonthecouch.com. Jack is at jnsmdp@aol.com.
