December 01, 2016

What do You Think about 45? (Forum Discussion)


This page has been created to host commentary about Donald Trump, our narcissist-in-chief. You're free to cheer or complain about the most embarrassing president in US history. IMO

My blog is classified as Safe for Work. If language is over-the-top, comments will be deleted. Blogger has rules and I like Blogger. It's free and easy and they don't get enough appreciation for their service. 

So tell me: what do you think about Trump? Has he done anything that bothers you? Scares you? Have you found yourself eating comfort foods? If so, share chocolate cake recipes please.

In full disclosure: I believe 45 is a narcissist; however, I am open to hearing what other people think about trump's narcissism. Even people who don't see Red Flags in his behavior. 

FACT: not everyone agrees 45 is a narcissist. 
We can still talk to one another by agreeing to disagree.

FACT: My opinion is decidedly resistant to arguments suggesting 45 is not a narcissist. 
Don't try to convert me (nor I you) and we'll get along fine.

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(Mindfulness Music for the Soul)

Hugs,
CZ

15 comments:

  1. I'm listening to some lovely mindfulness music to calm the acid reflux I get every time I think about Trump or even hear his name. I can't see any other comments here. I also think Trump is one of the most flagrant narcissists I've ever seen and can't understand how anyone who has had a run-in with a true Narcissist, that left him or her disemboweled, eviscerated and with a brain mostly turned to white matter from the experience, can't identify him as anything but. I guess it's a lot like the Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome. The man is crooked, corrupt, disengaged, unconcerned about the masses or those suffering from hardships life's thrown at them, self-aggrandizing, self-serving, empathy-less -- gosh, sounds pretty narcissistic to me.

    I don't know what to choose for the "Comment as," but I'm Iscrivenforalivin and I do not like Trump one scintilla.

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    1. Me no likey 45 one scintilla either and iscrivenforsanity. ;-P

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  2. Me either!!! I couldn't have said it better. I've been considering just not following 45 news at all, but then I think that is exactly what they want - for people to stop listening to the insanity, crazy-making, incompetentance constantly playing out in the media.

    I keep wondering when people are going to start paying attention to actions rather than dwelling on meaningless and contradictory words.

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    1. Watch 45's theatrical performance in chunks and then leave the theater at regular intervals. You gotta take breaks from this stuff. I've spent more time in my garden this year than the prior five put together and NO, I am not listening to media. ha!

      It's hard to remember what life used to be like when 45 wasn't occupying the airwaves with his divisive rhetoric and empty promises and punitive threats. My daughter was becoming so stressed over 45's threats to take away healthcare, that she had to limit her exposure to his name.

      It is unconscionable what our politicians are doing to the sickest, the most vulnerable and disabled in our society. To politicians, the ACA is a battle for power. You gotta wonder about their lack of empathy and compassion for our most vulnerable, showing up in wheelchairs at townhalls. It boggles my mind whenever someone writes to me or tells me to my face, that my daughter's healthcare is not a right. She worked her butt off for decades until MS ended her career. So what are we gonna do in this country? Put our aged on the sidewalks and set up cardboard housing for the dying? Let children starve?

      I suppose people can have whatever opinion they want on healthcare but please, let's not call the GOP "moral". That's like my ex telling me he was an honorable man while he was sleeping with another woman. He called himself 'honorable' to feel better about himself because he was doing very dishonorable things. Same with the GOP. The louder they pray in public, the more they claim to have spiritual values, the dirtier and more heartless their deeds.

      Ego defenses 101 should be a required course in high school. ;-P

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  3. Absolutely. I wish someone would take away his Twitter privileges. But, then again, wait, no, he just keeps making himself look like a bigger buffoon with his tweets. If he were a harmless buffoon, it would be one thing, but he's NOT a buffoon. He's a dangerous, smart man, guilty, I believe, of collusion and all sorts of other nasty goodies. The biggest thing he's guilty of is being a horrible human being. I worry about us as a society, a culture, in fact, I worry about the whole human race. Like you, k, I've thought about just not keeping informed, just, I don't know, going to bed for a good, long while and pulling the sheets over my head. Also, the feeling of impotence surrounding the whole 45-ness is painfully similar to the feeling of impotence I felt around the Ns in my life. Ain't fun.

    Mindfulness. The only thing I can come up with. Breathing in white smoke, breathing out black smoke. Making my own mind "bigger" in order to see what's what with 45 and life in general!

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    1. White smoke, black smoke...a little music and a lot of deep breaths. 45 has triggered trauma reactions in a lot of people. Even psychologists are reporting increased numbers of people with heightened anxiety, flashbacks, obtrusive thoughts and sleeplessness.

      Maybe people who haven't dealt with prior trauma are responding like Stockholm victims? I'm kinda joking about that last bit; kinda not. It's incredible what people don't see when there's an incentive for them not to. Identifying with a political group (tribalism) might be the incentive. Expecting people to turn on 45 is like asking them to punch themselves in the face. He represents "who they are" and so they defend him at all costs.

      I am a human speculator machine. ha! Always speculating "why" someone does what they do (and myself, too). What gets me about "many/not all" of 45's followers is their total (to which they are oblivious) hypocrisy. That's when you know you're treading in Ego DefenseVille with landmines buried everywhere.

      For people who grew up in an authoritarian environment, 45's presidency and his followers/tribe can bring back archaic feelings of helplessness, the overwhelming sense that there is nothing we can do: the apocalypse is inevitable. But children are powerless and we aren't as adults---a hard thing to remember when you wanna pull the covers over your head, a familiar urge for millions of frustrated people right now. It's hard to bear with the daily stress 45 creates and you gotta wonder if he's accustomed to wearing out and breaking down his critics. Like the abusive so many people have written about: the abuser persists because s/he knows we'll eventually relent just to end the misery. Right!?!

      I excerpted this quote from an article titled, Trauma Trauma is Real and Affecting Many : "Four decades of practice didn’t prepare psychologist Sam Menahem for the outpouring of grief he saw following Trump’s triumph, which affected patients more extremely than any other election he recalled. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Menahem told JTA, “never.”"

      My anxiety levels began to decrease after writing about 45. That's how I usually restore my balance--talking, writing and talking some more. My anger doesn't escalate when people are talking with me because "connections" are stabilizing and validating. When friends and family do not have the same concerns about 45 and believe he's a gift from God (insert rolling eyeballs here), anxiety skyrockets. People need to find outlets where their perceptions are validated by others. Knowing we are "not alone" puts iron in your blood and steel in your boots and after that, you can talk more rationally and honestly with people who disagree. Anyway, that's how it's been for me and it's why I wanted to open a discussion about 45.

      Nice to have both of you leave comments here. Thank you! It's not easy using blogger (I lost my prior comment---argh---and had to take my own advice and copy on a word doc before posting).

      Hugs,
      CZ

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  4. Oh, 45's question about is it legal for him to pardon himself ... Every day things just get stranger and stranger. I am on planet Earth, right? We're all still here, right? Are we sure we haven't entered some warped, twisty new dimension? Been sucked into a wormhole while we slept maybe?

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    1. Things seem very surreal, but on the other hand, I keep thinking that what I am seeing is pretty much what I expected to see from a narcissist. I stay away from the news for days at a time, but then take a peek to see how the train wreck is proceeding.

      Part of the train wreck is the Republicans themselves. They've painted themselves into a corner with what they've said and done the past 8 years and now appear to be in a situation where no matter what they do, somebody somewhere is going to be livid. It will be interesting to see if they can even manage to pass any major legislation. Meanwhile, 45 is either ranting on twitter or golfing.

      In some ways I think this is worse than the Nixon years. There is no leadership, it is like an anthill that got stomped on. I shudder to think of the damage that will be inflicted on our country for the rest of 45's term. I think its possible that he will actually serve the 4 years as no one in Congress seems to have it in them to start impeachment proceedings and as much as 45 apparently gets frustrated and mad, I think he likes all the attention and so he won't quit.

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    2. Yes, I agree. While it IS all surreal, anything goes when a Narcissist runs the show and we, survivors of Ns, know what that anything goes can encompass. Anything! And I think what we're seeing with the reign of the conservatives in Congress (and liberals who've lost their steel, maybe their integrity, many of them) is the cartoon-like actions of people without any sort of moral compass, any kind of true integrity, any real compassion for their constituents or human beings who aren't THEM, or who aren't writing checks or exerting their influence on these clowns' behalf to keep them in office or get them into office. I don't even see any real intelligence. It's like a free-for-all. I've always liked people like Joe Biden, or Jimmy Carter, or Elizabeth Warren. I'm a fan of Russ Feingold (actually met the man a couple of times when I was the director of a senior center for a year, also met Jimmy Carter when he was running for office way back when and nobody knew who he was) -- actually anyone who will admit when he or she is wrong (very unlike N behavior) and who aren't afraid to take responsibility for his or her actions (Would an N do that? Nah. Not unless it was expedient). I heard a talk radio show with Feingold years ago and he was lamenting the absolute lack of civility, courtesy, open, honest discussions between members of Congress, on the floor or in private. It's like a great dumbing down, mean-spirited mess has happened, only everyone LOOKS good in suits and acts important. Puffed up and full of narcissistic pride.

      Worse than the Nixon years? Yes, I believe so. And that was one hot MESS. And, yes, as long as there are legal loopholes everyone can jump through, I'm not sure impeachment may happen either. It's a strange time in history, that's for sure.

      Meantime, the people in this country, the people on this planet (political leadership in a lot of countries is some nasty business right now as well) and the planet itself are in real trouble. I've also been a fan of direct democracy in some form. And absolute restrictions on campaign funding. Everyone gets a grand or two to campaign with and that's IT. :) Buy some poster board, some sticks to stick the signs on, a few paint brushes and a bucket of paint. Let's see how you manage to win your votes that way!

      I think we may have reached the point of eating, sleeping, drinking, breathing in fear. Everyone's afraid and it sure shows. And, while Ns SEEM unafraid, they are the most fearful people I've ever met. Afraid someone's going to take that pin and pop the balloon that makes them up and watch it go sspppppfffffffftttttt all over the room until there's just a few pieces of latex left. 45's one of the biggest balloons yet.

      Meantime, people go hungry, are jobless, homeless, have complex mental and physical health issues that need treating, need a hell of a lot more access to competent education provided by competent educators, and a trillion-plus iceberg is now floating somewhere, far from the ice shelf it once was happily called home.

      And the 45 show goes on. Night and day.

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    3. I try not to live in fear, but it is hard not to. It does seem like a lot of people are feeling pretty fearful too. Except for those that believe all of the lies 45 tells. Something tells me that some of them will finally wake up, but it will be too late to do anything - or at least it will take a long time to repair the damage. And the damage may be huge.

      Now that the Senate is moving forward on health care, I wonder what kind of mess we'll end up with. The 'skinny reform' I heard about today will cause the insurance markets to destabilize - according to opinion pieces I read. I wish that they'd just start over and all work together, but I know that is a pipe dream. You are right, they are doing things for the people that donate the most money. Its sickening.

      I was thinking yesterday about the probable outcome of continuing to leave so many people behind when they've been promised the moon. I was wondering if people would get mad enough that we'd have our own version of the French Revolution. The behavior of the elite and ultra-rich just surprises me. Do they really think they can grab even more and not have to worry about folks taking up tar, feathers and pitchforks? Because it seems to me that the direction of the changes that are happening or being proposed is going to end up destabilizing our economy. Stupid. Stupid and short-sighted. All so 45 can have a 'win'.

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    4. Viva la French Revolution! I've wondered this as well. Are people reaching that point of, "Oh, hell, let's make a united move here. We're pretty disgusted by it all and things'll only get worse if we allow it to." The feeling of impotence has gotta go. It's an emotion I, personally, detest, because I've got that "fixer" mentality. Leads to frustration and that can be temporarily paralyzing. Yuck. And I don't like bullies, and we're surrounded by bullies, it seems. Had enough of them in my personal life, and, I hope, thinking people have had enough of them in their public, political and social spheres.

      Walked in the room and saw 45 during his law-and-order speech. First thing I said was, "God. He looks just like Hitler there." A haughty cock of the head, a loony narcissistic look in his small eyes, and an ugly sphinctered "O" for a mouth, spewing dangerous words. Frightened me for a moment. But what good is more fear?

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  5. I feel like sucking my thumb again. Where's my little blue blankie?

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  6. http://billmoyers.com/story/dangerous-case-donald-trump-robert-jay-lifton-bill-moyers-duty-warn/

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    1. Excerpted from Bill Moyer's interview with Robert Jay Lifton:

      "So people with what we call mental illness can indeed serve well, and people who have no discernible mental illness — and that may be true of Trump — may not be able to serve, may be quite unfit. So it isn’t always the question of a psychiatric diagnosis. It’s really a question of what psychological and other traits render one unfit or dangerous. And that’s what I call malignant normality. What we put forward as self-evident and normal may be deeply dangerous and destructive." ~The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump

      The book will be published October 03, 2017 (I've pre-ordered a copy!):

      The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump:27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President

      Thanks, Anonymous!

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    2. It looked like an interesting book. After I read the article, I thought maybe you'd like it (if you hadn't already seen it).

      I may want to read the book myself to see what else is in it.

      I wish more people were willing to listen to concerns about 45 rather than just keep saying to those of us who believe 45 is dangerous, "You're just mad you lost. You're a sore loser."

      Bluesky

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