Resource Page: Is Trump Mentally ill; or is he "just" a Narcissist?

"It's an insult to people who have real mental illness to be lumped with Trump. Most people with mental illness are well-meaning, well-mannered and well-behaved. And Trump is none of these. Trump is bad, not mad. And when bad people are labelled mentally ill, it stigmatizes mental illness." ~ Dr. Allen Frances

Introductory Article:

Assumptions: a Confessional and a Resource Page



Disorder or Politics?

Distinctions between Normal and Pathological Narcissism

Craig Malkin. A Psychiatrist's Open Letter to U.S. Voters September 2015 Huffington Post

"Being a narcissist is not a diagnosis. It never has been. Narcissists are people higher in narcissistic traits than the average person, and while they may or may not be disordered, they all share one thing in common: They feel special. Some feel special enough to lead a nation, in fact. What we should be far more concerned about is not whether politicians are narcissists—most are—but how healthy they are." 

(This is normal "trait" narcissism)

Brian Resnik. The psychiatrist who says diagnosing Trump is “bullshit”  February 2017 Vox 

"People who have a true narcissistic personality disorder [NPD], Allen Frances explains, experience a crash of some sort, even if they can’t see it for themselves. They’ll lose their jobs, their spouses and children will abandon them, and their “bubble of grandiosity [will] burst,” he says. “They feel absolutely miserable, can’t function, can’t face the world.”  

Craig Malkin. Patient-in-Chief February 2017 HuffPost 

"Diagnosing NPD is complicated, but the core of the disorder comprises what I call triple E: exploitation, callously using others to maintain a special status; entitlement, acting as if the world should bend to one’s will; and finally empathy-impairment, where the drive to feel special blinds people to the pain and suffering of others. More troubling, because they desperately need to feel special, people with NPD can become psychotic. 

If Trump has NPD, the whole country should be alarmed. Because for people with NPD, feeling special eclipses all other considerations, including dealing with the world as it is rather than what they need it to be." 

(This is pathological narcissism. NPD is a mental illness)

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"America was unprepared for the startling, disarming force of Trump’s tornadic personality, and equally unprepared to understand the central role of his shamelessness in explaining it. Consequently, his shamelessness has been variously misunderstood, rationalized, minimized, ignored, excused and enabled time and again." ~Steve Becker 

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Malignant Narcissism: NPD + Psychopathy



Hello Clinical World? Where are you? The Shameful Silence on Donald Trump

"Where, then, has the voice of the clinical world been—to offer the necessary, sufficient, and only responsible “explanation” of Donald Trump? To explain that this is what malignant narcissists, what psychopaths are; this is how they behave? This is what, and who, Trump is. This explains Trump. That voice has been silent. Missing. Cowering behind “ethical codes” in an abject abdication of ethics." ~Steven Becker, February 2017

Statement by

 The American Psychological Association (APA)

August 2016

The Goldwater Rule: Why Breaking it is Unethical and Irresponsible

The Goldwater Rule: "On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself/herself through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his or her expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement.”

Opposition To The APA

Jon Sharman. US psychiatrists 'fear reprisals if they speak out' on Donald Trump's mental health April 2017. The Independent

"Psychiatrists are afraid they will be sued or reported to professional regulators if they say Mr. Trump is suffering a mental illness, Dr. John Gartner told The Independent, adding he had received “a lot of very crude hate mail” after speaking out...some colleagues are worried about being sued. Complaints could be made against their licence. There's a fear of it. Losing your licence is the worst thing that could happen to you. It's enough to make many back off.”

"I think history will judge the position of the APA very harshly." ~Dr. James Gartner

Statements, Manifestos and Letters

by Psychologists 

Richard Greene. Is Donald Trump Mentally Ill? December 2016 Huffington Post

"Dear President Obama: We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the mental stability of our President-Elect. Professional standards do not permit us to venture a diagnosis for a public figure whom we have not evaluated personally. Nevertheless, his widely reported symptoms of mental instability — including grandiosity, impulsivity, hypersensitivity to slights or criticism, and an apparent inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality — lead us to question his fitness for the immense responsibilities of the office. We strongly recommend that, in preparation for assuming these responsibilities, he receive a full medical and neuropsychiatric evaluation by an impartial team of investigators." signed by Judith Herman, M.D. Nanette Gartrell, M.D. and Dee Mosbacher, M.D., Ph.D.

Gail Sheehy. Psychologists Cite Their "Duty To Warn" about an Unfit President April 2017

"Dr. Bandy X. Lee, a diminutive Yale psychiatry professor who organized the meeting, puts it this way: “The Goldwater Rule is not absolute. We have a ‘Duty to Warn,’ about a leader who is dangerous to the health and security of our patients.” She has formed a coalition by that name, and it now comprises almost 800 mental-health professionals who are “sufficiently alarmed that they feel the need to speak up about the mental-health status of the president.”  

Hal Brown. Transcript: Gartner’s Yale "Duty to Warn" Conference  April 2017 DailyKos

"Duty to Warn: "...a patient told his psychologist he was planning to kill his girlfriend, and the doctor, citing confidentiality, failed to warn the potential victim before she was murdered. As a result, the duty to warn is law in 33 states, and enshrined in the ethical code of every mental health profession. But if we have a legal and ethical duty to warn one potential victim, how much greater must our ethical burden be if there are millions of potential victims?"  

Dr. John Gartner. Mental Health Professionals Declare Trump is Mentally Ill And Must Be Removed  Change.org

"We, the undersigned mental health professionals (please state your degree), believe in our professional judgment that Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States. And we respectfully request he be removed from office, according to article 4 of the 25th amendment to the Constitution, which states that the president will be replaced if he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”"

(There are currently over 50,000 signatures.)

Joshunda Sanders interviews Dr. Gartner who said: "We don’t really expect that [Trump]’ll be removed by his cabinet under the 25th amendment...We have a duty to warn the public about the danger that Donald Trump’s mental health poses to the world. We don’t have the answer. We do feel a professional obligation to be witnesses...Our duty to warn is more important than the Goldwater Rule..."

William Doherty. A Public Manifesto: Citizen Therapists Against 'Trumpism' August 2016

"The effects of 'Trumpism': 1) Fear and alienation among scapegoated groups, beginning with Latino immigrants and Muslims, and then other groups who become identified as threats; 2) Exaggerated masculinity as a cultural ideal, with particular influence on young people and economically insecure men; 3) Coarsening of public life by personal attacks on those who disagree; 4) Erosion of the American democratic tradition which has emphasized the agency of we-the-people instead of the Strong Man tradition of power..."

Allen Frances. Letter To the Editor: An Eminent Psychiatrist Demurs on Trump’s Mental State February 2017 The New York Times 

"I wrote the criteria that define this disorder [NPD], and Mr. Trump doesn’t meet them. He may be a world-class narcissist, but this doesn’t make him mentally ill, because he does not suffer from the distress and impairment required to diagnose mental disorder. Mr. Trump causes severe distress rather than experiencing it and has been richly rewarded, rather than punished, for his grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of empathy."  

The DEBATE 

Sally Satel. It's Okay to Speculate About Trump's Mental Health October 2016 Slate 

"the assessment of mental disorders changed to a more objective system of taxonomy in 1980 with the publication of the DSM-III. A number of diagnoses are now made largely on a person’s observable behavior or what can reasonably be inferred from it. So it is now possible to make a psychological assessment from afar. The question remains of whether it is appropriate."  

Benedict Carey. Is It Fair to Analyze Trump From Afar? August 2016 The NewYorkTimes

"But those using clinical language to describe Mr. Trump’s behavior contend that this presidential election is vastly different, for a big reason: The proliferation of social media comments and video clips, which afford direct, unscripted access to candidates, was simply not available in previous races. The depth of that material creates a public persona complete enough to analyze on its own merits, they say."  

PT Staff. Shrinks Battle Over Diagnosing Donald Trump January 2017 Psychology Today

"Gartner argues that the mental health community has an obligation to protect the public that overrides the Goldwater Rule, and that even in the short time since the inauguration, Trump has proved himself “a clear and present danger.” [NPD] What’s more, he believes the Goldwater Rule is no longer relevant because it was established before the DSM made diagnosis behaviorally based. “We don’t need to interview Donald Trump to get reliable information. We have a lot of data based on his actions. The DSM is not a hard book to read. Trump’s lying has been documented publicly in The New York Times.”  

PT Staff. Shrinks Battle Over Diagnosing Donald Trump January 2017 Psychology Today 

"Calling Gartner’s petition “a temper tantrum,” Berglas insists that keeping out terrorists the wrong way does not warrant calling Trump mentally ill. And the fact that Donald Trump mocked a reporter is deplorable but doesn’t mean he’ll be faster to press the nuclear button. “Donald Trump is a thoroughly inadequate human being,” Berglas insists. “That is a matter of relevance to the electorate. Why isn’t honesty important to voters?”   

Mary Sword and Philip Zimbardo. The Elephant In The Room. February 2017 Psychology Today

"Through our observations, we can see Trump as embodying an unconstrained present hedonist—living only in the present moment and saying whatever it takes to pump up his ego and assuage his inherent low self-esteem, without thought of past reality or potentially devastating future consequences. He is the poster boy for a time perspective that is totally unbalanced. Unfortunately, given his personality type, there is little hope of reversal or any meaningful improvement."   

Kelly Hayes. Don't Call Trump Crazy: The Dangers of Pathologizing Bad Politics February 2017 Truthout 

"Some have even argued that it's "okay" to assess a public figure's mental health from a distance, despite longstanding psychiatric standards that prohibit such speculative diagnoses. The ethics that prohibit such diagnoses have, however, had little effect on public narratives that depict Trump as being "insane."  

Steven Resiner. Stop Saying Donald Trump Is Mentally Ill March 2015 Slate

"Trump is evidently not suffering and he cannot be said to be impaired. We may not like his leadership style, but his personality seems mainly to have been an asset for him in the worlds of real estate and politics...By the sheer force of his personality, power, bullying tendencies, and money, Trump can bend reality to his perspective, which he does using a simple technique: He simply shifts the evidence for what is real from facts to feelings.

"Our efforts have to be aimed not at diagnosing Trump, but at stopping 'Trumpism'. To call it madness is to try and bring it into the realm of the familiar and to miss the real threat that Trump embodies: He thrives in turmoil, he has an uncanny ability to bend the world to his reality, he is charismatic and ruthless, hypnotic and terrifying, and we, in this country, have rarely seen his like before. To fight 'Trumpism', we must actively expose and combat the overpowering reality he is trying to create—and we must abandon the comforting delusion that Trump is delusional."  

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Image from RollingStone.com

Trump and the Pathology of Narcissism 

by Alex Morris  

April 2017 Rolling Stone

"Trump's childhood seems to suggest a history of "pedestal" parenting. "You are a king," Fred Trump told his middle child, while also teaching him that the world was an unforgiving place and that it was important to "be a killer." Trump apparently got the message: He reportedly threw rocks at a neighbor's baby and bragged about punching a music teacher in the face. Other kids from his well-heeled Queens neighborhood of Jamaica Estates were forbidden from playing with him, and in school he got detention so often that it was nicknamed "DT," for "Donny Trump." When his father found his collection of switchblades, he sent Donald upstate to New York Military Academy, where he could be controlled while also remaining aggressively alpha male."

"I think his father would have fit the category [of narcissistic]," says Michael D'Antonio, author of The Truth About Trump. "I think his mother probably would have. And I even think his paternal grandfather did as well. These are very driven, very ambitious people."

More Observations and Opinions

Susan Milligan. Tempermental Tantrum January 2017 US News and World Report

"Lawmakers and experts say they are troubled by Trump's extraordinary focus on his own brand and popularity, including frequent and angry insistences that his crowds are bigger and more enthusiastic than anyone else's and that, despite official vote counts to the contrary, he really won the popular vote for president." 

Samantha Kilgore. 600 Hours of Trump Footage March 2016 

"Sam Vaknin, a mental health expert and author, has studied over 600 hours of Donald Trump footage and made the harsh conclusion that Donald Trump is not simply a classic narcissist — he is, in fact, a “malignant and, probably, psychopathic narcissist." 

Dan P. McAdams. The Mind of Donald Trump June 2016 The Atlantic

"In the realm of politics, psychologists have recently demonstrated how fundamental features of human personality—such as extroversion and narcissism—shaped the distinctive leadership styles of past U. S. presidents, and the decisions they made... In this essay, I will seek to uncover the key dispositions, cognitive styles, motivations, and self-conceptions that together comprise his unique psychological makeup."  

Henry Alford. Is Donald Trump Actually a Narcissist? Therapists Weigh In!  November 2015 Vanity Fair

“Remarkably narcissistic,” said developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education. “Textbook narcissistic personality disorder,” echoed clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis. He’s so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there’s no better example of his characteristics,” said clinical psychologist George Simon, who conducts lectures and seminars on manipulative behavior. “Otherwise, I would have had to hire actors and write vignettes. He’s like a dream come true.” 

“[Trump is] the very definition of the American success story, continually setting the standards of excellence”—to this mind-set, Trump may be a kind of bellwether. Gardner said, “For me, the compelling question is the psychological state of his supporters. They are unable or unwilling to make a connection between the challenges faced by any president and the knowledge and behavior of Donald Trump. In a democracy, that is disastrous.” 

Steve Becker.  Donald Trump, the Psychopathic President April 2017

"The “strength” and “balls” Trump projected throughout his campaign to mesmerizing effect—really, his compulsive transgressing of social decency and norms—derived not from true strength and courage, but a childish, fixated, immature, pathological shamelessness that left, and leaves him, free to shock, test, toy, provoke, manipulate, lie, blame and attack with self-impunity."

Seth Davin Norrholm. The Ethical Challenge of Discussing a President Who Appears Cognitively Compromised. April 2017 The Huffington Post

"I tend to believe that we are seeing a confluence of co-morbid neuropsychiatric clinical presentations. Outside of a comprehensive evaluation, there is no way to further nail this down clinically. What can no longer be debated is the lack of fitness for duty of this President (setting aside apparent Russian collusion and/or treason as well as continued violations of the Emoluments Clause of U.S. Constitution), and the urgent need for action on behalf of concerned citizens here and worldwide. " 

 Allen Frances. Trump Isn’t Crazy; We Are For Electing Him February 2017 Huffington Post

"Trump isn’t crazy, but our society certainly is for electing someone so manifestly unfit and unprepared to be responsible for mankind’s future."

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Coping As Citizens: The Fall-Out

Hannah Thomas-Peter. How 'The Trump Effect' is transforming the US November 2016 SkyNews

"The SPLC has been tracking a spike in hate activity and crime. The director of the group's Hate Watch programme said that Mr Trump had done more to energise and embolden hate groups than any politician in modern American history." (+ videos)

Agnieszka Golec de Zavala. Welcome to the Age of Collective Narcissism January 2017

"Perhaps being involved in democratic processes and institutions can equip collective narcissists with more constructive and less parochial ways of connecting to others. To discourage further escalation of inter-group animosities, we need to understand collective narcissists better as it’s clear they are not going away."    

Maria Konnikova. Trump's Lies versus Your Brain January 2017 Politico

"What happens when a lie hits your brain? The now-standard model was first proposed by Harvard University psychologist Daniel Gilbert more than 20 years ago. Gilbert argues that people see the world in two steps. First, even just briefly, we hold the lie as true: We must accept something in order to understand it. For instance, if someone were to tell us—hypothetically, of course—that there had been serious voter fraud in Virginia during the presidential election, we must for a fraction of a second accept that fraud did, in fact, take place. Only then do we take the second step, either completing the mental certification process (yes, fraud!) or rejecting it (what? no way).  

"Unfortunately, while the first step is a natural part of thinking—it happens automatically and effortlessly—the second step can be easily disrupted. It takes work: We must actively choose to accept or reject each statement we hear. In certain circumstances, that verification simply fails to take place. As Gilbert writes, human minds, “when faced with shortages of time, energy, or conclusive evidence, may fail to unaccept the ideas that they involuntarily accept during comprehension.”  

George Lakoff. Video: How Talking About Trump Makes him Normal In Your Brain December 2016 (12 minute audio)

"...the very fundamentals of journalism should be redefined in order to stave off normalizing Trump. Lakoff and Brooke discuss the unconscious effects that Trump’s language, image, and name have on the brain."

Normalize This! (50 Minute audio)

"we ask the AP, Univision, NPR, USA Today, and other news outlets about how they are defining a relationship with a president-elect who flouts traditional rules, spreads misinformation, and criticizes the press. Then we turn to language. Listeners help us highlight moments in media coverage that obscure the truth, and journalist Masha Gessen warns of the "impulse to normalize." Plus, linguist John McWhorter describes the phenomenon of partisan words, and cognitive scientist George Lakoff argues that the principles of journalism need to be redefined... because of how our brains work."

Joseph Burgo. The Populist Appeal of Trump's Narcissism. August 2015 Psychology Today

"Extreme Narcissists like Donald Trump rely on a characteristic set of defenses to evade painful truths about themselves and to shore up that inflated sense of self:  righteous indignation, blame, and contempt. For voters who may feel small and helpless in the face of rapid change, who are worried about their economic future and social standing, or frightened by a complex world beset by seemingly intractable problems, Trump models a simplistic way to vanquish self-doubt and defend oneself against existential anxiety...When he enlists those traits in the service of a populist message, the Extreme Narcissist models for anxious voters a way to dispatch their own fears and uncertainties." 

Steven Stosney. How to Cope with Trump Anxiety April 2017 Psychology Today

"Our current environment, amplified by 24-hour news outlets and social media, has created a level of stress, nervousness, and resentment that has intruded into many people’s lives and intimate relationships, the likes of which I’ve not seen in nearly 30 years of clinical work..." 

Seth Davin Norrholm. How the Trump Administration is Screwing with our Fear Circuits April 2017. The Huffington Post

"The result of the conflicting morass of information from which we are bombarded leaves us in a potentially distressing position that can include feelings of increased vulnerability, confusion, and unpredictability." 

Teaching the 2016 Election: The Trump Effect (pdf download)

"More than two-thirds of the teachers reported that students—mainly immigrants, children of immigrants and Muslims—have expressed concerns or fears about what might happen to them or their families after the election. More than half have seen an increase in uncivil political discourse. More than one-third have observed an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment. More than 40 percent are hesitant to teach about the election." 

Jon Sharman. Donald Trump behaviour ‘showing a lot of signs’ of dangerous mental illness April 2017 The Independent

“Most of my patients are violent offenders. I’ve been treating them and designing programmes for them for over 20 years. Since the morning after Mr Trump’s election, there has been a marked surge in violence among my patients. They find justification for their violence in the rhetoric. Asked whether she had similar fears under Barack Obama’s presidency, she said: “No. None of us had this level of concern.” ~Dr. Brandy Lee

David Scharfenberg. Make Narcissism Great Again March 2017 Boston Globe

"[Trump's] appeal is immense,” says Elizabeth Lunbeck, who is now working on a book about narcissism in the age of Trump. “And people have not come to terms with that.”

“George,” a Wilkes-Barre, Pa., resident voted for Trump. Attending a Trump rally, he told her, was the most fun he’d had in years. “Trump would say, ‘What am I going to build?’ And we would scream, ‘A wall!’ He would say, ‘And who is going to pay for it?’ We yelled back, ‘Mexico!’ . . . We know that he’s not actually going to get Mexico to pay for it, but it was fun to lighten up, to cheer along with everyone else, just like back in high school, when we would cheer that our teams were definitely going to win, even when they were bad.”

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"Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite."

"Every nation gets the government it deserves." ~Joseph de Maistre

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But remember, Fellow Learners :

We were made for these times

by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

"The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement." ~Clarissa Pinkola Estes

 RESOURCES 

Book: Drew Pinsky and Mark Young. 2009  The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Endangering Our Families--and How to Save Them

The Mirror Effect involves a certain progression of steps: (1)The viewer consumes a consistent diet of images of celebrities behaving in attention-getting, narcissistic ways, images that make the behavior appear both entertaining and attractive; (2) The viewer develops a preoccupation with these images, to the point that the behavior begins to seem normal, even desirable; (3) consciously or unconsciously, the viewer begins to adopt the behavior, with detrimental or even dangerous consequences. Thought it's not a necessary step, the cycle is completed if; (4) the viewer then takes advantage of open-access media to indulge his own narcissistic urges, reflecting the behavior back to the public at large." (pages 136-137)

Book: Steven Buser, Leonard Cruz, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Nancy Swift Furlotti. 2016 A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of President Trump (Amazon Link)

"The narcissist often demands that the world conform to their image in order to sustain unending adulation and praise. They are capable of viscous and cold-hearted retaliation when their image is impugned. Narcissism demands to be mirrored and refuses to be challenged...President Trump’s supporters as well as his detractors may be left asking how narcissistic traits manifest in someone who becomes President of the United States of America. The contributors share a hope that these essays will become a mirror for the reader and for a nation called to examine itself.”   

Book: Jonathan Haidt.  reprint 2013 The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

"As America descends deeper into polarization and paralysis, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has done the seemingly impossible—challenged conventional thinking about morality, politics, and religion in a way that speaks to everyone on the political spectrum. Drawing on his twenty-five years of groundbreaking research on moral psychology, he shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns."

Article: George Lakoff. Understanding Trump 2016

"The conservative and progressive worldviews dividing our country can most readily be understood in terms of moral worldviews that are encapsulated in two very different common forms of family life: The Nurturant Parent family (progressive) and the Strict Father family (conservative)."

Emily Yoffe. How to Deal with a Narcissist in the White House April 2017 Politico 

"All the mental health professionals I spoke with warned that it is essential for people working for someone with a severe personality disorder to keep one’s own psychological distance and moral compass—and always have an exit strategy. In trying to please such a boss, it is easy to get swept up into his distorted worldview, with potentially disastrous professional and personal consequences." 

Article: Karen Wehrstein. Here's What's Psychologically Wrong with Trump January 2017 Daily Kos 

"I am not a psychiatrist or psychologist, but for personal reasons I have educated myself about NPD...Knowing NPD creates a coherent picture that explains Trump’s behaviors. That will help you not only understand Trump, but enable you to spot people with NPD who want to enter your life, organization, etc., so that you can act accordingly. This is an educational moment in history.  It is very rare that the symptoms of NPD are on such massive public display." 

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And now for a Bedtime Story 
(that'll give ya nightmares in the Age of Trumpism)

"An old chief was teaching his grandson about life. He said, “A fight is going on inside me, a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil---he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”

He continued, “The same fight is going on inside you, and inside everybody else in the world.”

At last, when the grandson asked which wolf would win, the old chief answered, “The one you feed.”~ Justin Frank 

Introductory Article: Assumptions: A Confessional and a Resource Page

Note: This Resource Page was originally published on April 29th, 2017.