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How scary is Donald Trump?
#21
Wide ranging article about what drives the man, and pretty scary too..

Quote:This week, in a volley of angry tweets, Donald Trump ridiculed the "badly defeated ... Dems,"claimed he "won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," and said anyone who burned the American flag shouldlose his or her citizenshipor spend a year in jail. Trump’s outbursts set off alarms. 

How could he believe such nonsense about voter fraud? Why would a man who had just been elected president gloat, threaten protesters, and insult half the country? What’s going on in his messed-up head?
Here's how to manipulate Trump - Business Insider
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#22
Pretty scary..

Quote:In December, three leading professors of psychiatry wrote to Barack Obama expressing their grave concerns over Trump's mental stability:

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,” the professors from Harvard Medical School and the University of California wrote to the then President, urging him to order a “full medical and neuropsychiatric evaluation” of the then President-elect.

Just after the election, a group called Citizen Therapists Against Trumpism was created, which was joined by thousands of psychologists. They published a manifesto warning of Trump’s psychosis, citing the following as the signs to fear:

“Scapegoating and banishing groups of people who are seen as threats, including immigrants and religious minorities; degrading, ridiculing, and demeaning rivals and critics; fostering a cult of the Strong Man who appeals to fear and anger; promises to solve our problems if we just trust in him; reinvents history and has little concern for truth (and) sees no need for rational persuasion.”

The American Psychiatry Association has a nine-point checklist for narcissism - if someone displays just five of the traits, they have Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
  1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognised as superior without commensurate achievements).
  2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
  3. Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).
  4. Requires excessive admiration.
  5. Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favourable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations.
  6. Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends.
  7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognise or identify with the feelings and needs of others.
  8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.
  9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes.
Even Trump’s most ardent supporters might struggle to deny the President displays at least five of those characteristics.
'Malignant narcisissm': Donald Trump displays classic traits of mental illness, claim psychologists | The Independent
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#23
Quote:Most Kremlinology isn’t very useful. My theory is that authoritarian demagogues are more alike than they are different. Most of them are narcissists. They are, at root, fearful, paranoid, and tribal, which drives the macho posturing and obsession with loyalty. They have a kind of animal cunning for how to manipulate people, dominate, and accrue power.

But for the most part they aren’t evil geniuses. (One of Russian journalist Masha Gessen’s recurring themes about Putin is what a “grey, ordinary man” he is.) Indeed, evil geniuses are pretty rare — or, to put it more precisely, narcissistic, paranoid tribalists are rarely geniuses, because genius requires a certain detached perspective, an ability to step outside oneself, which is precisely what narcissists lack..
Trump isn’t an evil genius - Vox
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#24
Making friends! All on the same day..

Quote:During a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Friday, US President Donald Trump disparaged Mexico and threatened to use military force against the drug trade, according to Dolia Estevez, a journalist based in Washington, DC. In an interview with the Mexican news outlet Aristegui Noticias, Estevez, who cited sources on both sides of the call, said, "It was a very offensive conversation where Trump humiliated Peña Nieto."
Trump lambastes Pena Nieto in 'humiliating,' 'threatening' phone call - Business Insider

Quote:U.S. President Donald Trump's call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday did not go well despite Australia being a close U.S. ally, according to a report from the Washington Post. U.S. officials told the Post that Trump informed Turnbull that he had conversed with other political leaders earlier in the day and that "This was the worst call by far." President Trump then terminated the call after a mere 25 minutes even though it had been scheduled for an hour, the Post stated.
Trump struggles to connect with Pacific ally Australia in call with PM Turnbull

So perhaps we should take heed of the following:

Quote:The former CIA director told the House Armed Services Committee that the post-World War II world order had begun to face an "unprecedented threat from multiple directions." "Americans should not take the current international order for granted," Petraeus said. "It did not will itself into existence. We created it. Likewise, it is not naturally self-sustaining. We have sustained it. If we stop doing so, it will fray and, eventually, collapse."
Gen. Petraeus warns world order could 'fray' and 'collapse' - Business Insider

And, of course, who is going to benefit? Three guesses:

Quote:Petraeus also warned about how he believed the collapse of institutions like the NATO military alliance and the European Union could play into Russian President Vladimir Putin's hand. "President Putin, for instance, understands that, while conventional aggression may occasionally enable Russia to grab a bit of land on its periphery, the real center of gravity is the political will of major democratic powers to defend Euro-Atlantic institutions like NATO and the EU," he said. "That is why Russia is tenaciously working to sow doubt about the legitimacy of these institutions and our entire democratic way of life." Trump made waves in January by repeating his assertions that NATO was "obsolete" and remarking that the EU's future didn't matter much to the US.
Gen. Petraeus warns world order could 'fray' and 'collapse' - Business Insider
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#25
Very scary

Quote:Recently, however, a small but growing number of mental health professionals have been willing to stick their necks out to shrink the head of the 45th president; just last week, representatives from a coalition of 800 mental health professionals met at Yale Medical School to discuss what they call their “duty to warn” the public about Trump’s behavior. For the sake of the country, these and other professionals believe it’s time for a psychological diagnosis of Trump, [b]to provide an explanation for, among other things, the bizarre Twitter rants, peddling of easily provable lies, head-spinning policy reversals, incoherent interview answers and unhinged attacks on his perceived enemies.

Let us stipulate that it is not known for a fact that Trump has any kind of psychiatric diagnosis. Let us also stipulate that, to many observers, the most powerful man in the world displays many of the definitional traits of one disorder in particular: Narcissistic Personality Disorder, characterized by behavior that is impulsive, dramatic and erratic. According to the Mayo Clinic, people with NPD “come across as conceited, boastful or pretentious,” require “constant admiration” and belittle people they “perceive as inferior.” This grandiose, bullying shell hides profound insecurity, so “anything that may be perceived as criticism” can provoke “rage or contempt.”

[/b]
John Gartner, a psychologist practicing in Maryland and New York who previously taught at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, is among the latter. He started a petition right after the inauguration calling for mental health professionals to declare that Trump should be removed from office under the 25th Amendment on the grounds of mental illness. Gartner believes Trump suffers from a form of narcissism so extreme that it is “malignant narcissism,” a venerable but unofficial diagnosis that adds the callous, conscienceless traits of the psychopath to the mix. Trump’s apparent disorder can’t be cured, or even really contained, Gartner says. “He has one mode: attack.

Some degree of narcissism is necessary to be an effective person. It provides the conviction that we matter and the drive for accomplishment and recognition. But for people with NPD, the need for praise and acknowledgment to prove they are uniquely superior is consuming. Gartner suggests that staffers can channel their boss’ narcissistic predilections toward more productive ends by framing policy as a way of “winning”—a Trump obsession. Given the administration’s fumbling of the Obamacare repeal and the travel ban, Gartner says, “Trump has started to realize when he listens to more reasonable people, he’s more likely to win.”
How to Deal With the Narcissist in the White House - POLITICO Magazine

Nauseating stuff.
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#26
Here is Krugman:


Quote:Item: Trump demanded loyalty — not to his office, but to the person of the president — from James Comey.
Item: Trump admitted on live TV that he fired Comey to stop the ongoing investigation into Russia’s connections with his campaign.
Item: a woman was arrested for laughing at a Trump administration official.
Item: Another Trump official has commended police for arresting a reporter who shouted questions at him.

Item: Republicans in Congress show absolutely no inclination to do anything about any of this.

So, has America already become an authoritarian regime where law enforcement serves the supreme leader, not the Constitution, where questioning or even ridiculing the regime’s officials has become a crime, and in which the legislature is just a rubber-stamping operation?
We don’t know the answer yet; we’ll have to see how things unfold in the next few weeks. But future historians may well record that American democracy died in May 2017.
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#27
And how about this..

Quote:Trump tweeted: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” The tweet, which if taken at face value would suggest Trump has been secretly taping White House meetings, came after the New York Times reported that he demanded “loyalty” from Comey in a private dinner held shortly after Trump took office.
Trump threatens ex-FBI head Comey with possible 'tapes' of conversations | US news | The Guardian
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#28
Trump the autocrat lover..

Quote:But his glad-handing approach to Saudi Arabia is about more than just money. Trump is very much at home with autocrats, who, unlike democratic leaders, aren’t constrained by popular opinion and the rule of law. This explains why, in a phone call last month, Trump praised Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s murderous drug war and even revealed the secret location of two U.S. nuclear submarines.

Trump had a similarly amiable conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, when they discussed bombing Syria while they ate what Trump called “the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you have ever seen.” As described by Trump, the conversation with Xi feels like a gangster move: two stone-cold killers casually talking about distant violence over a good meal.

The evident pleasure Trump takes from the company of men like Salman, Duterte and Xi has deep roots. Trump has a decades-long history of praising dictators, seeing them as tough, can-do leaders who can effect real change. Since becoming president, Trump has discovered that the power of the office is constrained by the Constitution and popular opposition. Suffering setbacks, like having his immigration order stayed by the courts, seems to have only increased Trump’s fondness for leaders who enjoy unchecked power. In talking to a Duterte, Trump can enjoy vicariously the fantasy of absolute power.
Why Trump Is a Salesman With Autocrats and a Slumlord With Allies | New Republic
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#29
Very scary, the Infowars candidate..


Quote:For years, Jones, through a radio show and his Infowars website, has been the king of conspiracy theory media, pushing a host of outlandish and ludicrous stories. He and his website have claimed that the Bush-Cheney administration was in on the 9/11 attacks and that the US government has covertly orchestrated or faked a variety of violent episodes—Sandy Hook, the Columbine shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Boston Marathon attack—as part of an ongoing (and bipartisan!) plot to expand its power and enact gun safety laws. Infowars asserts that “chemtrail” emissions from aircraft are part of a clandestine scheme to poison humans or cause extreme weather. Jones says a secretive global elite has a clandestine plan to kill off or enslave most of the planet’s population. He has claimed the government is inserting chemicals into people—via juice boxes!—to make children gay. His conspiracy-peddling, while profitable for him, has caused pain and danger. Infowars promoted the ridiculous Pizzagate theory—that Hillary Clinton and other top Democrats were running a child sex ring in the basement of a certain Washington, DC, pizzeria—and a gunman showed up at the restaurant and fired off shots when customers, including children, were present. (Jones eventually and uncharacteristically apologized for his role in Pizzagate.)

Jones should be derided and dismissed as a bombastic sideshow scammer who makes a living selling fake news to the gullible. During a recent custody battle with his ex-wife, Jones’ own legal team referred to him as a “performance artist” who was “playing a character,” suggesting Jones didn’t believe the guff he was pitching. (A day later, Jones said this characterization was false and his lawyers had been misinterpreted by the media.)

But what renders Jones a serious subject is that Trump has made common cause with him. That’s a connection worthy of much more media notice than it has garnered because of what it says about the judgment of the man who now lives in the White House. 
During his presidential campaign, Trump forged a bond with Jones. In a way, that was inevitable. Trump first became a conservative darling by pressing the Obama-was-born-in-Kenya conspiracy theory. And throughout the campaign and afterward, he has shown a bent for conspiratorial and paranoid thinking. He hinted there was something odd about the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He suggested that terrorist attacks in the United States were not being stopped because President Barack Obama had ties with or affection for the evildoers. Trump maintained Ted Cruz’s dad was part of the JFK assassination conspiracy. (More recently, Trump tweeted that he had been wiretapped by Obama.)
Trump told Jones, “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.”

As a candidate, Trump ran into the arms of Jones. In December 2015, he appeared on Jones’ talk show. That in and of itself was telling: a candidate from a major party venturing into this netherworld of paranoia and conspiracy. (Ron and Rand Paul were the only other prominent politicians in recent years to appear with Jones.) During the show, Jones praised Trump for being a modern-day George Washington who could save this nation before it collapses. He beseeched Trump to stay in the race and resist pressure from dark globalist forces opposed to his candidacy. Trump took the opportunity to brag that he had brilliantly foreseen the threat posed by Osama bin Laden years before anyone else. (Trump had not.) Jones cheered on the tycoon and said Trump’s campaign was “epic.” As the segment came to a close, Trump told Jones, “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.” 

That was a stunning moment. A candidate seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination was hailing a man who claimed the last Republican president was part of a cabal that staged 9/11 (or purposefully allowed it to happen). 

That was not the only Trump-Jones link during the campaign. Roger Stone, a self-proclaimed dirty trickster, longtime Trump adviser, and JFK assassination conspiracy theorist (who wrote a book saying LBJ killed Kennedy), often appeared on Infowars to tout Trump. And Trump tried to bolster his claim that Mexico was sending killers and rapists into the United States with an Infowars video he had seen on the Drudge Report.

At the GOP convention in Cleveland in July, Jones was the featured speaker at a pro-Trump rally organized by Stone.  (To be fair, I should note that at that rally, Jones picked me out of the crowd of reporters to denounce me as a representative of the “dinosaur” media.) And while in Cleveland, Jones attended the Republican proceedings as a “special guest.” (That’s what his credential said.) He and Stone also promoted “Hillary for Prison” T-shirts, which championed a message in sync with the “lock her up” chants inside the convention hall.

How deep Jones’ relationship with Trump goes is a vital question. Stone has claimed on Infowars that he set up Trump and Jones, the two “hit it off,” and Trump has “watched Infowars.” And during the campaign, Jones said he “personally talked to” Trump and encouraged him to claim the election was being rigged. On another occasion, Jones said Trump had told him that Jones had “one of the greatest influences I’ve ever seen…It’s greater than you know. Just know that your influence is second to none.” In a February 8, 2016, interview with Infowars, Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller hailed Jones and Infowarsfor having “been on top of…the immigration issue” and called on Jones’ audience to support Trump. 
Media Matters, a liberal outfit, has pointed out that Trump has often aped Infowars material:
Quote:Trump has repeated Jones’ claims that President Obama and Hillary Clinton are the founders of ISIS; that Muslims were celebrating in New Jersey after the 9/11 attacks; and that the 2016 election would be “rigged” against him. Following his election, Trump also adopted the false claim promoted by Jones that “millions of people” “voted illegally” in the presidential election. Trump’s regular echoing of his rhetoric caused Jones to remark in August that it’s “surreal to talk about issues here on air and then word for word hear Trump say it two days later. It is amazing.”

Here was another example of a Trump-Jones mashup: At a rally in August, Trump said Clinton “took a little short-circuit in the brain—she’s got problems.” He added, “Honestly, I don’t think she’s all there.” A few days earlier Infowars had published a video, The Truth About Hillary’s Bizarre Behavior, that asked, “Is Hillary on the verge of a mental breakdown due to stress, or are her strange outbursts linked to a medical condition?” At other points, Trump campaign aides and Donald Trump Jr. tweeted out Infowars stories. The eldest Trump son spread an Infowars article claiming that Clinton had worn an earpiece during one of the presidential debates. Trump was undoubtedly the Infowars candidate. 

After the election, Jones told his audience that Trump had called to thank him: Trump “gave me a call, and I told him, ‘Mr. President-elect, you’re too busy, we don’t need to talk.’ But we still spent over five minutes—he said, ‘Listen, Alex, I just talked to the kings and queens of the world—world leaders, you name it.’ But he said, ‘It doesn’t matter, I wanted to talk to you to thank your audience.” And Stone told the Washington Post that Jones would play an important outside role in the Trump presidency:  “He’s a valuable asset—somebody has to rally the people around President Trump’s legislative program.”
Here’s the Alex Jones Story Megyn Kelly and Other Reporters Should Probe – Mother Jones
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#30
If true, this is alarming.. Starting trade wars because it excites his die-hard supporters?? WTF?


Quote:President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a move that would most likely ignite a major international trade conflict with some of the biggest economies in the world.

According to Jonathan Swan and Mike Allen of the news website Axios, Trump and top administration officials discussed imposing tariffs on major exporters of steel and other goods during a meeting Thursday at the White House. The tax on imported goods could be about 20%, according to Axios, and may be expanded to goods like paper, semiconductors, aluminum, and large household appliances.

While the intent is to penalize China, a goal of Trump’s dating back to the campaign, officials informed Trump that the tariff would most likely affect other major allies of the US including Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the UK.

The plan is backed by what Axios described as the "America First" wing of the White House including chief strategist Steve Bannon, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, trade adviser Peter Navarro, and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller.

During the meeting, according to Axios, Trump was told by "over 75%" of the people in attendance that the tariffs were a bad idea but remained in support of the idea because it would excite his die-hard supporters.

Most economists agree that tariffs of the type Trump is considering would set off a major trade war and have devastating economic consequences. There is also a good chance that the move would result in a US recession.
Trump steel tariff, trade war with China, Germany, Canada - Business Insider
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