By Kiel Majewski
Donald Trump's reaction to the Khan family's criticism illustrates one of the most important aspects of Trump's campaign: His mental illness. I want to talk about this as sensitively as I can because I do not want to dehumanize people who have mental health challenges. A lot more people struggle with mental health than we acknowledge. Our failure to recognize the personality disorder Trump is broadcasting to us is an indicator of our lack of support for and understanding of mental health.
(Note: I'm not an expert in psychology, so this is just speculation. Plenty of other folks know what they're talking about in this regard and we need to listen to them. One example is my friend Barbara English, founder of the organization called Living Ubuntu. Others - please feel free to enlighten me via the comments section.)
Trump showed a breathtaking lack of empathy in reacting with anything but honor toward the Khan family. This type of altercation was never even a thought in anyone’s mind before it happened. It’s something we’ve never faced in public discourse. But for Donald Trump, this campaign is an existential crisis in which he must prove his own worth, rightness, and superiority. He cannot afford to be wrong, because he perceives his psychic survival is at stake.
Fallen soldiers, erstwhile political allies, disabled people, broad swaths of the American public, journalists, longstanding international coalitions, and even the US Constitution are all merely levers that he pulls in his struggle to work out his pathological personality disorder. This is happening in real time and in full view of the public. Some shame and ridicule him, some egg him on, some enable him, some appease him. The stakes are now incredibly high in Trump's existential mental health crisis and I’m not sure we’ve yet grasped the extent to which he will take this. So what happens if he loses the election?
Below is the worst-case scenario as far as I can envision it. I’m really reluctant to articulate this because I don’t want to even put it out there, and I’m also exposing my own fear. I could be wrong. I hope I’m wrong.
For Trump to win the election, he will likely have to win all the swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. That's unlikely, but it may be close. So what would Trump do come November 8 if he lost? He's probably been considering this for some time. In fact, some of his confidantes have been whispering already: Crooked Hillary, doing what she did to Bernie. Election fraud.
"We will not accept the results of this election."
"You saw the polls - I was ahead in Florida, so how did she win it? She cheated."
The Second Amendment.
"Don't tread on me."
"I alone can solve this problem."
"I alone. Put your trust in me."
"I alone."
Scapegoats. Enemies. Retribution.
Conspiracy theories and rumors, treated as “news.”
A paralyzed Congress. An eight-member Supreme Court. Constitutional crisis.
Armed resistance. Atrocities.
Militarized police. National Guard. Bloodshed. Fatalities. Martial law. NSA. Mass surveillance. Turnkey security state.
This could get ugly.
Trump is easy to hate. He speaks in the language of fear, pessimism, and self-aggrandizement. He is devoid of compassion, incapable of empathy. These are legacies of his childhood. He is suffering, even if he acts like a heinous bully. And I am willing to bet that Trump is willing to go down kamikaze-style. His main interest - and perhaps his only interest in life - is psychic survival. He feeds off the pain of other people, he gets drunk off the energy at his rallies, and he's invigorated by violence. How are we going to get him to land this plane without massive collateral damage?
The more we shame and ridicule Trump - and I'm guilty of it too - the more he may feel backed into a corner, like a wounded animal who must survive at all costs. He’s blown through every checkpoint of self-restraint so far and he’s not stopping. No one has yet been successful in identifying a line that Trump will not cross.
That there are still people who believe Trump will “pivot” or back down at some point indicates that we do not understand the type of person we are dealing with. The words we should be using to describe Trump are terms like “sociopath,” “narcissistic personality disorder,” and “psychopath.” I’m not even joking and I’m not trying to ridicule him. I unfortunately had a prolonged, up-close-and-personal encounter with such an individual. Trump is the same type of person, only he’s smoother and in a position to do more damage.
I don’t necessarily care if Hillary Clinton is president or if it’s Gary Johnson or if it’s a shoe. It just can’t be Trump. We can talk about accountability and responsibility for the rise of Trump later, but we've got more pressing problems.
We have to figure out a way for Trump and his movement to de-escalate and reintegrate in a non-violent way. The longer we go without taking action, the harder it will be to prevent this outcome. The more we acquiesce to Trump's insanity, the more powerful he gets. Forget the constitution or political power. I'm talking raw, psychic power over people. I'm talking about mass psychology of authoritarian movements. Can you see Trump conceding? I can’t.
Who can help us out of this predicament? We’ve got less than 100 days to figure it out.