First published September 2020

The self appointed belief in American exceptionalism stands revealed as self delusion in the intellectual and cultural impoverishment of a government elite whose members are concerned only with self advancement. When the vacuum created by amoral conduct has the potential to be filled with right wing Christian ideology and messianic delusions, the very soul of America is threatened.

America’s creeping corporate coup d’etat  resulted in a mafia economy managed by billionaire investors. Financial systems are restructured to feed the gluttony of amoral Corporations, the true Shadow government. The Covid Pandemic has effectively averted our attention from the twin threats of nuclear war and climate change, neither of which are diminished. As hurricanes create devastation and fires rage out of control across America  the world watched nervously as U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he personally would have “no problem” selling the advanced F-35 fighter jet to the United Arab Emirates, a move which would inevitably alter the balance of power in the Middle East.

While Trump remains the focal point  to vent feelings of anger and disgust, the conditions to manufacture a demagogue were created decades ago.  In 2016 A front man was required who pretended to be or believed himself to be, the voice of the disenfranchised, betrayed by the corporate interests of both parties. Many predictably turned to Trump in desperation in 2016 in the hope that he understood their very real grievances and suffering, only to be lied to again. As the façade was revealed justified anger surfaced.

NOW THERE IS NOT EVEN THE PRETENCE OF A  FACADE. THE LIES ARE PATHOLOGICAL, DELIVERED BY A LINGUISTICALLY CHALLENGED OUTGOING PRESIDENT, SUPPORTED BY THE REMNANTS OF A CORRUPT AND INEPT GOVERNING ELITE, CLINGING TO THE VAIN HOPE OF RE ELECTION.

Trump has demonstrated cognitive dissonance daily, the product of an unwell mind. Cognitive dissonance seeks to reject, explain away, or avoid new information, as repeatedly seen in his delivery.  An unfortunate effect is that cognitive dissonance is infectious, affecting the listener and exacerbating feelings of powerlessness, a motivating influence which urges action in an attempt to reduce feelings of discomfort.

THIS IS THE RAGE WHICH NOW THREATENS TO ENGULF AMERICA.

The complexities of mental health are a minefield even to experts in the field. It is surely incumbent upon Congress to monitor the mental health of the most powerful man on the world stage when this is being increasingly questioned. Cognitive health is multi faceted with brain function measured by memory and attention span, the ability to think and speak clearly, to learn and remember and interpret emotions. Higher order executive function includes decision making, goal setting, planning and judgement, surely essential requirements for the role of President.

Observation of Trump’s behaviour has only increased the concerns of psychiatrists and psychologists.The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.  Published by Macmillan Audio

There is increasing agreement that he embodies the traits associated with Narcissism (NPD), a mental health classification of Personality Disorder where an individual who has an excessive need for admiration or affirmation  overestimates his or her abilities. An idealised self image is marked by superiority, arrogance, grandiosity, vanity and a sense of entitlement with a tendency for exploitation. Talking down to or criticizing others, narcissists live by their own morals and values, changing as it suits them. Donald Trump’s disrespect for any opinion but his own is expressed in cynical vulgarity. The eloquence, formerly a mark of high office has been reduced not just to street level but to the gutter. There are no clear treatment strategies for Narcissism neither medication or psychotherapy are effective perhaps because to heal, the individual must first acknowledge a disorder.

The hope that America will be saved by a change of government may be a vain one. The foundation on which to build has long since been eroded by a  Capitalist system which elevates profit over equitable sharing, diminishing democracy in a system designed to place assets in the hands of an elite minority whether Republican or Democrat. Donald Trump is not the disease which afflicts America, he is a symptom but has revealed the inherent vulnerability of placing almost total power in the hands of one man. A man capable of magnetising self serving sycophants who have no incentive to remove him.  Finer men than Trump abandoned the sinking Washington ship, acknowledging defeat in the face of a dysfunctional cabinet unwilling or unable to exert their considerable authority in curbing the ravings and threats of their Captain.

While America is not alone in its failure to serve its citizens, like all empires which have gone before, it remains oblivious to its decline and so will endeavour to maintain the very power that has corrupted it by any means possible. Oblivious to the impending existential threat of Pandemic, Climate change and Nuclear war, those formerly entrusted with governance  continue to fiddle as Rome burns.