American politics are being destroyed by something beyond partisanship. We are used to partisanship, it’s a healthy part of the representative democracy we all, supposedly, value, support and even love. It is the only true source of American pride. But we have a situation Houston. Our great country is being destroyed by mental illness. I’m far from an expert, I have a degree and worked in the field for a few years… but I when I see and hear a duck - I know it’s a duck. It’s common sense, even for a psychiatrist.
President Donald Trump, Lauren Boubert, and Marjory Taylor Green are mentally ill. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. If anyone thinks they are sane they likely need a therapist. But here’s the big difference. These folk are seriously damaged and they have no idea they are seriously damaged. They are now in positions of power and they ARE “a danger to self and others.” Simple. You know that whether you wear a red hat, a black hat, a blue hat, a rainbow hat. Unless you’re really committed to a tin hat - you can recognize a duck. You learned this in your first book, the one with the thick cardboard pages.
The average citizen is unschooled in recognizing pathological narcissism. So they are not recognized as seriously damaged by their constituents. That’s ok… read up. You have the internet. When you do - don’t be shocked and think you are a Narcissist. We all have a little of all the traits described. Everyone’s got some narcissism - it’s part of being human. Chances are you sometime behave narcissistically… with a small ‘n.’
Quick lesson: If someone schedules a press conference at The Four Seasons Landscaping Company and doesn’t change it when he realizes he’s made a mistake, if instead he dances “I meant to do that because…” (whatever) he’s a Narcissist. If you come to realize that you have voted for a Narcissist, and think that might have been a mistake; you might think - “I meant to do that because…” that might be a bit of narcissism, but in this case there are many other reasonable, perfectly natural - universal in fact - things going on here. One is called the “confirmation bias.” We are all victims of this bias, maybe every day.
Narcissism and cults go together like a horse and carriage. Narcissism is, by definition, a hidden malignance and is rendered impotent when recognized. Depends on what we mean by recognized. In the special case of peers, and let me be clear, I mean congressmen and cabinet members that are peers of Trump, Boebert, and Green. If they are naïve, or blinded by their own pathological narcissism… rendered incapable of privately recognizing the danger, that’s forgivable. If by “recognition” I mean the public acknowledgment of a known situation, opinion, or fact that you DO privately understand, THAT is a different story. If you see the situation and do not act, if you privately recognize that a public servant is unfit for duty, “a danger to self and others,” and do not act, if you have not publicly recognized the state of affairs FOR WHATEVER REASON, you are a traitor. If you ignore a person who is a clear and present danger to our republic and do not act, do not AT LEAST have the courage to meet to discuss the problem with your own peers of sound mind and clear vision, you… are a traitor. Now, in a Democracy, if you meet to discuss these issues behind closed doors with no public accountability, to assumedly protect the same privileges, your treason has now become conspiratorial. You and your traitorous co-conspirators should be subject to all the lawful consequences that accrue from betrayal. Full stop - mike drop.
Challenge:
What does “escalation of commitment” have in common with the granddaddy of all bias… Confirmation Bias? The short answer is prejudice. The longer answer is your business.