Dr. Justin Frank is the famed psychoanalyst that has written the books regarding presidents “on the couch,” and he flexes his muscle with the trainload of material provided by Donald Trump. Salon has a new article out with Dr. Frank’s breakdown of what it is that prevents Trump from dealing with reality, including the latest, hoping to see the coronavirus pandemic concluded by Easter.

The first point is readily appreciated and horrific:

On both a day-to-day basis, and in crises such as the Russia and Ukraine scandals and now the coronavirus (all of which are largely self-made and self-inflicted) Donald Trump’s poor mental health has only gotten worse. Unfortunately, the presidency, with its unique burdens and responsibilities, has not forced Trump to become a better person and to rise to the occasion. Instead, he has been caught in the undertow of a public downward spiral.

Right.

At no point has Trump been a threat to become a better person, which is certainly well understood. Stress seems to exacerbate all his underlying faults and weaknesses.

Donald Trump is essentially a sociopath who has no feelings of care, concern or empathy for other human beings. More frightening still, Frank raised the possibility that Trump is not capable of feeling guilt or remorse. Not only will Trump feel no responsibility for the thousands if not millions of Americans who may die in the coronavirus pandemic, Frank said, he is likely to blame Barack Obama and the Democrats for the carnage. Trump’s followers, Frank warned, now perceive him as an infallible deity, and will obey his commands — even at the risk of their own lives.

The system was totally broken, but now – within two months – he’s fixed it. We heard him say it just yesterday. Trump had taken a system that was a disaster, underprepared, broken – all things Obama, but because of Trump’s Midas-Touch, it’s all just perfect now. Perfect. Oh! And, no, he is not at all responsible for anything and gives himself a ten out of ten as a grade. Make sense of any of that, and you’ve figured out Trump.

And then the most striking:

In my experience such a person will conjure up new lies. I’ve actually seen it happen in hospital settings. You can’t convince a person out of a preconception if the person has been lying to themselves as extensively as Trump has. It is almost impossible. Donald Trump could see dead bodies lying in the street from the coronavirus and step over them. Trump would say to himself, “Why are all these people lying around? How did that happen?” Trump would never think that he had anything to do with all of the deaths.

I have no trouble seeing that happen at all, no trouble at all.

History is going to record that when the single biggest challenge in near one-hundred years arose, we were led by a man singularly unqualified to deal with it. He will have blood on his hands, already does.

The article is a brutal blow in its truth, one can feel it as much as contemplate it.

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Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom