Skip to main content

Our National Dilemma

The firing of former FBI Director, James Comey, by president Trump has turned into some kind of alternative universe. The political arena, the media and much of the nation have lost their minds over this.

Comey was not fired because president Trump is trying to cover up any ties to him and the Russians and the last election. It’s not about Hilary, either, and her ubiquitous emails. It’s not because Attorney General Jeff Beauregard Sessions told him to do it. What the firing of Comey was about is psychology 101. It’s about Mr. Trump’s gaping insecurity, his paranoia, and his not just demand but neurotic need, for total and unequivocal loyalty.

When James Comey refused to comply with that, he was removed.

What we are seeing is The Apprentice being played out in the White House by celebrity tycoon Donald Trump. There is no governing going on. There are no polices to legislate. Hundreds of important positions in government have not been filled. Chaos monopolizes everything. What we have is simply a president pretending to be president while carrying on his usual business persona.

No one anywhere seems to get this. The media, the Congress, the bumbling and bullying GOP, the passive and impotent Democrats. They all completely ignore president Trump’s genuine, all absorbing need for acceptance and approval. He only gets that from a small posse of people undeniably unfit and incompetent to guide him. They are themselves deeply damaged individuals, some of them even more than that, some of them so unscrupulous and morally warped, they threaten both the president and the nation with their deviant ideas and behavior.

It mystifies me that our leaders apparently have no insight into people like president Trump. I hear nothing from religious leaders other than the same blather that political pundits are saying, that Trump is evil, insane, a preening and greedy manipulating monster. Where are our philosophers and psychiatrists, our therapists and mental health experts? Silence. No one of any legitimate professional reputation is making any effort, as far as I can tell, to understand the president, his manic and disturbing tweets, his endless acting out, his distressing obsession with being favored and approved. 

These are serious psychological matters. And to ignore them and just rail on and on about Mr. Trump’s antics does nothing to solve the problem. Mocking him, calling him names, insulting him over and over only fuels the deep menacing fears that consume him.

He has to convince himself that he is a powerful influential person. He does this by surrounding himself with yes people. If they say no he fires them or ignores them or breaks any ties with them. If he has to lie to keep the pretense going, he will and he does. Nothing is allowed to penetrate the thinly veiled farce he has created about himself.

It must be a terribly lonely existence.

We are watching the disintegration of a person who happens to be the president of the United States. Unless a true friend intervenes, someone more interested in the president than in their own ambition and cashing in on Trumps bizarre conduct; unless someone with human compassion and moral courage, who can win his trust and offer authentic concern and stand in the gap and convince Mr. Trump he must get help or step down, or unless a Republican-controlled Congress initiates impeachment proceedings, then our fragile democracy may very well be torn to pieces.

This is not a time for petty wrangling, empty rage, cute zingers, and hostile disputes. The country is facing a serious crisis of national identity. Our most treasured values are at risk. The freedoms we enjoy and the human dignity we claim are all in jeopardy. 

President Trump needs help. And now.


© 2017 Timothy Moody

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

We are Made for Human Connection

There are words from Brandi Carlile’s song, “The Story,” that I might sing, and perhaps you, too. “All of these lines across my face Tell you the story of who I am So many stories of where I've been And how I got to where I am But these stories don't mean anything When you've got no one to tell them to” You don’t have to be single or alone to feel the depth of those words. Someone in a longtime marriage or relationship might feel them, too. The voyage through life takes each one of us through an assortment of experiences. Some of them ennoble us. Some crush us. Some lift us beyond ourselves and carry us into the lives of those who need us. And some carry us to those we need. Some experiences are burdens. Others ease and encourage us. Some leave us baffled and unsure. Some build confidence within us and are so affirming that we grow in substance, in courage, in tenderness, and sympathy. As we age, the lines in our faces can represent the hurts we have not yet resolved. Or t

If I had five minutes to evacuate--what would I take with me?

If I was told there was a bomb in my building and I had five minutes to evacuate my apartment I’d grab a grocery bag and quickly toss these items into it: 1. A photo of my grandparents, Mom and Pop and me, when I was 15 years old. I learned what love is made of from them. I learned what it is to be kissed on and hugged in arms so tender they felt like God’s arms. I discovered self worth from those two angels in human flesh. Of all the people in my life, they were the ones who made me feel I counted. Honestly, whatever capacity I have to love others came from them. 2. A sentimental, dog-eared, stars in the margin copy of Pat Conroy’s, “The Prince of Tides.” It is a book I have read three times and often return to for its wisdom. It is a harsh, profoundly tragic novel, the story of a family so broken and tortured by such flawed and wounded people that it is sometimes difficult to turn the next page. And yet it is the story of such Herculean courage and endurance that you want

Remembering Dr. Bill Craig

In Memoriam  Dr. Bill Craig January 1, 2020 In the Hebrew Bible, we see from the life of Moses, and the Psalmist, Isaiah and others , concern for the problem of living rather than the problem of dying.   Their primary interest was not how to escape death, but rather, how to sanctify life. Bill modeled that kind of wisdom.  The brilliant novelist Louis L'Amour, who wrote bestselling books about the American West, what he called “frontier stories,” basically said the same thing. He wrote, “The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail.” No one attempted to sanctify life and get more out of the trail than Bill Craig. He was a deep thinker, a gifted veterinarian, a rugged and unbreakable man with the kindest heart and the purest motives.  He was a loving and devoted husband, father, and grandfather. Karen, Shalor and Melissa, Kellan, Nolan and Carter, were his world. They meant everything to him. I guess he had faults, but I don’t remember any of them.  There was o