***. “I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by htose who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration – and very effective form of promotion.” [ Donald John Trump: “The Art of the Deal” ]
This post presents an 8/29/26 “Letter to the editor,” “The real derangement syndrome”. [ K.K.; Minnesota Star Tribune ]:
“Welcome to the Trump Attachment Syndrome Quiz:
1. Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America?
2. President Donald Trump on the ballot in 2028: Vote for him? Yes/no.
3. Did Trump lose to former President Joe Biden in 2020? Yes/no.
4. Were there needle-moving shenanigans in 2020? Yes/no.
5. Pardons of Jan. 6 felons: righteous? Yes/no.
*** “It’s hard to believe anyone would vote for me. People must really be very stupid.” [ Donald Trump ]
6. Loss of health care: a real threat to your livelihood? Yes/no.
7. Immigration: an actual threat to your actual life? Yes/no.
8. Divide this list into allies and enemies of the U.S.: Russia, Canada, the U.K., the United Nations, labor unions, white supremacists, North Korea, Greenland, Spain, South Korea, Iran, Italy, Christian nationalists and NATO.
9. What’s the cause of autism? A]. It’s complicated. B] Vaccines. C]. Tylenol. D] Mom did it. E] B, C, and D.
10. Any elected official gaining billions of dollars while in office: righteous? Yes/no.
***. “And then there are Trump’s many delusions…For almost three decades I have been pointing out that Trump creates his own reality, a point on which his other leading biographers agree.”
[ Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You think” ]
11. “Celebrity Apprentice:: Reboot it? Yes/no.
12. A convicted felon in the White House: acceptable or abhorrent?
13. Federal elections being controlled by the states: Keep it this way? Yes/no.
14. First lady Melania Trump is usually [ pick all that apply ]: A]. Being best. B]. MIA C] Living out loud. D] Avoiding Truth Social. E]. looking for the exit. F]. Not caring. G]. Imagining the East Wing.
Bonus question: You throw a big party. Is “YMCA” played on repeat? Yes/no.
Scoring: It’s a self evaluation, so search your soul.” [ K.K. ]
***. “In Trump’s world [lies] are standard operating procedure…Trump’s lies appear to have pushed the same thought stopping buttons used by cult leaders – shutting down critical thinking; employing us versus them thinking; and using emotional manipulation to gain sympathy for the leaders while at the same time drumming up animosity toward the media.” [ Steve Hassan: “The Cult of Trump” ]
{NOTE: Notice what ISN’T on this list: factual things like; the insane Iran war; affordability; rising living costs; Trump’s stupid policies; Trump’s alienation of former allies [ what IDIOT deliberately tries to anger/alienate CANADA???}; Trump’s DOUBLING the national debt from 2017 to 2026 [ & counting; $1.2 trillion in INTEREST EVERY year]; Trump’s denial of global climate crisis – while the U.S. and the world burn, glaciers and the Arctic/Antarctic melt; Trump’s attacks on American democracy; Trump’s damage to the American soul…………..]
***. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” [ Proverbs 29:25 ]
Tag: art
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, LVII – The Corruption of the American Soul
***** “How can you say to your brother, “Let me pull the speck out of your eye,” and behold, a plank is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take out the plank from your own eye, and then shall you see clearly to take out the speck from your brother”s eye.” [ Matthew. 7: 3-5 ]
Of all the crimes against America and Americans by Donald John Trump, perhaps the worst, the most insidious, likely the longest-lasting, will be the egregious damage and corruption of the American soul. The Trumpian virus eats away at America’s aggregate humanity and simple decency. Trump has inspired hate, not love; fear, not optimism; suspicion, not trust. This has, will continue, to take a great toll on how WE as ordinary Americans treat each other.
1]. “Trump’s perverse genius, and he follows in the footsteps of cult leaders and dictators alike, is to convince his followers that the world is a dangerous place that only he can fix.”………..
“According to Malkin, political leaders such as Hitler, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un exhibit malignant narcissism. As Robert Jay Lifton notes in “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” such narcissism in a leader can lead to “malignant normality”…people can come to accept aberrant and even pathological behavior as the new norm, especially when it is exhibited by an authority figure. He applies this to Trump..” [Steven Hassan: “The Cult of Trump”]
Note: “…”malignant normality”…people can come to accept aberrant and even pathological behavior as the new norm..” This is painfully becoming obvious in America – after 9 years plus of Trump’s insults and public put-downs, a new brutality has been unleashed. The necessary self-restraints and norms about how decent people treat each other in a “civilized society’ have, are, being ripped away. So ordinary people feel “justified’ in cruelty.
*****. “Instead of clearing his own heart, the zealot tries to clear the world.” [ Joseph Campbell ]
2] “Trans panic zealots are following girls into the bathroom now, I guess”. [Noor Adwan; Minnesota Star Tribune; 8/l4/25]:
A]. “A Minnesota nonprofit filed a discrimination charge against a Buffalo Wild Wings location in Owatonna, Minn., on Tuesday after a server allegedly followed an 18-year-old into a bathroom, then proceeded to bang on the stall door demanding that the teen prove she was a girl.”
B]. “According to the news release from Gender justice, the high schooler – feeling trapped and humiliated – resorted to unzipping her hoodie to ‘show she had breasts”. in order to make it stop.”
C]. “Here’s the thing, though: G.M., the teen on whose behalf the charge was filed, isn’t trans. but it’s no secret that this type of moral panic is simply a way of alienating and shaming those who don’t conform to societal expectations of gender expressions.”
D]. “We know G. was targeted because of how she looks, [her step-mother]. is quoted as saying in the news release.”
*****. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” {Ephesians. 4: 32]
BUT – CRUELTY is a major part of the Trump strategy. Important people around Trump, in his administration, have publicly stated, bragged, this is their INTENT. Be intentionally cruel to create fear. It’s worked. there are ever increasing cases like the young girl of this post. – instances where ‘ordinary’ Americans felt “justified” to treat other Americans with malice and cruelty.
***** “Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law….no court can save it.” [ Judge Learned Hand ]
