Trump's mind seems evidence-free. Where are the responsible adults?

News and commentary for concerned Americans from a Florida perspective

By J.C. Bruce

Tropic Press

By now, you’ve likely seen Donald Trump’s temper tantrum on NBC’s Meet the Press, how he ripped off his microphone and stormed off camera when the moderator, Kristen Welker, tried to fact-check his lies.

I’ve just finished reading the entire transcript of the interview, and it is an eye-opener. And I have to say, I actually think that Trump believes part of the nonsense he was spouting.

Let’s jump into the final minutes when Welker is challenging Trump on some of his claims about the $1.776 billion so-called “anti-weaponization” slush fund he and his acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, concocted behind closed doors.

Trump was arguing that the money was justified to pay the poor, innocent tourists who just happened to be wandering around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and were assaulted by “crooked” cops. Then it morphed into his delusional mantra that his re-election loss in 2020 was “rigged.”

Trump: “I don’t know what’s going to happen with the weaponization fund. I love the idea, because people like you, the fake dirty press, the crooked press, people like stupid Biden, he’s not smart enough to know what’s going on, but people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, what they did to the lives of people, they destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong.”

Welker: “Just to be very clear, there’s no evidence of what you’re saying …”

Trump: “There’s a lot of evidence … Listen to me … There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence.”

Welker: “Well, it’s not been presented in a court of law.”

Trump: “The election was rigged. It was a dirty election. And it’s happening again right now in California.”

Welker: “Do you have evidence to support that?”

Trump: “All I have to do is look.”

Welker: “But that’s not evidence.”

Trump: “And I listen. And I listen to people…”

All he has to do is look. All he has to do is listen when his sycophantic friends tell him what he wants to hear.

That’s all the evidence he needs.

Documents, testimony, hard evidence? The actual real-world truth? Unnecessary. If he believes it, it’s true.

And I believe that he believes that. It’s what malignant narcissists do, psychologists say.

In summary:

Malignant narcissists frequently believe their own fabrications because they have a distorted psychological filter that reshapes reality to protect their ego. While they do engage in conscious, strategic lying, their minds heavily rely on primitive defense mechanisms that warp their actual perception of the truth. This means they can completely believe a false narrative in the moment simply because it aligns with what they want or need to be true.

In other words, they’re crazy.

And this crazy person is the president of the United States with direct control over the largest military on Earth, including its 3,700 active nuclear warheads.

I don’t blame Trump for being nuts. It’s not his fault.

But I do blame those are empowered by our Constitution to be the guardrails of our democracy who are supposed to intervene when we discover that our commander-in-chief is out to lunch.

It’s why Congress can impeach the president and remove him from office.

It’s why the 25th Amendment to the Constitution gives the vice president and the Cabinet the power to step in and disempower a president who cannot perform his duties.

We may—or we may not—slog our way through the next few years with Trump at the helm, but if it all goes to hell, we know who history will call to account: The so-called adults in the room who put their personal interests ahead of their duty to the country.

You can read the full Meet the Press transcript here:

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

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