Looking for an illustration for this blog I came across “Parenthood: What happens in a child’s brain when punished or scolded.”

Here’s an excerpt:

In parenting terms, we often use the Triune model of the brain to understand the child – looking at the three parts of the brain.

1. The lower brain is also called the alarm centre. All humans are born with this part of the brain fully developed. One of the functions of the lower brain is to manage the fight-or-flight response system. It plays a critical role in how we deal with stress and danger in the environment. When one perceives any danger, for example, someone coming to attack, the lower brain gets activated and the person may respond by fighting back, or by running away to keep oneself safe. The brain seeks safety at all times.

2. The middle brain is called the emotional brain. It stores information and experiences and interprets all of it. It also manages emotions.

3. The higher brain is also called the thinking brain. It manages reason, logic, problem-solving, creativity and empathy.

If you apply this model to Donald Trump you can see how he often is held hostage (using the term deliberately) to number one. He is under stress now bec ause he is being told what he can and can’t do by the courts. Presumably his lawyers are telling his what he should and shouldn’t do but this is merely advice and doesn’t have the force of law.

Being locked into a fight or flight situation, think of the caveman with a rudimental brain being cornered by a saber-toothed tiger, he can’t flee so he has to fight. The caveman, if lucky, might have had a big stick and if really lucky fire had been invented and the stick could be burning, so fighting would be an iffy proposition depending on the determination of the saber-toother tiger.

Trump is discovering that he’s now at the mercy of judges who won’t literally but will metaphorically eat him for lunch and he isn’t mentally and cogntively equiped to deal with them and must heed the advice coming from his lawyers who may not be confronting him with the hard truth he needs to hear.

Addendum:

Related to above. Trump fancies himself to be the king of New York. Note how outraged he was when it came out that he begged to have a cameo on Home Alone 2. Imagine how he will react to being banned from doing business there.

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