In his address to the general and admirals Trump bragged about using the most expensive high quality paper with real gold on it for the documents promoting generals and admirals. Then we went on blasting Biden for using an auto-pen, though it is not clear whether he ever did this with these particular documents. Trump said “I love my signature, everybody loves my signature.”
Holy crap! He’s bragging about his signature and how everyone, everyone, like each and every person on earth, loves his signature.
We are so used to Trump’s braggaccio sprinkled with lies and exaggerations that it is easy to dismiss that this is a clinical manifestaiton of psychopatholgy.
This goes beyond grandiose narcissism. Trump used to call it “the weave” when he was criticized for it. He said it was genius.
In fact this is coming close to what are called loose associations. It is also called derailment (see Wikpedia). This refers to a thought disorder where a person jumps between ideas with little or no logical connection. At it’s worts it results in speech so disorganized it is impossible to follow. This phenomenon is often seen in mental health conditions like schizophrenia.
As Rick Wilson tweeted, it is also called “word salad.”
More social media reaction here: ‘25th Amendment!’ Trump speech met with multiple calls for removal on social media.
There was a lot to unpack in what he said today so far as he is still speaking while I write this.
Here are two examples from Wiki:
- “The next day when I’d be going out you know, I took control, like uh, I put bleach on my hair in California.”—given by Nancy C. Andreasen[7]
- “I think someone’s infiltrated my copies of the cases. We’ve got to case the joint. I don’t believe in joints, but they do hold your body together.”—given by Elyn Saks.[8]
In talking about the use of nuclear weapons, for example, said the prospect was so horrible he calls it the n-word, and went on to say that there are two n-words, neither of which you can say. I doubt this was in his prepared remarks. This shows him weaving all over his mental space. This is not psycholgically normal.
Then Trump went on to say how he didn’t name the latest fighter jet. He said Boeing told him they where going to name it the F-47 after him. (Snarky aside: I wonder if someone at Boeing thought a more appropriate name was the F-Trump.)
As I write this Trump is calling CNN fake news. He is going on and on in the same vein between talking about the military and bragging about himself and attacking Biden and “radical left lunatics.”
It’s a pipe dream that someone besides me and dozens of other mental health professionals could say it so it sinks in to people who can make a difference that “this man is not well.”
He just added the lie that Portland (my city) looks like a war zone and is burning down… but I want to post this so I will stop now and make another cup of coffee since he shows no sign of concluding.
(Just after posting this CNN and MSNBC cut away after an hour. Fox News was still airing it.)
Hegseth has told his drill sergeants that it is okay to beat the crap out of recruits (he didn’t exactly say that. This is what he did say
Hegseth said basic training will once again be “scary, tough and disciplined.”
“Yes, they can put their hands on recruits. This does not mean they can be reckless or violate the law,” he said, but emphasized physical touch can be used to “motivate” new troops.
He said he is instituting physical prowress testing and weight requirements for his generals and admirals. After all, if he can have rippling muscles they should hit the gym for, to quote “regular hard PT,” until they can show theirs muscles as well.
This obviously doesn’t apply to his commander-in chief. I would be suprised if Trump could even do one push-up. I just did eight and I’m 81. I could have squeaked out another two, but I didn’t want to pay the price with aching muscles later on. One for each decade seems good enough.
I’d have my partner take a photo of push-up Hal to post except I don’t want even more young women asking to be my Facebook friends. That’s a joke… sort of.
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