Does Donald Trump need therapy?
Part Three of Three
It is hardly surprising that Donald Trump wants to be the US Commander-in-Chief. For a narcissist, the private jet with the name TRUMP blazoned across it, the TRUMP Tower, 16 other buildings in New York City with his name on and his 500 businesses worldwide will not satisfy his lust for power, prestige and control.
There are comparisons between the intensity of the desire to be the most powerful person in the country or the most powerful and threatening child in the playground. The mind with unresolved personal problems might seek ways to inflict its own malaise upon others, who can do little or nothing to protect themselves from the discrimination heaped upon them.
Adults and children experience the wrath of the bully. The victims experience the marginalisation of their worth and their exclusion from public discourse. Power then becomes a tool used to inflict humiliation upon the unwanted.
The weakness of vision and fearful communication of American liberals have contributed to the rise of the billionaire bully, as Trump has been called. Other prominent corporate leaders equally obsessed with control, efficiency and widespread domination of the market and people’s lives display similar patterns of mind.
It would be foolish to imagine that any internal defence system can withstand the constant assault of negative feedback from a whole range of people. The one who abuses power may appear to be thick-skinned and hard-nosed. The person may appear to survive years of his ego clashing with other egos, as well as with the wise. It is far from the truth. He will feel hurt, upset and angry with people. His stress will express as verbal attacks on people. The one who craves attention and power lives with acute vulnerability to despair. That person never realises until the event which straw breaks his back.
Donald Trump could experience a spiral of deep unhappiness and despondency through a small event, such as feedback from a beloved family member, a health crisis, a sudden feeling of intense guilt, gossip that won’t go away or an awareness of the close proximity of death. There is no escape for those who display an intensity of self-obsession. The more the clinging to self, power and wealth, then the greater the fear of rejection and death.
Donald Trump remains trapped in a no-win situation. If he becomes President of the United States, he would have to endure the ridicule of Congress, the Senate and respected elders in the Republican Party. He will have to face the growing anger of millions of his voters, who feel betrayed when they realise he can offer no real change to their personal circumstances.
Trump lacks the emotional intelligence and intellectual rigour to launch a compassionate revolution to give meaning and purpose to the lives of US citizens. He appears unable to articulate and expand on the necessary steps towards a renewal of life in America. He seems to have a very limited vocabulary. He seems to have few friends and many enemies.
Why have millions of Americans moved towards the possibility of electing Donald Trump as the US President? This question has greater significance than any analysis of Trump.
Unlike Obama, Bush, Clinton and previous presidents, it is hard to imagine that Trump will simply read out the prescribed policy statements handed to him to put in his inside jacket pocket before facing an audience. He comes across as too impulsive and self-opnionated to listen to the measured tones of speechwriters. Trump’s divisive mind and ageing body won’t be able to withstand the plots to end his presidency among his inner circles, as well as elsewhere. It will surely all end in tears and in personal despair for Trump. There is a world of difference between hosting a television show and being President of the United States.
If Donald Trump fails in his bid to become the President of the United States, then he becomes the forgotten man. Within a matter of days or weeks after the election of new President, the press and public will take little notice of Trump’s views and opinions. He is history and will merit as much attention as past candidates who failed to win the election. His period as a much talked about celebrity on the political circuit will have come to an end. He becomes a nobody.
Like other forgotten politicians, he will speak at tedious after dinner events of the wealthy in the corporate world. He will retreat into obscurity left only with the desire to accumulate more and more meaningless wealth and face an approaching death that will take away all the pleasure, the power and the privileges. The more Trump clings to what he has put together, the more he fears to lose with the approach of the end of his life. The same principle applies to all of us. Greed corrupts the psyche of the greedy. It intensifies the anxiety of loss and of the future.
In Conclusion
Donald Trump desperately needs wise counsel, support from his family and close friends, alongside skilful ways and means to be at peace with himself. He is an isolated figure, out of touch with himself and caught up in his own hubris.
We can only feel our concern for him. It is people who are close to him who must take the steps to encourage him to seek skilled support for the problematic aspects of his persona before he slides into ongoing despondency, if not worse.
May all beings live with peace of mind
May all being live with wisdom
May all beings live with compassion