Pathologies of American presidents
Last December, 100-year-old Jimmy Carter died after lingering for more than a year in hospice care. This happened as the presidential administration of an old man with dementia was approaching its end. A couple days ago, it was revealed that this feeble old man with brain damage also has aggressive cancer in his prostate and creaky old bones. Dementia Joe, better known as Genocide Joe, may soon be discovering for himself whether there really is a Hell.
News of Biden’s latest pathological condition comes as America and the world are still trying to psychologically adjust to the erratic and bizarre second presidential term of Donald Trump. I myself have become perplexed trying to figure out what the hell is going on with Trump. But I have reached the conclusion that he must have some form of mental illness. Seriously. I’m not a psychiatrist or psychologist, so I don’t know what type of mental illness it is. Perhaps some version of multiple personality disorder, or dissociative identity disorder. I’ve been calling him President Sybil. (Check out the link if you’re too young to get the reference.)
I used to like Trump, and I voted for him in 2016 and 2020. I didn’t vote for anybody in 2024. I sensed that something was off with Trump this time, and there was no way I was going to vote for Harris. So, I just stayed home. I’m glad I didn’t vote. (I don’t feel responsible for the insanity now.) Trump’s second term so far has confirmed my suspicions. Something is definitely off. He is different—in a very disturbing way—than he was in his first term. True MAGA die-hards cannot or will not see it, or they might think he is even better this time around. But I see a big ugly problem inside that big orange head.
Sybil or 4D chess master?
Yes, I suspect that Trump must have developed some form of dissociative identity disorder—or at least something similar to that disorder. But it could be something else entirely. Maybe a form of dementia that is different from Biden’s. Or maybe it’s something related to the psychological stress and pressure that he experienced the past few years with all his legal battles—like some kind of persecution complex or post-traumatic stress disorder. Or, I’m also kind of wondering now if part of that ear-grazing bullet might have entered his brain and lodged itself firmly into his prefrontal cortex, disrupting normal cognitive functioning. That’s the part of the brain responsible for reasoning, logical and complex thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving. Those things are definitely not functioning well!
Whatever it is exactly, there is obviously some kind of pathological problem inside Trump’s brain. Could all the hair spray have seeped through his skull, accumulated inside his frontal lobe, and caused a destructive toxic reaction there? Who the hell knows?
Political analysts and geopolitical experts have gotten whiplash trying to understand the constant dramatic changes in Trump’s stated positions on a wide range of issues. On Monday, he’ll say one thing about an issue, making one side of the political divide happy and the other side angry. On Wednesday, he’ll say the exact opposite thing about the issue, prompting a flip in the happy and angry sides. By Friday, he’ll come up with some weird never-heard-before take on the issue that leaves everybody on all sides totally confused. Then, the next week, the psycho cycle will start all over again.
Trump’s legion of MAGA faithful proudly maintain that their master is playing his own brilliant game of four-dimensional chess that is so advanced and clever that no mere mortal (or policy expert who has been studying the issue for 50 years) can begin to comprehend it. But they will all get it when America is Great Again!
Meanwhile, wars and genocide continue, befuddled foreign leaders and diplomats conclude that it’s impossible to trust the United States on anything, the U.S. credit rating is downgraded, nervous businesses and investors have no idea what economic shock is going to hit them next, and millions of people in the United States fear for what their country is turning into.
Monday to Wednesday to Friday
Everyone anxiously waits to hear what President Sybil, the deranged, delusional Caesar of the American Empire, is going to proclaim next . . .
NATO and the U.S. provoked Russia to invade Ukraine. Putin invaded Ukraine unprovoked because he wants to take over the whole country—and maybe Poland too. Russia is winning the war and holds all the cards. Russia is not winning the war and doesn’t hold any cards. Maybe Ukraine can join NATO. Ukraine can never join NATO. Putin wants peace. Putin does not want peace, so we will hit Russia with crushing sanctions. There will be no more sanctions on Russia. Zelensky wants peace. Zelensky does not want peace. We will stop all weapons to Ukraine. We will send more and better weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine needs to hold elections. Ukraine does not need to hold elections. We have a minerals deal. We do not have a minerals deal. No European troops should be in Ukraine. European troops should be in Ukraine. The U.S. should stop all involvement in Ukraine. The U.S. should take over Ukraine’s power plants. I’m talking to Putin. I’m not talking to Putin. I just talked to Putin. Who is Putin?
Israel should finish the job in Gaza and do whatever it takes to eliminate Hamas and win the war there. Israel needs to stop the fighting and killing in Gaza. People in Gaza are suffering and want to live in peace. We will help them. People in Gaza don’t want peace. They are terrorists and must be destroyed. Israel can kick out all the Palestinians and take over Gaza. I’m going to buy Gaza and build resorts and casinos there. It will be beautiful for everyone! Netanyahu is an SOB and I hate him. I just s—ed Bibi’s c–k in the Oval Office while Miriam watched, and I told them both that I will do whatever they want me to do.
We totally crushed the evil weakling Houthis in Yemen. The Houthis are brave and strong fighters. Ahmed al-Sharaa is an evil terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head. Ahmed al-Sharaa is a very attractive man with a strong past. He serves delicious tea, and I really love his beard! Iran has a right to enrich uranium for its nuclear program. Iran must stop all uranium enrichment and end its nuclear program.
I love tariffs! Tariffs will be 10 percent. No, 20 percent. 25 percent. No wait, make it 50 percent. Okay, how about 125 percent? Would you believe 145 percent? Just wait, I’ll make them a hundred thousand million billion trillion zillion percent! The biggest tariffs anyone ever saw, it’ll be a record! Everyone will be amazed! Oh, just forget about it, we’ll go back to 10 percent. Tariffs? I don’t want any tariffs. I don’t like ‘em.
Fascistic delusions of grandeur
The above review highlights some of Trump’s many contradictory statements. Okay, including a bit of exaggeration, I admit. This constant flip-flopping on issues is bad enough in terms of what it means for Trump’s cognitive condition. But perhaps what’s even more troubling are those issues on which Trump has maintained relatively consistent positions. Those cases suggest that Trump has another mental problem—some form of fascistic delusions of grandeur.
I am especially troubled by his ongoing authoritarian attempts to suppress free speech and the free exchange of ideas on college campuses. His administration has arrested and moved to deport pro-Palestinian protestors at universities. And his administration has cut government funds from universities in an attempt to bully them into changing policies that he doesn’t like, including alleged “anti-semitism,” curriculum content, and diversity initiatives.
It might seem odd that Trump would try to suppress free speech, considering the many MAGA complaints about perceived attacks on their free speech under Biden. But it’s Trump’s revenge against his perceived opponents—and, of course, the opponents of his Zionist masters. And It’s also probably a sign that all American presidents from now on are going to be fascists, as well as psychos. Sociopathy has apparently become a job requirement for the American presidency.
Trump is so all-consumed with his power ambitions that he feels fully confident in his ability to completely ignore court rulings, like that judge’s order to facilitate the return of the Venezuelan man who was wrongly deported to that hell-hole prison in El Salvador. Fuck the courts! I’ll do whatever I want! What are you gonna do, impeach me for a third time? Moreover, fuck the whole damn Constitution. I’ll run for a third term if I want!
Then there are Trump’s Hitlerian/Napoleonic delusions of grandeur for world conquest, most notably his frequent insane musings (or are they serious threats?) to take over Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal. And, as previously noted, to build those beautiful seaside resorts in Gaza!
Of course, while your authoritarian, imperialistic regime is cementing its absolute power in America and expanding the American Empire, you all need to look good on TV. Trump’s chronic obsession with physical appearance must be fascinating to some mental health experts. Looks have always been an obvious hang-up for him, but he really made this obsession thoroughly laughable this year by populating his Cabinet with so many Fox News made-for-TV Botox Barbies and Cosmetic Ken dolls.
With all of his psychological weirdness, Trump—if psychoanalysts could ever get him into a psychiatric clinic or research laboratory—would surely lead to the generation of hundreds of ground-breaking clinical research papers and numerous new medical textbooks.
What about other presidents?
Needless to say, many other American presidents have been weird, and some surely have had psychological problems. I recall reading many years about a historian—I’ve forgotten his name—who was convinced that Johnson and Nixon were two presidents in a row with serious mental illness. I don’t remember the details of his argument, but I do know that Johnson used to enjoy forcing his Cabinet members to meet with him in the bathroom while he was taking a shit, and I also know that Nixon was paranoid that everybody was out to get him. (But I guess he was right about that.)
The double-nut cluster of Biden and Trump is at least as unsavory as that of Johnson and Nixon. But there is an unusual twist to Trump’s nuttiness.
Other presidents have certainly revised their positions on issues, and many have said ignorant things. But, over the course of their terms in office, there was a general overall consistency to their presidencies. Trump can seem like a totally different president on a week-to-week, day-to-day, and even hour-to-hour timescale. You might have agreed with certain policies and disagreed with other policies of past presidents during their time in office. But with Trump and his constant flip-flops, you might agree with his policy on a particular issue in the morning, disagree with it in the afternoon, and have no idea what that policy is by the time evening rolls around.
And Trump’s ignorance knows no bounds. He actually seems proud of being ignorant. It’s the American way after all, isn’t it? And nobody is more American than Trump. That ignorance is often on display during those photo-ops where he’s signing executive orders. I knew those photo-ops reminded me of something I saw before, but I couldn’t remember what. Then I found it in an X post.
No intellectual curiosity allowed
Instead of an ignorant shallow demented crooked fool in the White House (like both Trump and Biden), wouldn’t it be nice to have a naturally intelligent, intellectually curious, and worldly experienced man or woman there? Someone with a genuine interest in and an ability to understand complex multifaceted problems, someone who could intelligently refine and advance his or her ideas and policies based on new learned information, someone who would make decisions based on a mature, rational thought process? Wouldn’t that be nice—for a change??
Unfortunately, having such a person win a presidential election is simply impossible to imagine in the modern (i.e., past 60 years) U.S. system of “democracy.” That system has degenerated to the point where deviously crafted appeals to the base emotions (mainly fear and rage), smoothly delivered BS rhetoric of shallow clichés and mantras, and loud confident displays of gross ignorance constitute the ONLY path to electoral success.
Ain’t it strange? Other big countries—including those condemned by the U.S political and chattering class as “authoritarian”—manage to elevate such men of intellect into positions of power. Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi are the most prominent examples. But the U.S. just cannot manage that feat anymore. The last genuinely intellectually curious U.S. president was John Kennedy. And we all know what happened to him. It seems that the “powers-that-be” will not tolerate intelligent, intellectually curious presidents. (Obama and Clinton were both pretty brainy, but they never threatened the power system.)
Remember all that talk last year about the Deep State fearing Trump, so they were plotting to “JFK” him? Well, that was never going to happen, because the Deep State—CIA, FBI, AIPAC, or whoever else you want to put in that category—knows that Trump is ultimately an easily persuadable moronic man-child. Oh sure, Trump and Musk have acted like they’re really shaking up the system, but most of that is just reality-TV drama for consumption by the MAGA masses. The Deep State shall remain firmly intact, as is becoming increasingly apparent.
A very revealing thing with the impressionable man-child Trump is that he will likely believe and go along with whatever the last person he talked to told him, even if it contradicts what the previous last person told him and what he already parroted to the press as his own opinion. This phenomenon was noticed by some observers in Trump’s first administration. But it’s been much more obvious to me during this second administration, especially in regard to how he’s been handling Ukraine and Russia. Witkoff or Putin will talk to Trump, and then he’ll say something fairly knowledgeable and reasonable about the situation. Kellogg or Zelensky talk to him, and then the old ignorant BS propaganda comes spewing out of his mouth like puke.
Trump apparently is simply not intellectually curious enough to pick up a good informative book or even watch a good honest podcast on any issue to try to understand for himself what the hell is actually going on. Instead, he’ll just believe whatever the last person told him. Or whatever he last heard from the idiots (and potential future Cabinet members) on Fox & Friends. This is fucking astonishing and frightening for a person in his position of power!
So, if some CIA operative gets a little worried that Trump is talking in a very dangerous way about ending wars or something else that is forbidden, that operative can quickly send in a guy to talk to Trump about how great endless wars are. After that meeting, Trump will immediately change his tune and fall into line. Trump is not equipped with the intellectual tools that are necessary to resist the bullshit—unlike Kennedy, who the CIA knew was smart enough, brave enough, and serious enough to fight their agenda.
Kennedy was a serious man. He was a threat. Trump is just a television showman. No real threat. No reason to kill the TV clown.
Trump is proving to the rest of the world that the United States of America is not a serious country, though it is a dangerous country. America is an unfunny dark joke on the world stage. America endangers the rest of the world with its gross ignorance and psycho political system—combined with its military power and economic influence. Trump personifies this dark America perfectly.
Is the problem TDS or TES?
With Carter, Biden, and Trump, there are similarities and differences. Carter, Biden, and Trump have one major thing in common. They are all currently brain-dead when it comes to logical, rational thinking. But Carter is also dead-dead, and Biden will soon be. The mentally ill Trump, by contrast, is going to be in the White House until January 2029 to keep driving the rest of us crazy—unless some physical pathological condition does him in before then.
And what brain damage might we have to look forward to after Trump? Would you find Fetterman to be a shock? I can’t wait!
MAGA likes to claim that Trump’s critics suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). They fail to understand, that, in their blind loyalty to a psychologically disturbed president, they are suffering from TES (Trump Enabling Syndrome), thereby condemning the country and world to the erratic whims of a delusional mad man. Someday, they may find this out the hard way.
Meanwhile, the world awaits the next contradictory proclamation and illogical action from President Sybil. Perhaps something catastrophic will happen because of this sick situation. But, who knows, maybe I’ll be surprised and something good will happen. You just never can tell with insanity. It’ll depend on which personality gains dominance for the day inside that feverish orange head.