Fascinating question. I bet Mary Trump has some insight on that. It might well have been a setup for a contest of wills between the louche young DJT and the schoool's command authority.
Really interesting question! As I understand it, DJT was sent to military school more or less because he was out of control in less-regimented schools. As a younger person I had several male colleagues whose families sent them to military schools for similar reasons; all of them more or less "shaped up", i.e., got their acts together, though they didn't go into the military. With Donald it clearly didn't have the desired effect. He seems to have been incorrigible from the get-go -- and it also seems that this was pretty much what his father wanted.
No. Personality disorders cannot be cured because they are intrinsic to the person's identity. As I said, they are not mental illnesses. And people with personality disorders do not necessarily think "everyone else is sick."
I never said that those wth personality disorders think that everyone else is sick. You referred to sociopaths above my comment, and that was what I was talking about. Sociopaths are one piece of ASPD in DSM-5 Cluster B, although the older term sociopath is no longer used in DSM.
We seem to have strayed into tautology territory here: Trump acts like a sociopath because he is a sociopath; we know he's a sociopath because he acts like a sociopath. This lets him off the hook: it's a modern equivalent of "the devil made me do it." It also lets his family and the society around him off the hook for encouraging him and relieves us of the responsibility for examining the causes that give rise to people like Donald Trump (and Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and Mitch McConnell etc., etc., etc.).
I believe that Trump, like a model sociopath, was able to outwardly adapt to the NY Military Academy, e.g., he joined and did ok or better on the school's baseball team. This PBS Frontline essay further quotes classmates, that he revelled in the authoritarianism & sadism that such privileged ersatz military institutions foster. Of course his true character even then would have harbored contempt for everyone else there, whether classmates he could bully or the martinets who bullied him.
When I think about the sheer brazenness of Trump's criminality and of his assaults on institutions, the parallel that comes to mind is the murderous boldness of the men who assassinated Philippine dissident Ninoy Aquino:
"A longtime political opponent of President Ferdinand Marcos, Aquino had just landed in his home country after three years of self-imposed exile in the United States when he was shot in the head while being escorted from an aircraft to a vehicle that was waiting to transport him to prison. Also killed was Rolando Galman who was accused of murdering Aquino." (Wikipedia)
Substitute Bill Barr and other Trump enablers such as Mitch McConnell for the gunmen and that's Trump all over.
An interesting delve into Donald Trump’s dislike of the military … but I just have to wonder whether that’s giving Trump a depth he neither has nor deserves. More likely, he simply abhors anyone who doesn’t fawn over him, a literal knee jerk reaction without the benefit of cogitation.
You should read Jeffrey Goldberg’s assessment ( The Atlantic) and his views are similar. It’s not about depth but the way insecure narcissists react to people groups ( such as the military) as threats to their own impression of themselves. It involves the usual projection but an instinctive understanding that do not and will never have the appreciation, the adoration of those who serve as well as the extra consideration for those who truly showed heroism. This is why he denigrates the Medal of Honor ( of which he has no control) and overly praises the Presidential Medal of Freedom ( which he can control) with the moronic comparison.
You’re are correct. There is no intellectual curiosity, no introspection, no empathy, just the usual survival machinations of a malignant narcissist.
I think perhaps he reacts kind of like a keyword search: the word pops up, he searches through a set of tried-and-true (for him) responses, he replies whether or not that reply actually responds to the magic word.
Thank you Ruth. This type of analysis is sorely needed. It often gets missed or put on the back burner in the hectic campaigning across the country - but it is so essential to keep reminding us what's really at stake in November.
Trump’s problem as President with the military was that they will not come to heel. And he knew he could not be loyal to both Vladimir and the US Military. He made his choice.
Something deep within Trump's warped psyche compels him to insult America's service members over and over, most notably those who have sacrificed their lives for our country or, in the case of the late John McCain, a hero who was tortured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years.
Disrespecting Gold Star families and veterans who were maimed and disfigured in combat also is part of Trump's appalling repertoire, of course. His cowardice has a lot to do with it, including as a five-time draft dodger in wartime, as does the fact he's a brazen insurrectionist, coup conspirator and traitor.
But, to this reader, the most galling episode of all was when, at the time he refused to visit a military cemetery because of the rain, he referred to our country's war dead as "suckers" and "losers." And he did so in the presence of John F. Kelly, a former Marine four-star general and Gold Star father whose son Marine 1st Lt. Robert M. Kelly, 29, had been killed on his third tour of combat duty in Afghanistan.
We've become accustomed, even numbed, to the fact that for Trump, the unconscionable is routine. But imagine being among the members of our military and knowing that Cadet Phony Bone Spurs, a serial felon, could again be your commander in chief – instead of in a federal prison where he belongs.
He worked for America and the American military. Sadly, for awhile the American electoral system (not the voters who did not choose tRump) had placed the whiny little man in position as "our" 45th, but despite being Commander in Chief, there were specific limits on what he legitimately could order the military to do and Gen. John Kelly was there to make sure someone with less backbone and fewer morals did not accede to those demands.
The same could be asked of another former Marine four-star general, Jim Mattis. By all indications, Mattis and Kelly – both of them patriots – thought they could be proverbial
"adults in the room" and serve as guardrails. Which, as they (and we) learned, was naïve. Trump tolerates no guardrails and is anything but a patriot. Plus, his role model is Putin.
Please come to Philly, I’d love to hear you speak and we can use all the truthful messaging we can in this critical swing state. Or better yet, come to the burbs in Montgomery county, where veteran Army pilot Ashley Ehasz is running for Congress in a tight race.
Humiliating military personnel may be preparation to target those enlisted who wish to “rise above the fray” and become uber menschen, like members of the SS, Hitler’s elite guard.
One thing that I don't understand from this analysis is how this is viewed by the parts of his base that consist of people who have gone through the military. In some cases they play training and other roles in the fascistic militias that view Trump as their leader and are waiting for orders from him. Some have infiltrated police departments. He depends on this support.
Very similar people were involved in the militias in 1920s Germany (Organisation Consul, etc.) . And does Trump think that he can intimidate US military leaders to pledge allegiance to him instead of the Constitution? H may think that in his delusional state, but his handlers must know better.
It's a very dangerous game. Today I read an article about how Russia has outmaneuvered the US in North Africa, in particular in Niger. The US has, I think, until September 15 to turn over its military base there -- which cost more than $100 million to build. It makes sobering reading:
I’m no expert in psychology, but as one who’s lived and observed people for nearly 80 years, I can’t help but wonder if Trump’s denigration of the military is at least in part the result of his own feelings of inadequacy. He is a year younger than I am, and so I’m well aware of all the issues surrounding military service at that time. I had to make the same decision he was faced with, and I freely admit that I was quite frightened at the thought of being in a war. At the same time I was unwilling to try to find a way out of serving, so I did what we then called ‘enlisting to avoid the draft’. The result was four years active duty in communications intelligence in which I got no closer to Vietnam than Okinawa.
I can’t know what kind of combat soldier I might have made, and given what that war did to our army, I can’t help being relieved that I never had to find out. But Trump refused to take the risk at all, and so I suspect that he, within himself just can’t afford to embrace or to applaud the kind of courage he couldn’t bring himself even to attempt.
Looks like we're the same age, James. I've learned a lot about psychology as a result of working through the issues I had. I agree with your assessment of trump - I see the sacrifices of the military as pointing out his inadequacies to him.
I can relate, as I was pulled out of college for Vietnam by the draft. I joined the Navy the next day. I felt that the Domino Theory that tried to sell the war, was a joke. So I enlisted, so that they couldn't force me into the Army. I served society; something that tRump would never do.
He knows deep down that he’s a coward, so he has to denigrate the nation’s heroes to try to bring them down to his debased level. There has never been such a disgraceful piece of garbage in the White House.
Thank you so much for your insight!, I, too, have seen so much of Trump’s feelings of inadequacy and I AM a medical professional who has been the same is very sick hospitalized patients. I thank you again! Xxx
Ruth, I think you are being very generous to consider trump's bone spurs as possibly spurious. As I understand it, from Mary Trump, Fred Trump got the podiatrist to write a letter about bone spurs. I have not seen any information to indicate that the podiatrist ever examined him. That said, it's good to understand why trump denigrates the military at every opportunity. It seems to me that part of that is also that every sacrifice someone makes in the military points out to trump how worthless he really is.
Thank you for your good works. I enjoy your articles. 💙
What insight! Thank you.
Does DJT’s attitude toward the military have anything to do with his history at military school as an adolescent?
Fascinating question. I bet Mary Trump has some insight on that. It might well have been a setup for a contest of wills between the louche young DJT and the schoool's command authority.
Really interesting question! As I understand it, DJT was sent to military school more or less because he was out of control in less-regimented schools. As a younger person I had several male colleagues whose families sent them to military schools for similar reasons; all of them more or less "shaped up", i.e., got their acts together, though they didn't go into the military. With Donald it clearly didn't have the desired effect. He seems to have been incorrigible from the get-go -- and it also seems that this was pretty much what his father wanted.
A typical sociopath, Trump could not be "straightened out" by military school.
Exactly. They cannot be cured, as they feel that they are perfectly normal and that everyone else is sick.
No. Personality disorders cannot be cured because they are intrinsic to the person's identity. As I said, they are not mental illnesses. And people with personality disorders do not necessarily think "everyone else is sick."
I never said that those wth personality disorders think that everyone else is sick. You referred to sociopaths above my comment, and that was what I was talking about. Sociopaths are one piece of ASPD in DSM-5 Cluster B, although the older term sociopath is no longer used in DSM.
We seem to have strayed into tautology territory here: Trump acts like a sociopath because he is a sociopath; we know he's a sociopath because he acts like a sociopath. This lets him off the hook: it's a modern equivalent of "the devil made me do it." It also lets his family and the society around him off the hook for encouraging him and relieves us of the responsibility for examining the causes that give rise to people like Donald Trump (and Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and Mitch McConnell etc., etc., etc.).
I believe that Trump, like a model sociopath, was able to outwardly adapt to the NY Military Academy, e.g., he joined and did ok or better on the school's baseball team. This PBS Frontline essay further quotes classmates, that he revelled in the authoritarianism & sadism that such privileged ersatz military institutions foster. Of course his true character even then would have harbored contempt for everyone else there, whether classmates he could bully or the martinets who bullied him.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/trump-the-bully-how-childhood-military-school-shaped-the-future-president/
Yes that is part of it too
When I think about the sheer brazenness of Trump's criminality and of his assaults on institutions, the parallel that comes to mind is the murderous boldness of the men who assassinated Philippine dissident Ninoy Aquino:
"A longtime political opponent of President Ferdinand Marcos, Aquino had just landed in his home country after three years of self-imposed exile in the United States when he was shot in the head while being escorted from an aircraft to a vehicle that was waiting to transport him to prison. Also killed was Rolando Galman who was accused of murdering Aquino." (Wikipedia)
Substitute Bill Barr and other Trump enablers such as Mitch McConnell for the gunmen and that's Trump all over.
Remember also that Kim Jong Un had his own brother murdered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xca_uEBHd8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCEt3BaX3Qg
An interesting delve into Donald Trump’s dislike of the military … but I just have to wonder whether that’s giving Trump a depth he neither has nor deserves. More likely, he simply abhors anyone who doesn’t fawn over him, a literal knee jerk reaction without the benefit of cogitation.
You should read Jeffrey Goldberg’s assessment ( The Atlantic) and his views are similar. It’s not about depth but the way insecure narcissists react to people groups ( such as the military) as threats to their own impression of themselves. It involves the usual projection but an instinctive understanding that do not and will never have the appreciation, the adoration of those who serve as well as the extra consideration for those who truly showed heroism. This is why he denigrates the Medal of Honor ( of which he has no control) and overly praises the Presidential Medal of Freedom ( which he can control) with the moronic comparison.
You’re are correct. There is no intellectual curiosity, no introspection, no empathy, just the usual survival machinations of a malignant narcissist.
DonOLD is a black hole of neediness.
I think perhaps he reacts kind of like a keyword search: the word pops up, he searches through a set of tried-and-true (for him) responses, he replies whether or not that reply actually responds to the magic word.
My apologies for next proofreading
Thank you Ruth. This type of analysis is sorely needed. It often gets missed or put on the back burner in the hectic campaigning across the country - but it is so essential to keep reminding us what's really at stake in November.
Trump’s problem as President with the military was that they will not come to heel. And he knew he could not be loyal to both Vladimir and the US Military. He made his choice.
yes
Something deep within Trump's warped psyche compels him to insult America's service members over and over, most notably those who have sacrificed their lives for our country or, in the case of the late John McCain, a hero who was tortured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years.
Disrespecting Gold Star families and veterans who were maimed and disfigured in combat also is part of Trump's appalling repertoire, of course. His cowardice has a lot to do with it, including as a five-time draft dodger in wartime, as does the fact he's a brazen insurrectionist, coup conspirator and traitor.
But, to this reader, the most galling episode of all was when, at the time he refused to visit a military cemetery because of the rain, he referred to our country's war dead as "suckers" and "losers." And he did so in the presence of John F. Kelly, a former Marine four-star general and Gold Star father whose son Marine 1st Lt. Robert M. Kelly, 29, had been killed on his third tour of combat duty in Afghanistan.
We've become accustomed, even numbed, to the fact that for Trump, the unconscionable is routine. But imagine being among the members of our military and knowing that Cadet Phony Bone Spurs, a serial felon, could again be your commander in chief – instead of in a federal prison where he belongs.
I don’t understand how Gen. John Kelly could have worked for POS Bone Spurs.
He worked for America and the American military. Sadly, for awhile the American electoral system (not the voters who did not choose tRump) had placed the whiny little man in position as "our" 45th, but despite being Commander in Chief, there were specific limits on what he legitimately could order the military to do and Gen. John Kelly was there to make sure someone with less backbone and fewer morals did not accede to those demands.
The same could be asked of another former Marine four-star general, Jim Mattis. By all indications, Mattis and Kelly – both of them patriots – thought they could be proverbial
"adults in the room" and serve as guardrails. Which, as they (and we) learned, was naïve. Trump tolerates no guardrails and is anything but a patriot. Plus, his role model is Putin.
P.S. I have no idea why there's an extra line of space in my reply. Couldn't fix it. ... :-(
Ruth, this essay shows why you will be so much in demand in coming days, because you illuminate the reality of trump the way nobody else does.
Well said!
Thank you!
Excellent article as always, thanks!
Please come to Philly, I’d love to hear you speak and we can use all the truthful messaging we can in this critical swing state. Or better yet, come to the burbs in Montgomery county, where veteran Army pilot Ashley Ehasz is running for Congress in a tight race.
I will be in or near Philly on Oct 7 I think. Details when I have them.
Fellow Montco Co Philly Burb resident says "hi" and hopes you get your (our) wish.
Humiliating military personnel may be preparation to target those enlisted who wish to “rise above the fray” and become uber menschen, like members of the SS, Hitler’s elite guard.
One thing that I don't understand from this analysis is how this is viewed by the parts of his base that consist of people who have gone through the military. In some cases they play training and other roles in the fascistic militias that view Trump as their leader and are waiting for orders from him. Some have infiltrated police departments. He depends on this support.
Very similar people were involved in the militias in 1920s Germany (Organisation Consul, etc.) . And does Trump think that he can intimidate US military leaders to pledge allegiance to him instead of the Constitution? H may think that in his delusional state, but his handlers must know better.
It's a very dangerous game. Today I read an article about how Russia has outmaneuvered the US in North Africa, in particular in Niger. The US has, I think, until September 15 to turn over its military base there -- which cost more than $100 million to build. It makes sobering reading:
https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/why-niger-left-the-west-and-embraced-russia/?mc_cid=3c218ad402&mc_eid=aaefa5104b
This is not the post to discuss the resource wars that the US is engaged in, but eventually we need to discuss it.
I’m no expert in psychology, but as one who’s lived and observed people for nearly 80 years, I can’t help but wonder if Trump’s denigration of the military is at least in part the result of his own feelings of inadequacy. He is a year younger than I am, and so I’m well aware of all the issues surrounding military service at that time. I had to make the same decision he was faced with, and I freely admit that I was quite frightened at the thought of being in a war. At the same time I was unwilling to try to find a way out of serving, so I did what we then called ‘enlisting to avoid the draft’. The result was four years active duty in communications intelligence in which I got no closer to Vietnam than Okinawa.
I can’t know what kind of combat soldier I might have made, and given what that war did to our army, I can’t help being relieved that I never had to find out. But Trump refused to take the risk at all, and so I suspect that he, within himself just can’t afford to embrace or to applaud the kind of courage he couldn’t bring himself even to attempt.
My two cents anyway.
Looks like we're the same age, James. I've learned a lot about psychology as a result of working through the issues I had. I agree with your assessment of trump - I see the sacrifices of the military as pointing out his inadequacies to him.
Totally agree with your assessment, as a 77 year old former nurse.
I can relate, as I was pulled out of college for Vietnam by the draft. I joined the Navy the next day. I felt that the Domino Theory that tried to sell the war, was a joke. So I enlisted, so that they couldn't force me into the Army. I served society; something that tRump would never do.
He knows deep down that he’s a coward, so he has to denigrate the nation’s heroes to try to bring them down to his debased level. There has never been such a disgraceful piece of garbage in the White House.
I think Andrew Johnson might have run him a close race, but otherwise I think you’re right.
Thank you so much for your insight!, I, too, have seen so much of Trump’s feelings of inadequacy and I AM a medical professional who has been the same is very sick hospitalized patients. I thank you again! Xxx
Ruth, I think you are being very generous to consider trump's bone spurs as possibly spurious. As I understand it, from Mary Trump, Fred Trump got the podiatrist to write a letter about bone spurs. I have not seen any information to indicate that the podiatrist ever examined him. That said, it's good to understand why trump denigrates the military at every opportunity. It seems to me that part of that is also that every sacrifice someone makes in the military points out to trump how worthless he really is.
In summary, Trump is a crude, narcissistic, misogynistic egomaniac and convicted felon who has no business in our political system!
a "spurious diagnosis of bone spurs" (!)
A little humor in an otherwise serious and sobering article about tRump and the military. Thanks for the chuckle, Ruth!
His bone spurs are located between his ears!
😂😂
I guess that makes him a bone head.
You got that right! 😂😂😂