'He Is and Always Will Be a Terrified Little Boy'

[babylonsister]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/07/13/mary-trump-book-godfather-358841


‘He Is and Always Will Be a Terrified Little Boy’
Mary Trump has not indicted her uncle. She has indicted the whole family. And that could give it a "seismic imprint."
By MICHAEL KRUSE
07/13/2020 04:30 AM EDT

snip//

Mary Trump, to be sure, is a partisan (a registered Democrat who’s expressed public admiration for Hillary Clinton) with an ax to grind (she and her brother were all but excised from passed-down riches), and she writes, too, with palpable sadness and anger stemming from the long-ago loss of her father. The White House, meanwhile, predictably has dismissed her account as rife with “falsehoods” and “ridiculous, absurd allegations.” But she also holds a Ph.D. in psychological studies. And in these taut 211 pages, she puts us in new rooms, shows us new scenes with new details and lets us hear from members of the president’s nuclear family who have been conspicuously and obstinately mum. She is, after all, and by blood still, one of them—and “the only Trump,” as she puts it, “who is willing” to dish on what she calls “my malignantly dysfunctional family.”

Too Much and Never Enough (at least on its own) is not likely to hurt the president politically. (There’s plenty else at this point that’s doing that.) It’s not going to lead immediately to any legal jeopardy he doesn’t already face. It’s almost certainly not going to “take Donald down,” either, as she characterizes her impetus—first, she reveals, by having been foundationally helpful to a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigation, then by writing the rest of what she herself has written. But what this book does do is help us understand him, offering the most incisive rendering yet of why he is the way he is.

No matter what happens in November, historians will have to contend with the influences that forged the personality of one of the most consequential presidents ever—and in Mary Trump’s telling, the current occupant of the Oval Office, the man just shy of 63 million voters thought was the most preferable choice to lead their nation, is “a narcissist” whose “pathologies are so complex and his behaviors so often inexplicable that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and neuropsychological tests that he’ll never sit for,” whose “deep-seated insecurities have created in him a black hole of need that constantly requires the light of compliments that disappears as soon as he’s soaked it in.” She says he is “a petty, pathetic, little man.” She says he is “ignorant” and “incapable” and “lost in his own delusional spin.” She says deep down he “knows he has never been loved.” She says his reelection “would be the end of American democracy.”

snip//

She presents her uncle as fundamentally and profoundly incapable of an empathetic or merely effective response to the challenges of this or any other era. “Donald,” she concludes, “withdraws to his comfort zones—Twitter, Fox News—casting blame from afar, protected by a figurative or literal bunker. He rants about the weakness of others even as he demonstrates his own. But he can never escape the fact that he is and always will be a terrified little boy.”

[Sherman A1]

1. So she tells us what we already know

And is obvious to anyone who takes more than a passing glance.

[babylonsister]

2. She fills in the details, which are also important. nt

[Wellstone ruled]

3. As well as exposes his

true weakness of being found out just how his skill set is minimal a best.

[Mike 03]

5. I'm grateful for every single one of these books.

Now, we're getting to the pulp. Dr. Lance Dodes always said that Trump's personality was fixed at an extremely young age. Yes, this is territory already covered by Dr. Bandy Lee and the other authors of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump and a handful of other books, but considering the source this book will be more than simply validation of what is obvious to 70% of Americans.

[Sherman A1]

6. As you stated

Obvious to 70% of Americans.

[Paladin]

4. Can he be a terrified little boy and fuck himself, at the same time?

Wishful thinking, on my part.....

[solara]

8. Sure seems like he has already accomplished

fucking himself whilst a terrified little boy. He never had any Light in his life, ever; no Love, no Nurturing....nothing. Left on his own, starving for affection or any validation at all.

Horrifyingly sad, especially since he has somehow attached himself to power that allows him to inflict similar emotional, spiritual and moral damage to anyone who withholds his cookie.

[Paladin]

9. Save those sympathetic feelings for somebody who deserves them. (nt)

[solara]

10. I think you misunderstood

my intent, may of us are misunderstanding each other these days..but that's ok.

Just calling it like I see it.. no sympathy for the traitor here.

[Caliman73]

15. I understood you. I see it the same way.

It is very sad and tragic. That is just a simple factual statement of the emotional reaction this situation would provoke.

The fact that Trump is so destructive and either lacks insight or doesn't care to work on his core problems, is what tempers those feelings of sadness and the recognition of the tragic to merely that statement rather than to any warm feelings toward a victim.

Trump is a victim. He is a victim of his father. He is a victim of an upbringing in which he was not able to securely attach to his primary care givers. This created a world for him with no foundation of safety and trust. Instead of using the vast resources in the family to deal with the abusive nature of Fred Trump and the absence of Mary Trump as care giver, Trump has used the resources to construct a patently false image of himself as a "winner" and a strong person. Anyone with a cursory knowledge of human behavior can see through the facade.

[young_at_heart]

7. He may still be a "boy"

who, deep down, is terrified, but he coexists with a downright scary adult!

[solara]

12. Indeed.

#TraitorTrump 's childhood is a study on how true monsters are born and encouraged.

[Baked Potato]

11. Hopefully Little Boy no try make War-War.

[solara]

13. well, he's not a little boy anymore, is he? n/t

[Baked Potato]

17. Nope...

[essme]

14. I don't give a flying rat's ass what his mental problems are

anymore.

Normally, I would have some sympathy/ empathy for people with mental problems-- but, not this guy. He needs to resign effective 6 months ago, and go somewhere to see a therapist. Hell, I don't even care if he draws a pension- just get the eff out.

[3catwoman3]

16. I have been describing him as a black hole of neediness...

...for sometime now, without being a PhD psychologist.

I, too, really don’t give a rat’s ass why he is the way he is. He has no shred of decency about him, and he is taking out his pathology on all of us. I will never forgive any Trump voter.

[flibbitygiblets]

18. Hopefully she can point to his weaknesses, so we can exploit them

Hopefully this book will give her some of the money Trump stole from her, and that alone will drive him nuts. I hope she goes on a big book promotion tour, on all the TV stations, and it gives him a stroke.