Mad as Hell

While waiting to receive my Memorial Day email from hypocrite Tim Scott telling me how much he respects veterans (regardless of his votes), I turned on the TV.  It may not surprise you that MSNBC was showing footage of Donald Trump's latest rant.

From TPM

And rant it was.  Along with calling Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas" and Hillary a "low-life" he went after the quite respectable republican governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez  for no apparent reason.  It may be that simply being another woman in government caused him to make that leap, and he can no longer tell friend from enemy if there are female parts involved.  I can't believe I am saying this, but I am worried about Donald.  He doesn't look good.  And he sounds crazier than ever.  I was once a psychologist, and although I don't often think of people in psychological terms, there are times when nothing else will do.

I will admit that around this time during the presidential campaign season, whatever candidates are left are looking pretty grim.  They all need sleep, and their voices are pretty much shot.  But Donald has added a whole new dimension to being stressed out and exhausted.

His non sequiturs are even less sequital.  Any self-respecting ten-year-old bully could come up with far better insults.  His hair is mussed (!).  The bags under his eyes could carry that stack of papers he was waving around.  And what was that all about anyway?  He seemed to glance at them every now and then as though to wonder what they were, and then just waved them around a bit more.  And then he mocked Hillary for reading with a teleprompter.

As my sweet mother said all those years ago when my father dragged her to see The Exorcist, "Oh, that poor thing."

According to the Mayo Clinic, here are some characteristics of psychotic disorder:


People may experience:

Behavioral: disorganized behavior, aggression, agitation, hostility, hyperactivity, hypervigilance, nonsense word repetition, repetitive movements, restlessness, self-harm, social isolation, lack of restraint, or persistent repetition of words or actions

Cognitive: thought disorder, belief that an ordinary event has special and personal meaning, belief that thoughts aren't one's own, disorientation, memory loss, racing thoughts, slowness in activity and thought, thoughts of suicide, unwanted thoughts, difficulty thinking and understanding, or false belief of superiority

Mood: anger, anxiety, apathy, excitement, feeling detached from self, general discontent, limited range of emotions, loneliness, or nervousness

Psychological: fear, hearing voices, depression, manic episode, paranoia, persecutory delusion, religious delusion, or visual hallucinations

Speech: deficiency of speech, excessive wordiness, incoherent speech, or rapid and frenzied speaking

Also common: confusion, nightmares, or tactile hallucination

At the very least, the man needs some serious sleep.  Instead, he is up all night on Twitter waiting for zingers from Elizabeth Warren.  I imagine him pacing his bedroom in a once-luxurious robe that sorely needs cleaning, muttering to himself about "that Indian."  He was so rattled by her attacks that he has begun to confuse her with Hillary.  And that word salad that has come to signify his speeches of late express ever looser associations, and are no doubt just continued ruminations from sleepless nights.  There are times onstage where he seems to not even realize he is speaking to a group of people.

This has happened before.  A man of passionate if extreme ideas who was given free reign over the airwaves.  A man who caught the fancy of a restless public.  A man who, over time, under pressure from all that scrutiny and adoration, eventually toppled right over the edge.

And won't that  be a suitable ending for the Presidential race of 2016?