LinkedIn on Tuesday, January 20, 2026

It’s time we need to start saying, out loud and repeatedly, what everyone here and abroad knows full well. Donald Trump isn’t just stupid or confused, doesn’t just fail to understand how to solve our problems.  And his politics has nothing to do with it.  The problem is that he’s actually mentally ill, suffering from clinical “malignant narcissism” according to many psychologists.  As such, he cares only about himself.  It’s the simple, but nonetheless profound diagnosis that explains everything he does.

Were he a relative or friend – and not President of the United States – we would encourage him to get professional help to deal with his condition or, were we a less caring people, just ignore him.  Unfortunately, neither is a viable option given his current position of authority.  By virtue of a huge popular error in judgement, we have given him the power to do great harm to our democracy, our people, our allies and the world order.

The meanness of his demeanor is unbearable.  The hurt his policies have done to our reputations and traditions – to the rule of law and Constitutional guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – is stupendous.  The deaths of literally hundreds of thousands of people whose lives had depended upon our goodwill have forever tarnished our self-image as a nation and individuals.  The pride we’ve had in our accomplishments has been sacrificed for his selfishness.  These are not good times for the American psyche.  No post-Trump effort to apologize will make this feeling in our chests go away.  All that said, compassion reminds us that he is ill. 

Judging from his behavior, President Trump is deteriorating at an increasing rate.  The greater the evidence of that deterioration, the more, long overdue resistance we’re beginning to hear from Republicans in Congress whose counter-Trump initiative we need to begin the process of righting our ship.

So, what do we do?  Complimenting and placating him is having less and less an effect and wears off quickly.  The Supreme Court seems oblivious to the extent of the real emergencies President Trump is creating.  Lesser courts are doing their best, as rapidly as they can, but can’t be expected to keep up.  Article 25 is as useless as the Justice Department that serves his bidding.

But then the more his polling deteriorates, the more wildly aggressive Trump has become.  Turns out that this is a good thing.  The more our people and allies in Europe recoil from his idiocy, the more desperate he becomes to prove himself all-powerful.  That is, after all, a principal symptom of his disease.

What we need to do is what irks him most.  We attack his sanity, knowing full well that the more public that attack, the more obviously unhinged his behavior.  It’s risky business, I know, but the greater the hysteria in his head, the more wild his proclamations, the greater the flame under Republicans in the House and Senate.

We need to be the Ford worker who risked his job to call out Trump as a “Pedophile protector! To which a wounded Trump responded, on camera, with a double “F**k you!” and middle finger salute.  That reaction is what prompted this post.  I’m reminded that “Donald The Great” is vulnerable, very much so, and that we, the people and media, should not, cannot hesitate to take advantage of his condition.  He’s left us with no other choice but to make him a victim of his own lunacy.

-Les