Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTPM - Marshall "Trumpian Cognition and the Specter of the Russia Probe"
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trumpian-cognition-and-the-specter-of-the-russia-probeWhen I wrote this post about Trumps pre-Twitter, 2011-12 video blog I went back and watched a decent number of the mini-episodes. One of the things I watch for in watching these just cant help it is his verbal focus and precision. (Heres the video series Im talking about.) Watch video of Trump from twenty years ago and its very, very different from the guy you see now. There was some of this in these videos from less than a decade ago. But there was something else that I noticed, something that took me a while to quite put my finger on because its the absence of something.
The best way to put it is that Trump is just looser. Some of this is the polarization that he has intensified and that we all now live with more red meat and teeth gnashing. But even setting that aside hes just looser. There are a few more moments of self-deprecation. Sometimes hell just do a movie review or talk about one of his movie star friends. There is that thing we almost never see in him now humor. True humor, as opposed to mere sarcasm or viciousness, always contains a measure of self-deprecation. Viciousness and attack have always been Trumps native language. But these other modes were at least present. Theyre gone now.
Eventually I figured out what it was: theres no Russia probe. Its like the fish that knows nothing about water. Its so ubiquitous that its profound effect on the man doesnt immediately occur to me somehow. But lets just put it squarely: President Trump never speaks publicly without the Russia probe being front and center. Never. Even when hes bragging about the greatest economy in human history, or African-American unemployment or his increasingly obviously failed gambit in North Korea, the Russia probe is always there as the backdrop or counterpoint, whether explicitly or implicitly. And its usually the former.
The fact that Trump has little to do with the extremely low rate of unemployment today isnt the point. Almost two years into his Presidency any President would be taking credit for it. But when he brags about it, most of the time its to point out all the great things hes doing and not getting credit for because of the Russia probe. Look at all these amazing things I get no credit show because of the Russia probe! Or its why the Russia probe just doesnt or shouldnt matter because of all the great things hes doing. Remember there was a decent interval when Rudy Giuliani explained that President Trump couldnt be bothered to talk to Robert Mueller because he was business preventing a nuclear holocaust by talking to Kim Jong-un. Good or bad, on every front, Donald Trump cannot escape the Russia probe. I think if you think about it for a moment its hard to think about Trump saying anything without the Russia probe and all that goes with it being at least implicitly a big, big presence. And of course usually, you dont need to imagine. He says it.
This is hardly surprising. Its tough to be caught. Its tough to have no way out. But since weve never known a President Trump without it it can be hard to quite grasp how pervasive and all-consuming it is. I sense it has transformed him at some level, possibly melding with some degree of cognitive decline or perhaps simply warping his cognition and focus all on its own. Fear and stress change the brain. Here you have a man who far more than most people lives to dominate, lives to control. He lives in a psychic world in which there is no middle ground. His whole life has been built around that. And here you have him, under the worlds biggest spotlight and microscope, facing something he clearly cannot control and something with almost unimaginably high stakes for him and his family. It would take a person with an almost preternatural equanimity and poise not to be undone by that. God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed
These things are entirely beyond him. For someone who has always craved praise, deference and untrammeled power above all things, it is almost a Twilight Zone-like bespoke hell ending to the story.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 604 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (3)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
TPM - Marshall "Trumpian Cognition and the Specter of the Russia Probe" (Original Post)
NRaleighLiberal
Aug 2018
OP
2naSalit
(86,636 posts)1. And I can hardly wait
for the last page in the final chapter of this horror story!!!
GusBob
(7,286 posts)2. Lindsey Graham says he talks about it 20 times an hour
It is because of the election and the 3 million votes. The Russia thing invalidates his election
That's what he fears the most, it's like bad ratings