February 23, 2020

"A Duty to Warn" vs. "First Do No Harm"

Your excellent question to Dr. Lee about whether episodes of intense stress can trigger psychosis—and her answer—will help some of us to understand why psychiatrists who’ve studied Trump never touch the subject of how to access Trump’s weak points or exploit them to gain a psychological advantage or throw him off balance. That’s been one frustration for those of us who read books like “Dangerous Case” and “Dangerous Charisma” trying to ascertain ways to identify, access and trigger his psychological vulnerabilities (and pass them onto people who are in a position to do so).

A responsible psychiatrist would never provide advice on this because of the inherent risk, and because the “Duty to Warn” is counterbalanced by the duty to “Do no Harm.” And since one outcome might be a psychotic episode, the consequences are unknowable and potentially hazardous. It would likely be gross professional misconduct and the repercussions (not to mention the liability) could be immense. Therefore, it’s understandable that mental health professionals like Dr. Lee are reluctant to go near this subject.

February 22, 2020

One of the most fascinating points Dr. Lee makes is that

Trump is incapable of experiencing self-doubt because it appears to him in disguised form: in the form of an exterior threat. That's mind-blowing. So he can't even interpret a feeling as "the feeling of insecurity" (about himself) because he doesn't experience it in the first place. It is unrecognizable to him.

February 21, 2020

No, that's not "all" Russia cares about

They care about the US leaving them alone in Ukraine
Us getting out of NATO
Us getting out of South Korea
Russia would like us out of Afghanistan
Getting out of Syria
Removing sanctions, especially the Magnitsky Act
Leaving them alone in the Arctic
Terminating our agreements with other developing nations so that they can fill the void left by our absence
Generally, weakening out international presence and authority
Not participating in climate action, so it gives them cover to do the same
Weakening out strong ties with European nations (See "NATO" above)

And probably a dozen other things Fiona Hill could explain to us.

February 19, 2020

that's remarkable.

Here's one. Music Box Dancer, with real life dancers.

February 19, 2020

Okay maybe so. But there are a lot of psychiatrists who would

beg to differ, at least about Trump's ability to control his impulses and formulate a plan. The "plan" usually emerges after Trump does something grandly stupid and his enablers clean up the mess and attempt to justify what just happened.

February 19, 2020

The ads have begun here in Arizona

Two days ago Senator McSally released an ad called "Bernie Bro" attacking Senate candidate Mark Kelly, making it look as if Kelly and Bernie are best pals and that Kelly fully supports Bernie and all his initiatives. It mentions prison inmates voting and open borders and the cost of some of Bernie's programs. It ends with this: "Mark Kelly and Bernie Sanders are too liberal for Arizona!"

You might say, "They'll do that with any candidate" but this ad contains mostly footage of Bernie talking and saying things no other candidate that we know of has said on video.

February 19, 2020

I mostly agree with this. I posted this theory and got slammed for being naive.

Where I disagree is that if you look closely, Joe actually faltered before Bloomberg doubled his spending. Bloomberg saw something in Iowa he didn't expect to happen. One day we'll find out what he saw. Also keep in mind he is certainly doing extensive internal polling that might be more sophisticated than other campaigns are capable of.

Having said that, what surprises me is the aggression. Where I erred was in thinking Bloomberg wanted to stay in the background until much later. He's turned up the volume big time this week and we are told he will attack all the candidates tonight. I don't think that's the best tactic, but he's a genius and I'm not.

February 18, 2020

Yeah, he can dish it out but he can't take it.

When he makes these attacks though, we learn where his weak points are, because he's a chronic projector.

So, obviously his physical appearance is a weak point, because it's the first thing he goes after in others.

Then in response, a candidate runs an ad making fun of Trump's physical appearance, and we hear from his White House aids that when Trump saw it he lost his mind.

He also criticizes people's' intelligence, so that's a second weak point.

He hates the feeling he's being laughed at behind his back by people with more power or fame than him.

And there are some others, and luckily the candidates are catching on.

Yes, he's childish, but he's teaching us where to land punches on him.

February 18, 2020

It's stuff like this

You know how many people are working day and night to get Mark Kelly elected here in AZ?
We don't want this to go down the drain.
Mark Kelly is NOT A SOCIALIST.
And he HASN'T ENDORSED BERNIE SANDERS.

February 17, 2020

Transcription of Noel Casler's description of Trump's drug abuse

Thanks to Maraya1969 for posting the audio.

Link: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212995535



Casler: I told him the real deal about Trump that people didn’t know. He was an open drug addict. Everyone knew it; none of this stuff was a secret, you know. He was doing coke on shows 20 years ago when we we’d do, you know, we’d do the VH1 Fashion Awards and I used to do the beauty pageants with him in the Nineties. Now, he was an open drug user, and open sexual assaulter, and this stuff was just kind of accepted.

Interview: And it’s not that you heard this first hand, it’s you saw this with your own eyes.

Casler: Absolutely. That’s when most of the drug use occurred on The Apprentice, when he had to read cue cards. He’d get really nervous, so he’d go in the bathroom, crush up Adderral, he’d come back to (the) set, there’d be white chunks flying out of his nose, white powder under his nose. He’s doing the same thing as a candidate and as a president. It gives him a feeling of being in control. But he’s clearly an addict. If you know anything about addiction, untreated addiction as a president is the worst thing you can have. So, yeah, he was obviously high that night. That was the same person we saw in The Apprentice. And I remember watching that and, like, Yep, he’s high. And it probably wasn’t just Adderral. You know, he did coke, he did meth, he had drug dealers coming to the after parties, selling it to him. Adderral is his maintenance high; it’s what he does during the day. When he gets down to Mar-a-Lago and these other places he gets into it a little harder. He also uses benzodiazepines—you know, Valium and stuff to come down when he hits it hard. So when you see him slurring and stuff, that’s from the benzos. And, you know, the things I saw he didn’t even hide. So many other people saw this stuff. But imagine what the people are seeing right now in the White House. You know what I mean? We got him for an hour a day on The Apprentice—on the Celebrity Apprentice—because he barely worked. That’s the other thing: the guy is unmanageable. You know what I mean? He’s not a functioning human being, he barely works. Nine days out of ten we’d have to cancel that day’s taping because he wouldn’t show up at the last minute. So imagine the dysfunction and insanity these people are witnessing at the White House, (and) the GOP leaders that you say are enabling him.

(I've made this as accurate as possible, but any errors are my fault)

Just because, I wanted this in writing so I could read it with my own eyes.