Worse Than Dishonesty: Donald Trump’s Delusions And His War Against Reality

I’m going to avoid giving Donald Trump the nickname “Delusional Donald,” a tactic he immortalized during the 2016 campaign-and still does-to zero in on and ridicule his political enemy’s biggest weaknesses. But if he is delusional, as President of the United States he poses a major threat to the country and the world. Indeed, objective reality is always an existential threat to delusional people who live in their make-believe worlds of subjective reality. As reality closes in, they grow more desperate, even risking the stability and future of others around them. What’s more, the truth may sometimes hurt, but delusion always harm-and harm it does. Just ask Omarosa Manigault-Newman.(1)

Selling Out The Country And Tempered By Stages Of Delusion
It doesn’t take much to see that Donald Trump has fixed and immutable false beliefs with no basis in reality. Just as alarming is his base. They too demonstrate fanciful notions-or more like self-deception-when it comes to reality. Thinking the economy and jobs have never been better, or that he’s the most popular Republican president ever and California’s wildfires were caused by environmental laws, doesn’t make it so. In fact, the historical record disagrees with a lot he says about the national debt, tariffs and trade deficits, and the number of people on food stamps. Simply put, his delusions are easy to verify-such as the size of his inaugural crowd and the 4 million illegals who voted.

Donald Trump’s persistent beliefs and delusions-despite the facts-is worrying. Regardless of fulfilling the exact legal definition, he still doesn’t think of himself as a bully. There’s also delusions of grandeur over claims about North Korea’s denuclearization program and Iran’s nuclear enrichment. In spite of what he says, the very opposite is occurring. While Iran’s abiding by the P5+1 Treaty and strictly monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, it’s North Korea that’s expanding their missile program. But again, those with delusions manifest utter certainty about their belief. Especially if they’re power hungry-in which they’re tempered by their delusions, or if they want something.

What that something is in North Korea’s case is a Nobel Peace Prize and for the Trump Organization to invest in North Korea’s economy. Since this delusion is incorrigible, resisting incontrovertible arguments and evidence which is dead wrong; he’s putting the nation at risk. The same goes for other delusions which follow various stages. More general suspiciousness leads to hostility, selective perception of others, paradoxical delusions of influence and persecution, self-fulfilled prophecies, and finally paranoia and even purges. A fixation on Mueller’s Probe, keeping an enemies list, a belief in a Deep State or DOJ-FBI conspiracy, and following Qanon, are just a few abnormal fears.

When Delusion Is No Longer Marginal
On the domestic front, delusions are even more dangerous since they preoccupy people and cause them considerable stress. Psychologists point to how delusional disorders lead to volatility and turmoil, callousness and coldness. If this sounds familiar-Donald Trump and his White House, so too will how they’re impairments in the ego defense system aimed to protect and bolster the self. Someone like Donald Trump will continue to see any paranoid or persecutory delusions as an attempt to project onto others things that he does not like to admit in himself. Omarosa Newman witnessed this first hand, only she should’ve labeled it “delusion” instead of “deception” in her new book “Unhinged.”(2)

Take the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Donald Trump now admits it was a coordinated effort to get dirt-from-the-Russians on Hillary Clinton and other opponents. While some think it was just another lie, he tweeted that it was “totally legal and done all the time in politics.” But its not legal. Neither is it done all the time. What if, then, he really was delusional about the meeting. What if he really can’t tell what is real from what is imagined and just makes things up as he goes? This would explain some of his bizarre statements and behaviors and how he believes that he’s above the rule of law and Constitution. He may even think he’s the State, something that endangers all Americans.

It would also describe his antisocial personality towards certain people and groups. After all, doesn’t he repeatedly feed people lies in an attempt to convince-and project onto them-that they too are delusional? One of the greatest threats for any democracy to face is consequently a delusional president who’s declared an all-out war on reality. In addition to causing more social unrest and divisive cultural wars, which is already occurring, reality wars can cause a society to collapse. As Donald Trump and his followers try to impose their subjective reality onto objective realists, the clash between the unreal and real will give way to more violence. The trauma of the illogical will also increase.

Houses Built On Delusions Aren’t Cheap
So too will the frequency and intensity of hysteria and mass movements. Once America reaches this point, it’ll be delusional to think that Donald Trump and the evils in the world he’s caused can be cured by legislation, for they cannot. Though it’s still too soon to say if an Orwellian mentality-followed by Orwellian feelings and doublespeak-will win out over facts and the historical record and reality, it’s not to soon to know that it’s far better to grasp the world as it really is than to persist in a Donald Trump’s delusions, however satisfying and reassuring they may be. A house of delusions may be cheap to build, but, to be sure, it ‘s expensive to maintain. It’s also much too costly in the end.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) www.politico.com. “Omarosa: Trump Is ‘Mentally Declined,’” by Victoria Guida. August 12, 2018. As a black woman and role model, Omarosa Manigault Newman now regrets her complicity in the White House, and how she didn’t come forward sooner to condemn Donald Trump’s racism and use of the “N” word, including misogyny. With tapes to back her claims, she’s also sorry for not warning Americans about the decline of the president’s “mental state,” or that certain officials threatened to destroy her reputation upon being asked to leave. Donald Trump has given her the nicknames “lowlife-” and “wacky-Omarosa” too, even going as far as calling her a “dog.” See www.foxnews.com. “President Calls Omarosa ‘Dog’ as War With Betraying Nemesis ’Apprentice’ Heats Up,” by Brooke Singman. August 14, 2018.

(2) The “Washington Post” published a non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreement as well that was offered to her to “buy her silence.” In the document, labeled the “Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. Companion Agreement,” she would have been prohibited from demeaning or cubically disparaging President Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence, or any of their family members or companies. She wouldn’t have been able to assist “any person that is a candidate or exploring candidacy for President of the United States other than Mr. Trump” either. She still claims: “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump, she could’ve added at the end “…and to his delusions.”