[UPDATE: Arizona senator Ruben Gallego says that he thinks Trump is literally insane and that “Everyone needs to stop pretending this is rational.” We need to encourage more people to say this.]
Trump has been doing many cruel and absurd things, too many to list, and besides which most readers of this blog are already aware of them. It has provided late night comics with plenty of fodder. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show provides many examples over a few days from just the past week.
But this is no laughing matter. It is tempting for people who are sane and rational to try and find reasons for Trump’s bizarre and erratic behavior. One of the most popular ones is that he is a master of distraction and uses these things to take people’s attention away from his declining popularity, the high cost of living and housing, lack of health care plans, and of course, the Epstein files.
But his actions over Greenland, his weird text message to the prime minister of Norway complaining about not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize being a factor in his attempt to annex Greenland (even though it is a protectorate of Denmark and not Norway) and that he would impose tariffs on European countries if they did not agree to his demands, suggest to me a level of irrationality that cannot be easily explained away as some kind of deep fake.
Republicans in congress and European leaders and are expressing serious concerns.
European leaders have lined up to condemn Donald Trump’s “new colonialism” and warn that the continent was facing a crossroads as the US president said there was no going back on his goal of controlling Greenland.
After weeks of aggressive threats by Trump to seize the vast Arctic island, which is a largely autonomous part of Denmark, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said on Tuesday he preferred “respect to bullies” and the “rule of law to brutality”.
Macron told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that now was “not a time for new imperialism or new colonialism”, criticising the “useless aggressivity” of Trump’s pledge to levy tariffs on countries that opposed a US takeover of Greenland.
The US was seeking to “weaken and subordinate Europe” by demanding “maximum concessions” and imposing tariffs that were “fundamentally unacceptable – even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty”, he said.
European countries are looking at ways to retaliate, even considering using a trade weapon called the “Anti-Coercion Instrument”, known colloquially as the ‘bazooka’.
Regional diplomats held an emergency meeting in Brussels on Sunday afternoon to discuss their response to Trump’s threat to escalate tariffs, with France reportedly pushing for the EU to use its strongest economic counter-threat to the U.S., known as the “Anti-Coercion Instrument” (ACI).
The much-vaunted instrument is seen as a nuclear option when it comes to economic counter-measures as it could see the EU restrict U.S. suppliers’ access to the EU market, excluding them from participation in public tenders in the bloc, as well as putting export and import restrictions on goods and services and putting potential limits on foreign direct investment in the region.
Despite being seen as a “big bazooka” against Trump’s tariffs playbook, it has not been used before, and regional leaders have already said they want to pursue dialogue with the U.S. in the coming days to resolve the rift over Greenland.
The Financial Times reported that the EU was contemplating imposing 93 billion euros ($108 billion) worth of tariffs, as well as considering the use of the ACI.
I am beginning to think that Trump is in fact suffering from serious mental illness. It is not always present or visible. There are times when his behavior and words, even if exceedingly ugly, seem rational, driven by the hate and anger that form such a basic part of his psyche. But his Greenland obsession and some of the other recent behavior that Stewart shows in the above clip signal a level of monomania and disassociation from reality that cannot be easily dismissed as performative theater on his part.
It goes without saying that I am not a medical professional with any expertise in diagnosing mental illness. But when you reach my age, you sadly get familiar with elderly people you know who start to behave in ways that suggest dementia, enough to recognize warning signs that it is maybe time to take away their car keys and keep them under supervision.
It may be time for the country and the world to come to terms with the fact that the president of the United States may well be, literally, insane.
Seriously, this has been clear for quite some time. Yes, he was always stupid, lazy, hateful, and vindictive, but he is also now very obviously out of his tiny little mind. Everybody has been in complete denial about it, but the Emperor is
stark bollock nakedcompletely fucking nuts.I keep wondering how long it’s going to be until he has a complete psychotic breakdown on live TV, because apparently that what it’s going to take for people to admit the obvious.
After all the other outrageous stuff he’s done that has been rationalized away, I don’t know if there is a line he can cross, other than dying, that will stop this. Coprophagia, maybe? I dunno.
he could reach in his slacks, pull out a steaming handful, and gargle it on live tv, and his followers would cry deepfake.
No, trump is no less sane than your average run-of-the-mill sociopathic narcissist. He simply does not care. He obviously hates the USA.
European leaders wanting dialogue gives trump exactly what he wants -- an excuse for blaming them for failing to agree to his demands.
Implement a massive sales tax on those goods that trump doesn’t tariff (there are always carve-outs) that target only US buyers. Hell, just up the price for all goods heading to the US.
The USA can no longer be trusted when the majority of those who can be bothered to vote there think trump is a good option (more suitable than a far better qualified brown skinned woman) simply because he feeds their hates and fears.
I don’t think we need to get into insanity to explain why a supremely egoistic , highly vindictive person, surrounded by enablers and grifters and manipulators will end up with crazy demands. (See any tech Billionaire)
The doctor who has hitherto been in charge of meting out Trump’s carefully finessed hour-by-hour meds regime is now in on the run..
I can understand those who are saying in the comments that what we are witnessing is just the behavior of a narcissistic, vindictive, sociopath.
Yes, he is all those things. But I am suggesting that there could be an extreme manifestation of those traits that cross over into derangement, and that he is displaying it.
As I said, I do not really know. But I think that the use of the word ‘crazy’ to describe him is moving from being a metaphor to literal..
Nick @4, I have to agree with Mano that there’s been a noticeable escalation into true insanity. But, you are quite right that the US can’t be trusted, with or without Trump, and I think that’s been the case for a while now.
As Nick so rightly says, the EU “talking” to him is worse than useless. They should say that they’re implementing the nuclear option, the most severe form of it, right now, and that they’re imposing all the worst tariffs too. Because, Big Money is actually what governs America, and the slightest change in the status quo will shake their system to the foundations.
The Achilles’ heel of Big Money’s global power structure, depending as it does wholly on no change in the status quo, is that it makes the structure very vulnerable to the actions of the rest of the global players.
So, the EU doesn’t have to actually *do* the nuclear option or the tarriffs: it just has to *say* that it’s doing them (this is not testimony under oath.) It’ll definitely not take months for Big Money to panic and stop Trump so that they can keep their position of absolute power and wealth. I think that just the threat of implementing it will bring a lot of Big Money around to forbid Trump doing any such thing.
(And, if not, kick him a few billion under the table as well. If that doesn’t get his attention, or if the screams of Big Money don’t sway him, it means he is unquestionably insane, and other measures must be taken. Maybe….doping his Diet Coke with large doses of antipsychotics? I’m not kidding. They are quite sedating, so at least he’d be down for some periods of time.)
Perhaps we’re down to hoping that the military brass, when ordered to send bombs and troops to Greenland, will just refuse to obey.
“Crazy Stupid” or “Stupid Crazy”, The Orange Turd is the stupidest person to have EVER been elected as POTUS, and maybe any office ever. He has done so much damage to the country, and the world, that it will take generations to recover (if ever).
While trumps level of derangement appears to be increasing, I do not believe we can dismiss it as due to a slide away from sanity. He has always been a fuckwit with a solid agenda of fuckery.
What I am seeing is an ignorant fuckwit emboldened by sycophants and yes-men. He has always been easily manipulated because he is an ignorant piece of excrement, and those that have his ear play to his base hates with consummate skill.
The USA as it is is fucked. I feel for those there who are horrified by this administration. I hope you can shake off the xenophobic religious fundamentalism and capitalistic libertarianism that has for so long poisoned what could otherwise have been a wonderful example of humanity’s potential for equality, egality and fraternity.
I don’t know how it can happen, but don’t expect it to be peaceful.
The USA appears to be the second most fearful society on the planet, just behind North Korea.
I agree with Mano and Gallego. Due to the every increasing chaos, murder, destruction, lying and demented ideas put forth by the plutocratic sociopaths ru(i)ning this country, (I’ve posted this on PZ’s blog, too.) I keep hearing two 1960’s songs in my head:
The Animals: ‘We’ve got to get out of this place’ But, that is negated by Martha and the Vandellas: ‘nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide’.
Of course, his malice and racism is blatant, constant and growing. He is the first president in the decades since the Holiday was established to intentionally avoid any recognition of MLKjr Day.
I think Trump pursues Greenland for two reasons. Firstly, it’s the road to Canada. Secondly and just as importantly, the pursuit of Greenland is a challenge to the EU: do you actually have anything more than mere words?
There are few people in Greenland compared to the US, and few people outside of Greenland itself care about it (next to nobody in the US). Denmark is part of the EU but Greenland is not, and Denmark cannot resist US pressure alone. So Greenland is an excellent target to test the EU’s strength. Trump’s real adversary is the EU as a whole -- not the individual countries but the “union” of them. Is that a real thing?
Trump believes it isn’t real, and he’s going to prove it. He believes that the EU is mere illusion -- not so much the emperor with no clothes, as the no clothes that its member countries think keep them clad. He believes the EU is only emperor in name, incapable of wielding an emperor’s power because it isn’t run tyrannically the way that the other big players (Russia, China, the USA) are. He’s going to put that to the test! Trump deliberately provokes the EU to do something more than issue a strongly worded statement.
That is not, in itself, insane. Oh it’s a threat, but it’s only insane if Trump is wrong. IS he wrong though? The real question is what will the EU actually DO? What CAN it do? Is it a paper tiger, too caught up in its own bureaucracy and trying to keep its member countries content to do anything at all? I would like to believe otherwise, but I’m not going to wish away the whole problem as the ramblings of a lunatic. That really is wishful thinking (Trump is showing the signs of dementia and will soon be gone; close your eyes and he will soon go away…).
Now what? Well the way I see it, one of two things happens:
-- EITHER the EU shows it isn’t toothless after all and Trump backs down. Yay for reason! But what did it cost Trump? Nothing of importance. The US is really no worse off than before, and Trump likes it when people tippy-toe around him for fear of what he might do. There is a benefit to being considered slightly unhinged when it comes to negotiations.
-- OR the EU is exposed as a sham after all. The US takes over Greenland. Despair! But nothing much changes there. Now Canada becomes the focal point. Pressure, pressure! “Look at Greenland, some foolishly tried to resist, but they’re better off now we’re in charge!” Trump crows, and the maggats eat it up. Will it cave? Who knows? Maybe when Trump finally succumbs to old age we will enter a new age of enlightenment and reason, but I’m not holding my breath.
One last (third) post from me.
I think that writing trump’s behaviour off as a result of insanity is as dangerous as if he actually is, because it ignores the multitudes who adore him and his abhorrent vomits of hatred.
shermanj states at 11 (emphasis mine)
as evidence of trump’s insanity.
If trump is insane then evidently all his cabinet along with millions of US citizens are too!
Nick Wrathall: I can’t speak for anybody else, but I’m not arguing that Trump is insane because of his policies -- bizarre, stupid and hateful though they may be. Yes, all the stuff about tariffs and Greenland and immigration and Venezuela and so on can be explained by seeing him as an “easily manipulated” “ignorant fuckwit emboldened by sycophants and yes-men”. Absolutely.
However, that’s not why I’m saying he’s insane. I’m saying he’s insane because of the rambling, incoherent gibberish that falls out of his mouth whenever he opens it, and the ridiculous late night bouts of posting dozens if not hundreds of rambling, incoherent, gibberish
tweets“Truths” -- up to nearly one a minute for a period of several hours in at least one case. That is not the behaviour of a sane person.Stephen Miller, for example, is an evil, hateful, stupid man, pursuing evil, hateful, stupid policies, but he’s clearly not insane. Trump, on the other hand, is an evil, hateful, stupid man, pursuing evil, hateful, stupid policies, but who is also a raving nutjob who can barely string a coherent sentence together, and frequently appears unsure of what’s going on around him.
Not the wording I’d have chosen, given the opening passage:
“Lawmakers from both parties promised legislative action to block Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs against European allies on Monday, though Republicans willing to publicly break with the president on Greenland remain in short supply.”
The article further describes the difficulties in getting Republican votes, including this damning passage:
“Yet Murkowski suggested the limited number of Republicans on the trip should not be interpreted as lack of concern within the party. “I don’t think that the absence of Republicans is because they don’t care about this issue,” Murkowski told reporters, hinting at broader unease among her colleagues.”
Cool, they care about the issue and this hints that they are uneasy. They care about it so much in fact that they aren’t stepping forward to do anything about it. And until that happens, this measure is a guaranteed flop.
He started off as a Temu Juan Peron but cognitive decline coupled with his existing mental instability and genuine stupidity (both proud ignorance and low cognitive abilities) have made things so much worse.
We may have to invent a whole new concept for what he is.
.
The MAGA movement and his billionaire backers are two things separate from the dumpster fire in his mind.
Regarding Greenland: since humans have been around and noticed, Greenland has been locked in ice. The fact that Trump keeps insisting that Russia and China are circling it now means someone in that misadministration realizes climate change is real and the ice sheets are melting. Is this realization progress for them? It’s darkly humorous.
Also, I agree with Dunc @1 and @15 and I LOL’d at birgerjohansson’s “Temu Juan Perón”…and then I cried because all the rest as so true.
It is becoming obvious to everyone that Trump is showing advanced age related cognitive impairment, commonly referred to as dementia.
He forgets things, rambles, repeatedly makes absurd claims that are factually wrong, and has lost his executive functions that govern what he says and does.
His latest delusion is that the European Union is somehow our enemy and we have to confront them.
The reality is that they have been our friends and allies for 80 years and we benefit greatly from having mutually beneficial relations with them.
He should have been stopped by congress months ago but they have their problems as well. The US congress is doing a great imitation of a house plant.
Trump has a medical condition but I don’t know what the US congress’es excuse it.
Nice that even USAians are noticing how much Trump is causing damage. And it won’t stop when he is gone. The wounds will be remembered to third and fourth generation (as the bible puts it). Till 22nd century.
But its not just Trump. He’s only a front, and MAGA are useful idiots to decorate the landscape. The real evil are the gray eminences pulling Trumps ropes. If you ask Qui bono? you get the answer: Putin. So far Trump’s disagreements with him have been just theatre. Nothing serious -- USA has not even slapped tariffs on Russia.
In the long run you should get rid of the winner-takes-all election system, which leads to polarisation; and separate the roles of prime minister and president, so that the parliament can fire the government.
OK, that’s the excuse I’ve been waiting for to post a link to something I read weeks ago, and have been thinking about (and occasionally re-reading) ever since…
This is post from a Toronto-based journalist about the goings-on at the Halifax International Security Forum in November last year. (“The Halifax International Security Forum […] is an annual summit for international government and military officials, academic experts, authors and entrepreneurs, held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada” per Wikipedia.) There’s quite a lot in it, and I would encourage everyone to read it in full, but I’m going to quote the section that really hit me, and from which the (admittedly provocative) title is taken: Matt Gurney: ‘We will never fucking trust you again’
[My emphasis]
Like I say, lots of other good stuff in there, including some interesting observations about the absence of a formal US delegation for the first time ever. Well worth a read.
As the saying goes, trust arrives on foot, but leaves on horseback. Well, the horse is long gone now…
It’s already too late.
That’s not me being doom and gloom. We’ll throw off this nonsense the Republicans in Congress are inflicting on us in November. And then they’ll panic and have another two months to screw us over before they give up and many of them go “spend more time with their families”. I’m not betting on us getting the Senate so there’s no chance Trump will be removed from office. But some of the more bonkers nonsense will come to an end around 12-13 months from now.
But it’s too late to stop Trump from initiating significant and permanent economic consequences for the US. The tariffs alone are teaching the rest of the world that they don’t want to and don’t need to deal with the US. And with the Greenland and Canada rhetoric, Trump has already lost those battles without a shot being fired. That kind of trust cannot be regained easily, if at all. And it will have serious consequences for international trade with the US. Nobody wants to do business with someone who’s rabidly working against them.
The only thing that really surprises me is that the rich parasite class hasn’t noticed what this all means for them. Trump is giving away their revenue streams and nobody’s even getting anything for it as far as I’m aware. The rich get to take advantage of everyone else when economic issues are widespread but I’m not sure that will hold true if the world shifts away from trade with the US and using the dollar standard. I do expect a lot of them to move away from the US like rats from a sinking ship as more of this shift happens and becomes apparent. But they could have stopped it from happening at all with a couple phonecalls to Trump. So far it doesn’t look like they even tried.
Comment # 2
“Trump Attacks World Then Forgets How To Speak … Leaders Go Silent!”
(You can just fast forward to the bits that show Trump)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=p5nOoWROsUM
# 3:
‘MS Now’ has a more detailed analysis.
‘Tone deaf, oblivious to history, insult after insult’: Reaction to Trump’s Davos Speech
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=c_j7x0nyzHE
Trump has declared in Davos that he only wants a piece of ice. I predict a rain of ice cubes. If they can’t be aimed at Trump, there’s aleays ICE.
I’m glad to see that the outsiders, Canada, Mexico, the EU, Greenland, plus 100 or so other countries are getting it, that the US is no longer a country to be trusted. We are in fact, becoming dangerous to everyone else.
Time to deal with it and move on, because what else can you do?
The world is a lot bigger than the USA.
It is the same for a huge number of Americans.
I and tens of millions like me don’t trust our government any more either.
The GOP/Trump hates me/us as much as they hate the EU and Canada.
And, we are a lot easier to get to.
While the invasions of Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, Mexico, and the UK aren’t really going any where right now, the invasion of Minneapolis, Minnesota is ongoing and getting uglier by the day right now.
@26 Raven
“I and tens of millions like me don’t trust our government any more either.”
I realize some would accuse me of picking nits, but that statement feeds into the larger negative narrative claiming that “government is bad”. This goes back to Reagan’s “nine words you never want to hear”*. The idea is that the very concept of government is bad, and the less we have of it, the better. The anarcho-capitalists want to amplify that statement because it gives them free rein. I think it is far better, and far more accurate, to say that we don’t trust this administration. Don’t equate the two. Instead, specifically name the bad guys (e.g., Trump and the GOP).
*”I’m from the government and I’m here to help”
Whether insane or not, Trump is still the enemy. Jack Smith’s testimony is damning.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/jan/22/donald-trump-greenland-tariffs-ice-democrats-funding-bill-us-politics-live-news-updates
Never mind the commandments, schools should have to post that up in classrooms