Is Trump showing worrying signs of mental disorder?

I am in the U.K. and sincerely say God Bless America and keep you safe. President Chump is going to damage so much for you worldwide and at home. You can see from her body language that the First Lady is sadly afraid of him and, I imagine, with good reason......

The problem is janep57 that compliance with the law requires a degree of consensus as to its validity, and, on a fear of punishment for disobeying it. Its ultimate instrument of compliance is the use of force; which is why any state leader can be deposed if they lose control of the army. Conversely, if you have a leader who completely ignores the Rule of Law and has control of the army they can do anything they please.

Most people are content to be 'governed' and have very little idea of how the instruments of government really work so, firstly, they can be easily manipulated to believe untrue representations of government processes; look how many people actually did believe that those three judges in the A50 case were EU stooges and 'enemies of the people' and refused to understand how vital the judges' action was to upholding our Constitution'

Secondly, because they don't know about how their government 'works' all sorts of checks and balances can be eroded without them noticing

Thirdly, 'freedoms' are easy to erode by exploiting most people's inherent respect for 'authority' (we are. after all, brought up to respect people like teachers, the police, the judiciary and even though we may question individual members of these groups we accept that they are in the main worthy of respect) or they can be eroded by encouraging such disrespect for authority and the Rule of Law that 'society' completely disintegrates.

It seems to me that there is a constant tension between those two states of total 'respect' and total anarchy which keeps us more or less in a state of eqilibrium/balance.

But what is clear from history is that that balance can be destroyed. Trump and his acolytes seem to be going down the 'ignore the rule of law' route.

There are quite a few blogs like this to be found on the web. Are they prophetic or are they the imaginings of extremist conspiracy theorists?

I don't know

Trial Balloon for a Coup?

medium.com/@yonatanzunger/trial-balloon-for-a-coup-e024990891d5#.g47s5whf9

Cor' that was a good post maizie

I take the point that making diagnoses (and making them public) without the subject being a client/patient of yours is somewhat dubious and questionable from a professional point of view. But what are these mental health professionals to do when they see someone whose instability is so clearly in the public eye and who now wields such power?

I am in no doubt at all that he is mentally unstable and that he will appoint/attract minions of poor judgement. But it is to be hoped that the public will take him to court at every turn in order to allow the law to decide. If he starts sacking judges, then we really are in the shit.

Give it time. the old adage 'Give someone enough rope to hang himself' will hopefully prove true in this instance.

The only reason Mrs May held his hand in Washington was to stop it wandering elsewhere.

she is keeping her powder dry for the moment and that is just pragmatic.
If she condemns him at this early stage she will simply alienate him and the UK is the country most likely to have some influence with him.

But she shouldn't have endorsed his presidency by issuing an invitation for a State visit so soon into his term of office.

Apparently he doesn't need party endorsement for the exec decisions whizzing from his pen but, according to today's London Times, they must be legal. So he sacks the lawyer telling him he's acting illegally and replaces her with someone who gives him the go-ahead. US citizens must attempt to rein him in.

Thank you ww

I think it's a really interesting topic.

Just what I was going to say Ginny - what on earth possessed Theresa the Appeaser (and I fear that's going to stick!) to invite him to the UK on a state visit within months of becoming President - it's unheard of. Apparently even Buck House was taken aback when it was issued in the middle of a press conference, she was so eager to proffer it. And that's what's upsetting me more than I could possibly have believed a few months ago, to see my Prime Minister toadying up to such an unpleasant man.

If he starts sacking judges, then we really are in the shit.

He has just sacked the Attorney General and many judges are political appointments within his gift. That is what is so very scary; the US doesn't really have an independent judiciary.

Their constitution was modelled on ours but they got bits wrong and/or it's deviated over the years. Mind you, ours is far from perfect...

Matthew P

Think he has always been like that even before he was president, trophy wives, and over brushed hair. Has a son who goes to Africa to hunt and kill animals says a lot about a man, father, husband.

Sally Yates is lucky Trump only 'relieved her of her duties'.
In many countries run by megalomaniacs she'd have just disappeared!

Yates is the tip of the iceberg...once he sees he can sack people who are not bowing and scraping to him, he will do it more often as he does in his businesses.

I wonder if he will move Giuliani from advisor to AG?

He might even try to fire the Supreme Court judges he doesn't like.

Good luck with that one, mate!

maizie your long post link is the most worrying thing I've read yet!

If he starts sacking judges......

This just happened in Turkey, but only a half hearted outcry, in fact Theresa May has just visited Turkey. Probably I'm missing something here, but I cannot understand why there was so little outcry about the awful recent events in Turkey.

There was, but not in the British press.

He can't sack judges, but he might think he can!

Alie wrote - 'maizie your long post link is the most worrying thing I've read yet!'
I agree. Reminiscent of a similar sequence of events elsewhere in the 1930s.

Ooops... forgot link

www.judicialselection.com/judicial_selection/methods/removal_of_judges.cfm?state

MaizieD
'He has just sacked the Attorney General and many judges are political appointments within his gift, the US doesn't really have an independent judiciary'

Yes, that is what I have always thought was the case.
Does that make clearer what I said in my post MawBroon ?
And to answer you, no I would certainly not like T May to sack any judges here, and of course, she could not do so anyway.

What everyone seems wto be missing is that he is doing what he said he would do. Nothing new. There are lots of people around him any one of whom could notice if he was ill.

You think??

And they may not be concerned as long as he fulfills their political views

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I have not got the impression that he's done anything, yet, that previous presidents (various) have not done before in some form or other.

And, as CardiffJag said, it's what he said he'd do during his campaign to be elected president. Other presidents have done similar things without there being such mass protests.

I say that not from a position of being a Trump supporter, just from that of someone who reads around.