Failure of Imagination - We Can't Go Backwards

3/31/2025

We’ve all heard the stories from Trump’s first and third wives (Marla has never weighed in, perhaps because their marriage didn’t last very long). Trump keeps a copy of Mein Kampf and the speeches of Hitler on his bedside table. At first I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t imagine Trump reading anything, let alone a book. He is fundamentally anti-intellectual to his very core.

His whole “brand” is based on going from his gut, which is why people think he is “honest.” Honest in this context means he says the quiet parts out loud. He has no filter. I saw this same mistaken understanding of Trump’s malignant narcissism, aka psychopathic disorder, attributed to my mother. She would say wildly terrible things to and about people. If anybody took offense, the standard line was, “I call a spade a spade.”

However, someone’s prejudice, ignorance, judgment, and personality problems are not “the truth.” This is just a rationalization for cruelty. None of us are perfect. We all have insecurities, judgments, and triggers, but most of us realize that saying something nasty and hurting someone doesn’t make us feel better. It will just cause pain, and we will regret it, but not if you're a psychopath.