Normality vs Neuro-Divergent
What we have here, folks, is not failure to communicate; it’s an inability to understand
that we are being fooled by the filter of normality. We are a country of people with a mental block that prevents us from understanding why the President of the United States thinks and acts in ways that are profoundly abnormal.
This astonishes me. I understand that most people have a deep need to believe that the people around them—especially those in charge—are neurotypical. Of course we do. To accept that the man running the country is mentally abnormal is pretty darn scary.
Say It Ain’t So
So, instead of accepting this fact and changing our thinking accordingly, we stick our heads in the sand and pretend it just ain’t so. And I don’t mean only the voters. I mean the pundits, columnists, analysts, senators, Congress members, financial experts, and other officials whose success depends on knowing that the man in charge of the country is typically unpredictable, often irrational, and frequently shocking.
We don’t want to know that he lacks the guidelines that most leaders follow, and cares not a whit for the people of the country, not even those who voted for him.
POTUS #47 is a Sociopath
So, I will say it again in plain English: Donald Trump is a sociopath.
Before you rise In righteous wrath and say that I have no credentials to back up this claim: You’re right. But in 2017, 27 psychiatrists, psychologists and other prestigious mental health professionals who do have such credentials, wrote a book called, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.” In it, they make exactly this claim.
Now, political experts like Gerard Baker, Frank Bruni, Michelle Goldberg, Bret Stephens, and Patrick Healy may not want to know this inconvenient fact. Their article, “Is the Destruction the Point?: Three Opinion Writers on Trump’s First 50 Days,” in today’s New York Times demonstrates this willful blindness. They say it without realizing they’re saying it, in plain black and white.
Applying the Filter of Normality
In this article, the authors make statements and ask questions that strike me as incredibly naïve. Frank Bruni, for example, says,
“I don’t think he has a coherent value structure as most of us understand it. I think we’re seeing a president who’s operating without anything any of us would recognize as a conscience. Truly.”
Well, duh, Frank. Sociopaths don’t have a conscience. Why are you surprised?
Lacking the Language of Normality
Patrick Healy says,
“I find myself nodding along and yet also feeling like we lack the language to talk about Trump. . .. Or is the language that I’m kind of groping for a language about a country where so many people just may not care?”
No, Patrick. You’re groping for a language that describes someone who is hardwired in a way that is not normal. Because the filter or normality is twisting your thoughts.
So, as the writers declare they have neither the understanding nor the words to describe POTUS #47, it’s because they are applying the filter of normality to a man who is demonstrably abnormal. They insist on analyzing his words, behaviors, and reactions as those of an ordinary man, all while ignoring the abundant evidence that he’s neuro-divergent.
Read the Book Again
If they ever read “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” they need to read it again and refresh their memories.
Because what we get from the chattering class is a profound lack of understanding of the man they are being paid to understand and analyze.
Danger, Will Robinson!
There is danger in expecting a neurotypical reaction from someone who is neuro-divergent—because it doesn’t work. And all the belief in the world can’t make it so. This magical thinking can also come back to bite you in the butt, or the investment account.
Most people would see tanking the stock market as a warning sign. It would be a flashing red light to which a logical president would respond by changing policies or re-prioritizing agendas. But if the president is not normal, he will not behave this way. And if your savings go down the drain because of what he does, he will not care. He may even laugh at your gullibility. See what I mean?
Just Stop Believing
In the New York Times article, Patrick Healy says,” “He does defy, in so many ways any normal holding to account.”
Yes, Patrick, you’re beginning to understand. Now think about what you just said.
All of the people listed above have to stop believing in a normality that doesn’t exist. Rip off the filter of normality and start seeing POTUS #47 as he really is: a sociopath who holds the world’s economy, the safety of the United States and the lives of millions in hands that work for only one man.
Lacking sympathy, empathy, or the ability to love others, sociopaths care only about themselves. And it’s way past time to admit that it’s the truth and address the problem of Donald Trump’s abnormality accordingly.
