Trump's Narcissism Will Incinerate America: Why Are Democrats Letting It Burn? - Thom Hartmann

[Rhiannon12866]

Donald Trump is a threat to America, but so far we've been unable to stop him... WHY?

Caller Carol warns of Trump's dangerous personality traits and their potential impact, highlighting missed Democratic opportunities in communication.

Despite Biden's achievements, poor messaging paved the way for Trump's return, reflecting voters' demand for real systemic change.

Is Carol right? Share your thoughts in the comments. - 12/25/2024.



VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Carol: I agree with the 97 psychiatrists who believe that Trump has a serious personality disorder called malignant narcissism. I agree, and I think they’re right. That’s the kind of personality disorder that I truly believe is dangerous to this country. When you give a man filled with hatred and vengeance the kind of power he’ll have as our president—God forbid—he’s going to lock people up. He’s talking about locking up the committee that investigated January 6th, and he’s going to lock up people like you. It terrifies me to think that we have a man coming into office in January with that kind of disorder. He may not be demented, but he does have that disorder, and he’s going to do great damage.

I heard you say—at least I thought I heard you say—this is my question: that Biden has the authority to implement the Insurrection Act and prevent Trump from becoming president. Now, is that possible? I’ll take your answer off the air.

It would be possible, but it would involve changing our form of government, and Biden’s not going to do that. Biden is an institutionalist. He believes in America and American institutions, so he’s not going to upend our country by preventing Trump from becoming president. Trump will be president, assuming he lives until January 20th, and I see no reason not to assume that—he seems to be in pretty good health. We’re just going to have to make the best of it.

My sense is that, on the one hand, Trump will lie his way through this and make himself popular in some ways. He may actually bring about some good things—for example, Robert Kennedy is talking about going after ultra-processed foods and the obesity epidemic in America. But I think many of the policies Trump is talking about will rip this country apart. It’s still early days, way too early to tell. We’ll know by the end of January.

I’m of the opinion that he’s going to lose the House and probably the Senate, possibly the Senate, in 2026. Then he’ll basically be a lame duck for the last two years. By 2028, the next president will likely be a Democrat who can put America back together. The pressure has been building to change the system. Since the end of the Bush administration, we’ve been looking at change elections. Americans want change. They’ve realized that neoliberalism has not been working.

We had 40 years of neoliberalism, and Americans figured out they were getting screwed by Reaganism—by massive income inequality, billionaires taking all their money, giant corporate monopolies, five companies controlling 80–90% of our food market, four airlines controlling the air market, and a handful of companies controlling our internet access and telephone services. A handful of companies control our pharmaceuticals and health insurance industries. I wrote an entire book about this: The Hidden History of American Monopoly. Americans have figured this out and keep voting for what they think will bring change.

In 2016, they thought Donald Trump would bring change and that Hillary Clinton was the defender of the status quo—and, by and large, she was. So they voted for change, but it wasn’t the kind of change they wanted. In 2020, they voted for change again. Trump had screwed up the economy and the pandemic, and half a million Americans died unnecessarily. They voted him out and Joe Biden in. Biden actually brought the change Americans wanted, but the Democratic Party was so incompetent at communicating it.

[Silver Gaia]

1. Thank you so much for the transcript!

I really appreciate that! Being able to read what was said makes a huge difference for me. As for the content, it was an interesting anslysis.

[multigraincracker]

2. Wise words from Thom.

I might add, all bullies are scared deep down. Just stand up to them and they will back down. Just stand up and draw back a fist and he will crumble.
My humble opinion..

[burrowowl]

3. K&R

[Walleye]

4. So we can beat back this wave of ignorance and hatred if we only

Figure out the right “message“? I think that’s kind of a naïve assumption

[LiberalArkie]

5. "message" does not cut it any more. Not when it is coming from millionaires and billionaires and maybe trillionaires.

I think most Americans will only believe the rich in power when the public sees a tax rollback to pre-Reagan rates with the benefits that would happen. Seniors are tired of the "COLA"s in Social Security matching the increase in Medicare premiums when even the most ignorant among us are freaked out when they find out that the wealthy never have to pay in much at all. Just a ver, very small percentage of their total income.

[Walleye]

6. It's kind of my point. All this messaging talk is off the mark.