228 Comments
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ROE PANZITTA's avatar

I would feel bad for him if he wasn’t destroying so many lives. He should have stuck to bankrupting himself and not the country.

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Steve Doll's avatar

It does little to say that he can't help himself, but he can't. His brain is hard-wired to derive satisfaction from doing harm to others. I know because I had an older brother like that. Until I stood up to him he delighted in torturing me by threatening to harm small animals so I would beg him not to. Later in life he was an abusive husband married to an equally abusive wife. He ruined my wedding by showing up with his new wife, an event in which a girl he impregnated and then abandoned was serving as maid of honor to my fiancé, who was her best friend. I can see Donald doing any and all of these cruel things. Only shortly before his death did my brother acknowledge his cruelty and ask forgiveness. Somehow, I can't picture Donald doing that, nor could he since he's hurt so many.

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Edie Sadowski's avatar

Typical tRump behavior! 😡 so sorry that this happened to you!

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Steve Doll's avatar

Thanks. I survived it. When he had a disabling stroke I even arranged to have him assigned to a very nice nursing home and visited him regularly for the time he was in there until his death. On one of my visits he said that if there was one thing he would go to hell for, it would be ruining my marriage. The damage was not terminal, however, as we are still married after almost 58 years. I assured him of this, that I did not hold it against him, and he broke down. As for the hell part, that's not for me to say. Maybe I helped release him from his own private hell.

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Ann Panda's avatar

I came on to say the same thing!

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Dawn's avatar

Mary, it must be heart-breaking to have close family members like your grandfather and uncle who have/had dark triad personality traits. Even though you are a psychologist, you can not just walk away because you see the damage DJT is doing to our country...because you do care. Thanks to you and others, most of the public is now (finally) understanding the malevolent characteristics of these dark personalities which can not be treated/fixed. As a community we can only flag the problems and work together to block their damage to our society -- with courage, as well as shed light on their "flying monkey" enablers.

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Edie Sadowski's avatar

Well said!💯💯💯💯

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Greg Fite's avatar

Sobering and tragic, Mary. Sadly, our task as a people is to render him harmless and remove all of his enablers from power, strip them of their wealth and titles, and use the proceeds to rebuild our country. He most likely will not survive his term, but as he degrades, he becomes more deranged, vicious and dangerous. We have to stop him.

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Frosty McGillicuddy's avatar

Wow. This is so profound. Thank you.

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Abigail Norling's avatar

Mary, I think this is probably the most poignant and spot on things of yours that I have read. I read your first book, and it all makes so much sense. I have huge respect for you for being able to rise above what was done to your father by these people, and continue to work to put them in their well earned places. Thank you.

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Edie Sadowski's avatar

Thank you, Mary for your insights! I just re stacked this post!

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Kathleen vollmer's avatar

Brilliantly said….thank you!

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Abigail Norling's avatar

Mary is amazing! What a brave fighter!

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Todd's avatar
2dEdited

Earlier today I was thinking of the Grinch, whose heart is two sizes too small. Then my thoughts went to Donald, who’d be fortunate to have a heart that big.

Then I began replacing the name Grinch with Trump in the song.

You’re a mean one, Mr. Trump…

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TCinLA's avatar

He'd be fortunate if he had a heart. His heartlessness is his defining characteristic.

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Bonnie Council's avatar

We'd be fortunate if he had a heart. Sadly, he does not. So, the world suffers.

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Marianne Klee's avatar

A long while back, I realized the Grinch lyrics fit him very well, especially about his soul being an appalling dump heap.

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Ruth Sheets's avatar

Todd, hmmm! It works, doesn't it, and without having to change too many words!

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Kathy Roeske's avatar

Right on Mary! As you know, 50 psychiatrists contributed to the book "The Much More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump," a follow-up to their first book about his mental illness. They say that not only is he a malignant narcissist (Google the symptoms. It's frightening), but he's also a psychopath (even more frightening)! Yes, Biden was old and senile, but he was not a psychopath! Or a malignant narcissist! By supporting this animal, The stupid, chicken shit partisan politicians are putting this county in extreme danger. Those syncophants are evil.

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Carol Duval's avatar

Agree with all you say apart from labelling Biden as senile. Physically frail and mentally tired after long days, yes, but not senile.

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Helen Stajninger's avatar

Agree Carol Duval. Biden is not senile

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Ruth Sheets's avatar

Kathy, and Bident wasn't that Senile either. Trump's dementia is far more advanced than any senility Biden has. I find the Biden-bashing that has been occurring since the bad debate to be so harmful and unfair. Biden got so much positive started in this nation while Demented-Don got nothing positive accomplished in 5 years in office.

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Vash's avatar

I totally agree. The media started bashing Biden after the bad debate and the weak democrats gave up on him. Although physically frail, Biden could give logical answers to questions. Just because he couldn’t remember some things didn’t mean he could not think with his brain.

He always remained compassionate, dignified and and devoted to our country.

Trump’s case is completely different. He never had compassion, dignity, devotion to the country . He was already a mentally ill man. With age he had gotten far worse.

I wish we had republicans who cared for the country and removed from the office. I know that his replacement is nothing to look forward to, but surprises can happen, like when Arthur replaced Garfield after the latter’s death.

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D Epp's avatar

Biden was neither physically nor mentally frail. I doubt I could keep up with his current exercise regime, at 20 years younger. Mentally, yes, he's old and his memory slips, but Trump's verbal gaffes outnumber Biden's by a factor of at least 10. Biden worked more in a day than Trump does in a week. It's no wonder he was exhausted. I'm glad he stepped down to preserve his health, especially given his cancer diagnosis. I think he's still, to this date, magnitudes more coherent than Trump.

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Bonnie Council's avatar

Absolutely.

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Francis/Clare's avatar

But zero compassion for the Palestinian people. Otherwise, he could have been great.

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Vash's avatar

No one is perfect. Look into yourself.

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Francis/Clare's avatar

I am very far from perfect, but glad I don't have a genocide on my conscience, one I tried to stop.

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Kathy Roeske's avatar

I agree. I’m not going to argue his mental state. He was a kind, caring leader who tried to do the best for this country. However, one of the reasons we have Metamucilini in office is because he insisted on running again when he was not up to the task.

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Beth's avatar

Not according to every voting election experts that have shown that the votes make no sense. Votes that came from counties that don't exist? 10s of thousands votes there, then "disappeared"? Much more. He+ Musk both bragged about it, too. The only question is why hasn't anything been done?

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TCinLA's avatar

You are so wrong about Biden, as he continues to demonstrate with every public appearance.

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Bonnie Council's avatar

All true. But keep in mind the Project 2025 people turning the knobs behind the curtain. They are well aware of trump's sicknesses (mental & physical) & they are using them to their advantage. And our peril.

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Beth's avatar

Biden isn't senile. He had a bad debate because he just got back from meetings in Europe AND was recovering from COVID. He just gave a wonderful speech a few days ago.

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Frosty McGillicuddy's avatar

"The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates

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Ruth Sheets's avatar

Frosty, well, unless you get everything you want, like a toddler, get to insult and malign people who are better than you, don't have to work a day in your life, get to lie incessantly and actually have gullible people believe the lies, and are unaware of your own weaknesses. So, you can just plough through pushing everyone out of your way whom you see as inferior, and use people like they are paper towels to wipe up your messes and can be tossed away when you are done with them. Most people would find that unexamined life untenable, but there are some for whom this is a dream. It seems Donald Trump has surrounded himself with a whole toddler pool filled with them.

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Robert Adcock's avatar

Spot On!

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Steve Goldberg's avatar

Everyone (with a brain) can see that the emperor has no clothes. Doubly damaging that the emperor himself can’t see it.

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Ruth Sheets's avatar

Hey Steve, the emperor thinks he is clothed in gold with medals hanging around his neck celebrating his amazing gifts that are far superior to anyone else's. He doesn't notice that one says "Liar-in-Chief," another says "Champion Ignoramus," then there's "Everybody's Clown," also "Greatest businessman who bankrupted 6 times," and "Grand Puppet." They are all gold, of course with gold ribbons to b hung around his neck.

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tom simons's avatar

Putin knew what he wasnted and what he got when appointing Trump as his weapon to destroy the West Vlad hates. Soeday we'll know how the puppetry has been achieved.

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Jan's avatar

This is all so fitting, right on, and to the point. He will never get that that medal was an insult and fun being made at his expense. Sad and sorry human who never knew and will never know real love. He has wasted an entire life making everyone around him pay for the damage and the dislike he father did to him!

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Gwen's avatar

And because he surrounds himself with sycophants, nobody's going to explain it to him.

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tom simons's avatar

I dearly hope that when Trump leaves this life that he finds himself in the Heavenly realm he can't possibly imagine now but unconsciously craves. Wouldn't that be great? Of course he won't have deserved it, but then...

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Cathy Wampler's avatar

Let him rot in hell for the damage he has caused. A lot of people have bad fathers. It doesn't turn all of them into Hilters.

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Jan's avatar

Not only the tremendous damage he has caused through all of his cruel and evil ways, but the damage he, himself has done. Nothing can ever undo or fix that, even if by a huge stretch of the imagination, he wanted to. It’s too big and runs too deep.

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Jan's avatar

He will certainly end up in the place he deserves to be

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Geoff's avatar

This almost makes me feel sorry for him, but lots of people are treated badly and are still able to rise above it all

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Ted Quinn's avatar

All You Need Is Love, sang a wise young man who chose New York City as his home, loved by all the world he had conquered, all except for a solitary monster, standing in the dark with his gun. A monster created, almost certainly, by a need for love.

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Francis/Clare's avatar

I miss him.

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Ted Quinn's avatar

Yes.

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Merry's avatar
2dEdited

Perhaps the ability to love others begins with the ability to love oneself.

Having more money or possessions doesn’t necessarily or automatically make anyone a better person. It general, money often amplifies who we already are.

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Gwen's avatar

I'm not sure about that. Wealth can't make you a better person, but it can make you a worse one. It doesn't always, but people like George Soros, who start out truly good *and* are not corrupted at all by their wealth (and the power that goes with it), seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

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Elena Freshman Schumann's avatar

There are plenty of really rotten people who are poor, you probably know some of them. I do not think it is a matter of money at all. There are bad poor people and bad rich people and visa versa. Your wealth does not relate to the fact that you are a decent human being or not. I personally know rotten rich people and rotten poor people and good rich people and good poor people. I know all these people and it is their CHARACTER THAT COUNTS NOT THEIR WEALTH OR LACK OF IT!

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Francis/Clare's avatar

True, but the number of sociopathic billionaires is excessive. Those who believe "empathy is harmful to successs" are truly inhuman.

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Elena Freshman Schumann's avatar

YOU HAVE NO CREDIBILITY to make the claim that "the number of sociopathic Billionairs is excessive." Are you even a licensed as a psychologist or psychiatrist? If not you cannot make the assumption of who is sociopathic and who is not. Having a lot of money does not automatically make a sociopath and being poor also does not make you a sociopath. The danger of calling someone a sociopath is that you can call anyone this, even poor people. This is a slippery slope and is very dangerous. As far as I am concerned. I know some poor people who I would call sociopathic or maybe even psychopaths. I admit I do not know a lot of rich people but the ones I did meet seemed nice. Anyway it is the governments job to make sure people do not take advantage of the system by passing appropriate laws and enforcing said laws when they are broken.

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Nasem Iqbal's avatar

This is a substack comments section. Not a research paper. People with credentials have made that exact point in research papers. Just google impact of wealth on empathy. Also, you’re nobody to issue credentials either. So stay humble.

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Gwen's avatar

I certainly didn't intend to imply that poor people (or non-rich people more broadly) are all good guys: merely that the acquisition of wealth seems to lead an awful lot of people who had previously been basically decent to become jerks, if not outright immoral, an awful lot. Maybe it's caused by the pursuit of profit (and the cutthroat, "anything goes" attitude that one must often adapt). Another the ideological belief held by many rich people that that American capitalism is fair (a secular version of the prosperity gospel): financial success is merited — and therefore, if you are one of the richest people in the world, you are also one of the "best").

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Elena Freshman Schumann's avatar

Some rich people who companies that employ a lot of people and treat them fair DESERVE TO BE RICH IN MY OPINION. There is not such thing as a totally "fair" system. Russia is no longer communist and neither is China for that matter. There are no true communist countries in the world, it does not work. However the northern countries, though they not communist, do have social welfare programs that appear to work. THEY ARE NOT COMMUNISTS, PERIOD! I THINK it would be helpful for the people in our government to do more research and more visits with these countries, so we can know what they are doing correct and what we are doing incorrect. Elena

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Elena Freshman Schumann's avatar

Poor people are awful also, I unfortunately know that from personal experience. You cannot use your jeolousy of rich people to excuse yourself from being poor. I lost all my money and it was my fault and I had to work hard to get back which I did. I did not blame anyone (INCLU for my personal goof ups. I am responsible for my own actions. I do believe that the government should help people who have physical or mental difficulties. My son has autism and he does get help from the government and I am totally OKAY with that. Not everyone is on the same plan. People who start corporations that employee hundreds of people deserve to make money, otherwise why would they do it??? It is not Rich people that are starting companies that hire people that is the problem. It is Rich people that are not contributing to the society that is the problem. You should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Again I have no problem with an executive in a company who hires a lot of people and treats them well. If the executive in that kind of company is rich, HE OR SHE DESERVES IT AND I AM ALL FOR THAT SITUATION.

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Nasem Iqbal's avatar

Let’s look for examples of a good billionaire and see what proportion that is. Even the leftist extremist the right loves to hate, Soros himself, has caused massive harm to Thailand to make his money. There are no good ones. If there existed one, they would be working to distribute wealth more evenly to reduce inequality around the world. Them being billionaires would be in a much better position to fight for that than an average citizen of the world.

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P J Shadle's avatar

Where does character come from? And who can stick to their civic duty under pressure?

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Merry's avatar

Thanks so much for your comment. That’s why I said money “AMPLIFIES” who we already are. But I should have expressed my opinion in more general terms rather than absolute ones.

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Gwen's avatar
20hEdited

If you are referring to the way that wealth can empower a good person to do more good — or an evil person to do more evil — then I agree. But I am talking about how excessive wealth can effect moral and psychological change in a person. My opinion is that getting rich does not seem to influence people in beneficial ways, but that it can and often (not always) does cause changes for the worse. In my previous post I mentioned a couple of possible mechanisms whereby extreme wealth might adversely affect people’s moral compass.

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Stressed Sue's avatar

Shakespeare, HENRY VIII, ACT 1 SCENE 4:

If by chance I talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, ACT 1 SCENE 1 :

To you your father should be as a god,

One that composed your beauties,yea, and one

To whom you are but as a form in wax

By him imprinted and within his power

To leave the figure or disfigure it.

Sound familiar, dear Mary? 💁‍♀️

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Paula's avatar

Mary, you are brilliant. I read your book and I begged others to read it . I read it when it first came out because I was insightful enough to see the monster that stood before me on the big screen TV. My brother, too, saw the monster very quickly. I was in a 13 year relationship with a person that is a narcissist, a sociopath and a pathological liar. I see her in him every time I see him on TV and it triggers me to my core. I find myself screaming and yelling at him every time he lies, which we know is almost every word out of his mouth. I am so glad that you have the knowledge and the ability to explain it to everyone that is willing to listen and learn.Thank you so much Mary Trump.

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tom simons's avatar

I, too, quickly saw the monster under that ugly orange hue, but alas! my own sister became his cultist. Couldn't be more painful to me. I no longer know her and may never know her again.

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Paula's avatar

I’m so sorry. It has torn and divided some of my family. We are working to patch and salvage what we can. My mother, brother, and I have agreed to not talk politics with dad and my sister. I slip occasionally. It does no good. Once a cult member there is no saving them from “ drinking the Kool-Aid.

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Phoebe's avatar

I can’t discuss politics with several family members. I keep thinking that they will eventually see the light, but I am wrong about that.

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Darrell Smith's avatar

At 79 and feeling lousy most of the time with all the demands on him he will never feel loved. Maybe he gets satisfaction from destroying things and people.

Why are there people like that? Because of the reasons listed by Mary. No empathy, no kindness, no caring, no love was ever shown to him as a child.

At 79 he is a broken piece of china. He has shown his children the same that he received. He never had to do anything for himself. He doesn't even dress himself.

I pray that all have done better for their children and will continue to do so.

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Lisa Turowsky's avatar

Someone has to dress him? There can’t be much worse in this world than that.

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Francesca's avatar

LOL

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Nelly's avatar

Good

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