Small
Small
"Small" is the first word that comes to mind when I think about Trump and any worldview empowered by fear and stigma.
So, you know how I was only going to focus on my social media platforms in my last post? Weeeyyyellll… I once again realized that long-form writing is one of my creative outlets/outward processing/bringer-of-a-different-kind-of-joy. I still have to learn to be ok with writing when I can, not according to my unrealistic expectations. I have unpaused the paid supporters’ regular support donations (thank you!). And to both paid and free subscribers, thank you for reading and letting me take a little break!
While watching Madame Vice President Kamala Harris give her perfect DNC acceptance speech and a masterclass in debating, I often think about how Trump doesn’t know how and doesn’t seem to care how to lead from policy positions. He doesn’t even seem to possess (or at least utilize) critical thinking skills for any issue. I guarantee that when he says, repeatedly on new-to-him topics, ”I have many thoughts on (such and such) and my campaign will have a statement soon…” he hasn’t spent one second even thinking deeply about that policy or cultural topic.
It is clear that Harris has not only thought about them, but she’s also analyzed them, has a vision for how to solve the problems, and understands the complexity of building up what does work while watching the past keep sliding away in the rear-view mirror.
I remember thinking, ”He (Trump) is small.” His bullying is small-minded, and his tantrums, name-calling, and obsessions over the weirdest sh*t… all come from a small man who belongs in a small jail cell for a very long time.
Just my opinion…
I am not a licensed counselor or doctor but I believe Trump isn’t simply narcissistic, he’s a malignant narcissist. He truly believes he knows everything and yet can’t, or won’t, articulate anything other than fear and outrage.
Plus, a leader without empathy (situational or emotional) for anything or anyone isn’t a leader. They are a monster.
Malignant narcissism lies to the host it inhabits making them think they are invincible in all things. It tells them that they can do anything they want to maintain that image of invincibility, including violence. They also can’t handle anyone or anything challenging their beliefs or identity because those critics are seen as existential threats. The host doesn’t know who they really are so the projection of self produced by malignant narcissism will fight to the death to preserve itself.
Malignant narcissism is truly diabolical; it may be the purest form of human evil to ever exist.
So why do so many conservative evangelicals worship Trump as “God’s choice”? From my time in those secret meetings with the top leadership of the religious right in the early ‘00s I can say, in short, because they worship cultural dominance and power.
From experience, religious systems that are based in stigma and fear all have one thing in common, a very small worldview. Christians within these systems would never believe that their worldview is “small.” And in some ways, it’s a culturally imposed malignant narcissism that convinces them they are the only ones who see the whole picture correctly.
In their eyes, they are the only “right” ones, the only true Christians selected by God to be separated from the world as Saints. The religious right’s fight to preserve a false reality, a false image, of what a “true” Christ follower looks like has removed empathy and sacrificial love from the equation as an excuse to claim dominance and power over the nation.
A Christian who can support a leader without empathy, and celebrate that about him under the guise of its ok to be a sarcastic lying asshole because we have a seat at his table, are monster-makers that facilitate evil; I would go so far as to say they are also void of empathy and love.
It’s all just so small.
The Bible says that without vision the people will perish. Trump has no vision for the country, only for himself. On the other hand, Harris is casting a hopeful vision for the future that is far more expansive than anything we have seen in almost a decade.