We’re now entering the most dangerous phase of the Trump presidency. The pain and hardship that the US is only beginning to experience stem from a crisis that the president is utterly unsuited to deal with, either intellectually or temperamentally. For his entire adult life, and for his entire presidency, Trump created his own alternate reality, complete with his own alternate set of facts. He has shown himself to be erratic, impulsive, narcissistic, vindictive, cruel, mendacious, and devoid of empathy.When things were going relatively well, the nation could more easily absorb the costs of Trump’s psychological and moral distortions and disfigurements. But those days are behind us. The coronavirus pandemic has created the conditions that can catalyze a destructive set of responses from an individual with Trump’s characterological defects and disordered personality.
At www.theatlantic.com
