Trump, the dictator

After spouting out more than 30,000 publicly documented lies, Donald Trump has finally told the truth to the American people.

By advocating the “setting aside of the United States Constitution,” Trump is saying, truthfully and unarguably, that he wants to become a dictator.

It is as simple and as disturbing as that. “Setting aside” constitutional government in favor of dictatorial rule is what defines dictatorship.

The 75 million people who voted for Trump in 2020 owe the rest of us a deep, heartfelt apology. And some who voted for him should also apologize for supporting Trump’s Big Lie: that he was cheated out of a 2020 election victory. That lie has been defeated in the courts, as well as in all public arenas. That lie fizzles out when held up to the lamp of truth.

That is Trump’s most damaging lie. It has called, untruthfully, into question the cornerstone of our government: free, fair and honest elections. That lie besmirches the honesty of the brave, dedicated election officials and volunteers at every level and at every step of the campaign and election process. Many of those people risked their lives to participate.

Such a lie is like a cancer that eats at the heart of the Constitution and at our governing principles.

Much later than it should have happened, most of the rank and file of the Republican Party have now come out strongly against Trump’s outlandish request to “set aside the Constitution.” Far too late; but, welcomed never-the-less.

In my opinion, Trump is what mental health experts informally (back in the old days) used to call a Freudian Delight. He displays a real “bouquet” of pathological symptoms, cutting across and encompassing a number of pathological classifications. Many highly respected psychopathologists have publicly ascribed pathology labels to Trump.

Trump is far, far more dangerous, as the number and range of former and still current adherents attests, and because he is also shrewd and resourceful, as sociopaths and psychopaths commonly are.

By advocating the dictatorial step of setting aside the Constitution, Trump should at last have disqualified himself from standing for election to any office at any level.

The Republican Party, its formal officials and every Republican office holder and office seeker should declare that immediately.

– Hal Mansfield, Green Valley, Ariz.