tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post1115237157108901519..comments2024-03-26T08:18:06.895-04:00Comments on Moristotle & Co.: Correspondence: America has a tremendous fantastic presidentUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-40159685309804614582017-05-22T22:13:39.994-04:002017-05-22T22:13:39.994-04:00Eric, we can rationalize by allowing that the five...Eric, we can rationalize by allowing that the five-year-old Trump was not the mature child cited in the article, and he has never grown up.Moristotlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02211602374384087074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-91395898996267618932017-05-22T19:19:06.030-04:002017-05-22T19:19:06.030-04:00Well this will teach me to catch up on Moristotle ...Well this will teach me to catch up on Moristotle by reading most current postings first. My apologies, Morris, for invoking the "five-year-old" Trump prognosis (in my comments to your May 22 article): your last tidbit above blows that rationale to smithereens. You are exactly right: children behave much better than Trump does. Nonetheless, I still don't want him impeached until we have a decent alternative. Although Pence probably won't start a nuclear war, he will likely advance the GOP agenda much more swiftly than would Trump. Thanks for these great excerpts!Eric Meubnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-4163695169712033012017-05-20T21:31:26.920-04:002017-05-20T21:31:26.920-04:00Trump doesn’t act like a child? “4-Year-Olds Don’t...Trump <i>doesn’t</i> act like a child? “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/opinion/sunday/4-year-olds-children-trump-gopnik.html" rel="nofollow">4-Year-Olds Don’t Act Like Trump</a>,” by Alison Gopnik, <i>New York Times</i>, May 20. Excerpt:<br /><br />The analogy is pervasive among his critics: Donald Trump is like a child...<br /> But the analogy is profoundly wrong, and it’s unfair to children....<br /> Four-year-olds care deeply about the truth...Of course, 4-year-olds, as well as adults, occasionally lie. But Mr. Trump doesn’t just lie; he seems not even to care whether his statements are true.<br /> Four-year-olds are insatiably curious...Mr. Trump refuses to read and is bored by anything that doesn’t involve him personally.<br /> Four-year-olds can pay attention...They pay special attention to events that contradict what they already believe. Mr. Trump refuses to pay attention to anything that clashes with his preconceptions.<br /> Four-year-olds understand the difference between fantasy and reality...Mr. Trump seems to have no sense of the boundary between his self-aggrandizing fantasies and reality.<br /> Four-year-olds have a “theory of mind.”...Mr. Trump contradicts himself without hesitation and doesn’t seem to recognize any conflict between his past and present beliefs.<br /> Four-year-olds, contrary to popular belief, are not egocentric or self-centered...Mr. Trump displays neither empathy nor altruism, and his egocentrism is staggering.<br /> Four-year-olds have a strong moral sense...Mr. Trump admires authoritarian leaders who have no compunctions about harming their own people.<br /> Four-year-olds are sensitive to social norms and think that they and other people should obey them...Mr. Trump has time and again shown his contempt for norms of behavior in every community he has belonged to.Moristotlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02211602374384087074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-27500012026317665352017-05-18T07:25:14.338-04:002017-05-18T07:25:14.338-04:00We already knew that the White House needs adult s...We already knew that the White House needs adult supervision. “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/opinion/trump-russia-mueller-special-counsel.html" rel="nofollow">Dangerous Times for Trump and the Nation</a>,” by Nicholas Kristof, <i>NY Times</i>, May 17. Excerpt:<br /><br />[T]here are dangers ahead. One is that America will be incapacitated and paralyzed by Mueller’s investigation and the suspicions — this partly explains the stock market’s big fall on Wednesday — and foreign powers may take advantage of this to undertake their own mischief. I would worry about Russia in both Ukraine and the Baltic countries, and we must make clear that we will work with allies to respond in kind.<br /> Another danger is the risk of an erratic, embattled, paranoid leader at home who feels that he may be going down the tubes anyway. In domestic policy, presidents are constrained by Congress and the courts about what damage they can cause, but in foreign policy a president has a largely free hand — and the ability to launch nuclear strikes that would pretty much destroy the world.<br /> In 1974, as Richard Nixon’s presidency was collapsing, he was drinking heavily and aides worried that he was becoming unstable. Fearing what might go wrong, Nixon’s defense secretary, James Schlesinger, secretly instructed the military not to carry out any White House order to use nuclear weapons unless confirmed by him or Henry Kissinger.<br /> This was unconstitutional. And wise.<br /> Schlesinger also prepared secret plans to deploy troops in Washington in the event of problems with the presidential succession.<br /> We don’t know how Trump will respond in the coming months, and let’s all hope for smooth sailing. But as with Schlesinger’s steps, it’s wise to be prepared.<br /> There have been calls for Trump aides to resign rather than ruin their reputations, but I hope the grown-ups — H. R. McMaster, Jim Mattis, Dina Powell, John Kelly, Rex Tillerson — grit their teeth and stick it out. The White House has never needed more adult supervision.<br /> The cabinet has the constitutional power to remove a president by majority vote under the 25th Amendment (if the president protests, this must be confirmed by two-thirds of each chamber of Congress). Such a vote is unlikely, but in the event of a crisis like the one Schlesinger envisioned, it would be essential.<br /> I hope that cabinet members are keeping one another’s cellphone numbers handy in case an emergency meeting becomes necessary for our nation.Moristotlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02211602374384087074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676316.post-86631320779010064092017-05-17T21:13:18.222-04:002017-05-17T21:13:18.222-04:00How timely is this? “Should Psychiatrists Speak Ou...How timely is <i>this</i>? “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/22/should-psychiatrists-speak-out-against-trump" rel="nofollow">Should Psychiatrists Speak Out Against Trump?</a>,” by Jane Mayer, <i>New Yorker</i>, May 22 – the issue with the cover that mimics the infamous United Airlines incident, with Attorney General Jeff Sessions dragging FBI Director John Comey down the aisle while Donald Trump supervises over Sessions’s shoulder. Excerpts:<br /><br />...“I’m struggling not to discuss He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,” a psychiatrist named Jerrold Post said last week...a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, whose professional code of conduct forbids members to publicly comment on the psyches of living public figures whom they have not personally examined.<br /> The ban, known as “the Goldwater rule,” is the legacy of an embarrassing episode from 1964. That year, Fact magazine published a petition signed by more than a thousand psychiatrists, which declared that Barry Goldwater, who was then the Republican Presidential nominee, was “psychologically unfit to be President.” Goldwater lost the election, but he won a libel suit against the magazine. The bad publicity seriously tarnished the reputation of the profession.<br /> More than fifty years later, Trump appears to be testing the limits of the Goldwater rule. In March, the Washington, D.C., branch of the A.P.A. convened a meeting of its members to debate the rule. Post and several others argued that, given the President’s erratic behavior, the organization was infringing on its members’ freedom of expression. Psychiatrists, they insisted, have a responsibility to serve society at large. “I think there’s a duty to warn,” Post said. “Serious questions have been raised about the temperament and suitability of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” He added, “It seems unethical to not contribute at this perilous time.”<br /> ...“It’s my view that Trump has a narcissistic personality disorder,” [psychiatrist John] Zinner said later. “Trump is deluded and compulsive. He has no conscience.” He said that psychiatrists have a constructive role to play in advising policymakers to add checks on the President’s control over nuclear weapons. “That supersedes the Goldwater rule,” he said. “It’s an existential survival issue.”Moristotlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02211602374384087074noreply@blogger.com