November 22, 2023
By 
These things are very difficult to measure, especially in real time, but I’m picking up on what may be a significant change in the way the legacy media are beginning to cover the existential threat that Donald Trump represents to the American political and legal systems. This Thomas Edsall piece is representative of what I’m referencing.
Edsall specializes in long think pieces for the NYT, in which he interviews experts who try to understand the Trump phenomenon in, what up until now, has been a kind of “even handed” way, i.e., yes Trump is a disturbing figure, but let’s try to understand why nearly half the country elected him and wants him to be president again. Today’s edition of this series, published on a notable anniversary in American history, goes in a different direction right from the top:
Brian Klaas, a political scientist at University College London, captures the remarkable nature of the 2024 presidential election in an Oct. 1 essay, “The Case for Amplifying Trump’s Insanity.”
Klaas argues that the presidential contest now pits
A 77-year-old racist, misogynist bigot who has been found liable for rape, who incited a deadly, violent insurrection aimed at overturning a democratic election, who has committed mass fraud for personal enrichment, who is facing 91 separate counts of felony criminal charges against him, and who has overtly discussed his authoritarian strategies for governing if he returns to power
against “an 80-year-old with mainstream Democratic Party views who sometimes misspeaks or trips.”
“One of those two candidates,” Klaas notes, “faces relentless newspaper columns and TV pundit ‘takes’ arguing that he should drop out of the race. (Spoiler alert: it’s somehow *not* the racist authoritarian sexual abuse fraudster facing 91 felony charges).”
This is a long piece, but there’s never any gesture towards “on the other hand” at any point within it. The whole thing is a brutally straightforward indictment of Trump as a literally insane aspiring autocrat, based on interviews with mental health experts, who document Trump’s ongoing deterioration into pure grandiose narcissism and psychopathy:
I asked Joshua D. Miller, a professor of psychology at the University of Georgia, whether he thought Trump’s “vermin” comment represented a tipping point, an escalation in his willingness to attack opponents. Miller replied by email: “My bet is we’re seeing the same basic traits, but their manifestation has been ratcheted up by the stress of his legal problems and also by some sense of invulnerability in that he has yet to face any dire consequences for his previous behavior.”
Miller wrote that he has
long thought that Trump’s narcissism was actually distracting us from his psychopathic traits. I view the two as largely the same but with psychopathy bringing problems with disinhibition (impulsivity; failure to delay gratification, irresponsibility, etc.) to the table and Trump seems rather high on those traits along with those related to narcissism (e.g., entitlement, exploitativeness), pathological lying, grandiosity, etc.).
I asked Donald R. Lynam, a professor of psychology at Purdue, the same question, and he emailed his reply: “The escalation is quite consistent with grandiose narcissism. Trump is reacting more and more angrily to what he perceives as his unfair treatment and failure to be admired, appreciated and adored in the way that he believes is his due.”
Grandiose narcissists, Lynam continued, “feel they are special and that normal rules don’t apply to them. They require attention and admiration,” adding “this behavior is also consistent with psychopathy which is pretty much grandiose narcissism plus poor impulse control.”
Again, the whole thing is like this, with no equivocation or on the other handing or Joe Biden is really old.
This kind of accurate unflinching coverage is also reflected in a NYT story from earlier this week, that reported on Trump’s fascistic rhetoric about “vermin” and “poisoned blood” while pulling no punches.
Edsall again:
Most of the specialists I contacted see Trump’s recent behavior and public comments as part of an evolving process.
“Trump is an aging malignant narcissist,” Aaron L. Pincus, a professor of psychology at Penn State, wrote in an email. “As he ages, he appears to be losing impulse control and is slipping cognitively. So we are seeing a more unfiltered version of his pathology. Quite dangerous.”
In addition, Pincus continued, “Trump seems increasingly paranoid, which can also be a reflection of his aging brain and mental decline.”
This was not followed by any temporizing comments about Joe Biden’s mental deterioration, real or imagined.
What may be happening here is that the elite media are finally beginning to come to terms with what is actually happening in this country at this historical moment.
A society and its political and legal systems are not suicide pacts. Donald Trump cannot be allowed to become president again, for reasons laid out cogently by Karl Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies. His re-election would be a fundamental revocation of liberal democracy.
A dictator is trying to break into the White House, and liberal democracy has both the right and the duty to stand its ground.