Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump

Two sections of the documentary stand out. The first (at the beginning) verifies from mental health experts what many already know: namely, that Trump is a pathological narcissist. After all, how many normal people make outlandishly egotistical statements about being the best at just about everything. Check out the docu footage of Trump's public pronouncements if you doubt me.

Second is the brief account of the ex-president's relative popularity despite his obvious mental flaws. Commentators' remarks are on target attributing that response to basically white working people's unhappiness with a declining economy and rising despair over the future. I'm glad the commentators don't disparage Trump's supporters as stupid or deplorable. After all, looking for relief amidst despair is a perfectly natural reaction. What the account doesn't want to do, understandably, is to opine who or what's to blame for the decline. That, of course, would shift topic away from Trump's mental unfitness.

So let me suggest that the Democrat party's 40-year retreat from working class issues is mainly to blame for the space Trump demagogically strives to fill. After all, neither nature nor politics tolerates a vacuum. So who can blame the ex-president for moving into the political vacuum Democrats largely created. At the same time, Trump doesn't remedy the despair by pressing for legislation like a livable minimum wage, universal health insurance, or similar working class improvements. Such, of course, would materially alter festering conditions that he exploits. Instead, he directs resentment toward cultural elitism and racial equality, and away from widening wealth inequality. Of course, elitism and equality are already viewed by many as threats to white supremacy and perhaps even to America's global reach. So it's coastal elites and protest movements that amount to his principal targets. In short, he's not creating, he's exploiting, and perhaps most importantly, to the fattening advantage of corporate America and the wealthy.

Anyway, agree or not, be sure to catch the documentary. It's illuminating at best, and unsettling at worst. So gird your loins, it's not a comforting sight.