http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/opinion/the-unity-illusion.html --------------- The Unity Illusion David Brooks JUNE 10, 2016
. . .
Conservatives believe that politics is a limited activity. Culture, psychology and morality come first. . .
[Paul] Ryan’s argument inverts all this. It puts political positions first and character and morality second. Sure Trump’s a scoundrel, but he might agree with our tax proposal. Sure, he is a racist, but he might like our position on the defense budget. Policy agreement can paper over a moral chasm. . .
The classic conservative belief, by contrast, is that character is destiny. Temperament is foundational. Each candidate has to cross some basic threshold of dependability as a human being before it’s even relevant to judge his or her policy agenda. Trump doesn’t cross that threshold. . .
Trump, by his very essence, undermines cooperation, reciprocity, solidarity, stability or any other component of unity. He is a lone operator, a disloyal diva, who is incapable of horizontal relationships. He has demeaned and humiliated everybody who has tried to be his friend. . .
Some conservatives believe they can educate, convert or civilize Trump. This belief is a sign both of intellectual arrogance and psychological naïveté.
The man who just crushed them is in no mood to submit to them. Furthermore, Trump’s personality is pathological. . .
He has always behaved exactly as he does now: the constant flow of insults, the endless bragging, the casual cruelty, the need to destroy allies and hog the spotlight. “Donald was the child who would throw the cake at the birthday parties,” his brother Robert once said.
Psychologists are not supposed to diagnose candidates from afar, but there is a well-developed literature on narcissism that tracks with what we have seen of Trump. . .
Unable to know themselves, or truly love themselves, they hunger for a never-ending supply of admiration from outside. They act at all times like they are performing before a crowd and cannot rest unless they are in the spotlight.
To make decisions, these narcissists create a rigid set of external standards, often based around admiration and contempt. Their valuing criteria are based on simple division — winners and losers, victory or humiliation. They are preoccupied with luxury, appearance or anything that signals wealth, beauty, power and success. . .
Incapable of understanding themselves, they are also incapable of having empathy for others. . . Other people are simply to be put to use as suppliers of admiration or as victims to be crushed as part of some dominance display. . . ====
Ooh, he said the N word.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/opinion/the-unity-illusion.html
---------------
The Unity Illusion
David Brooks
JUNE 10, 2016
. . .
Conservatives believe that politics is a limited activity.
Culture, psychology and morality come first. . .
[Paul] Ryan’s argument inverts all this. It puts political positions
first and character and morality second. Sure Trump’s a scoundrel,
but he might agree with our tax proposal. Sure, he is a racist,
but he might like our position on the defense budget.
Policy agreement can paper over a moral chasm. . .
The classic conservative belief, by contrast, is that character
is destiny. Temperament is foundational. Each candidate has to
cross some basic threshold of dependability as a human being
before it’s even relevant to judge his or her policy agenda.
Trump doesn’t cross that threshold. . .
Trump, by his very essence, undermines cooperation, reciprocity,
solidarity, stability or any other component of unity. He is a
lone operator, a disloyal diva, who is incapable of horizontal
relationships. He has demeaned and humiliated everybody who
has tried to be his friend. . .
Some conservatives believe they can educate, convert or civilize
Trump. This belief is a sign both of intellectual arrogance
and psychological naïveté.
The man who just crushed them is in no mood to submit to them.
Furthermore, Trump’s personality is pathological. . .
He has always behaved exactly as he does now: the constant flow
of insults, the endless bragging, the casual cruelty, the need
to destroy allies and hog the spotlight. “Donald was the child
who would throw the cake at the birthday parties,” his brother
Robert once said.
Psychologists are not supposed to diagnose candidates from afar,
but there is a well-developed literature on narcissism that
tracks with what we have seen of Trump. . .
Unable to know themselves, or truly love themselves, they hunger for
a never-ending supply of admiration from outside. They act at all
times like they are performing before a crowd and cannot rest
unless they are in the spotlight.
To make decisions, these narcissists create a rigid set of external
standards, often based around admiration and contempt. Their valuing
criteria are based on simple division — winners and losers, victory
or humiliation. They are preoccupied with luxury, appearance or
anything that signals wealth, beauty, power and success. . .
Incapable of understanding themselves, they are also incapable of
having empathy for others. . . Other people are simply to be put
to use as suppliers of admiration or as victims to be crushed as
part of some dominance display. . .
====
Let them throw cake. ;->