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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJosh Marshall--this is how it feels to live in a household with an abuser.
It's a really good way to explain the bad feelings we've been suffering from since the election. Lots of fear, insecurity, confusion. He predicts it's only going to worsen before it is over.(boldface is mine):
Everything we are seeing stems almost inevitably from the decisions the country made, collectively, last November. We elected a President driven by white racial grievance. That is the fulcrum and driving force of his politics. Its no surprise that a big outbreak of white supremacist violence would lead us to a moment like this. We also elected a President who is an abuser and a predator. Ive analogized him before to an abusive man in an abused household only his house is now the country, now with all the cumulative exhaustion, warped perceptions and damage that are the common lot of people living with and trapped with violent predators, addicts or people with certain profound mental illnesses.
As things get worse, as more people turn against him, Trump gets more wild and unbridled. He lashes out more aggressively. Theres no kill switch on this escalating aggression. It only builds. This morning hes tearing into senators whove dared to criticize him and essentially declared war on one who is key to preserving the GOPs senate majority next year. He compensates for ebbing support by redoubled aggression. Its a self-reinforcing, self-accelerating cycle. Vicious people can be helpful in a cynical way. But vicious and self-destructive people are dangerous to everyone around them.
Trump will clearly, happily destroy the GOP if he feels the party has proven disloyal to him. Given whats happened, it would be richly deserved. But Trumps greatest powers are not as head of the GOP but as head of state of the country. He would happily destroy the country too to sate his own anguished feelings of betrayal. Sound hyperbolic? Why would the pattern be any different written on so large a canvass?
When I say Im not surprised, I dont say this pretending to any great insight. Lots of people arent surprised. Millions of people arent surprised. The best analogy I can think of is if you build the bomb and attach the fuse and light the fuse, the bomb will go off. The concussion is still loud and jarring. But the bomb was going to go off. That was inevitable when the bomb was built and the fuse lit.
As things get worse, as more people turn against him, Trump gets more wild and unbridled. He lashes out more aggressively. Theres no kill switch on this escalating aggression. It only builds. This morning hes tearing into senators whove dared to criticize him and essentially declared war on one who is key to preserving the GOPs senate majority next year. He compensates for ebbing support by redoubled aggression. Its a self-reinforcing, self-accelerating cycle. Vicious people can be helpful in a cynical way. But vicious and self-destructive people are dangerous to everyone around them.
Trump will clearly, happily destroy the GOP if he feels the party has proven disloyal to him. Given whats happened, it would be richly deserved. But Trumps greatest powers are not as head of the GOP but as head of state of the country. He would happily destroy the country too to sate his own anguished feelings of betrayal. Sound hyperbolic? Why would the pattern be any different written on so large a canvass?
When I say Im not surprised, I dont say this pretending to any great insight. Lots of people arent surprised. Millions of people arent surprised. The best analogy I can think of is if you build the bomb and attach the fuse and light the fuse, the bomb will go off. The concussion is still loud and jarring. But the bomb was going to go off. That was inevitable when the bomb was built and the fuse lit.
edited to add link: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-bomb-bursts-it-will-keep-happening
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Josh Marshall--this is how it feels to live in a household with an abuser. (Original Post)
ginnyinWI
Aug 2017
OP
FM123
(10,054 posts)1. "there's no kill switch on this escalating aggression"
This is what is becoming more and more apparent every day!
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)2. like a runaway freight train.
He's on a downward trajectory, almost a free-fall which is accelerating. All we need to do is stand back and watch what happens.
Then we can begin to heal and rebuild.