Mentioning the unspeakable: suicide

Don't laugh. Don't cry. Don't dismiss.

Trumpy's been manic about his influence over the nation ever since he opened his campaign. We know it was for all the wrong reasons.

We know that Trumpy can best be described as narcissistic in a malignant sense. He's dangerous and self-righteous.

We can assume that Trumpy is evil, misdirected, mentally deficient, foaming-at-the-mouth mad, supremely vain, or anything else that makes sense. It doesn't matter. Trumpy ACTS as if he doesn't know the extent to which he's caused pain and suffering for those who were left in the wake of his dishonesty, deceit, and destruction. He acts as if he is so enraptured by his election win, he can't pay attention to anything else, including all of the damage he's done.

As the pressure mounts to hold Trumpy accountable for all of his crimes and misdeeds, he resists. He always resists. He knows the charges. He knows which are true. But he doesn't care because he truly believes he knows how to win against all odds. He can commit atrocities, and ruin the lives of countless victims, but he believes that the legacy of his life, that of an unrelenting winner against all legal limits, moral boundaries, and even common sense, is a glorious human triumph of exceptionalism over the mundane.

But the closer his perceived and real adversaries get to pulling away his cloak of exceptionalism and superiority, the less Trumpy will have to mentally and emotionally stay intact.

As a mental health worker for several decades, I once came upon an expert in what was then called "The Criminal Personality." In one of the lectures he gave, he commented on the likelihood of suicide by someone described as sociopathic. In essence, he spoke of the potential in sociopaths of having a "clear moment" in which the person has a truthful and impactful insight regarding all of the people who were hurt by the sociopath-- a moment when the defenses against responsibility and accountability temporarily disintegrate, leaving the person overwhelmed with guilt, sadness, and unworthiness. The tidal wave of emotions can be so devastating that the person may conclude that there is no positive aspect to living beyond any given moment, and decides that the only way to stop the pain (both in others and within) is to stop living.

I relate this comment made over thirty years ago to what I'm inferring is happening to Trumpy. He may very well be on the same path of eventually realizing the massive suffering he's caused not only the individual people in his life, but, as a political leader, also to the millions of people whom he's never seen or heard. And from there, it's quite possible that the overwhelming emotions, compounded by impending political, personal, and financial doom, may be what takes him over the edge.

I'm not interested in seeing him off himself, whether in or out of office. But I think that those around him ought to be thinking of this possibility. Trumpy is only human and will always react to situations in a human manner. No one in the media or in everyday conversation is accustomed to thinking about this possibility, but it may be time to do so. It may soon be time to put Trumpy on a suicide watch.