Trump and Authority Figures
08/22/2022
Trump and Authority Figures
Robert A. Levine 8-22-22
The conflict occurring between Donald Trump and the Justice Department should not be surprising to anyone who has followed The Donald over the years. This narcissistic behemoth has had difficulty with authority figures all of his life, especially those who disagree with him or contest his authenticity or beliefs. Perhaps it can be traced back to his relationship with his father who provided the funds to start The Donald on his quest for success, and bailed him out at times when he failed. Like his father, Trump has never had any compunctions about bending the rules or ignoring them completely in actions that favor him financially or politically. His father Fred lied about his German heritage after WW II, claiming that he was Swedish. In his real estate dealings he was manipulative and deceptive, paying off politicians at times to get his way. He saw life as being continuous combat and his son followed in his footsteps. People were either successful or losers and both father and son never wanted the latter identification.
As a child, Trump was a disciplinary problem and loved to fight, getting into trouble with school authority figures. To bring him under control, his father sent him to the New York Military Academy, hoping to instill discipline in The Donald. He spent his first year of college at Fordham then transferred to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where it is rumored that he was admitted because of a donation from his father. Subsequently, he went into the real estate business with seed money from his father with a number of his projects going bankrupt. The same is true of his airline and online university, though he claims to have been a successful businessman.
His ability to spout various claims and lies, and overt actions that conflict with the norms of society have frequently placed him in confrontations with various authority figures whom he tends to dismiss as lying or being beneath him. But while he may call these people names and label them in vicious and terrible ways, he has been unwilling to substantiate many of his claims in areas where they called him to task. Why has he never released his tax returns unlike every other presidential candidate? Trump says he’s a billionaire and it may be true but he’s never presented evidence of it. He calls himself a genius but has threatened to sue any institution that releases his grades or SAT scores. Of what is this “genius” afraid? Trump did not even know that Finland was not part of Russia according to some of his national security advisors.
He claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. However, aside from speaking in ambiguities, he and his minions have offered no proof of any significant fraud that could have altered the election. He continues to harp on the contention that he won the election because he doesn’t want to be labeled a loser and can use election denial to raise funds. But in multiple cases where he has gone to the courts for redress, he has been turned down for lack of any evidence. Even so, the majority of his base believes the lie that the election was stolen.
In the past when dealing with federal officials regarding violations and housing discrimination in the buildings owned by his firm, he has called them Gestapo agents. Similarly, he has labeled the FBI as Gestapo for searching his home in Mar-a-Lago for classified documents under court order. In keeping these documents, he did not believe that the rules applied to him. He constantly taunts the authority of the mainstream media, describing their information as fake news when it places him in a bad light. He dismisses the actions of the courts when they rule against him.
Trump is a malignant narcissist who believes he is above the law, can say and do what he wants and no authority can touch him. The sad thing is that the vast majority of Republicans believe him.
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