Mr. President, I Want Out of This Abusive Relationship

https://medium.com/@sethdavin/mr-president-i-want-out-of-this-abusive-relationship-8ecbeae8188f?_branch_match_id=526324478682295633

Mr. President, I Want Out of This Abusive Relationship

Jun 21
Co-Dependency, Enabling, Fear, and Cowardice in the Age of Trump

By David M. Reiss, M.D. and Seth Davin Norrholm, Ph.D.

Donald J. Trump is an abuser. Donald J. Trump is an abusive man. This is not a legal finding. This is not a clinical diagnosis. This is an objectively-documented, indisputable, direct observation of Trump’s behaviors. Donald Trump is at the epicenter of a vast network of harm being done across multiple fronts within our society.

Consider this Brief Checklist of Abusive Behaviors:

1. Trump does not appear capable of discussing a disagreement with any person or entity without resorting to stupid, juvenile, and at times, overtly cruel name-calling. That is an act of abuse.

2. Trump does not appear capable of tolerating a criticism without rather viciously demeaning his critic. Trump rarely responds to a criticism by discussing issues or describing facts — Trump responds with lies and attacks based upon irrelevant real — or more often, invented — sadistic put-downs of the critic’s appearance, intelligence, ability, motivation and/or honesty. Those are acts of abuse.

3. Trump demands “loyalty” from others by frequently insisting that they publicly adulate him by having them make false, inaccurate and overtly grandiose statements about Trump’s supposed exceptional abilities and accomplishments. Those are abusive behaviors.

4. Trump’s expectations that others will shower him with obviously false and ridiculously grandiose compliments humiliates and destroys the dignity of even those who want to support him. (See Graham, Lindsey; Gaetz, Matt; Jordan, Jim; Pence, Mike) Those are acts of abuse.

It is obvious that consistently, Trump is an extremely abusive man, even if one gives no credence to the rumors that he has personally been physically violent to family members and without even needing to consider the horribly cruel and sadistic consequences of many of the political decisions and policies he has implemented.