UNDERSTANDING THE N-WORD

Not that one. I’m talking about Narcissism.

As it turns out, Lou Gehrig wasn’t the first victim of a ghastly condition to have that condition named after him.

Narcissus, in Greek mythology was a young dude, famed for his beauty, who rejected anyone who fell in love with him...and he was a real turd in doing it. This was back in the day when gods specialized; in order that a single god didn’t have to watch every college and professional football game, hungry to be glorified, while at the same time dealing with genocide and greed and guys like Mike Johnson.

At any rate, Nemesis, the small “g” god in charge of justice and retribution, answered the prayers one of Narcissus’s spurned admirers by cursing pretty boy to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Powerless to abandon the object of his intense affection, Narcissus neglected his hygiene, along with breakfast, lunch and dinner...and croaked.

What those long-dead Greeks didn’t give us, was the backstory. You don’t come up with a personality such as that of Narcissus, on your own. You need help from those who came immediately before you, just as those who came before you needed help from those who came before them. You don’t have to go all the way back to Adam and Eve to level the blame...just back to God’s do-over, Noah and What’s-her-name. (Turns out God hadn’t yet figured out that incest wasn’t a good way to begin re-population.)

All that is to say, there’s no point in blaming Donald F. Trump’s parents, because they got a shit deal, too.

Narcissus’s story is a cautionary one that the Greeks passed down, warning each of us that getting too full of yourself is a good way to spend your final days wasting away, or worse, bloating up on cheeseburgers. It is just as cautionary to anyone becoming obsessed with a shiny boy-toy.

But Narcissus was a third or fourth tier narcissist.

Our guy is top tier, and American mythology will tell a more detailed story. DJT, like Narcissus, is pretty taken with his reflection; he’d pretty much have to be, to gaze at his likeness in his gold-plated mirror and turn what he sees there into anything resembling a mammal. What’s important to understand is why he’s so enamored. Easy. It’s because he has to be.

DFT is a person who grew up in the care of a loveless father, and a mom who confused love with enmeshment. He was treated with genuine harshness when he didn’t live up to unrealistic expectations, and overly-praised when his behavior approached the ruthlessness that governed his father’s life. Everything was about appearance, and only appearance was rewarded.

DFT’s narcissism doesn’t come from being full of himself; it comes from being empty. He has to be the center of attention at all times because when he’s not, he disappears, which to him is like a death. Because he’s of under-average intelligence, and of far under-average curiosity, even semi-complex issues float high above his capacity to understand. One reason he blurts out so many bewilderingly absurd answers is that he’ll do whatever he has to do, in the moment, to keep his gross incompetence from being exposed. That’s the reason for the tiny middle finger and the childish name calling.

Unfortunately for us, the chronology of DFT’s history represents a perfect storm; a shit-storm raining down on us. If he hadn’t been paraded out as a brilliant businessman, rather than the hot air bag he was by the creators of “The Apprentice” where in fact he did nothing but read a very short script written to portray him as a no-nonsense tough guy, he’d have become one more failed tycoon-wannabe who took his failures out on his family. His surname would have become a verb, meaning the exact opposite of what it means (with a small “t”) today.

Here’s the lightning that goes with that storm: A mentally dull narcissist is the perfect foil for a razor sharp narcissist; enter Stephen Miller, poised to pounce on and exploit the abject lethargy accompanying the absence of decency that is the hallmark of DFT’s ruined personality structure. When an issue arises about which DFT doesn’t know shit from Shinola, to coin an old expression, Miller steps up to offer a solution DFT can call his own. Given that both men’s engines are fueled by the kind of high-octane vengeance that allows them to witness the agony of all who would challenge them, it’s a lethal combination.

The upside of all this? More than any public figure that I know of, DFT has exposed our dark side. And more than any public figure I know of, he has presented us with the ultimate challenge. To quote what the second most feckless modern day president meant to say, “Fool (us) once, shame on you. Fool (us) twice, shame on (us).”

Allow me this: “Fool us three times, we’re fucked,” and therein lies the challenge.

When we go to the polls in ‘26, any vote we cast for a republican senator or representative who hasn’t publiclydenounced DFT, is a vote for DFT and for the end of rule of law. A choice to remain at home is a half-vote for DFT. This time, supporting a republican candidate because you’re in agreement on one or another issue, is off the table. We have to get the democracy back before we have the luxury of once again being discerning.

Let this influence your vote: As I write this, Stephen Miller’s Brown Shirts, aka ICE, has committed another murder on the streets of St. Paul/Minneapolis. Mainstream news is holding back, waiting for details. I’ve watched the video, and this is the only detail that matters. They have him face down on the ground; they shoot him dead and walk away.

As I’ve said before, there is no such thing as American exceptionalism; there are only exceptional Americans. Decide if you want to be one.