The first thing that came to my mind last night was this: Donald Trump does not have the emotional, moral, or courage to withstand the kind of pressure and scrutiny without end he is now under. Truth is sometimes an orphan, but it always survives and prevails. I believe in it. And the truth is the one thing Trump has never been able to bear.

In understanding where we are, the election doesn’t matter. Put it aside. It’s way too far away for conclusions.   Every psychologist, therapist, and psychiatrist understands what happens inside a person’s head when they can’t lose, be wrong, change, apologize, or compromise.

The great irony of Donald Trump is that if you can never be wrong, then you can never be right. The sociopath has nowhere to run; reality is the enemy, and they are almost inevitably called to account.

To millions of people,  these are the traits of a stirring hero.

But every person who has ever worked for Trump says otherwise and knows his responses to pressure – lie, betray, and deny.

These are the traits of a person with a sociopathic illness, this inability to admit wrong, say he’s sorry, or forgive his supposed enemies or anyone who challenges him. Or to protect himself by not breaking the law again and again.

The most gifted sociopaths get others to enable them and lie for them. It gives them a screen to hide behind.

They often have a genius for it.

It is sad to write this, but the most challenging thing for me is to watch the ongoing and inevitable disintegration of a deeply troubled human being so many have put their faith in. Reality is in charge and, in its way, truth and honor the actual juries.

This unfortunate man will not survive the awful clouds that have engulfed him; he does not have the interior strength or moral grounding, no matter what the media says —his loyal and well-meaning supporters will be betrayed again. For us and him and them, for our country, that is a tragedy.

These are some of the symptoms and traits of a sociopath as gathered from mental health websites and two books: lack of empathy, impulsive behavior, attempting to control others with threats and aggression, using intelligence and charm to manipulate others, not learning from mistakes or punishment, lying for personal gain, addicted to superficial relationships, refusal to take responsibility, as in not paying bills. 

Draw your own conclusions. This has always been the big story surrounding Donald Trump; it’s always been the story the media has been afraid to tell or confront. The hysteria over polls is yet another distraction from the frightening truth. One of the first thing dictators do is discredit the media so no one will believe the truth if they see or hear it.

We are all confronting it now, and I say this hopefully with compassion. He is very much a human being like him or not. Ultimately, that will do what nothing else has done; it will be his undoing. Ameria is not pre-war Italy or Germany, not even close.

As the Greek playwrights predicted, hubris is the downfall of Kings and emperors.

The first reliable reports out of Mar-A-Largo tonight portrayed a tormented man, enraged, frightened, and in denial. He is running out of money and shaken by the number of close associates facing indictment and trial. And what average and healthy person would not be agitated? Donald Trump has always been his worst enemy. He might have returned to power if he had accepted his loss and run again, said a friend to a reporter. But to do that, he would have to admit that he lost. He can’t.

The impossible has happened. He is not all-powerful. He is not beyond accountability. He is not invulnerable. His money will not buy him out of trouble.  If you peek inside his head,  you would see a whirlwind spinning like a tornado; his reality shattered.

From my e-mails, I can see it’s time for some perspective. It’s wild out there.

Yes, we are in a civil war; no, it’s not like the last one. Democracy lives, and so does the Union and its institutions. Stay out of the fray. It isn’t time.

I do not write as an ideologue; I reject the labels other people love to put on each other – left and right, blue and red. For better or worse, I think independently and make decisions; I don’t parrot other people or cable news ragers.

I’m not writing on behalf of one candidate or the other. I’m not drawn to either of them, as it happens, to be honest.

Polls taken in the summer of 2023 have no bearing, good or bad, up and down on what happens on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

Search the history of polls taken ahead of a single primary campaign. You will not find one in modern times that accurately predicted the outcome of an upcoming presidential election this far ahead of it.

I think any honest pollster would – and should – concede that fewer and fewer people tell the truth to pollsters in any case, an obvious outcome of such a divided country. No presidential polling in modern times has been close to being correct or accurate. I’m not sure why we keep this ghost around. I guess because it’s cheaper.

Polls are no substitute for talking to human beings; good reporters are expensive. Talking to ordinary people is something pundits have largely abandoned.

We have an unhappy, grumpy, and polarized country at this stage. They rage at every turn.

In a sense, every polling vote is a message, a protest, a statement to the outside world.

Americans do not take their politics as seriously as people in other democracies do – Look at Israel – they are known for voting for their well-being. They are rarely willing to make the sacrifice John Kennedy asked for when he was inaugurated.

We are precisely where we were several years ago when there were two weak and painful choices for everyone who voted to make.

We are back to that, stuck in lockjaw.

Neither candidate is much loved; both are intensely disliked. Our democracy is not functioning well, but it is far from collapsing. We don’t yet have a candidate who puts the country ahead of his interests and ego. If Donald Trump had a shred of patriotism, he would not put the country through this. But his illness makes this impossible. He cannot allow himself to lose.

We will find a leader who will break the almost 50-50 deadline choking the country and the civic and political process.

It’s way too early to freak out or talk apocalypse.

I do not believe Donald Trump has a chance of being the next President of the United States; I don’t care what the New York Times polls say. I don’t believe the New York Times thinks it will happen, either.  Donald DeSantis has bumbled himself into failure. He will not be President either.

That is the corruption of modern media, not “fake news.” Nobody wants to face the truth or wants the circus to end; it’s making too much money for them.

We all saw the new poll results; they have us right where they want us, flipping out and watching the news all day.

Trump lovers will never walk away from him, and even people who don’t love him don’t like the idea of a fragile and declining 80-year-old man running for President yet again. It doesn’t feel right to me, either.

I’m 76, and I would never presume to be energetic and strong enough to be President of the United States.

I’m no ageist, but I hope I am a realist. People are correct to be upset about it. It shouldn’t have to come to that, but it is important not to succumb to the idea that our democracy is in grave peril. It’s just a mess, and that is different.

If it comes down to it, young people, suburban people, and enraged women will carry the day for the Democratic candidate, no matter who it is. They hate Donald Trump that much, and he has worked hard to earn it.

It is crucial right now to stay out of the brawling; it’s like chasing a dog through a fog. You can’t yet see where it might be going.

Ronald De Santis has already shown us he is even less likely than Donald Trump to be our President. Like Trump, he makes no decisions that are not stupid, obnoxious, or alienating. The two share one trait they are not being given credit for – hubris and self-immolation.

There are a lot of grave dangers facing Trump and his future. He is old, unhealthy mentally, and is hemorrhaging money.  He is much loved, but even more, he is widely hated. The worst is yet ahead of him.

I am sorry Joe Biden did not do the right thing and step down for somebody else, but the smart money in both parties believes he is the best candidate to beat Trump once again. I can’t speak to that.  The whole dynamic is the same as last time, except that Trump has made even more dumb and pointless errors as always. These indictments did not have to happen. All he had to do was play fair, and he might have gotten everything he wanted.

A lot of people love him very much. How sad to use them in this way.

We will never get Trump’s support to admit regret or disapproval. Like him, his is a Macho movement, one of the last, I suspect, in the country. To abandon him is to admit an error, to appear weak or willing to surrender. To turn on him is to give a victory to the elitists, the professors, the pundits, the city people, the people of color, the gay and trans people.

It’s about so much more than him, as he will soon learn.

That is not just Trump; that is not his followers. It was and is the White Man’s Last Stand. If they told the truth, Trump supporters see Trump as much more manly than Ron DeSantis, who they see  (accurately) as a prissy, mean-spirited wimp—or Joe Biden, who they dismissed as a bumbling older man unable to think straight. Trump is much more of a man to them, he stands up to everybody all the time.

Trump’s movement is a testosterone movement all the way. Never die, say I’m sorry, never say I’m wrong, demand absolute loyalty or death and exile.

The truth is that there are several Democrats who could easily beat Trump and have proved adept at crossing ideological lines to focus on things people care about (which is not Hunter Biden). Gretchen Witner of Michigan is just one of them; she has crossed the divide in many ways. There are any number of Republican governors who could easily unseat Joe Biden; Larry Hogan of Maryland is one.

This is a silly time to panic, much like walking out of a baseball stadium because the hometown pitcher gave up a home run in the first inning. I’m not big on sports analogies, but that one just popped into my mind.

I know this is not what people wish to hear, but this is a real test and measure of my compassion and empathy. Sometimes, one just has to put his money where his or her mouth is.  I am sorry for our mess, but happy that I can feel compassion and empathy for such a sad and broken man.

We are in for a long, sloppy, hot mess.

Anybody who tells you with certainty what this will look like in a year is lying to you. I have no unease saying Donald Trump will not be our next President. He will be happy to somehow set himself aflame if the government fails to punish him. Maybe he can lift some jewelry from those Palm Beach mansions and use the money to pay his lawyers.

He does it every time.

Being a sociopath helps; you never really know or fear reality. That just eats up your insides.