October 27, 2024
I’m watching an interview with Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan who play Roy Cohn and Donald Trump in the movie The Apprentice. Strong paraphrases a quote by Carl Jung: “Where love is absent power fills the vacuum.”
When Donald was two, his mother had emergency surgery, after which she withdrew from her family. Although Mary Trump was not an ideal mother, still, the absence of a mother during those early years is particularly damaging to children. Furthermore, his father Fred Trump was not warm nor kind. Consequently, Donald was emotionally abandoned by both parents at a very formative age. There are so many other complicated family dynamics that molded Donald into the aggressively ambitious young man he had become when he unfortunately crossed paths with the sociopathic Roy Cohn who took on the role of his mentor.
I remain wholly perplexed by Donald Trump’s sway over near half of the country. Every day, his behavior is more extreme than the day before. Instead of it being off putting, it seems to endear his followers to him even more. Can it be true that half the country has such intense hate for “the other”? The other being Democrats, immigrants, black and brown people, and all manner of “the enemy within”. Or are we experiencing some sort of mass psychosis? “If you want fascism, you will surely get it,” said a podcasters I listened to today. Can it be true that half the country is willing to relinquish what George Washington called an “experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people” in favor of a strong man who intends to dismantle all vestiges of our precious democracy? We have a bit over a week to find out.
When I’m not hating Donald Trump, there are instances when I imagine what his life must be like. What goes through is mind? What does his thought life look like? What does it feel like to be inside of his head?
I ponder on these questions when I am doing the most mundane things. I’ll be loading the dishwasher, and I’ll think, “Donald Trump has never experienced the satisfaction of cleaning his own kitchen.” I’ll be making dinner, and I’ll think, “Donald Trump has never spent time in the kitchen with his grandmother learning how to make meatloaf.” I’ll be pumping gas, and I’ll think, “Donald Trump has never pumped his own gas. I wonder if he’s ever even driven a car…” Can you even begin to imagine how empty your life would be if you didn’t have the pleasure of experiencing the mundane routine aspects of living an honest and ethical life? Imagine what it would be like if your mind was perpetually consumed with concocting schemes to manipulate people to maintain power and control. Imagine what it would be like to be surrounded by people who only told you the things you wanted to hear. Imagine believing that you were a god, superior to every other person on the planet, fully deserving of their worship and exaltation. Imagine never truly loving anyone. Imagine being incapable of loving at all.
Many people would like to see Donald Trump damned to an eternity in hell. I don’t think that’s necessary. To live inside his mind is to experience unfathomable torture. Every aspect of his existence is a living hell. He is continuously surrounded by multitudes of loving admirers, but it’s counterfeit. He cannot love and he cannot receive love.
He has always been alone.
He will die alone.
I pity Donald Trump.
“Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.”
-Carl Gustav Jung