Donald Trump’s TIME Interview: Portrait of a Malevolent, Pathologically Dishonest Narcissist
It’s become so commonplace for our so-called president to blatantly lie about things that are easily checked and debunked that it’s hard to label it “shocking” any more. But nonetheless, it really ought to be shocking that the leader of the United States is this unhinged and disconnected from anything like a normal reality.
This is a man with no center, a pure con man who cynically exploits the public.
Politicians lie. That’s a cliché because we know it to be true. But Donald Trump doesn’t just lie like a normal politician, he reels off falsehoods with complete disregard for ethics, conscience or morality, and never acknowledges that he lied even when everyone can plainly see it. This is a man with no center, a pure con man who cynically exploits the public in a belief that he’s smarter than everyone else, and will never be held accountable. And he’s getting away with it, on the grandest scale imaginable.
This rant was evoked by Trump’s disgusting and disturbing interview published today by TIME, in which he revisits many of his most scurrilous lies and repeats them, never admitting any mistakes or even misstatements but insisting he was right.
He’s like a cheating husband who’s been caught red-handed but refuses to admit his misdeeds — but he’s doing this in front of the whole world, and deeply embarrassing the country he’s supposed to be leading. This is a guy who’s not just ignorant and egomaniacal, he’s proud of it.
Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler has a pretty complete rundown of the many outright lies in this interview, so I’ll refer you to that if you really need it proved once again that Trump is a dangerously unhinged prevaricator.
It’s also become a cliché to say the United States is in serious trouble with a venal narcissist like this in charge, but there it is. This disgraceful episode in our history can’t possibly end well.