Trump 2.0 The Shaming of Our Nation

Never have we seen such a political candidate, now President, such as Donald Trump. Never in recent or more distant history, perhaps since the Civil War, have we had anyone who has so divided our country. We briefly scan the development of his life, then his election behavior, finally, in the second part of the book, we examine his presidential behavior during the first 6-8 weeks. During the primary election, Trump quickly divided the country. For a large part, he evoked enthusiasm and trust, as well as fear, anger and distrust for both politicians and the media. For another large part, his constant lying, bigotry, bullying, predatory behavior toward women and large promises brought disgust and a range of negative feelings. Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote by almost three million, but Trump won enough of the rural vote to give him the electoral vote victory. This book describes the 2016 election and the first two months of Donald Trump's presidency. Never have we seen such a political candidate, now President, such as Donald Trump. Never in recent or more distant history, perhaps since the Civil War, have we had anyone who has so divided our country. This is a study of Trump BEFORE and AFTER the election. Election behaviors and Presidential behavior are observed and summarized. His management style is assessed, as well as his history of fabrication. Some 30,000 psychologists and medal health professionals have signed a letter diagnosing him as mentally unstable. There is no question that he can be delusional, frequently lying about his margin of victory, crowds size as this inaugural, and now accusing, without any evident, the previous President of wiretapping his offices. After being advised there was no evidence to support his accusation, he remained positive there would be found evidence. We do not attempt to offer a diagnosis for this very unique man who still stealing headlines most every day, but we do summarize that behavior which undermines trust, confounds and belittles the office of the presidency and shames our nation before the world. Donald Trump defies categories; he is "sui generis", meaning one of a kind. Whatever happens to his presidency, he will continue to fascinate, captivate, disgust, or scare his audience, whenever, however. So strong is the bond he has creates with his followers, I suspect some would dismiss all evidence of cooperation with the Russians should that be found. We live in a flat earth society, that is, flatness is all we can see. We need to be at 35,000 feet to begin to see the curvature of the earth. We hope to offer here a vision from 35,000 feet, where curvature begins to be visible, with a larger view which can extend horizons. Each view of the world, including my own, is partial, subjective and always inadequate. WE can only hope that sharing these views might find resonance in others.