Cupid’s poison arrows in pipeline for wounded anti-hero Trump
WE NEED to talk about narcissism. Narcissism, by definition, is the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one’s own attributes. The term originated from Greek mythology where the young Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus ‘ lay gazing enraptured into the pool, hour after hour,’ and finally changed into a flower that bears his name, the narcissus.
Donald Trump is a modern day Narcissus so blinded from reality and truth that he spews out untruth while pointing the finger at the media and their/our fake news.
All of us know narcissistic people. They are the ones who think the sun, moon and stars revolve around them. They feed off the praise of ‘ hosts’ in the work place and in their social spheres to make themselves feel good, or should I say, great. They believe that only they can do something right and feel wounded when the spotlight falls on somebody else and not them.
Instead of a pool of water, Trump gazes into his smartphone and possibly into the portrait of himself that his charitable organisation bought.
Having read numerous critical articles about the President, and written a few as well, it is clear that there is a media bias against him. He can truthfully claim this, but just as the school yard bully doesn’t like being criticised for his actions, does Trump really think he can get away with everything he says and does.
Last year Trump crash landed on the comedy world like a giant orange clown. The winner, so far, has been comedy. If you could buy shares in knee slapping hilarity now would be the time as we’re heading for the comedy Renaissance. Following a slump in form on Saturday Night Live during the past 15 years, the show is back with a bang with its wicked impersonations of Trump and White House press secretary Sean Spicer. John Oliver and his side splittingly hilarious Last Week Tonight have also mined him for material and I love it.
In Trump, we have a 24/7 reality TV anti-hero. He’s on the screen all the time. He is a pathological liar and only wants to hear positive things about himself which is dangerous when you consider the power he has at his disposal. He does, in fairness, speak his mind, like when he recently defended Russian President Vladimir Putin after he was accusded of being a killer. Trump told Fox News: ‘We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent?’
So there, in a few words, Trump tarnished the myth of America the shining light, by equating it with Russia, which is always the villain in the American story. Now tapping on Facebook these days can be akin to tumbling into a virtual wormhole in time into Donald Trump’s brain. We’re getting America through the filer of a maniac. Like the character Alex in The Clockwork Orange Trump strapped to a chair we cannot avert our eyes to what we’re seeing. The horror is unavoidable. Kinda like Valentine’s Day for many.
It must be the most divisive day of the year as for some it provides them with affirmation of their success in life, while for others it sets them apart, in their minds at least, as unsuccessful (in love).
President Trump recently signed two executive orders reviving both the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. And now he’s telling reporters that he hasn’t received any negative phone calls regarding the projects. And yet the Sioux Standing Rock Tribe have been campaigning vocally against the pipeline. To Trump they’re fans. Go figure!