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Perry Diaz .

JUST when President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, was being questioned – nay, grilled — by the Senate Judiciary Committee, a nerve shattering “tsunami” struck the White House.  The rumblings that followed — just a week away from the anniversary of 9/11 – shook the American psyche.

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On Sept. 4, 2018, a new book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” written by longtime Washington Post reporter, Bob Woodward, which exposes the “toxic and volatile” work culture in the White House, was announced.  It was released on Sept. 11, 2018, exactly 17 years after 9/11, which makes one wonder:  Is it coincidental that the book was released on a 9/11?  Or, did Woodward purposely do so to send an ominous message that “Fear” could be devastating to the Trump administration?

In the book, Woodward quoted Trump’s Chief of Staff John Kelly as saying: “He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.” The book describes Kelly as frequently losing his temper, telling colleagues that the president is “unhinged.”

The book also said that Defense Secretary James Mattis describes Trump as having the understanding of “a fifth or sixth grader.” And Trump’s former personal lawyer John Dowd describes the President as “a f**king liar,” telling Trump he would end up in an “orange jump suit” if he testified to special counsel Robert Mueller.

The following day, The New York Times (NYT) published an incendiary op-ed written by an anonymous senior official of the Trump administration.  However, the name of the author is known only to NYT.

“I’m part of the resistance inside the Trump administration,” the anonymous author said.  “The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.  I would know.  I am one of them.”

And just to be crystal clear on what they’re doing, the author said:  “That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.”  There you go!  They want Trump out of office!  Period.

But the question is:  Is the resistance within the West Wing enough to remove Trump?  Trump who believes that his base would stick with him come hell or high water? But is that enough for the GOP to retain control of Congress?

That puts the midterm elections in November the battle that would determine Trump’s future. If the Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives, it would stop any attempt to impeach him.  And he’d be on his merry way to winning – possibly — re-election in 2020, which means that Trump could be in the White House for two terms until 2024!

The opposition – the Democrats and the “Resistance” in the White House – is aware of that. What is at stake, they believe, is the very survival of the republic.  With Trump’s self-destructive foreign policy and unwinnable trade and tariff wars, America’s superpower status would diminish, which could bring her down like what happened to the British Empire after World War II.

Due to “Trump’s impulses that are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic,” the “Resistance” believes that it results in a “two-track presidency.”  “Take foreign policy,” the author said, “In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations.

“Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals.”

However, I don’t see it as a “two-track presidency,” I see it as Trump having split personality.  The first personality (let’s call him “Vlad”) is pro-authoritarian; i.e., pro-Russia, pro-North Korea, and pro-China.  The fact that he offered to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani – like what he did with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un – is indicative of his infatuation with dictators.  He is also bent on dismantling NATO and the European Union.  Trump’s other personality (let’s call him “Donnie”), however, is the exact opposite of Vlad.  In fact, Vlad and Donnie are always in conflict.

Trump also manifested his split personality in the wake of the “Unite the Right Rally” or “Charlottesville Riots,” when Vlad condemned “in the strongest possible terms” what he called an “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.”

But two days later, Trump switched personalities.  “Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” Donnie said from the White House.

Then the following day, Trump switched back to Vlad. “I think there is blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don’t have any doubt about it either,” Val told the media. “And if you reported it accurately, you would say it.”

I am not a psychiatrist but Trump’s erratic behavior of conflicting reactions to the same incident is, in my mind, demonstrative of split personality disorder.

While I was writing this column, my friend Joe C. sent a text message, saying: “Maybe I’ve been watching too many movies… but what if the anonymous author is actually Trump?  He did it just to prove there’s really a force out to get him.  A brilliant ploy?”  I thought about it and it seems to reinforce my “split personality” theory.

It’s interesting to note what the anonymous author said: “Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over.”

However, there seems to be an urgency of removing him by way of the 25th Amendment because of what Woodward’s book reveals:  “The White House is mired in a perpetual ‘nervous breakdown’ with staff constantly seeking to control a leader whose anger and paranoia can paralyze operations for days.”

For each day that Trump sits in the Oval Office, the country is in a state of instability. Nobody knows what he’d do next that could imperil the nation’s security, including his direct access to the “Red Button,” which would trigger a nuclear war; thus, moving the Doomsday Clock’s minute hand to midnight.  Boom!  But one thing for sure, he doesn’t have the mental stability to lead not only America, but also the entire world, in peace and prosperity.

In a futile effort to buttress her husband’s teetering position, First Lady Melania Trump sent out a “special email,” asking supporters of Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign to sign a “Pledge of Presidential Support.”  Hmm… What good would it be?  That’s still two years away!  What Trump needs now is a way to stop the “flash flood” that is rushing into the White House, which would put him in a politically untenable spot.  The question is: Is the “flash flood” unstoppable?

At the end of the day, taking all these into account, Trump’s downfall is inevitable.  Indeed, his waterloo looms.   The question is: When?

 

E-mail: PerryDiaz@gmail.com

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