Trump's 'dangerous behavior is getting worse as the stakes get higher': columnist

In a blunt-talking column for the Daily Beast, longtime political observer Margaret Carlson warned that Donald Trump seems to be spiraling out of control as the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. climbs and his re-election prospects plummet.

As Carlson pointed out, "Donald Trump’s conduct in a week when Wednesday’s record number of coronavirus deaths doubled next day to a new record of 4,591 can only be understood if you realize that the president is not a 73-year-old man with the experience and maturity that suggests. Trump is actually a 10-year-old having aged in reverse dog years. He has the crimped emotions and empathy of a deluded superhero (“only I can fix it”), the limitations of a C-student, and the work ethic of a pre-teen who resents any challenge to his fragile ego and responds positively only to praise. All he does now is try to make to reality disappear."

Adding, "Parental guidance is advised. Trump requires close supervision, strict limits on his screen time, and guidance on how to tell real doctors from single-named celebrity ones like Dr. Oz, who told Trump’s good buddy Sean Hannity that a mortality rate of 2 to 3 percent is an 'appetizing”'trade-off for jump-starting the economy," Carlson suggested the president is a danger to the nation in his desperation to remain in office.

"Seeing Trump as a captive of his immaturity is a way to anticipate and perhaps defend against his dangerous behavior that is getting worse as the stakes get higher," she explained. "He’s home (mostly alone) now but still needs to spend less time in front of the TV, which only generates ill-advised tweet storms, and attend a meeting or two of his task force in the Situation Room, where the seating chart changes daily depending on who up and who’s down in the president’s clique."

Pointing out "If Trump had anyone on staff not afraid of his cruel temper," testing problems for the conronavirus health crisis might be fixed by now, Carlson writes, "Trump still has a childlike belief he can spin the virus, putting 60,000 deaths on the house, having chosen a model that predicted 2.2 million fatalities if he did nothing and by that faulty reasoning, congratulating himself for a job so well done no one can believe it."

Carlson concluded, "What no one can believe, except the hardest core of his base, is that a con man in a gimme cap and a superhero cape clings to the notion he alone can fix everything, including a broken Dow Jones, and get us all to Splash Mountain at Disneyland without testing Mickey. He’s right about one thing: We can’t believe the job he’s done. On top of all the deaths that wouldn’t have happened if there’d been an adult in the White House, it’s too much to take in."

You can read more here (subscription required).