In an uncharacteristically caustic column, Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker lashed out at Donald Trump for callously shutting down the government and leaving over 800,000 federal employees living hand to mouth without paychecks,
The conservative Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist wrote that she is appalled that Trump would rather see federal employees penniless than give up on his border wall that likely will never be built.
"As The Wall dominated the week’s news, a pitiful juxtaposition of two realities — one the hard truth, the other a lie — emerged to clarify the destructiveness of the American president’s toxic narcissism," Parker began.
"Billionaires can’t relate to people dependent on their next paycheck, unless perhaps they became billionaires after first serving time in the middle class," she explained. "Obviously, this isn’t Trump’s résumé. Though he says he made a fortune, it surely helped to begin with a multimillion-dollar starter loan from dear ol’ dad."
Parker didn't have to back far for more examples of Trump's inability to show empathy for those who are less better off, saying he has nothing but contempt for those who weren't born into wealth like himself.
"Trump’s imperviousness to others’ misfortunes is by now legendary. What other president would toss rolls of paper towels to hurricane victims?" Parker charged. "But then, narcissists see only their own suffering, always someone else’s fault, and empathy is for schmucks."
"The wall, meanwhile, is subterfuge for his personal fulfillment. Once envisioned as a massive concrete wall with a 'big, beautiful door' — perhaps a monument to the Trump brand — it lately has morphed into a hodgepodge of found objects: metal slats here, some cyclone fencing there, here a bit of steel — and over there, maybe, a bit of papier-mâché," she mocked.
According to Parker, the wall now has gone beyond being a monument that Trump wants built to memorialize his presidency, into a necessity he needs to get re-elected.
"The specter of the hyped-up, Central American caravan that kept hysterics busy with images of terrorists, rapists and body snatchers seemed to vaporize after the midterm elections. Now that 2020 is up for grabs, The Wall Must Go Up," she wrote.
As Parker notes, Trump has boxed himself in and is severely damaging the Republican Party -- and that his gambit has failed.
"Now that he faces possible rejection, the wall has become a metaphor for his identity, his very being-ness. To fail would be to suffer narcissistic injury, which, given Trump’s immaturity and predilection to punch back, could lead to a real national crisis," she wrote before bluntly adding, " All for that stupid wall."
You can read the whole piece here.