The Final Countdown

We’re just over a week from Trump’s first criminal trial. Expect insanity.

Back in the summer of 2017, on my daily political broadcast ResistanceLive (now on YouTube), I first spoke about what to expect from a cornered narcissist. I framed it in the context of extinction bursts, a common phenomenon for the end game of bad behavior. 

When consequences are levied and the narcissist knows he’s lost, his behavior actually becomes worse– categorical flameouts of violence, rage, hate, and revenge, as he seeks to blame everyone but himself for his own conduct.

This week, we’re entering the final days before Trump truly has to face the finality of his own mythology. On April 15th, he will put on trial for more than two dozen felonies in New York City, and if convicted, he will be facing jail time at long last.

And the extinction bursts, already roiling social media in the last two weeks, are getting worse.

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This weekend, we’ve seen him more over the edge than ever before.

Just this morning, in a series of manic posts, he once again defamed E. Jean Carroll, to whom he owes almost $100 million; attacked Judge Merchan, who is overseeing the election interference case set to begin on April 15th and who just expanded the gag order against Trump following his attacks on Merchan’s daughter; attacked Judge Engoron, who oversaw his civil fraud case in New York; and attacked the Attorney General of New York– all while comparing himself to Nelson Mandela (!) and saying it would be a “great honor” to go to prison for violating a gag order.

If this sounds especially crazy, well, that’s because it is.

And that’s due to his decompensation. The closer he gets to being forced to face what he’s done, the worse he will get.

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Recently, Joe Navarro, a former FBI profiler, wrote a piece in Psychology Today concerning what to expect from a cornered narcissist. It included the following:

First, the narcissist “will falsely claim that everything is fine and that there is nothing wrong.”

When “evidence is presented, they will seek to have it invalidated or claim that it is false, fake, or a product of vague conspiracies, but most certainly not true.”

And “any evidence presented, and those that present it, will be attacked aggressively and vindictively. The better the evidence, the more aggressive the attack.” Those who are holding the narcissist accountable for wrongdoing will be “discredited, humiliated, hounded, and bullied—not even their families are to be spared if need be.” 

Moreover, “the narcissist will engage supporters or enablers to simultaneously attack those who offer proof or evidence”— to do his dirty work. 

As accountability looms closer, “[f]oolproof evidence will be portrayed as false and the result of pettiness, jealousies, bad actors, malicious individuals, negativity, haters, enemies, losers, conspirators,” and worse. 

“As they lash out with vindictiveness, the malignant narcissist will continue to talk about themselves in glowing terms,” working for narcissistic supply even as they fall. They will blame others, and “will prattle countless baseless reasons that all point away, never at themselves . .  The narcissist will not take any responsibility—ever.” 

Most significantly to where we are headed as we move into this last week is this: 

Expect lies to increase and to be repeated exponentially. They will, even in light of factual evidence to the contrary, lie more profusely and adamantly. Lies are and always will be the number one tool of the malignant narcissist. The only difference now is that in facing failure or public ridicule, the lies must increase in frequency and audacity to the point of incredulity . . . 

. . . And while lies will increase, so too will be the need to devalue others in order to further value themselves. They will attack everyone and anyone in the most vicious and vindictive ways. This is when we see their rage come through. Not just anger, but unbridled rage. They will say things that shock the conscience and they expect everyone to swallow what they say, much as their enablers do. The most decent of persons will be attacked, mocked, ridiculed, and turned into a human chew-toy as the narcissist unleashes untethered rage and hatred. They will dip down into a bottomless cauldron of antipathy and like an arterial spurt, will spew this toxic brew far and wide with metronomic regularity.

. . . as the end nears, the suffering of others is paramount to the malignant narcissist. It is their way of elevating themselves—sick as that sounds—by malevolently paying back society with even more suffering.

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I share all of this because this is where we are and where we will be in the coming days and weeks. We need to be prepared for the fact that the next week in particular is likely to bring the most unhinged, enraged, vindictive and vicious Trump we have ever seen.

Do not be surprised by his unraveling– even when what he does and says is shocking, malignant, deluded, and very, very ugly.

Most important of all, however, is to not allow yourself to be derailed.

Why? Because we have an election to win. And even if Trump is convicted, he has so ensnared the entire Republican party that he may still be the nominee in November, even from jail.

Our focus right now, no matter how insane he becomes, must be to stay the course, stay grounded, and stay engaged in the good fight.

When your anxiety or despair gets to you, take action. Volunteer with a campaign you care about, text and phone bank, sign up to door knock to get out the vote.

The end may very well be nigh for the saga of Donald Trump’s assault on America.

And in the words of the old protest anthem that I once had the privilege to hear LaTosha Brown, the Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter, sing to me in person:

“Keep your eyes on the prize, and hold on.”