Tag: Trump lack of empathy

Mary Trump once stood up to her uncle Donald. Now her book describes a ‘nightmare’ of family dysfunction.

Washington Post logoMary L. Trump was embroiled in a feud over her inheritance two decades ago when her uncle Donald Trump and his siblings punched back in classic style. In an obscure court filing, they belittled her, alleging she “lives primarily off the Trump income” and is “not gainfully employed.”

Actually, Mary Trump had embarked on a new career. She studied patients with schizophrenia at Hillside Hospital on Long Island for at least six months during this period, meeting with an array of people who were delusional, hallucinatory and suicidal.

Over time, she deepened her studies of the disorder, contributed to a book on treating schizophrenia, wrote a dissertation on stalkers, and became a clinical psychologist. But not since she became part of the lawsuit in 2000 against her uncle has she spoken in detail about what she sees as the disorders of Donald Trump. Continue reading.

Bonfire of Trump’s Vanity

New York Times logoGeorge Floyd. Say his name.

WASHINGTON — My mom always spelled out I Street as Eye Street when she addressed mail there, so it wouldn’t be confusing.

Last Saturday night, the eyes of the world were on Eye Street, where The Times’s office is located, as the street became a hellscape of American pain, going up in flames during protests fanning out from the White House.

I kept thinking about the small yellow church around the corner, known as the “Church of Presidents,” where Madison paid the rent and Lincoln sat in a pew in the back. It was just a few years ago that Barack Obama and his family sometimes attended church there. A week ago, there was a towering bonfire in front of the church and then a fire in the basement. Continue reading.

Racial wounds rip open under a president with a history of exploiting them

Trump’s tone has lurched between support for the frustrated crowds and cheerleading a sterner approach to law enforcement.

President Donald Trump has spent much of his adult life building his brand around racial divisions.

So much of Trump’s business and political career has hinged on moments of racial strife: from the full-page ads he took out to condemn the Central Park Five in New York in the 1980s to the groundwork he laid for his own presidential bid by promoting the Obama “birther” conspiracy theory to his refusal in 2017 to condemn white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va.

Now, as protesters swarmed the White House for a second night, Trump’s tone lurched between support for the frustrated crowds and cheerleading a sterner approach to law enforcement. Continue reading.

Trump’s biggest deficit against Biden: Empathy

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s coronavirus response has been one marked by an inordinate balance between credit-seeking and empathy. A Washington Post review last month of his coronavirus task force briefings showed Trump spent 10 times more time praising himself and his administration (45 minutes out of 13 hours) for its response than expressing condolences to victims (4 ½ minutes). And he spent even more time attacking and blaming others (two hours).

On Friday, Trump seemed to try to rectify this, to some degree. In a tweet, he announced that flags would be flown at half-staff over the next three days “in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus.”<

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

I will be lowering the flags on all Federal Buildings and National Monuments to half-staff over the next three days in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus….

199K

Twitter Ads info and privacy
59.4K people are talking about this

It’s clearly something he needs to work on — and something that could prove an electoral liability. Continue reading.

Trump reignites Puerto Rico feud amid Hurricane Dorian

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Wednesday rekindled his spat with Puerto Rican leaders as Hurricane Dorian approached the island.

The president blasted San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz as “incompetent,” demeaned the island as “one of the most corrupt places on earth” and diverted Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds toward the southern border even as his administration is expected to provide assistance to the U.S. territory in the wake of yet another large-scale storm.

The moves mark a fresh chapter in the long-simmering feud between Trump and island officials stemming from criticism over his handling of the fallout from Hurricane Maria.

View the complete August 28 article by Brett Samuels and Rafael Bernal on The Hill website here.

Trump attacks local leaders as he visits two cities grieving from mass shootings

Washington Post logoEL PASO — On a day when President Trump vowed to tone down his rhetoric and help the country heal following two mass slayings, he did the opposite — lacing his visits Wednesday to El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, with a flurry of attacks on local leaders and memorializing his trips with grinning thumbs-up photos.

A traditional role for presidents has been to offer comfort and solace to all Americans at times of national tragedy, but the day provided a fresh testament to Trump’s limitations in striking notes of unity and empathy.

When Trump swooped into the grieving border city of El Paso to offer condolences following the massacre of Latinos allegedly by a white supremacist, some of the city’s elected leaders and thousands of its citizens declared the president unwelcome.

View the complete August 8 article by Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker, Jenna Johnson and Felicia Sonmez on The Washington Post website here.

OUT OF TOUCH: Trump Admin Doesn’t Understand Why Furloughed Workers Can’t Afford To Eat

Trump and his White House are extremely out of touch with the workers whose paychecks they are holding hostage.

Wilbur Ross said he doesn’t “really quite understand” why workers are needing to go to food banks during the Trump Shutdown.

Wilbur Ross: “I know there are and I don’t really quite understand why. Because as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union, are in effect federally guaranteed.”

Wilbur Ross suggested it wouldn’t be a big deal if 800,000 workers never got their paychecks because the GDP impact was not a “gigantic number overall.”

Wilbur Ross: “You’re talking about 800,000 workers. And while I feel sorry for the individuals that have hardship cases, 800,000 workers, if they never got their pay – which is not the case, they will eventually get it – but if they never got it, you’re talking about a third of a percent on our GDP. So it’s not like it’s a gigantic number overall.” Continue reading “OUT OF TOUCH: Trump Admin Doesn’t Understand Why Furloughed Workers Can’t Afford To Eat”

The Daily 202: ‘I can relate.’ Trump struggles to show he feels your pain as the shutdown drags on.

President Trump credited his administration’s policies for the price of gas during the American Farm Bureau Federation’s convention in New Orleans on Jan. 14. (The Washington Post)

THE BIG IDEA: President Trump was confused Monday morning about which city he was flying to. “Getting ready to address the Farm Convention today in Nashville, Tennessee,” he tweeted. “Love our farmers, love Tennessee – a great combination! See you in a little while.”

The president was flying to see farmers, all right, but they were in New Orleans. So Trump deleted the tweet and posted another. “I will try and match the great game played yesterday by the New Orleans Saints and their incredible QB, Drew Brees,” he wrote, playing to the local crowd. “People here are very excited by the team.”

This is the kind of mistake rock stars and politicians make from time to time when they’re on tour and the cities they’re visiting start to blend and blur together. It’s a dizzying experience few everyday Americans have. Presidents, though, aren’t regular people.

View the complete January 15 article by James Hohmann with Joanie Greve on The Washington Post website here.

Trump says he’s going to ‘have a little fun’ while visiting families of shooting victims

The following article by Melanie Schmitz was posted on the ThinkProgress website May 31, 2018:

“We’re going to Dallas and Houston and we will have a little fun today.”

Trump told reporters Thursday that he plans to ‘have a little fun’ while visiting the families of victims killed in the Santa Fe High Sschool Shooting. Credit: Fox News, screenshot

President Donald Trump promised that he would “have a little fun” while taking a trip to visit the families of shooting victims on Thursday.

Speaking with reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews Thursday morning, the president detailed his schedule for the day, boasting about the state of the economy and ongoing efforts to arrange a previously scrapped meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Continue reading “Trump says he’s going to ‘have a little fun’ while visiting families of shooting victims”

This photo of Trump’s notes captures his empathy deficit better than anything

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website February 21, 2018:

President Trump on Feb. 21 met at the White House with students who survived the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Photo: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

President Trump held a worthwhile listening session Wednesday featuring a range of views on how to combat gun violence in schools. And while Trump’s at-times-meandering comments about arming teachers will certainly raise eyebrows, for the most part he did listen.

Thanks in part, it seems, to a helpful little reminder. Continue reading “This photo of Trump’s notes captures his empathy deficit better than anything”