Source: The Daily Beast
by David Rothkopf
“From a psychological perspective, it offered a textbook case of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’[s] theory of the stages people go through as they grapple with impending mortality. Trump displayed not just one but all three of the first stages observed by the psychiatrist in dying subjects: denial, anger and bargaining. He denied reality. He ranted angrily. He promised checks of $1,776 each to every member of the military, even though he, as president, has no authority to independently do so. And, as it turns out, of course, he hadn’t. … If you’d otherwise heard an aging relative howling at the moon as Trump did, you would gently remove any sharp implements from their immediate vicinity and start to talk to them about the nice men who would soon be arriving with the butterfly nets. Breaks with reality like we saw Wednesday night usually end with Thorazine drips and soothing elevator music, after all.” (12/18/25)