Up until Trump’s recent statement that he intended to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its rightful owners, the Palestinian people, and turn it into the Riviera of the Middle East where tourists would flock to five-star hotels, I had some hope that he would be a better replacement for Biden.
At the very least I thought, naively as it turns out, that he would avoid causing conflicts and might even put a stop to Netanyahu’s criminal genocide in Gaza. His plan for Gaza is absurd and could never happen, but his hollow statement has had repercussions.
It has made it almost impossible for the USA to ever act as an honest broker in future peace negotiations.
So who or what is Donald Trump? What kind of personality does he have?
I came to the conclusion that it is impossible to answer this question because Trump doesn’t have a normal personality. Personality traits are typically consistent patterns in how a person thinks, feels and behaves.
People may change slightly depending on circumstances, but there is generally a continuous thread in what they say or do. This is not true for Trump. His life appears to be a series of disconnected episodes, with no logical continuity.
His Presidency feels like a sitcom in which the main character’s views and behaviours in one episode have no rational connection to the previous one. In each episode he is a completely different person. If someone were to ask what this character’s personality is, they would find it impossible to answer.
In a sitcom this might be amusing, but when the main character is the leader of the most powerful country in the world, it is not funny - it is downright terrifying.
Trump’s international policies change from one day to the next. It is impossible to predict his next outrageous idea. Since beginning his second term in office, he has proposed buying Greenland from Denmark (with a threat of invasion if Denmark refuses), suggested that Canada should become the 51st state of the US, declared that he will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and threatened to send US troops into Mexico unless it deals with its drug cartels.
In the past I laughed at similarly ridiculous proposals but when a man with the world’s most powerful nuclear arsenal starts talking about ethnically cleansing Gaza, there is nothing to laugh about.
Many psychologists have attempted to diagnose Trump’s mental condition, and while it may not be professionally ethical to diagnose someone from afar, hundreds of experts have concluded that he suffers from malignant narcissism.
They have repeatedly warned that Trump’s mental instability makes him unfit for office and a serious danger to world peace. By any clinical measure of narcissism, Trump ticks all the boxes.
Psychotherapist John D Gartner, a Johns Hopkins professor, stated that Trump displays signs of malignant narcissism, adding that Trump is 'dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being President'. Other eminent psychologists have argued that this disorder makes him deceitful, destructive, deluded, and dangerous.”
The Arab League is taking a stand against the US by condemning Trump’s statement. If Trump attempts to carry out his reckless plan, the Arab League and the rest of the world must be prepared to back up their words with action.
Oil-producing nations can cripple the US economy by flooding the market with oil, driving prices down to a level the US cannot withstand. Other countries must be willing to halt trade with the USA and impose tariffs on American goods.
Until the US government demonstrates a genuine commitment to working with the international community to achieve a fair and just resolution for the Palestinian people, it should be isolated.
The writer is a former Cambridge School Principal and an interview skills advisor
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