EDITOR’S NOTE: Butch sent this to the Pioneer yesterday, February 27, 2026, before the bombing of Iran by the United States and Israel, adding to the list of mis-deeds by the “sick man.” As Butch advocates, standing up to defend our country and democracy is more important than ever. Weekly peaceful protests in Nehalem on Saturdays from Noon to 2 pm, and in Tillamook on Sundays from 1 to 2 pm.
By Butch Freedman
I wanted to take a break from writing about the orange monster, but he just won’t get out of my head. The man ruins everything—even the Olympics—with his small mind and twisted sense of “humor.” Both gold-medal winning hockey teams had to distance themselves from our dear leader because of his ugly comments. But that’s par for the course, far from his worst offenses, which could be catalogued on a daily basis. But all of these offenses against basic decency can be traced back to one over-arching disease — narcissism. The president has the worst case of it in modern history. Many psychiatrists have labeled it with the added qualifier — toxic narcissism.
According to the DSM-IV, the official manual of the American Psychiatric Association that classifies and defines mental health disorders, “narcissistic personality disorder or NPD is a pattern of grandiose self-importance and a lack of empathy, which typically begins in early adulthood.” I don’t know when trump’s began, but it’s in full flower now. And, I believe, most of his other disorders stem from that core malady. How else to explain his obsessive need to plaster his name and image on to every building or object within his reach. Recently he hung a massive banner of himself on to the ‘injustice department’ headquarters. At least you can’t blame him for trying to hide the corruption. Remember when we believed the Justice Department operated independently of the executive branch. Now it’s filled with incompetent, unqualified toadies who do whatever trump tells them to do, including hiding his obvious crimes from the eyes of the public, even when they regard the abuse of minor girls. Yes, that’s who our president is.
His sense of entitlement is beyond what anyone could have imagined. He spews hate and lies with every breath. The old adage comes to mind: “Don’t piss on my leg and call it rain.” Trump pisses on us every day. A narcissist never doubts himself, believes his own lies. But a narcissist, like the namesake of the disease, always eventually flies too close to the sun and crashes back to earth. I’m waiting breathlessly for that day. The world will celebrate the return to decency. I read recently how the people of Spain ran into the streets en-masse and began joyfully dancing when news of the dictator Francisco Franco’s death was announced in 1975. But I don’t wish our own wannabe dictator any physical harm. I would hate to see him become a martyr. My hope is that he implodes completely of his own over-reach. He edges closer every day. The polls on his popularity sink lower, his mis-steps and misstatements (lies) grow greater, his vitriolic state of the union address received the lowest ratings of any previous presidential address (that must have rankled him). And the diminishing maga cadre are running scared. Now they whisper in the ear of the pudgy king that the mid-terms are looming and the people are angry. “We must fix this,” they mumble. “You can stop these elections. You must. We need to stay in power.”
Only time will tell how this shameful spectacle plays out. As the 250th anniversary of our once-great nation approaches, one can only hope that we somehow dig out from under this fully un-American assault. But it will only happen if good people stand strong against the onslaught, and bring to heel the narcissist-in-chief once and for all.