Before I answer the preceding question, I have an apology to make about some fake information I gave you last week. The song Loving You 喜歡你 was first performed in Cantonese by a band called Beyond in Hongkong a few years ago. It got so popular that people started singing it in other Chinese dialects. My sincere thanks go to readers EL and FH who wrote and corrected me. Next time this happens again, I’ll blame it on my yet-to-be-hired editor-in-chief and have her fired!

Alright, back to this week’s topic. Let me be honest up-front. I don’t much like, never mind respect, our so-called president Donald Trump. But we Americans live in a democracy and free speech — within certain limits — is still law in the Constitution. He probably confuses the word “democracy” with “demagoguery,” but we’ll let him clarify that in his 3 am tweets. In case he is too busy, I’ll draft one for him:

Democracy and demagoguery, tomato and tomahto, what’s the difference? FOOLS!

I do have to give credit to Trump for one thing. He may even agree with me because it sounds like a compliment. He is excellent fodder for comics and satire writers because he is so …. different. I know, just about half of the country like him, voted for him, and are quite proud of him. So the latter wouldn’t like what I have to say. But let’s give free speech a chance, won’t we? I’ll give you equal time if you write back. I’ll reprint your comments even if they hurt my ears like my opinion bugs yours now.

Recently writer Sheiresa Ngo penned an article about the telling signs of a psychopath — 7 Signs You Are Dating a Psychopath. I thought about if I ever dated or married someone like that. Fortunately I didn’t. Then I asked my inner self if I was one. No, I’m not that crazy, I told myself. But then I thought about Melania, our so-called president’s wife and kind of felt sorry for her. The attributes listed in the article were custom made for her husband like the goldie locks on his head. He fits right in, all of them!

A psychopath, per Merriam-Webster, “is a person who is mentally ill, who does not care about other people, and who is usually dangerous or violent.” According to Ngo, to make that determination, the following signs have to be looked at: (I’m not putting the sub-headings in quote, but they are hers.)

1. Lack of empathy.
Banning refugees of 7 Muslim countries from entering this country, even when some of them already arrived at our airports. It’s a good thing, almost miraculous, that Canada sprang into action and took them. Muslims are not our enemies. Radical and violent Muslims are. Is that so hard to understand? From one long-time immigrant in the US to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Thank you, sir, for showing your southern neighbors what simple humanity is about. You are my hero, Just The True Dude of the moment!

2. Arrogance.
Need I expand on this?

3. Emotional detachment.
His youngest son is about 10 years old. How often does he mention him? How often does he read a story to him? How often do they live together? Is it too cruel to say that he is one rich “deadbeat” father?

4. Chronic lying.
To bolster his argument about terrorist acts, he reminded Americans and the world about the Bowling Green Massacre and the recent violeent incidents in Sweden. What Bowling Green Massacre? It never happened. To “confirm” the violence in Sweden, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt said, “What has he been smoking?”

5. Manipulation.
This ties in with the above factor. People who manipulate have to tell lies. Constantly, and on the fly. And it seems to work for Trump. According to certain polls, just a tad over 50% of Trump supporters believe what he says more than the news media. Hang on to that rare piece of good news, Trump!

6. Regularly breaking or disregarding the law.
During the election, he promised he would put “crooked Hillary” in jail if he became president. I personally would like to see how people were motivated to donate more than 100 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation before the election. But the president has NO authority NOR power to put someone in jail unilaterally, at least not in this country. Dictators in some other countries do. I really should not be too harsh on him on this issue. After he was elected, and while he is now in office, he is known to ignore his staff’s daily briefings. When does he find time and interest to glance over a cob-webbed document called the U.S. Constitution?

7. Impulsivity.
He called the news media — and he named practically all the major networks – the enemy of the American people. Is that kind of behavior impulsive, stupid, others, or all of the above?

Those 7 reasons may explain why Melania didn’t want to move into the casa blanca. Why bother, when you could be the first lady and have your freedom and sanity in your own luxury apartment in fashionable New York?

*** The End ***

  (The dissemination of this writing is for non-commercial enjoyment only. The author reserves the copyright for himself)

.

Note: Click here to continue browsing other writings and works of Camillus Chan within this site