Sympathy For The Trump

Thoughts On The Defeat Of Donald J. Trump

Our President Trump is not a *good* man.  No one is good.  (And Trump's non-goodness is first readily evident in his obesity, let alone any non-physical shortcomings). Trump has profited from wicked dealings his entire life.  He has lived a life of luxury at the expense of others.  His refusal to meaningfully address the virus pandemic, his retarded insistence that the *corner has been turned,* results in the deaths of x number of people.

I have my faults.  A lifetime of missing the mark.  I'm a firm believer all people are fuck-ups, to one degree or the other, so I refuse to measure myself favorably against a Donald J. Trump or anyone else.  

Can we have sympathy for a man such as Donald J. Trump, who has directly wronged millions?

I have sympathy for myself.  How many thousands have I directly wronged?  How many millions indirectly?  I sympathize with myself because I recognize the harm done to me in my early years.  Not an excuse for my wrong-doings, but an honest acknowledgement that with a little more generosity received in youth, I would have likely hurt fewer people.

The earth is a pinball machine of fuck-ups clanging into each other, receiving and inflicting pain.

It's an entirely sympathetic condition. . .

I've read a couple of biographies of Adolf Hitler, and there are moments of deep sympathy and compassion.  The German's early years were difficult.  It's healthy to understand and acknowledge it.

Tens of millions of human souls would have benefited if one single person of means had said Hitler, your watercolors are magnificent, I am sponsoring your pursuit of the arts. 

Of course, I have less sympathy for Trump than for Hitler and myself, as the German and I were not blessed to be born with silver spoons in our mouths, therefore our crimes are of a lesser degree, because we had lesser opportunity to escape ugly human nature.

Nevertheless, watching the former President address the nation yesterday, his depression and hurt were obvious.  For a man like Trump, a man with an ENORMOUS and UNENDING need for affirmation, this defeat is devastating.  He has been branded a loser.  Though some people voted for him, it is the stamp of an entire nation that rejects him.

Some things happened to Trump in his early years that left him injured, psychologically immature and now unable to process his defeat.  

Thus, I have sympathy for Trump, the emotional cripple.  A man who lived a narrow material life, ever pursuing that which moth and rust doth corrupt, and not treasure in Heaven.  Trump is entirely unprepared for eternity, and for that I also pity him.