\u201cA clown with a flamethrower still has . . . a flamethrower.\u201d If Donald Trump is re-elected President this November, he will, in office, inevitably encounter a major crisis exposing publicly what such a crisis did privately\u2013and psychotically\u2013in January 2021: that his narcissistically-inflated ego as a \u201cvery stable genius\u201d is nothing but a sham. Because of the ensuing agony of unbearable criticism, and his addiction to seeing himself as a winner, there is a realistic chance he will be compelled to retributively launch a nuclear strike. This will invite a nuclear counterstrike that deservedly extinguishes Americans for being part of a world unworthy of him.<\/p>\n Trump exemplifies the same behavioral traits as did Jim Jones when his narcissistically-inflated ego as a \u201cgreat mind controller\u201d was about to be exposed as a sham. Because of his ensuing agony and addiction to seeing himself as a winner, Jones retributively extinguished his own community of Jonestown in Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978. He regarded his own people as part of a world unworthy of him. He orchestrated the deaths of 907 people by cyanide while guards wielding firearms lined them up. Jim Jones himself would die by a gunshot wound.<\/p>\n I was Jim Jones\u2019 attorney in the United States. After Jones left for Guyana, I became his \u00a0enemy in a child custody war. I discovered too late that in supporting Jim Jones I made the same huge mistake that Evangelicals are now making in supporting Donald Trump, which is overlooking a basic law of the universe: Character Devours Cause<\/i>. I overlooked Jones\u2019 narcissism because I liked his cause of social justice. And then, when in Guyana Jones achieved absolute power and chose to exploit it, his narcissism became malignant and utterly lethal.<\/p>\n We will be proceeding to compare Jim Jones to Donald Trump, of whom his own Secretary of Defense, General Jim Mattis, said: \u201cHe\u2019s dangerous . . .\u00a0 unfit . . . felony stupid. \u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Erich Fromm: Malignant Narcissism<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1964, an eminent psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm, wrote a book titled The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil<\/em>. Fromm had fled the Nazis, studied their leaders, and coined the term \u201cmalignant narcissism.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cmalignant\u201d form, to the contrary, is based on what the person has<\/i>, for example his looks or wealth or charisma, and not what he achieves<\/i>, and therefore he does not need to be related to anybody or anything, or even to make the effort. As a result be becomes more and more dangerous:<\/p>\n In maintaining the picture of my greatness I remove myself more and more from reality and I have to increase the narcissistic charge in order to be better protected from the danger than my narcissistically inflated ego might be revealed as the product of my empty imagination.<\/p>\n I became acquainted with Fromm\u2019s book after reading People of the Lie<\/em>, a 1983 book by a prominent American psychiatrist, Scott Peck. Adopting Fromm\u2019s term of \u201cmalignant narcissism,\u201d Peck defined it as extreme narcissism involving an intent to kill for nonbiological reasons<\/em>. He then applied it to Jim Jones. We will see how Donald Trump qualifies as a malignant narcissist under that same definition, and why that makes his psychological instability utterly dangerous should he obtain a second term.<\/p>\n The Basic Question<\/strong><\/p>\n The basic question upon his reelection then becomes: Is Donald Trump\u2019s psychological instability a nuclear danger to American survival?<\/em><\/p>\n The best way to answer that question, in my opinion, is by considering five similarities\u2013five parallel behavioral traits\u2013between the former president and Jim Jones.<\/p>\n FIVE TRUMP-JONES SIMILARITIES<\/strong><\/p>\n I. Extreme Narcissism<\/strong><\/p>\n Donald Trump and Jim Jones share the extreme narcissism of a flawless self.<\/strong><\/p>\n In a tape recording made in Jonestown, Guyana on March 20, 1978, Jim Jones told his followers gathered before him:<\/p>\n I\u2019m so sure of my principles and my goodness and my honesty and my introspection and soul-searching analysis, that I cananswer any question you\u2019ve got to ask. And if you can see my goodness, then you would work on your goodness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n On September 12, 2015, Donald Trump made the following self-revelation:<\/p>\n I think apologizing’s a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize, sometime in the hopefully distant future, if I’m ever wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n II. Extinction Power<\/strong><\/p>\n Donald <\/strong>Trump if re-elected will acquire, as did Jim Jones, extinction power.<\/strong><\/p>\n Extreme narcissists who acquire absolute power see themselves as \u201cgods\u201d having no limit to their lust and power, says Fromm, and they become \u201cborderline insane.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Jim Jones left the United States for Guyana on June 18, 1977. It was a way for him to obtain governing power not available to him as a private citizen in the United States. He got hundreds of United States citizens to follow him\u2014to leave the land of their birth, their friends, their neighborhoods, and their families. He promised a place where seniors could grow old in a pristine nature environment. He promised a place for everyone to have the excitement of building a utopian community from scratch. This utopia was named Jonestown.<\/p>\n By April 12, 1978, Jones had consolidated his dictatorial power. On that day he threw in the face of his people what he had done. He told them that he had not only established a dictatorship, but was intent on exercising it:<\/p>\n This organization is built upon the dictatorship of the proletariat, and I am, g\u2013\u2013dammit, very much in control.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Although Jones wrapped his language in ideological trappings, his only concern now was order \u2013 order for self-aggrandizement.<\/p>\n Trump<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Donald Trump will acquire extinction power (nuclear power) simply by being elected in 2024 to the office of president.<\/p>\n Trump will not quit running even though he has been convicted of 34 felonies. He has the same hubris as Jim Jones, and the Jim Jones I knew would never, in a million years, countenance quitting.<\/p>\n There would be one exception, however, and that will have a \u00a0bearing on Donald Trump in his second term. As we will see, the exception occurred when Jim Jones came to experience existence-related agony. It was the time when he could take the world no longer.<\/p>\n III. Destruction of Critics<\/strong><\/p>\n Donald Trump and Jim Jones are narcissistically compelled to destroy their<\/strong> critics.<\/strong><\/p>\n Extreme narcissists who acquire absolute power react \u201cwith fury\u201d when criticized, says Fromm, because only the\u201cdestruction\u201d of the critic can save them from the threat to their \u201cnarcissistic\u201d security.<\/p>\n Jones<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Jim Jones put on record his intent to destroy a forthcoming critic. In mid-November 1978, acting at the request of relativesconcerned about conditions in Jonestown, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan traveled to Guyana to investigate Jim Jones\u2019operation. In the weeks leading up to Ryan\u2019s arrival, Jones increasingly expressed his concerns about the visit \u2013 fearing that Ryan would return to Washington, D.C. and would denounce him \u2013 and on November 16, 1978, his agitation reached its peak. Projecting his own evil of \u201cpushing about\u201d people onto Ryan, Jones declared that the congressman deserved to beshot:<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t come this far to be pushed about by someone from Burlingame or San Mateo. I want to shoot somebody in the ass like him so bad, so long, I\u2014I\u2019m not passing this opportunity up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Trump<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Donald Trump voices, ominously, a similar solution as to his critics, even when they are only in groups he considers antagonistic to him. In May 2020 the murder of George Floyd led to widespread demonstrations. It would later be revealed by a Wall Street Journal <\/em>reporter, Michael Bender, what Trump had asked his military to do to the demonstrators. Trump\u2019s intent was to kill, which thus showed him to be a \u201cmalignant\u201d narcissist:<\/p>\n * Beat the fuck out of them. In addition, Trump has floated the idea of executing former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley. Writing on his social media platform Truth Social in late September 2023, the former president wrote that Milley\u2019s phone call to reassure China in the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was \u201can act so egregious that, in times gone by, thepunishment would have been DEATH.\u201d He capitalized every letter in \u2018Death.\u201d<\/p>\n IV. Turning on Loyalists<\/strong><\/p>\n Donald Trump and Jim Jones are narcissistically compelled to turn on their loyalists. <\/strong><\/p>\n Extreme narcissists who acquire absolute power lose the corrective element of \u201crelationships” says Fromm, which leads to \u201cfrightened isolation\u201d whereby \u201ceverybody\u201d becomes an \u201cenemy.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n On November 10, 1978, Jim Jones became angry at Jonestown residents who simply wanted to return to the U.S. His anger was lethal:<\/p>\n I’m tired of you people draining me. I’ve lost 21 pounds <\/em>in two weeks because of you assholes. And I’m tired of it. I’m going to take\u2013 to turn in my judgment on you<\/em>. I usually take it upon myself, but if I turn my judgment for five seconds on you, they’ll have to carry you tonight down to the SCU [Special Care Unit]. I will see you <\/em>in the grave. Many of you. I’ll wipe out some of you just like that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The people Jones was speaking to were loyalists, people who left the land of their birth at his behest, who stayed with him in Jonestown month after month, who had made no attempt to obstruct his governance in any way.<\/p>\n Trump<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump\u2019s frightened isolation led him to go after Mike Pence, his own Vice President and \u2013 up to then \u2013 his most slavish loyalist. Pence had agreed to count the electoral votes as required by the Constitution. Here is what Trump tweeted at 2:24 that afternoon while the crowd of his supporters was marching on the Capitol:<\/p>\n Mike Pence didn\u2019t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our \u00a0country and our Constitution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Maybe our supporters have the right idea.<\/p>\n Mike Pence deserves it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In supporting his followers\u2019 calls that Mike Pence be hanged for doing his job, Trump was acting exactly parallel to Jim Jones when he said, \u201cI will see you in the grave.\u201d<\/p>\n V. Extinction Precursors <\/strong><\/p>\n Donald Trump if reelected will conceivably be narcissistically compelled to yield to the same four extinction precursors as did Jim Jones.<\/strong><\/p>\n Extreme narcissists who acquire absolute power yield to increased ruthlessness, says Fromm, when their \u201cpicture of greatness\u201d is threatened.<\/p>\n As we will see, Jim Jones\u2019s need to maintain a picture of greatness set into operation four precursors to his utterly ruthless act of extinction and suicide:<\/p>\n Let us first look at Jim Jones as to these precursors.<\/p>\n Jones: Fear<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Jim Jones\u2019 first precursor \u2013 fear of exposure \u2013 led to his extinction contingency planning. That fear became a psychological reality in him some months prior to November 18, 1978. His fear was that his ego identity as a \u201cgreat mind-controller\u201d\u2013his picture of greatness\u2013would someday be exposed to the world as a sham. The feared event was that his \u201cown\u201d people would abandon him.<\/p>\n Jones conceived himself as having a charismatic \u201chold\u201d over the individual personalities of his diverse group of followers. He had worked hard to earn those dependencies, staying up long hours to attend to people\u2019s needs, and making them grateful.<\/p>\n But, for Jones, gratitude implied servitude. His ego slowly became inflated by the narcissistic belief he might be historically unique in his charismatic power of mind control. As a result, on those few occasions when followers defected from his organization, called Peoples Temple, during his years in the U.S., Jones went ballistic. He acted as if he had been personally abandoned, as if he had been rejected at his core, in his very essence of being.<\/p>\n Jones\u2019 picture of his greatness intensified after he moved to Guyana, and then proceeded to acquire life-and-death governance power, all of which caused him to remove himself more and more from reality. Then, when some of his followers in Guyana started to grumble, his unbearable fear of abandonment went into overdrive.<\/p>\n This is what accounts for the savagery he would manifest on November 10, 1978, toward some people wanting to leave: \u201cI\u2019ll wipe out some of you just like that.\u201d<\/p>\n So Jones proceeded to engage in dramatic contingency planning \u2013 what Fromm might call \u201cincreased narcissistic charge\u201dplanning \u2013 to protect himself from the expected contingency that some of his people would abandon him for the UnitedStates. The only possible solution for stopping this would be what it turned out to be: mass murder.<\/p>\n Jones acquired both cyanide and firearms in the months leading up to November 1978. He got the cyanide into Jonestown by lying to the Guyanese government that it was for the purpose of mining and refining gold. He got the guns in by smuggling them in crates delivering agricultural supplies. One of the guns would be reserved for himself.<\/p>\n He also did something very clever. Even as the deaths were about to proceed on November 18, 1978, Jones recorded what is known as \u201cthe death tape.\u201d In so doing, he tried to make future listeners \u2013 and the media \u2013 <\/b>conclude that his peopleactually committed suicide at his request. This would allow him to preserve the fiction of his ability at mind control and,even better, make him possibly go down in history as the greatest mind-controller of all time.<\/p>\n As a result, nowhere on that death tape would a person gain evidence of the truth: that guards with guns would be lining the people up for the mass murder, and that \u201cnobody was to pass through alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, Jones\u2019 own suicide would have to be part and parcel of his community extinction planning. For he did not care to live without dependencies, and he knew that no sovereign government, including Guyana, was going to look lightly on mass murder.<\/p>\n It is, of course, one thing to make a terrifying plan for a contingency, but it is a wholly different thing to carry it out.Carrying it out would depend, as it turned out to be on November 18, 1978, on three circumstances \u2013 three additional precursors \u2013 coalescing at the moment of truth.<\/p>\n Jones: Rage<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Prior to November 18, as we have seen, Jim Jones had planned to kill visiting Congressman Leo Ryan. He Jones knew that some of his people had wanted to leave, and he was angry with Ryan for coming to provide an escape for them. So, onNovember 18, as that fear manifested itself and people actually left with Ryan for the airstrip, Jones expressed his rage to the point of violence:<\/p>\n You can\u2019t take off with people\u2019s children without expecting a violent reaction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jones: Agony<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n As to the third precursor, agony, there is no need to speculate. for Jim Jones used that very word on the death tape:<\/p>\n Please, for God\u2019s sake, let\u2019s get on with it. We\u2019ve lived\u2013 we’ve lived as no other people have lived and loved. We\u2019ve had asmuch of this world as you\u2019re gonna get. Let\u2019s just be done with it. Let\u2019s be done with the agony of it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jones: Addiction to Win<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Jim Jones\u2019s death-tape words reflect, in no uncertain terms, that his death-dealing conduct was related to an underlying addiction to win.<\/p>\n Even as the death scene events were unfolding before his eyes, Jones pulled into a single quote his sense of greatness, and his characterization of extinction and suicide as an altogether \u201cwin.\u201d First, he maintained a picture of greatness by referringto himself as \u201ca prophet.\u201d Second, he claimed a \u201cwin\u201d by community extinction, and by his own suicide; he used the word \u201cwin\u201d with the phrase \u201cwhen we go down.\u201d Third, he claimed a future win over an outside adversary \u2013 by combining the word \u201cwin\u201d with the phrase \u201che\u2019ll destroy himself.\u201d<\/p>\n We win when we go down. Tim Stoen has nobody else to hate. He has nobody else to hate. Then he’ll destroy himself. I’m speaking here not as . . . the administrator. I’m speaking as a prophet today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Trump: Fear<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Let us now turn to Donald Trump, whose own fear of exposure will conceivably lead to his own extinction contingency planning. Trump\u2019s fear will be that his ego identity as a \u201cvery stable genius\u201d\u2013his picture of greatness\u2013will be exposed to the world as a sham. The feared \u00a0event for Trump will be the arrival of a major crisis that reveals to the world, front and center, the same major psychological instability manifested by him privately \u2013 and psychotically <\/i>\u2013 in January 2021, which we will see as reported by General Mark Milley.<\/p>\n Trump will expect that critics will then mount vicious attacks on him as a \u201closer\u201d to the point of\u00a0 it becoming maybe unbearable. He will view those critics as part and parcel of an unworthy world. He will then conclude that this unworthy world requires a major rectification. He will, eventually, conceivably conclude that nothing less than a nuclear strike could be adequate rectification. And so he will conceivably engage, as Jim Jones did actually, in contingency planning for the extreme measure.<\/p>\n And this is so for Donald Trump even if it means suicide by way of a nuclear counterstrike. Fromm explains why suicide \u2013 the destruction of \u201coneself\u201d \u2013 follows unbearable criticism:<\/p>\n The narcissistic person reacts with intense anger when he is criticized. Only the destruction of the critic \u2013 or oneself \u2013 cansave one from the threat to one\u2019s narcissistic security.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Contingency planning for a nuclear strike will be commensurate with Trump\u2019s preexisting\u00a0 openness to \u201cusing\u201d nuclear weapons. <\/em>On March 30, 2016, Trump gave a response in an interview perfectly showing both his awareness of his available nuclear weapons, and his attitude about using them:<\/p>\n Chris Matthews: “They are hearing a guy running for President of the United States talking about maybe using nuclear weapons. Nobody wants to hear that about an American president.”<\/p>\n Trump: “Then why are we making them? Why do we make them?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In addition, contingency planning for an \u201cillegal\u201d nuclear strike will be consistent with two other preexisting factors, which occurred in Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n The first is Trump\u2019s awareness of the November 14, 2017 U.S. Senate hearing testimony of General C Robert Kehler, former head of the United States Strategic Command, affirming a president\u2019s unilateral <\/em>nuclear power:<\/p>\n Senator: \u201cWhat happens if a President\u2019s nuclear decision is \u00a0\u2018illegal\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n General Kehler: \u201cI would have said . . . I\u2019m not ready to proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n Senator: \u201cAnd then what happens?\u201d<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n General Kehler: \u201cI don\u2019t know exactly. . . . The human factor then kicks in.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The second preexisting first-term factor is Trump\u2019s July 20, 2017 manifestation of\u00a0 contempt for the top military he would have to consult, but not obey when ordering an illegal nuclear launch. This was shown at a July 20, 2017 Pentagon briefing, which is detailed in the book, \u201cA Very Stable Genius,\u201d by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig. It is in a Chapter titled “Shocking the Conscience.” The book is reporting on Trump’s behavior at a briefing at the Pentagon with the nation’s top military brass on July 20, 2017. \u00a0That briefing took place in Room 2E924, known as \u201cThe Tank.\u201d<\/p>\n And here comes President Donald Trump addressing the nation\u2019s top military officers:<\/p>\n “‘I wouldn’t go to war with you people,’ Trump told the assembled brass. Addressing the room, the commander in chief barked, \u201cYou’re a bunch of dopes and babies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Secretary of State cannot restrain himself afterwards from expressing his opinion of his president:<\/p>\n Standing in the hall with a small cluster of people he trusted, Tillerson finally let his guard down.<\/p>\n \u201cHe’s a fucking moron,\u201d the secretary of state said of the president.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As for Trump\u2019s having to prepare for implementing a nuclear strike, there will be no need. Implementation will be automatic by virtue of his position as president. Trump will not have to work like Jones, who had to engage in smuggling.<\/p>\n Finally, as was the case with Jones, it will be a different thing for Trump to immediately go from extinction planning toextinction execution. Execution will depend, as it did for Jones, on three circumstances \u2013 those three additional precursors \u2013 coalescing at that moment of truth.<\/p>\n Trump: Rage<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Trump has already shown his susceptibly to the second extinction precursor: rage. It comprises two parts: anger and retribution.<\/p>\n First, as to the anger, a single example will suffice. Trump\u2019s own Republican Attorney General Bill Barr was asked on Fox News what was the most unsettling thing that happened working with Trump:<\/p>\n It was certainly unsettling when I went in to talk to the president about the election. He was livid and shaking and showed a lot of temper and yelling.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cLivid\u201d and \u201cshaking\u201d and \u201cyelling\u201d should meet the definition of anger.<\/p>\n Second, as to the retribution, we have already witnessed Donald Trump\u2019s unconscionable act of retribution: accusing ourgovernmental system of having \u201cstolen\u201d the election from him.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to think of a word more retributively damaging to the average citizen\u2019s faith in democracy than to hear the accusatory word \u201cstolen\u201d coming from the lips of its president. Trump knew he had no evidence the election was stolen.He lied to the American people.<\/p>\n Further, Trump\u2019s retribution consciousness remains active to this day. Speaking to the Conservative Political ActionConference on March 3, 2023 \u2013 even before any federal indictment \u2013 Trump declared: \u201cI am your retribution.\u201d<\/p>\n This retribution consciousness will make Trump far more dangerous than in his first term. He was then on defense with theMueller investigation, the first impeachment, and Covid. And he had not experienced the world viewing him as a \u201closer.\u201d He will have no such constraints in a second term.<\/p>\n Trump: Agony<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Milley was certain Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election, with Trump now all but manic, screaming at officials, and constructing his own alternative reality about endless election conspiracies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n These officials that Milley speaks of are the same officials needed to implement Trump\u2019s oath \u201cto faithfully execute the Office of President.\u201d Such screaming conduct can only be attributed to agony. Any reasonable person witnessing Trump\u2019s numerous \u201cI\u2019ve been robbed\u201d reactions to Biden\u2019s win would have to conclude that Trump\u2019s agony was not superficial agony like losing a golf game. This was agony hitting Trump at his existence core as a loser.<\/p>\n Trump: Addiction to Win<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, and possibly of greatest importance, Trump has repeatedly shown an addiction to win. The practical issue now becomes whether Trump has a need to win that is so extreme as to make it conceivable it will compel him to execute contingency planning for a nuclear strike.<\/p>\n On this point, let us never become weary in addressing the sobering fact of what happened in January 2021. For the firsttime in United States history, a president tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power. He initiated a constitutional crisis for one reason only. That reason was to \u201cwin.\u201d<\/p>\n Really, can anyone think of a more compelling item of proof of an outright addiction to win than that of a presidentinstigating his followers, some of whom were armed, to \u201cmarch\u201d on the U.S. Capitol so that the president could \u201cwin\u201d what he had been told he had lost?<\/p>\n In sum, the immediate question before us becomes whether Trump\u2019s need to win is so extreme that he would be compelled,in a future encounter with existential agony, to \u201cincrease the narcissistic charge,\u201d i.e., to order a nuclear launch that he knows will result in mass deaths, including his own. That, in turn, depends in great measure on whether he has anaddiction to \u201calways\u201d win. Trump has favored us with the answer.<\/p>\n Here is Trump\u2019s self-revelation to Maureen Dowd of the New York Times <\/em>on August 15, 2015:<\/p>\n \u201cI win, Maureen. Based on his word \u201calways,\u201d his psychotic behavior after losing the 2020 election, and my experience with his alter ego, Ibelieve Donald Trump\u2019s need to always win is so uncompromising \u2013 that it is so like Jim Jones\u2019 need to always win \u2013 as tomake it conceivable it will require mass deaths, including his own, when unbearable anger and agony next enter him.<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n Donald Trump is, in my opinion, already 90 percent as demented as Jim Jones was at the very end.<\/p>\n The bottom-line risk facing every American voter if Trump is elected in 2024 is to the fundamental values \u2013 andfundamental purposes \u2013 of all government. These are, simply stated, security and stability. Neither is safe unless thePresident of the United States is safe.<\/p>\n From Trump\u2019s Own Mouth<\/strong><\/p>\n Let us listen to just three examples of Donald Trump\u2019s own recent words in assessing his fitness for the office of President:<\/p>\n * \u201cPoison\u201d<\/em>: \u201cThey\u2019re poisoning the blood of our country,\u201d said Trump on December 16, 2023, referring to immigrants, in language used by Hitler about German blood being poisoned by Jews. From Trump\u2019s Former Officials<\/strong><\/p>\n Let us now consider just three of Donald Trump\u2019s own former officials as to Trump\u2019s fitness for the office of President:<\/p>\n * Chief of Staff\u00a0 Gen. John Kelly: \u201cHe is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life<\/em>.\u201d Trump and Christian Values<\/strong><\/p>\n As for Trump\u2019s character, it does not appear an easy task for Evangelical voters to reconcile with Christian values the character of someone whose philosophy of life (totally different from that of King David, who repented<\/em>) embraces adultery:<\/p>\n I moved on her and I failed. I\u2019ll admit it. . . .\u00a0 I did try and fuck her. She was married. . . . I moved on her like a bitch. . . . And when you\u2019re a star they let you do it. . . . Grab \u2018em by the pussy. You can do anything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Likewise, it does not appear easy to reconcile with Christian values the character of someone whose fantasies in life lead him to say this:<\/p>\n I\u2019ve said that if Ivanka weren\u2019t my daughter, perhaps I\u2019d be dating her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If Evangelicals nonetheless choose to take their chances and elect Trump, it will be only a matter of time when some humiliation he deems unbearable comes upon him. Jonestown will then become more than an extinction specter, for Trump will feel existence-related agony as he tries to maintain his picture of greatness. And he will have the means to do something about it, namely uranium and missiles.<\/p>\n He will conceivably, then, react as did his narcissistic extinction twin, Jim Jones, when his moment of agony came:<\/p>\n Let\u2019s just be done with it. Let\u2019s be done with the agony of it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n All Jim Jones had, when the moment came to “be done with it,” was cyanide and firearms. When that moment comes for Donald Trump, he will not be so limited.<\/p>\n (Timothy Oliver Stoen<\/strong> is a California Attorney. He is a graduate of Wheaton College and Stanford Law School. Stoen was the personal attorney for Jim Jones in the United States. After Jones left for Guyana, Stoen became Jones\u2019 enemy in achild custody war. After the Jonestown tragedy, Stoen became a prosecuting attorney. He is the author of <\/em>Love Them to Death: At War with the Devil at Jonestown. Mr. Stoen can be reached at timothystoenlaw@gmail.com<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMug Shot\u201d photo of Donald Trump<\/strong>: Fulton County Jail, Atlanta, Georgia, August 24, 2023. (Public Domain.)<\/p>\n Photo of Jim Jones leading January 1977 Demonstration in San Francisco<\/strong>. Photographer Nancy Wong, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n \u201cHe orchestrated the deaths\u201d<\/strong>: Alison Eldridge, Britannica<\/em>, \u201cFact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica\u201d: \u201cJim Jones orchestrated the mass murder-suicide of\u00a0Peoples Temple<\/a>\u00a0cult members on November 18, 1978.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cof\u00a0 907 people\u201d<\/strong>: \u201cThere were 918 people who died in Guyana on November 18. Of that number, 907 people died of cyanide poisoning. All of them were in Jonestown.\u201d How many people died on November 18?<\/a>. San Diego State University, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple, <\/em>http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/<\/a>, hereafter, Alternative Considerations.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cwhile guards wielding firearms lined them up\u201d<\/strong>: Tim Reiterman with John Jacobs, Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People<\/strong><\/em>. New York: E. P. Dutton, Inc., 1982, p. 509: \u201cAround the pavilion, security people and some who returned from the airstrip patrolled with guns. No one was to run. No one would pass through alive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s dangerous . . .\u00a0 unfit . . . felony stupid\u201d<\/strong>: Ryan Pickrell and John Haltiwanger, Business Insider<\/em>, Sept. 10, 2020, \u201c\u2019Dangerous,\u2019 \u2018unfit,\u2019 and \u2018felony stupid\u2019: The most revealing quotes from Jim Mattis on Trump\u2019s presidency in Bob Woodward\u2019s bombshell book,\u201d Rage.<\/em><\/p>\n Erich Fromm, The Heart of Man: It Genius for Good and Evil<\/em>.<\/strong> New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1964.<\/p>\n Photo of Erick Fromm, 1974<\/strong>. (Photographer Mueller May.)<\/p>\n \u201cIn maintaining the picture of my greatness\u201d<\/strong>: Erich Fromm, The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil, <\/em>p. 77.<\/p>\n Scott Peck, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil<\/em><\/strong>. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so sure of my principles and my goodness\u201d<\/strong>: Audiotape found in Jonestown by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (\u201cFBI\u201d), Q 757<\/a>, Jim Jones speaking, April 1, 1978. Page 7 of transcript prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III, Alternative Considerations<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think apologizing’s a great thing, but you have to be wrong\u201d<\/strong>: Donald Trump speaking, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/em>, NBC, September 15, 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cExtreme narcissists who acquire absolute power see themselves as \u2018gods\u2019\u201d: <\/strong>Transformed from Fromm,\u00a0The Heart of Man, <\/em>p. 66.<\/p>\n \u201cThis organization is built upon the dictatorship\u201d:<\/strong> FBI Audiotape Q 598<\/a>, Jim Jones speaking, April 12, 1978. Page 1 of transcript prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III, Alternative Considerations<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cExtreme narcissists who acquire absolute power react \u2018with fury\u2019 when criticized\u201d:<\/strong> Transformed from Fromm,\u00a0The Heart of Man<\/em>, <\/em>pp.74-75.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t come this far to be pushed about by someone\u201d<\/strong>: FBI Audiotape Q 050<\/a>, Jim Jones speaking, November 16, 1978. Page 5 of transcript prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III, Alternative Considerations<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cBeat the fuck out of them\u201d<\/strong>: Zachary Cohen, CNN politics<\/em>, June 24, 2021: \u201cTop US general rejected Trump suggestions military should \u2018crack skulls\u2019 during protest last year, new book claims.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition, Trump has floated the idea of executing\u201d<\/strong>: From Brian Klaas, The Atlantic<\/em>, Sept. 25, 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cExtreme narcissists who acquire absolute power turn on their loyalists\u201d:<\/strong> Transformed from Fromm,\u00a0The Heart of Man<\/em>, <\/em>p. 66.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m tired of you people draining me\u201d: <\/strong>FBI Audiotape Q 313<\/a>, Jim Jones speaking, November 10, 1978. Pages 8-9 of transcript prepared by Michael Bellefountaine, Alternative Considerations<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cMike Pence didn\u2019t have the courage\u201d: <\/strong>From Andrew Restuccia and Siobhan Hughes, The Wall Street Journal, <\/em>July 25, 2022: \u201cJan 6. Hearing Witnesses Say Trump Did Too Little to Stop Riot.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo of gallows: <\/strong>\u201cStorming of the United States Capitol, January 6, 2021.\u201d Author Tyler Merbel: https:\/\/<\/u>www.flickr.com\/photos:<\/a> courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it”<\/strong>: Taiyler S. Mitchell and Charles R. Davis, Business Insider<\/em>: \u201c\u2019Mike Pence deserves it\u2019: Trump\u2019s response to aides telling him the January 6 mob wanted to hang his VP,\u201d June 9, 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cExtreme narcissists who acquire absolute power yield to increased ruthlessness\u201d<\/strong>: Transformed from Fromm,\u00a0The Heart of Man<\/em>, <\/em>p. 66.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t take off with people\u2019s children without expecting a violent reaction\u201d<\/strong>: FBI Audiotape Q 042 (\u201dThe Death Tape\u201d)<\/a>, Jim Jones speaking, November 18, 1978. Page 1 of transcript prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III, Alternative Considerations<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease, for God\u2019s sake, let\u2019s get on with it. We\u2019ve lived\u201d<\/strong>: FBI Audiotape
\n\u2013Charlie Sykes, The Daily Beast<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/02-trump-jones-300x192.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/03-fromm.png\")
<\/a>He first described the more innocent form of narcissism, the \u201cbenign\u201d form as the result of a person\u2019s effort, for example a carpenter taking pride in his work. What keeps that type of narcissism under control is the fact it requires the person to be related to reality.<\/p>\n
\n* Crack their skulls.
\n* Just shoot them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04-noose-300x192.png\")
<\/a>Obviously, then, there was only one thing to be done. So up it came: a gallows. And, accordingly, the crowdresponded: “Hang Pence.” And what did our president say when he became aware of the chant?<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/05-pentagon-300x205.png\")
<\/a>To Trump\u2019s left is Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis; two chairs from him, in the seat of honor, is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Marine General Joseph Dunford; to Trump\u2019s right, not visible, is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; behind Mattis in Trump\u2019s line of sight is Steve Bannon.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06-milley.png\")
<\/a>Trump has also already shown his susceptibility to the third extinction precursor: agony. This has been revealed by GeneralMark Milley, \u00a0who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and who witnessed psychotic developments in his commander-in-chief. As authors Bob Woodward and \u00a0Robert Costa reported in their book Peril<\/em>:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI always win. . . .
\n\u201cI win.
\n\u201cIt’s what I do.
\n\u201cI beat people.
\n\u201cI win.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n* \u201cVermin<\/em>\u201d: \u201cWe will root out [those] that live like vermin\u201d said Trump on November 12, 2023, regarding his political enemies in language echoing Hitler and Mussolini.
\n* \u201cDictator<\/em>\u201d: Referring to Sean Hannity, Trump on December 5, 2023, states: \u201cHe says, \u2019You\u2019re not going to be a dictator, are you? I said: \u2018No, no, no, other than day one.\u2019\u201d Once a dictator, always a dictator.
\n* \u201cYou won\u2019t have to [vote] anymore\u201d<\/em>: Trump on July 26, 2024, at \u201cThe Believer\u2019s Summit\u201d states: \u201cChristians, get out and vote just this time. You won\u2019t have to do it anymore.\u201d This followed the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling giving Presidents immunity for their \u201cofficial\u201d acts. If Trump were to declare an emergency prohibiting the next election, would that not be an \u201cofficial act\u201d?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n* Attorney General Bill Barr: \u201cHe is a consummate narcissist. . . . He\u2019s a very petty individual who will always put his interests\u00a0 ahead of the country\u2019s.\u201d<\/em>\u201d
\n* Defense Secretary Gen. Jim Mattis: \u201cHe is more dangerous than anyone could ever imagine.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/07-a-blast-247x300.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n