Commentary: Deciphering Trump’s ‘Rot in hell. Merry Christmas’ post

Narcissists use their innate attention seeking charisma, charm, and braggadocio promulgated as "leadership," to manipulate and appeal to and attract followers. A well-established con artist of the tax-evading mega-wealthy elite himself, Trump pretends to value his follower’s white working class and religious interests, playing into a populist victimhood and grievance mentality.

Our country has become more secular and racially/culturally diverse. With the help of Fox News, less educated and socio-economically challenged Anglo-Saxon Christians — a substantial portion of the American public – feel increasingly left behind, and want to identify with Trump’s contrived strength and greatness and contempt for out-group “losers.” All you have to do is watch a few of Jordan Klepper’s interviews. This helps to make them feel re-empowered, and hopeful to return to the era of white Christian dominance in order to “Make America Great Again.”

For the MAGA Republican base — like their 1930s counterparts in Germany – Trump’s being a thuggish bully and prone to support violence is an asset. In return for the attention to their perceived grievances, they give Trump the adoration and devotion his narcissistic persona so desperately craves. The result is Trump’s cult-like savior status with the MAGA faithful, the need for evangelical-like rallies, and bombastic statements generating constant media attention. That Trump is a contemptible hypocrite matters not to his followers. Trump knows it’s the sizzle, not the steak.

Given enough power, throughout history these deviants become despots. Trump praises past and present authoritarians and dictators, spews fascist quotations and incites a bellicose nativism and Naziesque scapegoat mentality towards out-groups and immigrants “poisoning our blood.” He’s telegraphed his intent to be a “dictator for a day,” subvert our democratic institutions, and prosecute his foes for opposing him.

Indoctrinated for years by right-wing and Christian fundamentalist media misinformation, the MAGA Republican base that made him possible Goebbels — err — gobbles up Trump’s Hitlerian “big lie” false election fraud claims, and love his increasingly authoritarian and violent rhetoric.

By undermining the legitimacy of our election system, they’ve made themselves — and Trump — the greatest threat to democracy our country has ever seen.

But don’t take my word for it — here’s what some of Trump’s former die-hard Republican acolytes — “the very best people” — have to say:

John Kelly (Chief of Staff): “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women.  A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. God help us."

Mike Pence (Vice President): "The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution."

Bill Barr (Attorney General): "He is a consummate narcissist. And he constantly engages in reckless conduct. He’s like a defiant 9-year-old kid, who’s always pushing the glass toward the edge of the table, defying his parents to stop him from doing it. And he’s a very petty individual who will always put his own interests – and gratifying his own ego – ahead of everything else, including the country’s interest. Our country can’t, you know, can’t be a therapy session for you know, a troubled man like this. Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn't be anywhere near the Oval Office."

Jim Mattis (Secretary of Defense): "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us."

Mark Esper (Secretary of Defense): "I think he's unfit for office. He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country."

Mark Milley (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff): "We don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we're willing to die to protect it."

Rex Tillerson (Secretary of State): "(Trump's) understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited. It's really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn't even understand the concept for why we're talking about this."

Nikki Haley (Ambassador to the United Nations): "A terrible thing happened on January 6 and he called it a beautiful day."

Chris Christie (Trump transition team): "I stood on the stage in 2016 and heard Donald Trump say he would only hire the very best people, and when they leave they subsequently face a barrage of insults about their intelligence and competence. If you believe what he said at the beginning, the great stuff, then this guy is the worst manager in the history of the American presidency. If you disagree with Donald Trump, the petulant child comes out, and he calls you names… I mean, he must be the unluckiest S.O.B in the world. He just has random people who he has never met before; who are able to convince a jury that he sexually abused them. I mean this guy. It is one person after another, one woman after another. The stories just continue to pile up. And I think we all know he's not unlucky and that he engaged in this kind of conduct… He gets worse and worse by the day, and voters better start paying attention to exactly what he’s saying. He has always been approving of Putin right from the beginning of his presidency.”

Herbert McMaster (National Security Advisor): "We saw the absence of leadership, really anti-leadership, and what that can do to our country."

John Bolton (National Security Advisor): "I believe (foreign leaders) think he is a laughing fool."

Anthony Scaramucci (White House Director of Communications): "He is the domestic terrorist of the 21st century."

Betsy DeVos (Secretary of Education): "When I saw what was happening on January 6 and didn't see the president step in and do what he could have done to turn it back or slow it down or really address the situation, it was just obvious to me that I couldn't continue."

Tom Bossert (Homeland Security Advisor): "The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months. As a result, he's culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace."

Michael Cohen (Trump Attorney): "I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn’t a ‘shithole.’ This was when Barack Obama was President of the United States. He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did. The President of the United States thus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws. He is a conman. Donald's an idiot. I’m talking about a man who declares himself brilliant but directed me to threaten his high school, his colleges, and the College Board to never release his grades or SAT scores. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it. He lied about it because he never expected to win the election. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project. He is a cheat."

Ty Cobb (Trump Attorney): "Trump relentlessly puts forth claims that are not true."

Alyssa Farah Griffin (White House Director of Communications): “Despite publicly praising the military and claiming to be the most pro-military president, there’s a demonstrable record of Trump bashing the most decorated service members in our country, from Gen. Mattis to Kelly to Milley, to criticizing the wounded or deceased like John McCain. Donald Trump will fundamentally never understand service the way those who have actually served in uniform will, and it’s one of the countless reasons he’s unfit to be commander in chief.”

Omarosa Manigault Newman (Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison): "Donald Trump, who would attack civil rights icons and professional athletes, who would go after grieving black widows, who would say there were good people on both sides, who endorsed an accused child molester; Donald Trump, and his decisions and his behavior, was harming the country. I could no longer be a part of this madness."

Sarah Matthews (Deputy Press Secretary ): " I think that his actions on January 6 and the lead-up to it, the way that he's acted in the aftermath, and his continuation of pushing this lie that the election is stolen has made him wholly unfit to hold office ever again."

Cassidy Hutchinson (White House Aide and Assistant to Chief of Staff): "I think that Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history."

No other presidential candidate in history has had so many detractors from his inner circle — for good reason.

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Bob Yoesle lives in Goldendale.