David Reading

[David Reading @DavidReading]

@atrupar That's right on the Statue of Liberty, isn't it?

[Spiro’s Ghost @AntiToxicPeople]

We have severely mentally ill people serving in the U.S. Senate who constantly say and believe completely insane, delusional lunacy. Just like their cult leader does.

[Nick Turse @nickturse]

"We are going to beat the fucking shit out of them," says self-professed "peace president" and winner of the prestigious @FIFAcom Peace Prize.

[David Reading @DavidReading]

Holy shit!

[Jumbo Elliott @JumboElliott76]

Looks like trump lied again and/or Xi has zero respect for him. So weak.

[David Reading @DavidReading]

WTAF???

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Peter Navarro is on TV talking about hydroxychloroquine, which is enough to cause a PTSD flareup. I'm not sure it's smart for Trump's cronies to publicly relitigate their handling of covid.

[David Reading @DavidReading]

@MattGelb Who's at 1B?

[David Reading @DavidReading]

@ToddZolecki Can he pitch??

[Sen. Maria Cantwell @SenatorCantwell]

The US Postal Service has no role in deciding who can vote. The Supreme Court should reject President Trump’s latest demand to allow him to interfere with the ability of Washingtonians to vote by mail. It’s unconstitutional and with primary ballots already in many voters’ hands, upending our voting system now would create chaos and threaten free and fair elections.

[David Reading @DavidReading]

@tpanotchRET 💯 Panotch!

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

Trump’s extended posting spree yesterday suggests that he’s literally *psychotic.*

But the press is too terrified or timid to report that.

Some professional journalists with laptops and cameras need to start doing the job of reporting on the disintegrating mental health of the man with control of the planet’s second-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.

It should be the most important news story in the world today.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

"This erratic approach to decision-making is what you’d expect in a personalist dictatorship. Republicans love to tout the unitary executive theory, holding that the president has expansive and unchecked power. But they have implemented that theory under the reign of a man who is bored by policy, violently opposed to listening to anyone who isn’t fluffing him, and lives in a self-contained narcissistic fugue of grievance and ego-wounds." https://t.co/SAiB2KTx1g

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

I've studied abnormal psychology and human behavior for decades, and if you follow me, you know I have begun tweeting that - right now - there are Trump voters all across America - tons of them - tired of the negativity, bombast, lies, whininess, nonsensical riffs, incompetence, self-centeredness, divisiveness, and especially the corruption, the grift, and the broken promises, who want nothing more to do with him. Many cannot say it openly in their circle yet; but they feel it.
What they're feeling is called Cognitive Dissonance. It's a psychological conflict between their established views and the things they're perceiving.
Humans strive for internal consistency to function effectively in the world. When confronted with conflicting or dissonant information or actions, they experience stress, guilt, or shame, which drives them to resolve the dissonance.
How do they resolve the dissonance? Some will minimize it, some will rationalize it, and some will change behavior and - in this case - their world view. It takes a lot of discomfort to get people to change behavior. How many feel it? How many will change?
A recent stat from a WaPo article claims that 1 out of 5 Trump voters are at risk of either not voting in the midterms or voting Dem. This is the first time I've seen a quantified number on this, but it makes sense.
Another stat is that the % of voters who "strongly support" Trump has absolutely cratered - the last WaPo Ipsos poll has it at 15%.
Cognitive dissonance. Remember that term. I'm going to tweet about it a lot. It's out there, big time.

[Seth Abramson @SethAbramson]

Some folks still do not understand how genuinely evil Elon Musk is.

You will.

Count on it—you will.

[Jim Stewartson, Decelerationist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇺🇸 @jimstewartson]

The world has never been in more danger.

Three of the most powerful & influential people on the planet are failing malignant narcissists. This is not a quirk of their personalities. It defines them: narcissism, psychopathy, paranoia & sadism.

Elon is losing his money—and his connection to reality.
Putin is losing to Ukraine—and the loyalty of his people.
Trump is losing to Iran—and at everything else.

Malignant narcissism is a bottomless pit. These men have no morals, no empathy, and no humanity. No transgression of laws or norms will stop them. No amount of bloodshed will appeal to their “better angels”—because they have none.

These are the ultimate dead-enders—messianic demagogues with nothing inside. Malignant narcissists don’t believe anyone deserves to enjoy life, or even to exist without them, so they always try to take the world with them when the end comes near.

Putin can’t win.
Trump can’t win.
Elon’s money is a mirage.

The question is whether the world can prevent a global catastrophe while they destroy themselves with their own grandiose delusions.

In the long run, for humanity to survive, we must find a way to stop elevating the most dangerous psychopathologies to the most powerful positions in the world.

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

None of this is abstruse or difficult to explore or explain.

There are countless books on the subject.

There are countless experts in psychology, psychiatry, history, and political science who can explain the significance of what we are seeing with President Trump.

The press needs to do its job.

[David Reading @DavidReading]

It's an everyday story!

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

This should be another aspect of immediate journalistic inquiry: What has happened to other world leaders who have suffered from similar psychiatric issues in their decompensating end stages? How did that turn out for themselves and the people they govern?

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Hi @SpeakerJohnson any comment?

@hakeemjeffries gonna make some noise about this?

[Jo @JoJoFromJerz]

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
George Orwell, 1984

[David Reading @DavidReading]

@juliaioffe That is not the correct word…

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

China to Trump: You’re lying and we’re doing what we want.