Opinion

Is Trump The White Obama?

Joy Overbeck Journalist, Author
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Donald Trump and Barack Obama have so many character similarities — monumental arrogance leading to very bad outcomes, allegiance to the almighty “I”, and a talent for magical thinking. They might even share some important DNA. That TV show that researches family histories should check it out. It’s truly uncanny. Here are the top four characteristics they both exhibit:

Monumental arrogance leading to very bad outcomes: In Atlantic City starting in 1985, Trump constructed a glittering empire of huge casinos and hotels that he claimed were the greatest the world had ever seen. But his grandiosity led him to over-build and over-borrow. According to a December, 2015, LA Times article, “As he expanded Trump’s aggressive borrowing and go-go strategy left them (his properties) laboring under high-interest debt. When he decided to leave, in 2009, the exit was far from smooth and graceful; he gave up after last-ditch battles with bondholders.”

Thousands of workers lost their jobs in Trump’s bankruptcies and contractors suffered big hits, some going out of business. But for Trump his four bankruptcies meant he WON! As he exulted in the first Republican debate: “I had the good sense — and I’ve gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages … I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered.”

Obama’s casino gamble was Obamacare. The folly of taking over one-sixth of the American economy with absolutely no experience in healthcare or economics didn’t make a chink in Obama’s confidence that his government edict could manage the very bodies of 330 million people. Even with state exchanges folding, premiums and deductibles soaring, and the very real pain of Americans who can’t get the healthcare they want and can’t afford the Obamacare they don’t want, Obama still declares his healthcare casino a raging success.

“I” triumphs over “we the people”: Until Trump, no American leader except Obama has so strenuously exercised the “I” word, whether in speeches, press conferences, or top-of-mind. There’s no hint of JFK’s “think not what you can do for yourself but what you can do for your country” from either of them. Obama and Trump are convinced they are smarter than the rest of us, and those big brains give them the right to dictate to us little people just how it’s gonna be.

Whenever the Congress fails to cooperate with Obama’s imperial will for the country, he simply takes out his pen and issues an executive order that legalizes millions of illegals, or uses his phone to sic the IRS on defiant conservative groups. Trump in a recent speech announced he would slap a killing tax on any business leaving the U.S. for foreign soil. He said he’d call the CEO and say, Hi this is President Trump, I’ll charge you a 35 percent tax to sell your goods in America if you move out of the country. And he predicted the CEO would hastily apologize, capitulate and keep the company in the U.S. The problem is the president can’t do this; it’s clearly unconstitutional. That’s actually something Obama might try because Obama has discovered the ultimate high of ultimate power. Does anybody really believe that Trump, with identical control-freak DNA, will be any different?

Their adoring fans operate on pure emotion, not reason: Mitt Romney’s recital of the unique unfitness of Donald Trump to be president probably will make as little difference to his ardent fan army as did Barack Obama’s allegiance to Jeremiah Wright and his “God d### America” hatred or his BFF bond with unrepentant bomb-thrower Bill Ayres. It wouldn’t matter if Romney had revealed Trump was once a member of the Aliens Among Us party; and it wouldn’t have mattered in Obama’s case either. Their troops are mesmerized by their rhetoric and the magical possibility they offer. Both are “blank slate” candidates on whom the electorate can write their hopes and dreams.

Nobody could have imagined that Obama’s slogan “fundamentally transforming America” would mean erasing the nation we know and love and replacing it with an unrecognizable jungle of political correct lawlessness and economic and global decline. In their Obama out-of-body experience, none of his faithful thought: why would we want to transform the most free and prosperous nation ever to exist?  And what would that transformation mean? Similarly, nobody can imagine what a Trump presidency will bring. It’s a good time to take a reasonable look at Trump’s past behavior rather than voting again on pure emotion.

Both are suffering from narcissistic personality disorder: To quote from the Mayo Clinic’s online description: ‘If you have narcissistic personality disorder, you may come across as conceited, boastful or pretentious. You often monopolize conversations. You may belittle or look down on people you perceive as inferior. You may feel a sense of entitlement — and when you don’t receive special treatment, you may become impatient or angry. You may insist on having “the best” of everything — for instance, the best car, athletic club or medical care.

At the same time, you have trouble handling anything that may be perceived as criticism. You may have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability and humiliation. To feel better, you may react with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make yourself appear superior. Or you may feel depressed and moody because you fall short of perfection.”

What a compact, incredibly apt description of both these men. Boastful, entitled, thin-skinned, secret feelings of insecurity that lead them to belittle others to feel superior: whew. But don’t these leaders just share a healthy sense of self-confidence? Not really.

To continue:  “Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence, it’s not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value yourself more than you value others.”

Having endured nearly eight years of Barack Obama, I am passionate about this time insisting on a president whose emotional state is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association.

That’s why I am for President Ted Cruz. But that’s just me.

Joy Overbeck is a Colorado journalist and author who writes for Townhall.com, The Washington Times,  The Daily Caller, American Thinker, BarbWire and elsewhere. More columns: https://www.facebook.com/JoyOverbeckColumnist   Follow her on Twitter @JoyOverbeck1