Trump's Impulsivity is a Danger to Us All

An Illustration of the Far End of the Obsessive-Impulsive Continuum (Vol. 6; Issue 14)

📷: Evan Vucci, Reuters

Most measures of body-mind functions exist along a spectrum. You might be in excellent physical shape or relatively infirm. Your lungs may function perfectly or may be impaired by emphysema. You may experience normal periods of sadness or become severely depressed. You might be a cognitively oriented person or a more emotionally oriented one.

Another common continuum is between those who tend to overthink (obsessive) and those who are too action-oriented (impulsive). Those too rigid in their thinking, who obsess, ruminate, ponder, and deliberate to excess, have difficulty making decisions. People like this would have deficits in functioning across all realms of life. They would struggle whether making shoes or performing surgeries. Those at either end of this specific spectrum always have problems with functioning (unlike the health spectrum). More specifically, they find decision-making challenging.

The ability to make quick, informed decisions is perhaps the most important quality in US presidents. They could be asked at any time of day or night to decide how to respond to a natural disaster, a nuclear power plant breakdown, or an imminent military threat. If a nuclear missile were launched against the US, a president would literally have around 20 minutes (or as little as 10 minutes) to react. Americans, or citizens of any country for that matter, would want neither an obsessive nor an impulsive leader.

Trump’s behavior, throughout his life, in each of his presidential terms, and of late, is extremely impulsive. Examples of his impulsivity, every single one disturbing, are endless. Recent ones include his initiating a war against Iran without an exit strategy, his threats to exit NATO, his firing of multiple cabinet members, his intimidations of Greenland, Cuba, and Canada, and his ever-changing imposition of tariffs. To validate the problematic impulsivity, consider only the instability of his recent Truth Social posts, listed in reverse order:

On Easter Sunday, Trump posted:

Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell. JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.

There are 2 billion Muslims on the planet Earth, some 25 percent of the global population. Trump insults them with his sarcasm? Children begin developing the basics of morality as early as age 2. They develop a fundamental understanding of right versus wrong and a capacity for empathy by age 5. “Our” president, whether you ever supported him or not, displays the moral capacity of a newborn infant.

A few days earlier, he posted:

With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE. IT WOULD BE A “GUSHER” FOR THE WORLD???

No thoughtful political scientist or military strategist thinks opening the Hormuz Strait would be easy. A military expert cited in the Economist said it would require 100,000 US troops just to secure Kharg Island. Still, many American and Iranian casualties would result. This post not only shows impulsivity, but a shameful level of ignorance for a world leader.

Still earlier, Trump posted:

I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Strait?” That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies” in gear, and fast!!!

Taken by itself or combined with Trump’s other posts, the meaning of Daniel Drezner’s (2020) book, titled The Toddler In Chief, is realized. Notice the immaturity of the phraseology, e.g., “finished off,” the “so-called ‘Strait,” or the “non-responsive ‘Allies.’” These childish terms, barely acceptable from preschoolers, are alarming when uttered by a US president. You don’t use the phrase “finished off” to describe objectives in a war; the Strait is anything but “so-called,” and mature people don’t insult their friends and allies.

Extending the theme of disparaging one’s compatriots, another of Trump’s recent posts reads:

France has been VERY UNHELPFUL with respect to the ‘Butcher of Iran,’ who has been successfully eliminated! The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!

A number of oppressive leaders of Iran have been killed, but the Iranian clerical regime remains intact. One wonders just what the USA will “remember” when the dust settles on Trump’s perilous misadventure. He continued to denigrate our friends while lying about the status of the Iranian government in another post:

You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!

Most know about Trump’s reputation as a bully. But, here, he tells more lies, as in “decimated.” He proceeds to make a children’s schoolyard taunt in “go get your own oil.” Also, and consistent with the malignant narcissism described in previous essays, Trump lies (“the hard part is done”) and exaggerates (“Iran has been… decimated”).

In this next post, Trump displays more threats and, again, an empty-headed attitude towards a highly complex situation:

All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you. Number 1, buy from the US, we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.

If it’s even possible, it will take an international coalition to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Certainly, the US alone could not simply “take it.” As Trump grew frustrated that his “several-week” war would quickly end, he made still greater threats:

Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!

Perhaps the US military is the strongest in the world, but lessons should be drawn from Great Britain's history. It, too, had the strongest military as the 19th century transitioned into the 20th; it, too, became embroiled in foreign wars that sapped its economic power. The post further demonstrates Trump’s infantilism through the (typical) exclamation points and the phrase, “by far!”

Just yesterday, Trump posted:

A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.

As I prepare this essay for publication, Trump has withdrawn the threat, alleging that Iran agreed to open the Hormuz waterway. Iran denies agreeing to the latter condition so who knows what will happen in the next 12 hours? Meanwhile, the threat to a civilization is beyond belief, reminiscent of the Holocaust or other acts of genocide. And notice the childlike second sentence, e.g., I don’t really wish for that, but it will probably happen. It has a sadistic quality to it.

Should Trump follow through on his threats against civilian infrastructure, then we will, with him as our leader, violate international law and commit war crimes. Cutting power to hospitals, schools, and ordinary civilians will do nothing regarding Iran’s military capacity. And, it will certainly only harden what remains of the already highly repressive regime.

Meanwhile, individuals representing the three major Abrahamic religions claim support from their particular Godheads. The US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, prays in "the mighty and powerful name of Jesus" for "overwhelming violence" against enemies. Iranian defense officials demand vengeance as a "religious duty.” Conservative Jewish organizations laud the "decisive action" by the US and Israel, calling the military conflict in Iran a “noble mission.”

Regardless of our religious affiliations, we Americans remain led by a dangerously impulsive president who has no exit strategy to the Iranian war, sends mixed messages (that hardly qualify as strategic), and behaves like an impetuous child on the playground. In addition to the problematic behaviors already noted, Trump acts in a way that is humiliating to many Americans.

Do we want to be represented on the world stage by an immature bully?

Given the equally bellicose screams by Christians, Jews, and Muslims, one can only hope:

May God help us!

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References

Drezner, D. (2020). The Toddler in Chief: What Donald Trump Teaches Us About the Modern Presidency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.