Has Racist Hatred of Obama Completely Broken Trump's Mind?

"President Barack Obama walks through Old Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016." Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

If out of the blue, a white person calls me a nigger or some such slur, I always check to see if they are mentally well. If I notice enough signs of illness in their tone, appearance, and manner, I drop the matter altogether and continue with my business. The thing to understand is that madness is never expressed in a cultural or social vacuum. It's almost never original. It needs materials from the world around it. Indeed, often the cultural material itself worsens the condition of an unwell and vulnerable mind.

This is the case with racism, which is a major part of our culture and has only one real function: to justify the economic domination of one group over another. The removal of that economic function leaves a void out of which nonsense and confusions spew. And matters are made worse when one plants the root of their being in the void of their race. When the nothingness of race is exposed by the violence of some counter fact or event or personality, an existential crisis erupts. Many of the Tea people in the early years of Obama's presidency experienced just this crisis. And if they were mentally unsound, the void of racism collapsed their fragile mind into the singularity of a madness. They became the void from which nonsense and confusions spewed. This is why you can't fight or argue with a mentally ill racist. There is nothing there to fight.

Trump, I think, is at this stage of madness. The signs are everywhere. Think of the bizarre cabinet meeting that happened yesterday. Think of how he praised himself and had members of his cabinet praise him. Many thought the whole performance had something to do with Comey's testimony. Trump was trying to show the public that he had survived the challenge and was working hard for all Americans. But I contend the reason for the performance was actually the sting of a statement made by John McCain the day before the cabinet meeting. The senator agreed that “as far as American leadership is concerned," the US was on sturdier ground under President Obama. Trump does not have the kind of mind that can let a comment of that kind pass without a strong reaction. Obama is a black man. He is a white man. Being a white president means he is better than a black president. Before the cabinet meeting, Trump told reporters that he is the best and busiest president since F.D.R.

This Friday, Trump is to "announce changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba, possibly tightening restrictions on travel and trade that were loosened under former President Barack Obama." Think about this for a moment: six out of 10 Republicans are happy about the way things currently stand with Cuba. Combine those numbers with Dems, and you have a huge majority of Americans at odds with Trump's policy changes, which are nonsensical because Cuba poses no threat to US military and economic interests. But he has to do this thing because he can't think around, think through, think over, think under the black skin of his predecessor. This is the void talking. The mentally ill racist I would pass on the street is now in the Oval Office.