Anonymous asks what I find fascinating about the Beck letter. Beck has for a long time been utterly unhinged, embracing bizarre conspiracy theories, doing little weird chalk talks about the coming apocalypse, and such. He has always seemed to me totally off the rails. Now he surfaces with this letter that reveals that he considers himself [in some not quite clear fashion] a childhood abuse survivor, which suggests some measure of self-awareness that I thought he totally lacked. In addition, he offers a very acute analysis of Trump's infantile psychodynamics, again revealing more awareness than I would have credited him with. All in all, fascinating.
Add this to the fact that Trump is now in an all-out war with Fox News, and the political implications are very interesting. I have long believed that Trump is incapable of resisting the impulse to engage at the lowest level with anyone who attacks him, especially if the attacks are psychological rather than focused on policy. It is at least possible that in the four months [!!] that remain before the Republican Convention he may suffer a myriad of self-inflicted wounds.
Thanks for posting it. I wouldn't have seen it otherwise. I was surprised by how accurate it seems to be.
ReplyDeleteOk, I'll use my #3 on some factual information, since your readers should get some of that. Here's the real meaning of the immigration debate:
ReplyDeletehttp://dailycaller.com/2016/03/16/harvard-economist-immigration-costs-us-workers-500-billion-a-year-video/
OK, I am puzzled. You post two pointlessly abusive and insulting comments that willfully misread what I have said, and then you post a link to a story with which I am perfectly willing to agree [although I do not have the expertise to make any judgment of its truth.] I get the sense that you think you are being very brave -- speaking truth to power , as it were, whereas all you are doing is acting foolishly.
ReplyDeleteGo away.
Thank you for your speedy reply, Professor. I think you're being entirely too generous to Beck. To me, his analysis of Trump's pathologies comes from a weird tendency among christians to weaponize pity. Beck is saying all this stuff about Trump being wounded because he feels that is the best way to hurt Trump. Beck is hoping to get a rise out of Trump and force him into a gaff, or at the very least to insert himself into Trump's halo of celebrity for a moment through public confrontation.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is anything more going on here. Beck is just a wild dog sniffing around for food.
Lord knows you may be right, although it is still, to me, interesting, that his psychological analysis is so acute.
ReplyDelete