On Trump’s social media posts, he keeps depicting himself in fantasy roles: Superman, Jesus, the Pope, Sci-Fi leader of dystopian death machines & a larger than life military commander. His fantasies are sometimes “official,” communicated to the American public directly under White House insignia, and they frequently come in waves of multiple fantasies at one time. Over Labor Day he indulged and made it public 37 times.
Fantasizing during times of stress instead of working to resolve crises wrought by his own incompetence suggests Trump detaches from reality as a defense mechanism. I’m no psychoanalyst but someone needs to drive a serious conversation about the dangers of what we’re seeing. A sudden shift into immersive fantasy worlds is regarded as classic form of dissociative absorption, where the brain rapidly checks out of the physical world and floods consciousness with an imagined reality to cope with overwhelming real-world stress. The power fantasies also look like an admission: Trump craves supernatural powers like any pre-pubescent boy, but knows he is out of his depth.
Trump’s fantasies often portray themes of destruction. Over Labor Day he depicted himself masterminding space command, pressing buttons on the console to detonate nuclear bombs. In another, he’s leading a futuristic army of androids and killer robots. Neither is safe or sane as he as he actively moves these fantasies toward reality- his administration is accelerating the deployment of a new generation of experimental nuclear reactors, while also pursuing autonomous killing robots programmed to kill without real time human direction.
Standing alone, a president dissociating from reality to spend hours mired in fantasies of world domination is alarming enough. But in the context of what he is actually doing, Trump’s insanity is dangerous and triggers a moral obligation to act.
The world is watching, aghast
Americans are not the only audience watching his impairment; our adversaries, including those who would do us harm, are also watching. Gone are the days of ‘Trump just being Trump,’ as if an imbecilic bully is somehow charming and wink-worthy.
Trump 2.0’s unprovoked aggression on the world stage has forfeited any remaining goodwill and removed any lingering benefit of the doubt: This man means to harm others. Trump has now bombed or targeted 7 nations that did not attack us first: Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen,plus alleged “drug-smuggling” boats in international waters. The unilateral executions in the Caribbean Sea, where Hegseth has ordered the deaths of more than 225 people based on unsubstantiated suspicion of drug dealing, is an ongoing war crime. Even if the slaughtered victims were running drugs, no one has legal authority to kill them without interdiction and due process.
Trump also kidnapped Venezuela’s president, “appropriated” Venezuela’s oil, and is now bombing Iranian oil tankers off Kharg Island and the Gulf of Oman, all more war crimes. In Iran alone, his stunted judgment has made extremists more powerful, energy more expensive, and our allies more alarmed, yet few Republicans will admit that his unhinged aggression doesn’t look strong, it looks pathological.
Trump’s domination designs aren’t funny
One of Trump’s infantile fantasies posted over the holiday portrayed the entire northern hemisphere including Iceland, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean as part of the United States. Harmless? France24.com described it as a US 'takeover' of North America, which triggered “widespread ridicule and questions about Trump’s fitness for office.”
The standalone lunacy is bad enough, but real time context makes it worse. Trump started the war in Iran without consulting allies, then turned around and castigated them for not bailing him out from his colossal mistake, blasting them as ‘cowards’ and calling NATO a “paper tiger.”
Although parters reliant on U.S. defense and trade were initially reluctant to speak out, they aren’t keeping mum any longer. As El Pais puts it, “across multiple summits and official declarations, EU officials have transitioned from quiet anxiety to sharp, public pushback.” Shame-naming “the international disorder created by Donald Trump,” our erstwhile European allies are forging new alliances with diminished — or entirely eliminated — ties to the U.S.
Lawmakers swear an oath to support and defend the United States Constitution; this oath requires them to check any president, including one from their own party, if executive actions cross legal or constitutional lines. Trump crossed that line on his first day back in office, and he’s been crossing it ever since. Republican legislators who fail to remove him despite clear evidence of his insanity and unfitness to serve will end up with American blood on their hands.
Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.
