SPECIAL ME

American Flag Photo by Lisa Setrini-Espinosa

There are nine signs of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). If a mental health professional finds 5 of the 9 signs in a person then that person is diagnosed as having NPD. The nine signs spell out SPECIAL ME.

Sense of self-importance
Preoccupation with power, beauty, or success
Entitled
Can only be around people who are important or special
Interpersonally exploitative for their own gain
Arrogant
Lack empathy
Must be admired
Envious of others or believe that others are envious of them

After reading these 9 signs, I immediately thought of President Donald Trump. Now I am not a mental health professional and I am not certain that with a professional evaluation we can find 5 signs of NPD (or more), but I think President Trump has some of the signs, at least from what I have seen from his public persona.

What concerns me more than whether he has NPD or not is that he is authoritarian with his actions. Now I appreciate several things that President Trump has done but not always in the way he does it. I am a social conservative and a fiscal conservative. However, I believe he has issued several executive orders that are unconstitutional. They are still winding their way through the courts, so it is not certain which ones (if any) are unconstitutional. He is trying to expand the powers of the executive branch and that is upsetting the checks and balances in doing so. I understand that he wants to get stuff done and he can not guarantee Congress will do what he wants and the Judicial Branch is slow and methodical. But I believe the checks and balances of the three branches of government are what has made America great. It prevents one branch from grabbing too much power. The three branches have to work together. President Trump’s authoritarian actions threaten that. He also demands loyalty to him and his policies. This is not good for the country.

I believe that he feels that he personally must succeed and be a success, so his authoritarian tendencies and his loyalty requirements flow out of that need. I also believe that his continued focus on the 2020 presidential election is because he cannot believe he lost. He still claims there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election and I have yet to see any conclusive proof. His own Attorney General William Barr said there was no widespread fraud in the election. One of the biggest accusations of voting fraud was with the Dominion Voting machines. Right before the defamation trial was to start, Fox News settled the defamation lawsuit with Dominion for $787.5 million. No evidence appeared in the pre-trial discovery supporting the claim of fraud. Instead after the settlement, Fox News gave a statement that “certain claims about Dominion to be false”. And Mike Lindell who had made big claims about having proof of election fraud did not in his defamation trial offer any proof of election fraud. And yet today President Trump continues to claim fraud in the 2020 election.

He recently said in regard to Space Command moving from Colorado to Alabama, “The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting. They went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections.” There is no proof that Colorado has crooked elections. They are very careful with their mail-in ballots. I think the elected Colorado Republicans would say that their elections were not crooked. It seems he still claims there is still widespread election fraud in the country. Without proof of widespread election fraud, I do not think these claims are good for the country.

And President Trump’s administration has gone after many of those who in the past have criticized or investigated Donald Trump. It looks like he is taking action against those who have opposed him. It seems to be personal for him. I am concerned about the precedents being set. These actions are not good for the country.

This post has been more opinionated and subjective than I would have liked, but I am concerned that President Trump has been too authoritarian and too focused on himself. I am concerned that President Trump is not presidential material, because of his narcissistic tendency.

I will end with one story to illustrate my point. The Trump administration has been working to bring peace to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. That is a good thing. They have produced a framework for peace and one key part of the deal is the creation of the “TRIPP corridor” or the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity”. It will be “a transport and trade route designed to connect Armenia and Azerbaijan more directly while integrating the South Caucasus into broader international shipping and energy networks.” The peace treaty is not a done deal yet and I hope that peace happens, but this does illustrate the narcissistic tendency of President Trump. There really is no need to name the corridor after President Trump, except for his ego.

And some advice for you, Mr. President, look to Jesus and not to yourself. Jesus has been very good to me. I am a broken sinful person, who is loved and forgiven by God because of all Jesus has done. Receive that love of God! Do not reject it!

Nazis

Gail and I along with another couple recently visited Germany. There were two main themes of the trip. We went to see where the Reformation started with Luther. We saw a lot of Luther sites and learned a lot of medieval history. The other main theme was the history of the Nazis and World War II (WW2). I will focus on the Nazis. (See Gail’s blog post for more information on the Reformation and Luther.)

The Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) was not founded by Adolf Hitler, but Hitler quickly rose to power in the party because he was a good speaker. In February 1920, a 25 point program was adopted by the Nazi Party. Though the 25 points were never fully implemented and some points were ignored, it provided a foundation for Nazism along with Mein Kampf (1925), an autobiographical manifesto by Hitler. The 25 points included the anti-capitalist, nationalist-imperialist, and anti-Semitic sentiments of the time.

In the throes of the Great Depression and in the midst of tremendous hyperinflation along with required reparations payments to the World War I allies, the German government was in disarray and was not functional. After the 1932 elections, in January 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor because no party was able to form a majority coalition and the Nazi Party had the most seats in the German parliament. In February 1933 the parliament building burned down and emergency powers were given to Hitler, and Hitler quickly seized power and became a dictator.

Also in March 1933, the Dachau Concentration Camp was opened and it was first filled with Hitler’s political opponents. I found it interesting how much planning, lies, and deception the Nazis did. There was not enough jail space for all of Hitler’s political opponents so it was fortunate that there were these new concentration camps for them. The camps were promoted as a place where these people could work and be reeducated. The truth is in the Dachau camp the inmates were abused, tortured, and worked to death. And just outside the camp proper was a gas chamber and crematorium to kill the lesser inmates. Brutal treatment and terror tactics were the norm. The SS commanders of the camp did not want to deal with the inmates. The inmates were in their opinion a lower form of human life in varying degrees, so within given boundaries the inmates ran the camp. It surprised me how well that worked. There were no uprisings. I think the inmates were in survival mode and thinking only of themselves. I think it was the self-centered selfish nature of humankind that allowed this evil to continue.

There were several WW2 points I took away from this trip.

The Germans today do not want this to happen again and have these documentation centers set up not only for us tourists but to teach the next generation about the dark side of their history. That is very commendable.
The Nazis were planners. This evil was not something that just happened. It was planned.
The false philosophical beliefs (e.g. Aryan superiority) were taught to children and believed by many.
Lies and deception were common tools of the Nazis.
And human nature is not good. Evil exists in the human heart. You can see instances of similar evils since WW2. This was not a one time thing.

This sounds quite depressing, but the other big theme from the trip was the Reformation and Martin Luther. God’s mercy and grace is there for us. We may not be good, but God showed his love for us in sending Jesus to pay the price we could not pay. We can be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do good. There is hope for this life and hope for eternal life with our loving God.

I have one last WW2 fact from the trip. When you see the old buildings in the center of these German cities you need to realize that almost all of these buildings are reconstructions of the original buildings. This is because the allies heavily bombed the German cities. It took decades to rebuild these buildings. There were only a few of the old buildings that were left mostly untouched. Those untouched buildings were used as landmarks (e.g. the Cologne Cathedral) to guide the allied bombers on their bombing raids.

Why a Luther Tour?

My wife, Gail, wrote this blog post.

We recently traveled in Germany, seeing many historical Luther sights. As I posted yet another picture of a Luther Statue on my Facebook page, I wondered if our trip was looking somewhat cult-like for friends not particularly interested in Luther and Lutheran Christianity. I’ve come to the conclusion that while our trip was filled with Luther specific sights, our trip was more about the history and the amazing times in which Luther lived. While we visited key sights in Luther’s life and work, very little of the content we saw was explicitly evangelistic or spiritually moving. Rather, in seeing the locations, I was moved by what an amazing time in history those years were and what amazing company of fellow scholars and great minds were concentrated in one time and place.

When we visited Wittenberg, within a thirty minute walk, we could observe Luther’s Black Cloister, the home of Philipp Melanchthon, a fellow theologian and reformer, the home and workshop of Lucas Cranach, a prolific artist, businessman and craftsman, and the Wittenberg Castle Church where Luther first posted his 95 theses. When I think about the intersection of all these people and the timing of their lifespans in the wake of the innovations in movable type printing by Johannes Gutenberg, I am in awe of God’s orchestration of events, propelling history and theology forward by new technology.

Additionally, the social impacts of the Reformation, including the dissolving of many convents and monasteries, the bloody Peasants’ War, and eventually the Thirty Years War were enormous and largely unconsidered by Luther in his 95 theses invitation to discuss issues.

Having local guides tell their own local history was one of the best parts of the trip. Their history, so much longer than any American can imagine, shaped their culture. When touring various sights, guides told that to most Germans, Luther’s greatest accomplishment was the establishment of the common language of High German. And while most guides could articulate the reformation truth of salvation by Grace through Faith in Jesus, there seemed to be very little appreciation of the life changing impact of that truth for daily life and hope.

Was our trip a Luther pilgrimage? Maybe. It wasn’t a worship of Luther and it wasn’t just historical learning. We saw the places, but more importantly we gained insights about how God worked in that unique time and place.

Divisions

America is very divided politically. I believe this is different from the cultural divisions of worldviews. A version of the Christian worldview used to be the dominant worldview in America. Today, prevalent in America, there are several variations of the critical theory worldview (with expressive individualism mixed in). And today both political liberals and conservatives use the critical theory framework to promote their agendas.

Critical theory states that there are unfair oppressive structures in society, and thus there are people being oppressed or in other words victims. Critical theory states these various forms of oppression are what is wrong in the world and its goal is to liberate us from the oppression. Some of the more common variations of critical theory are critical race theory, feminism, queer theory, and postcolonialism. You can especially see critical theory in action with the agendas found in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Movement. This has been part of a big push by the political liberals.

But the political conservatives use the same critical theory framework. The oppressive structures are instead the mainstream media, the deep state government, and other concerns, like voting. So the conservatives see different structures that are oppressing America and making us victims of the current power structures. Donald Trump is big in promoting the oppressive nature of these so-called liberal power structures, and in this current election cycle with his legal troubles he is especially promoting the idea that he is the victim and that he is taking the “attacks” for us. I believe this critical theory framework is one of the main reasons he has been able to resonate with so many voters because critical theory is already embedded in today’s culture.

“Wait, wait”, you say, “there is some truth in what they say”. Yes, there is some truth found in both the liberal and conservative statements. But note that every good lie has a kernel of truth. I believe the framework of critical theory twists the truth and makes it divisive. It ends up being less than the whole truth.

You need to be aware that critical theory’s way of thinking in terms of oppression is the dominant way of thinking in today’s culture. You still need to acknowledge the truth found in the twisted statements, but only the truth. You especially need to avoid using the critical theory framework. It is divisive. It is not an us versus them (the enemy and the oppressor) situation. There is really only one enemy. His name is Satan.

The Christian asks how I can help and make the situation better. The Christian realizes that it is not an us versus them situation, because we are all sinners in need of a Savior. We need to, as much as possible, work together and not be divisive. We are to be generous, kind, and gracious in our speech. We do not lie, but we speak the truth in love. We do everything from an attitude of love, wanting the best for the other person. The Christian Faith is about reconciliation and forgiveness, first with God, but also with our fellow human beings. Critical theory is about justice and fairness, whereas Christianity has justice with mercy. Relationships cannot be restored with only justice. Mercy and forgiveness is needed to end the divisions and restore healthy relationships.

I believe the political dysfunction in Congress and throughout American politics is due in part to critical theory thinking. Avoid it!