The 2016 presidential campaign feels as if it’s dragged on for years. The media has flooded us with poll results, convention coverage and guffaws of the hour from Donald Trump.
The campaign has taken over Facebook and consumed our conversations. We are wading in an endless stream of more of the same. Yet for me, the sense of urgency has increased.
Last year at this time, Donald Trump’s candidacy was a joke. Now, he has a chance to become the leader of the once free world. There’s a lot of blame to go around: the media that made Trump the center of our entertainment universe; those who have fallen, without question, under the spell of a man who promises to restore an obsolete social order; and others who have made it their mission to insure that Hillary Clinton does not become president.
Despair comes easily to me these days, as I contemplate the impact of a Trump presidency.
We have all heard Trump’s anti-everybody rhetoric, sparing only successful white males. Many have shuddered over his admiration of dictators and his disdain for our allies.
What frightens me most, however, is Trump’s mental instability. I am not in a position to diagnose him, but as a licensed clinical social worker, I am alert to symptoms of major mental disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists criteria for a diagnosis of Anti-Social Personality Disorder, sometimes used synonymously with the more familiar term, “sociopath.”
The diagnosis requires “a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more symptoms.)” A partial list of these symptoms includes:
— Lying, deception and manipulation, for profit or self-amusement.
— Impulsive behavior.
— A pattern of irresponsibility.
— Lack of remorse for actions.
Sound familiar?
I don’t have enough information to speculate on Trump’s childhood behaviors, but I do know that people with anti-social personality disorders often do not benefit from psychiatric treatment. Some believe that such people are born without a conscience and are incapable of empathy.
We must do all we can to make sure the most important position of leadership on the planet does not go to a person who exhibits such symptoms.
On Nov. 8, I want to know that I worked to try to influence the outcome of the presidential election. The Democratic convention reinforced for me the importance of working together to strengthen democracy. We have to resist the urge to succumb to cynicism.
I was really heartened by the passion of those who “feel the Bern.” Their movement holds great promise for making the American dream accessible to everyone. But a movement doesn’t achieve success in a few months or even a few years. Voting for third-party candidates or staying home on Election Day will not fuel this important movement. All of us who believe in Bernie Sanders’ message must be relentless in holding Hillary Clinton accountable for the priorities she articulated in her convention speech.
Keep marching, raise your signs, chant your slogans. As Nancy Amidei says, “Democracy is not a spectator sport.” But on Nov. 8, make sure your vote does not contribute to the election of Donald Trump.
Among the many inspiring speakers at the Democratic convention, those who moved me the most were people who had suffered: people who lost loved ones to violence and those who were the objects of scorn because of their race, religion, abilities, ethnicity, sexual preference, gender, or socioeconomic class. These are the people who have every reason to be cynical, even hateful, to turn away from action, to succumb to despair.
The six women who called themselves, “Mothers of the Movement,” identified themselves as a “movement of unwilling participants.” The mothers of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Dontré Hamilton, Jordan Davis, Michael Brown, Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, Hadiya Pendleton and Sandra Bland have banded together to “become the voices of our loved ones,” keeping their memories alive and using their voices and votes to make us a country where black lives matter.
Their resilience inspires me, and I write to try to inspire you to turn off your television, get off your computer and get to work. Join with friends, family, neighbors, colleagues and others to register voters, get out the vote, reach out to those in swing states, volunteer with organizations that protect people’s right to vote, advocate for the reinstitution of the Voter Protection Act and work for state and local candidates who affirm everyone’s human rights.
In our own community, you can attend an organizing meeting, sponsored by local Democrats, on Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. in the JFK Middle School Community Room. The stakes in this election transcend political affiliations. Together we will realize the day when we can stop writing, talking, and tweeting about Donald Trump.
Sara Weinberger of Northampton is a professor emerita of social work and writes a monthly column.