"I have seen this brand of strongman megalomania and the adverse effects it can ultimately have on leaders and their governments. I call it autocratic backfire. โฆ
"As autocrats surround themselves with loyalists who praise them and party functionaries who repeat their lies, leaders can start to believe their own hype. As they cut themselves off from expert advice and objective feedback, they start to promulgate unscrutinized policies that fail. Rather than course correct, such leaders often double down and engage in even riskier behavior โ starting wars or escalating involvement in military conflicts that eventually reveal the human and financial tolls of their corruption and incompetence. The result: a disillusioned population that loses faith in the leader and elites who begin to rethink their support."
I first came across the word "megalomania" as a kid when I read William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. It's essentially a synonym for narcissistic sociopathy or malignant narcissism. All three terms accurately describe Trump.
And for the last several years, because I thought it so evocative of Trump and his circle, I have been urging people to watch "Downfall," the 2004 German-language film that depicts Hitler's last ten days or so in the Fรผhrerbunker. The movie brilliantly depicts the dictator's megalomaniaโas well as the malignant normality lived by his final followers as they cultishly adhered to him until the end.
"'I am living with the deep pain of watching someone I once loved become the face of evil,' [Miller's cousin and former babysitter Alisa] Kasmer wrote. 'I grieve what youโve become, Stephen โฆ. I will never knowingly let evil into my life, no matter whose blood it carriesโincluding my own.'
"Kasmer points out that she and Miller were raised Jewish with stories about surviving pogroms, ghettos, and the Holocaust.
"'We celebrated holidays each year with the reminder to stand up and say "never again." But what you are doing breaks that sacred promise. It breaks everything we were taught,' she said."
And here we go. The plan seems to be to go full ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, to turn the nation into a military police state. Theyโre telling each other to be careful what they write down, but theyโve already written down too much. (1/7)
This thread contains excerpts from the governmentโs June 2022 sentencing memorandum in ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐ผ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ซ. ๐๐๐๐จ๐ก๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก, No. 20 Cr. 330 (S.D.N.Y.).