Reading Trump’s mind and subconscious. Be ready to be surprised.

Puzzled by President Trump? Can’t figure him out? Maybe the following can help. I won’t go into psychoanalytic babble. My aim it to stop the exaggerations about him. For the good cause, fake news is not helpful.

con artist You must understand that when Trump said that he’s going to protect LGBTQ rights and then proceeded whacking transgenders, he was just lying. But when he said he was going to stop all Muslims from coming into the country “until we have figured out what the hell is going on” he was not lying. It’s crucial to detect when he’s just pretending and when he means it. Con artists know the difference between truth and lies. They also know that almost all people believe (and forgive) you, as long as you go on to tell them what they desperately wanted to hear. He may change what he says but he seldom changes his mind. He has no respect for people who are upset by something so innocent as his words.

heartless Empathy means that you can imagine what someone else is feeling and feel for them. Trump is not bothered by that too much. That doesn’t mean that he’s insensitive. He feels perfectly when he’s slighted. He only doesn’t care that much about other people’s feelings. That lack of compassion makes him freer and faster than people who are restrained by being more socially inclined. He’s also cut out showing his vulnerability. When attacked, instead of crumbling or feeling wounded, he counter-attacks – which gives away that he is (over)sensitive. Don’t see him as a fighter; see him as his may see himself, as a boxing champ. You are not going to blame him for hitting his opponent – that the game.

bigot He believes that if you “like” women, Jews, Blacks, workers etc. around you, like he does, that you then are not hateful. He believes that meaning well should suffice. And he is warm with people who he feels close to. That he harbors oppressive feelings or spews ditto remarks, for him is immaterial. To call him a bigot really pains him, because he does not understand such intricacies, feels that such attacks are undeserved.

speaker In terms of techniques and dynamics – but not on content – he’s a truly great orator, as I mentioned the other day in detail. It’s all propaganda and manipulation, though. No authenticity. Speech as a tool not to inform, connect or share but rather to confuse, pretend and win. His high ambition, optimism and enthusiasm are truthful, though.

spy He likes and admires all kinds of head of states who are fellow bullies, including Putin. It’s lonely at the top; it’s nice to have buddies. Putin, though, twists him around his little finger, but Trump does not see that. The fraud hoist with his own petard. He’s Putin’s useful idiot, (silly) putty in his hands. He’s also the Republican Party’s useful idiot as long as he’ll make the rich richer and keep the socialists out of the White House. But when he doesn’t deliver or gets too wacko, they’ll surely dump him.

criminal Did you notice that he said that the Democrats in Congress obstruct, not resist? “They don’t resist. They obstruct. It’s all they’re good at.” Now, obstruct is such an un-Trumpian rare fancy word — why did he not use block or frustrate or in the way or kept the word resist? He’s just turning the tables (as always), giving away that he’s scared of being found guilty of obstruction of justice.

crazy Trump has no neurological, psychiatric or psychological illnesses beyond anything else listed here. Of course it’s attractive to put all kinds of labels on people who shock you, but I think that the above and below cover and explain it all, without exaggeration. One could say that hyperbole is in order when fighting immorality, but while his reign may be destructive, I would not name him wicked, because he isn’t. More importantly, by calling him evil you glue his nice fans stronger to him.

stupid Dyslectic, illiterate, ignorant and shielded from reality by his rich upbringing and lifestyle do not equal stupidity. To the contrary! He’s brilliant. That’s why he’s lazy. He gets away most of the time with improvising, thus why use discipline or diligence? He’s a genius when he’s in selling mode (constantly), but socially he is a fool. He’s easily bored so he has little patience for anything but practicalities.

rich He does behave like the nouveau rich — people who climbed the social ladder dramatically and then feel that they have to continuously flaunt their wealth and put down others to seem great in comparison. He might simply forget that his opponent has brain cancer, forget to wish him well. That does not mean he’d wish him dead — that would make him a monster. His attacks are strategic, nothing personal.

stubborn Well, his strategy is pretty simple. He won election against all negative predictions, even surprising himself. So he wants to constantly please the crowd who gave him victory, certain that this will work again next time, no matter what anyone says (they were wrong before). So, everyone can go to hell who disagrees with him, except sometimes his wife, daughter and son-in-law. He’s mainly interested to continue winning, which means high priority to pleasing his supporters.

control He’s not going to give up or lose control, not of his reign and not of his emotions. Some speculated that he was tweeting controversial stuff while Texas was hit by a category 4 hurricane to compete, jealously aiming to stay in the news. Others suggested the opposite, that he tried using the cover of the disaster to sneak in troublesome announcements. Yet, I think that both ideas are too contrived. He simply wanted to show that no hurricane can take away his twitter storm and no amount of downpour can flood his brain. In any case, he does not apologize ever because he thinks that that makes him look weak and that is to him unattractive. (Besides, if you’re “flexible enough about the truth” you never need to utter sorry – you just say something else next time.)

tyrant Last but not least, we’re going to give you one peek into his subconscious mind. But it won’t be through tea-leaf reading. Rather, it’s from a recent Freudian slip of his. When he got really tired, enthusiastic but tired, he seriously misread a word from the teleprompter. Nobody heard it but me (at 1:17:17!) and the CNN’s transcriber. He said: “This is our opportunity to recapture our dynasty like never before!” My guess is that he probably was supposed to say “… to recapture our destiny like never before!” But then, is it really a secret that he’s dreaming of being king and tyrant? He’s honestly incensed when people contradict him. He’s El Presidente, no? As exposed by one of his favorites: You’re fired!

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1