I like doing Motivational Saturdays on my blog a lot more than Motivational Mondays. They may not have the alliteration but you can day-drink while you read my post.
Yesterday, I read another writer’s article and by the time I got done, I thought it far over-delivered on the value promised in the title. I commented. “Your article made me feel like I just got home from the fast-food restaurant and found an extra order of fries in my bag.”
That’s my challenge to you, my reader, for the coming week. Whatever it is you do, make someone feel like you gave them an extra order of fries.
The big news of the past 24 hours is that the Memphis Grizzlies will allow some fans in FedExForum for the NBA season that tips off December 22. FedExForum has published a list of policy changes that will allow it to successfully reopen in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes include a full move to paperless ticketing and only prepackaged individual concessions to be sold. Grizzlies game attendance is expected to be around 20% of building capacity.
For those ready to get in the Grizzlies spirit, Grizzly Bear Blues has a story on how the Grizzlies can benefit by helping other teams out of the luxury tax this season. Doing so last season led to the acquisition of Andre Iguodala and Dwight Howard, which the team eventually flipped for draft picks and assets.
If you want to be on the cutting edge of science, Memphians are sought to participate in a trial of a COVID-19 vaccine produced by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
Would you believe there are no ranked vs. ranked college football games on today? Memphis-Navy, Bama-LSU, and Texas A&M-Tennessee are all postponed due to COVID outbreaks. That moved the Arkansas-Florida game into the 6 PM primetime spot on ESPN this evening. Should be a good game, and I’m hoping the Hogs will at least be competitive. I’m not forecasting an Arkansas win on the road by any means, though.
The MBJ has a look at Golden Hour, the new plant and home-goods store in the Pinch District.
There will be a two-mile walk against gun violence departing from Juvenile Court, 616 Adams, at 10 this morning. Dr. Haushalter, Shelby County health department director, has said gun violence is every bit as much a public health threat as illnesses.
Oh, FFS: Tropical Storm Iota forms. Haven’t we had enough of this?
All right, y’all ready to have a little fun?
It’s time to go through the entire Lexicon of Narcissism as seen through Donald Trump.
If you want to learn more about any term in bold in this post, pull up Quora and search for “narcissism (word or term)” and read the questions and answers that come back. You will get an education, that’s for sure.
Trump has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to feel empathy (for example, when he responded to John McCain by saying “I like people who weren’t captured”). That is one of the defining traits of a narcissist.
Narcissists initially love-bomb their targets by appearing as exactly the person the target wanted to see. Trump started love-bombing his base in 2012 with dubious claims that Obama wasn’t an American citizen. He continued with “some very fine people on both sides” (Charlottesville, 2017) and “proud boys, stand back and stand by.” (first debate, 2020) Usually the target of a narcissist is an individual, but with Trump it is the American people, or at least the subset of America that buys what Trump is selling.
Narcissists seek approval from those they admire. This can be seen in Trump’s interactions with Russia’s Putin, Turkey’s Erdogan, North Korea’s Kim.
Lies, lies, and more lies. See link
Exaggeration. It’s certainly probable that somewhere, in some county in the U.S., there was a voter who voted illegally on November 3. That kind of thing can never be stomped out 100%. Narcissists take something that has a tiny basis in truth and blow it up to massive proportions, as Trump is doing accusing Democrats of stealing the election.
Projection: As I mentioned yesterday, Trump is using every legal avenue to try to be deemed the winner of an election in which he likely won only 232 electoral votes with 270 needed to win. He’s trying to steal an election, so he accuses others of trying to steal an election. The best way to learn who a narcissist really is, is to listen to them talk about the people they disdain.
Moving the goalposts: This is how Trump has avoided paying so many contractors over the years. Once the work is complete, he lawyers up on them and claims the work was of shoddy quality, leaving them to go bankrupt fighting it out in court.
Gaslighting: Trying to get you to accept a false reality as true. Trump claiming he was on top of the COVID-19 pandemic from day one is a prime example of gaslighting.
Narcissists need constant sources of attention and admiration, known as supply. This is why Trump’s presidential daily briefings have been reduced to complimentary tweets and news articles and photos of him looking presidential. Without constant supply, the narcissist will see his own reflection in the mirror and will go into a state of narcissistic collapse.
Types of narcissist:
- Overt / malignant – these narcissists are bold and completely open about who they are. They take pleasure in the suffering of perceived enemies and are unapologetic about it. If they know they have been called a “narcissist” they may well see it as a compliment, perceiving everyone else as weak, as losers.
- Covert – this type is much more likely to fly under the radar, because they tend to be wallflowers, your average Joe or Jane type, and can have a sense of humor that is self-deprecating at times.
- White Knight – this type spends a large amount of time in the service of others, but this is how they draw their supply. Fail to give them the attention and admiration they believe they’ve earned, and you find out real quick that you’re dealing with a narcissist.
Trump is without a doubt the overt type.
Flying monkeys are pawns of the narcissist, those enlisted (either knowingly or unknowingly) to do the narcissist’s dirty work. Rudy Giuliani is Trump’s most notable current flying monkey. Michael Cohen was a flying monkey when he was Trump’s “fixer.”
Narcissists are known to use baseless personal attacks to get their victims to respond emotionally and appear crazy or off-kilter. Trump tried this during the debates. It didn’t work.
Narcissists are known to abuse the legal system to keep things tilted in their favor. Wikipedia: List of lawsuits involving Donald Trump
Now, you ready for the scariest term of them all?
When a narcissist has no more use for a former source of supply, he discards them. A source of supply for a narcissist is usually an individual. For Trump, it’s the American people. If Trump truly understands he lost the election between now and January 20, he could discard America… while holding the nuclear football and pardon power. This is frightening.
One more:
Narcissists often come back later and try to hoover former sources of supply, try to suck them back in, try to re-entangle them in their web of deceit. That’s why Trump is leaving the door open for a 2024 run. It’s the beginning of a hoover.
Once again, if you want to learn more, spend some time on Quora. There is nothing that will make narcissists slither back under their rocks quicker than an educated public.
All right, that’s it for today. The MWN forecast is sunny with a high of 73, although the wind will kick up. If you stay out tonight, take a jacket because there’s a chance of rain. Back tomorrow with more news.