Even though it's probably irresponsible to diagnose, amateurishly, from a distance via the Internet, I'll tell you what I think to be true: Donald Trump is mentally ill.
Or, more specifically, and more fundamental to his nature from the very beginning -- after all, mental illness can come upon a person late in life -- I think he has a personality disorder, almost certainly one of the Cluster B disorders, probably narcissistic personality disorder.
I'm not going to take the time to marshal the evidence here -- it is easy enough to find. Here's my point.
If Donald Trump's mind and personality is as deeply disordered as I think it is, then there is not much point in hating and blaming and cursing the man. If there is ever an appropriate place for hating and blaming and cursing a person, it is surely not because of a mental condition that he has probably been affected by since he was a small child. Indeed, there's even something unseemly in mocking him, the person, as ridiculous and clownish and mean as his words and actions have been.
The man is sick. I truly believe that. If we are human persons and he is a human person, the only acceptable response to him is a response of love. And if the only form of love we can muster for a mean, small, twisted, stunted mind and heart like his is the form we call "pity," then we should muster it with all the strength that we can.
If a saint can overcome her instinct of fear and disgust to clean and bind the sores of a dying, diseased, homeless person, then surely we can overcome our disgust at the sight of a festering and starved spirit.
What good will it do? They all die in the end.
A question to ponder, no?
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Pity and forgiveness does not compel us to stand within reach of an abuser, however. Dangerous tools must be removed from the reach of the people who would hurt themselves and others. That's prudence. That's justice: we protect the innocent, even from people who can't help being who they are. Justice also demands that we insist on right and just behavior, we forcefully condemn injuries and wrongs.
There's no excuses here.
But where mocking ceases, pity can remain.
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And on the other hand:
There are a large number of people who, let's put it bluntly, out of pure self-interest and the love of money and power, colluded to put dangerous weapons in the reach of a literal madman, colluded to excuse his ravings and to call them sane.
Those people?
Not born that way.
I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about what compassion for them should look like.
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