'Caged animal' Trump may need a 'secure padded cell' as trial progresses: psychiatrist
According to noted psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank of the George Washington University Medical Center, the Donald Trump he watched enter a Manhattan courtroom last week looked completely deflated and aware that he is all alone as his world starts to collapse under investigative scrutiny.
Frank, author of "Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President," spoke with Salon's Chauncey Devega, and was asked about Trump's state of mind now that he has been saddled with 34 felony counts that forced him to return to Manhattan to face the music.
Asked about the look on the former president's face as he entered the courtroom and glared at reporters, Frank explained that he saw a "defeated" man.
Saying Trump's initial expression "revealed" the real Trump, Frank, explained, "At his core, what we see in that moment with Trump in Manhattan was that he knows he is a criminal who has finally been caught and may be held responsible for his wrongdoing."
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"To be even blunter, Trump looked like a predatory animal that had been caged. 'Evil' is not a psychoanalytic term, but that was his affect in the moment," he continued. "What I also saw that was very striking in that moment was that Trump looked like he was full of self-pity, he was defeated and alone; he seemed to realize that nobody feels sorry for him."
With Salon's Devega pointing out the former president looked like a "predator," Frank suggested the former president has never been more dangerous.
"Predators can massively regress in such circumstances and lose even a modicum of self-control. They lash out and need to be restrained for their safety and that of their caregivers. That's why we have secure padded cells (euphemized as "quiet rooms") inside locked wards in mental hospitals," he explained before adding, "When Trump is cornered, as he is now with this felony case, he will become increasingly paranoid or defeated. I don't know exactly what will happen with the likes of Trump because such human predators are usually denied bail or committed to a hospital for supervision — and medication."
Adding that Trump is "... is a child, emotionally" he continued, "The deep problem with Trump is that he is a bully. Trump is also a coward. The combination of those traits is very dangerous. Trump is also a 'pervert,' meaning in the original sense of the word, that he has turned away from truth. Moreover, Trump is actually the ultimate pervert in that sense: he hates the truth, i.e. the media is lying about him, 'fake news,' the Big Lie about the election, etc."
He then warned, "Trump is dominated by the death instinct which includes pleasure in being destructive. A person who has that temperament is going to manage his anxieties and fears and other stress by escalating fantasies of destructiveness. In Trump's mind, he is visualizing burning things and blowing them up. He is fantasizing about hurting other people. Those fantasies of harm and destruction bring him great pleasure. A person like Trump may be fantasizing about committing acts of mass murder."
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