Trump’s Delusions Come at Americans’ Expense

The mad king says our suffering is ‘worth it’

“We don’t see anyone who can replace the regime,” an Israeli official told David Ignatius. The New York Times reported, “A report by the National Intelligence Council completed before the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran assessed that even a large-scale military assault on the country would be unlikely to topple its theocratic government.” So, when Donald Trump declares his end-goal is regime change, that he wants “unconditional surrender,” and/or wants to pick the next Supreme Leader, he is actually telling us he wants a war without end.

His delusions of grandeur and compulsion to dominate others inevitably overwhelm the Constitution, decency, political good sense, and Americans’ distress. His utter incoherence at a press conference on Monday suggests he is decomposing before our eyes.

Just days ago, he egged on Iranians to take up arms, but by Monday was expressing utter contempt for them (“Will I help them? I’d like to, if they can behave. But they’ve been very menacing.”) In his broken brain, evidently, the war can be both “complete” and “just the beginning.”

Trump is more than happy to inflict a host of harms on Americans: Seven servicemen killed, a billion per day in war costs, trillions in stock market capitalization wiped out, inflation risks heightened, and oil prices on the rise.

Trump attends the Dignified Transfer of remains of six U.S. soldiers killed in an Iranian drone strike while sporting a baseball cap that he is selling as merch. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

To justify his foray into regional war, Trump tells Americans they should docilely accept their fate as hostages of his endless war fantasy. He declares that $100+ per barrel is a “very small price to pay” (for us to pay) for his war. He adds that “only fools” would think the war is not worth it.

He likewise shrugs off a massive drop in the financial markets, although we know that spiking oil prices increase the probability of a stock market crash. Stagflation fears are pushing the markets down at an alarming rate. Since the start of Trump’s war, the Dow Jones has plummeted and been extremely volatile, with no indication of stability in sight.

Chillingly, Trump is indifferent to war casualties. “Some people will die,” he shrugs, and “more will likely die.” He matter-of-factly tells Americans to get over it. “That’s the way it is.” He sports a baseball cap while overseeing the dignified transfer of slain servicemen, refusing to respect the occasion with the simple act of removing his hat. He says it is “more fun” to sink ships, which almost certainly kill those on board.

Meanwhile, the childish and deeply unserious Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is downright gleeful about casualties and destruction, snarling at the press that reporting on dead soldiers is just a way to make Trump “look bad.” He obviously relishes spitting out TV lines and boasting about the people our troops will kill: “The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live,” he stated. He’s become a ghoulish caricature of a military leader.

Hegseth’s release of war clips interspersed with movie footage drew the condemnation of Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago. In a statement Saturday, Cupich deplored the White House for releasing a video as “more than 1,000 Iranian men, women, and children lay dead after days of bombardment from U.S. and Israeli missiles.” He warned:

A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game — it’s sickening. Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day. Six U.S. soldiers have been killed. They are also dishonored by that social media post. Hundreds of thousands displaced, and many millions more are terrified across the Middle East. … Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it’s just another piece of content to be swiped through while we’re waiting in line at the grocery store.

Trump and Hegseth are similarly triumphant when addressing the direct murders at sea (the count is now over 150), in violation of international and domestic law, without effort to interdict the boats or seek definitive proof that the victims are “narco-terrorists.”

But this is nothing new for Trump, who seems to relish inflicting harm on vulnerable Americans to achieve his whims. Trump and his spineless MAGA enablers chose (unlike every other administration) to cut off SNAP during the government shutdown, thereby depriving kids, seniors, the disabled, and the working poor of food. He celebrated slashing Medicaid as part of his “beautiful” bill. He and MAGA Republicans refused to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, inflicting huge premium increases on Americans and pricing many out of the market. The MAGA crowd was delighted when DOGE minions cut vital government services, slashed jobs, and consigned children and adults overseas to death. Trump applauds when government workers lose their jobs.

Now, in the midst of a Department of Homeland Security shutdown, he and his MAGA toadies refused to separately fund TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard. They appear perfectly content to trigger more pain (which he thinks pressures Democrats, who actually care about people). Meanwhile, he continually tries to cut vital social services in blue states, holding their residents hostage to his partisan power plays.

Moreover, Trump taxed imports (tariffs), then reimposed taxes (tariffs) after the initial tranche was struck down, forcing already strapped families and small businesses to pay more. The Trump regime tells Americans either they won’t pay for it, or if they do, it’s worth a recession.

For those who recognize Trump as a malignant narcissist, all this comes as no surprise. Those with narcissistic personality disorder are recognizable by their “[i]mpaired ability to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others; excessively attuned to reactions of others, but only if perceived as relevant to self; over- or underestimate of own effects on others.” (One can imagine how someone more concerned about how others view his hair than he is about showing respect for fallen soldiers might meet this definition.) Trump’s entire foreign policy is built around him — his wealth, his grievances, his need to impress other autocrats.

Regardless of whether Trump warrants a medical diagnosis, he inarguably cares nothing about (if not outright celebrates) deaths, illnesses, suffering, economic distress, and any other harm he inflicts on those who refuse to worship him. When the victims are foreigners, especially non-whites whom he dehumanizes, he revels in his secret police force’s brutality. When it comes to Americans, Trump defies critics and insists on maintaining counterproductive policies, without a care in the world about fallout.

Most presidents do their best to spare vulnerable Americans from harm; Trump seems thrilled each time he demonstrates his power over them. “It’s worth it” essentially means ‘I don’t care what suffering I cause because I just want to get my way.’ Americans appalled by his reckless indifference to human life and, frankly, by the blatant sadism of an unwell president and defense secretary should register their disapproval at the polls. The voters still have the power to stop the MAGA runaway train of death and destruction.