OUTRIGHT FEAR: How did it [ever] get this far?

THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2026

In search of the way it started: "How did it [ever] get this far?"  

Within the context of modern American history, that's a well-known question. The question was asked by Don Corleone in an Oscar-winning film which appeared in 1972.  

Corleone was talking about a war which had broken out among the so-called "five families." Today, it's a question which might be asked about the chaotic state we Americans find ourselves in during this, the second term of the sitting president.  

It's still amazingly early in that second term. Indeed, the sitting president still has almost three years to go. 

That said, his erratic behavior and his endless bizarre pronouncements are, at least in our own view, reasonable cause for great concern—yes, for outright fear. 

Setting his behaviors aside, how strange have his pronouncements become? Headline included, HuffPost reports his latest bizarre Truth Social post:

Trump Drops Stunning New 2-Word Description Of Himself, And Critics Can’t Believe It

President Donald Trump on Wednesday fired off a lengthy rant attacking the Virginia redistricting referendum that’s expected to send up to 10 Democrats to Congress.

But two words in particular stood out, which came as he described himself: “extraordinarily brilliant.”

Trump, as he often does in votes that don’t go his way, complained without evidence that the referendum was “rigged.” He railed against mail-in votes. And he griped that the language on the ballot was “purposefully unintelligible and deceptive.”

“I am an extraordinarily brilliant person,” he declared on Truth Social. “And even I had no idea what the hell they were talking about in the Referendum, and neither do they!”  

In fact, the actual Truth Social post was even more delusional than you'd know from that overview. Sadly, here's the president's fuller claim about his astonishing brilliance:

Truth Details

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA! All day long Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive “Mail In Ballot Drop!” Where have I heard that before—And the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory! Six to five goes to ten to one, and yet the Presidential Election in November was very close to a 50-50 split. In addition to everything else, the language on the Referendum was purposefully unintelligible and deceptive. As everyone knows, I am an extraordinarily brilliant person, and even I had no idea what the hell they were talking about in the Referendum, and neither do they! Let’s see if the Courts will fix this travesty of “Justice.” President DONALD J. TRUMP 

Good God! "As everyone knows, I am an extraordinarily brilliant person?" 

Delusionally, that's what the sitting president has now openly said. 

For the record, "delusional disorder" is a clinical term found in the DSM-5. As the leading authority on the subject explains, it names a particular type of "mental disorder" ("mental illness"). 

We aren't medical specialists here, but we make this further point: 

As you can see at that link, the DSM "defines six subtypes of the disorder," including "grandiose (belief that one is the greatest, strongest, fastest, richest, or most intelligent person ever)." 

We don't mean it as an insult when we wonder if the sitting president is lost in this (clinically) delusional world, or when we suggest that some such (undiscussed) state of affairs might be, under the circumstances, a genuine cause of substantial fear with respect to the coming three years.

For the leading authority's report on "grandiose delusions," you can just click here. As we've often noted, we ourselves aren't medical specialists. You're reading this here because our nation's major journalists refuse to interview the people who actually are.

Is something wrong with the sitting president? If so, should that be an occasion for substantial fear?

We don't mean it as an insult when we say the answer to each question seems to be yes. 

As we've frequently suggested, people gripped by "mental illness" don't choose to be gripped by "mental illness." In some instances, the uninvited mental illness has possibly been in place for a very long time.

So it may be, tragically, with the sitting president, or so his niece has recently (once again) said. With apologies for the repetition, this is what she said on CNN:

BURNETT (2/26/26): You've known him your whole life. Do you actually see a [cognitive] decline?

MARY L. TRUMP: I do, but I think it's important to remember that Donald has never been fit in any capacity. Obviously, what we're dealing with now are age-related cognitive declines. We're dealing with physical issues that the White House tries to cover over.

But this is somebody who for decades now has had serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders, which are only going to worsen, especially given the pressure he's under and given the cognitive and physical declines.  

Again, that doesn't sound good. In line with established press corps behavior, that recent assessment came and went without a word of comment and without any wider discussion.

How did it ever get this far? How did it ever reach the point where the sitting president has created a situation in the Strait of Hormuz which seems to present no obvious means of resolution, even as he offers his latest delusional claim about his plainly non-existent astounding intellectual brilliance?

(Washington Post: "Clearing Strait of Hormuz of mines could take 6 months, Pentagon tells Congress")

How did it ever get this far? There's no easy answer to that question. A long and winding cultural road have led us to this astonishing point.

But have we reached a dangerous point? Is there cause for outright fear about the next three years? Here's the fuller statement by Dr. Lance Dodes, speaking to Lawrence O'Donnell on The Last Word three days after the riots of January 6:

DR. DODES (1/9/21): This is a deeply disturbed man, a delusional psychopath who has been the same his whole adult life, and who we knew would get worse the more stress he was under, because that's what happens with people with this kind of severe disorder. 

So when Nancy Pelosi said that she was making sure that the nuclear button couldn't be pushed, that was very wise and made a lot of sense. It was not an over-reaction in the slightest. 

And when she said he's unstable, absolutely! That's exactly the situation we're in and why he needs to be removed [from office] immediately—yesterday, really, because he is going to continue to get worse, and after he leaves office, he will continue to get worse.

You can watch the tape of the full exchange simply by clicking here. For ourselves, we would have liked it better if Dr. Dodes had stressed the fact that he was offering his best professional assessment, not a recitation of established medical fact.

That said:

Back in 2021, Dr. Dodes was deeply concerned about what President Trump might do in the eleven remaining days of his term. Skeptics might say that Dodes was over-reacting. We would say that assessments like those, mixed with the sitting president's ongoing conduct, still provide cause for enormous concern.

How did it ever get this far? With respect to our crumbling political and journalistic cultures, the answer is varied, complex. 

Red America has been at fault. Blue America has been at fault too.  Our journalism has increasingly been a meas. This is the chaos we have chosen—or perhaps which has chosen us.

With respect to the sitting president, how did it ever reach the point where he is picturing himself as Jesus Christ, and is boasting about his (non-existent) astonishing brilliance?

That too is a long and winding road. Tomorrow, as we pity the child, we'll recall where it seems to have started.

Tomorrow: As we've noted before:

"Conduct disorder." It's an actual clinical term!