Reason # 13: Childhood
Why do we need to defeat Donald Trump and ensure that a Democrat occupies the White House?
Yesterday, we discussed whether Donald Trump exhibits symptoms of adult Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Today, let’s consider if there is evidence to support the possibility that this syndrome may have evolved from childhood ODD. It is difficult to gather information about Donald Trump’s past, because he has tried very hard to quash any attempt to do so. We will discuss the evidence for this in a future post.
His niece, Mary Trump describes bullying behavior and other acts consistent with ODD in a book about her uncle. Another source alleges that the tipping point came when his father found that he had bought “switchblade” knives and was playing with them in a park. These were folded pocketknives but pushing a button rapidly deployed a long blade. Donald was sent off to New York Military Academy at age thirteen.
This does not sound like a major concern today but in the context of 1959, it was very serious. In that era, there was strict gun control in New York and gang members, then called “juvenile delinquents” carried no guns, primarily arming themselves with switchblade knives and home-made “zip-guns”.
Is this story true? There is no authoritative confirmation of a fascination with knives, but a search of Amazon on “Trump AND switchblade” retrieves a number of very lethal knives bearing the Trump brand. Some examples include the Trump “2024 Election Knife” with a 3.5-inch stainless steel blade and the Trump “Make America Great Again” assisted opening knife. Trump supporters are not only packing assault rifles; they also carry Bowie knives.
Some might argue that it is no longer relevant to compare Trump with Joseph Biden, but I believe that the debate left behind false impressions about a man I deeply esteem; they cannot go unchallenged.
While Trump was sent off by chauffeur, from his New York mansion to an exclusive and expensive military boarding school, Joseph Biden was in a Catholic grammar school in Delaware fighting hard to conquer a severe problem with stuttering speech, compounded by bullying nuns. His family was unable to come up with the $300 annual tuition to a local Catholic high school, but young Joe washed windows and cut lawns to gain admission.
The contrast between golden-spoon entitlement and bootstrap grit cannot be clearer.
Next time, we will look into whether military school was a wise therapy for a child with oppositional defiant disorder and learn how the two adolescent boys fared in high school
Have a heart; use your mind, search your conscience, and vote for Democratic candidates – across the ballot – on November. 5th.
Please share this message with your friends and please, add your thoughts, to expand upon what are only brief sketches here.
Fred Grannis
July 28, 2024