CAN A LEOPARD CHANGE HIS SPOTS?
Dr. Cliff Neumann waited apprehensively in the plush study of Donald Trump’s sprawling Manhattan Penthouse. Only thirty - six hours earlier nothing could have been further from his mind than being on the brink of a freakish assignment. He had been contacted by his old college friend, Jerry Falwell Jnr. The latter in turn had been reached by the Republican Presidential nominee’s frantic Campaign Manager, Kellyanne Conway. She needed a “suitable", (code for politically in sync), psychologist to help Trump prepare for the second presidential debate. Ms. Conway had resuscitated the Republican nominee’s campaign after a disastrous convention only now to see him implode in the first Presidential debate and its aftermath. She had had the smarts to contact the evangelical Falwell. Falwell was the respected head of the prestigious conservative Christian Liberty College. His endorsement had given Trump respectability amongst the Evangelicals, all but ensuring his Primary victory over Cruz. He had lionized the property mogul claiming that he was the Churchillian leader the country needed. In Falwell’s subsequent recruitment of Neumann he had casually dropped that as a designated Trump advisor the honorarium would be twenty thousand dollars.
TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN MANAGER'S PROBLEM AND SOLUTION
Within seconds of that startling Falwell interaction the cell phone rang again. “Dr. Neumann, I am Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager. I understand Jerry has outlined the gist of the assignment. This is a very tricky situation. Mr. Trump has grudgingly acquiesced to your involvement. Your mandate is to provide insights to Mrs. Clinton’s motivations and objectives so as to stop him on his rant against her for enabling Bill's victimization of women. You are not to diagnose or even hint that maybe he is the problem. It is not the usual counsellor client relationship but you will sign a non disclosure agreement.
You are booked on a plane late tomorrow morning. You should arrive at the Trump Tower at about four. You will sit at the left end of the Trump bar and order a ‘Your Fired’ cocktail with the House made Bloody Mary. You will then add ‘Can you make it a double?. Within a few minutes a Trump aide wearing a yellow blouse will lead you to the trade entrance of his Penthouse. Any questions?” Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “Acquaint yourself with his behavior relating to his outpourings on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the Khan Family, Alicia Marchado and his threats to visit Mrs. Clinton’s culpability in Bill Clinton’s affairs. Also watch the first debate on You Tube. In a nutshell we want you to make the leopard change his spots. I can’t emphasize the importance of discretion. If it gets out that Trump is using a psychologist for his prep he will kill all of us”. In what appeared to be an afterthought, she ended, “Oh also read up the format of the next debate”.
THE COUNSELLOR PILES IN
So there it was. Since his parting from Falwell, almost two decades ago he had gradually drifted away from the intense political fervor they had once shared. However, he would no more not vote for the Republican Presidential nominee than not turn up for church on Sunday. Any doubt the Trump candidacy may have been evinced and the unprofessional role he had been asked to play had vaporized with the mere mention of twenty thousand dollars. The financial climate was tough at the University where they were expecting academics to earn more of their dollars from patient care.
He had voraciously piled into Conway’s homework assignment. There was no doubt that her boss's behavior was childlike. The presidential contender was not used to being challenged and abuse was heaped on those who had the temerity to do so. Also it appeared that it did not need much to trigger his outbursts. The GOP standard bearer exhibited narcissistic behavior and wanted constant reassurance that he was the greatest. It did not require too much research to realize that Clinton team had set him up both in the Khan and Machado episodes. For example, the Clinton team anticipating his Machado response had already prepared an ad which emphasized the point that his abuse of Miss Machado, the former Miss Universe, was illustrative of his treatment of women and his disdain for Hispanics. Yet he appeared to be doubling down. The format of an intimate Town Hall meeting where he would be probed unflatteringly by citizens like Khan, Marchado and Curiel would test his patience to the limit. A repeat performance would be a recipe for disaster and the psychologist could see where Conway was coming from.
A word of caution was needed in assessing all of this as the man was certainly functional. He had reached the very pinnacle of success in business, entertainment and now politics. So whatever his pathology by any metric he had made it. The question was whether some of the attributes that had contributed to his fame were now proving counterproductive to him becoming the President of the United States of America.
THE DEBATE WAR ROOM
He entered into what appeared to be a boardroom or it could have been the Trump’s grandiose dining room. The motif was gold - all the upholstery, the linen material that clung to the walls and the ceiling from where the golden chandeliers were suspended. Those in the room were conspiring in hushed tones and an air of despondent gravitas hung over the Versailles like setting. The Republican nominee was positioned at the head of the table his left arm slumped over the back of the chair. He looked fatigued and drawn. The intruder’s entrance was barely noticed as Kellyanne cheerily announced, “Everyone, this is Dr. Neumann an eminent psychologist recommended to us by our friend President Falwell. He is here to help us with understanding Hillary”. As if that is possible” she added in the vain hope to at lift the mood.
The assembled barely looked up as she began the introductions - “Mr. Nigel Farage from the United Kingdom. He is here to share some insights on immigration. He was the main protagonist for Brexit, you know”. Farage was the only participant seated at the long table, which was bordered with a gold inlay. “Mr. Roger Ailes an acquaintance of Mr. Trump, Mayor Giuliani, whom I am sure you recognize and Mr. Bannon the campaign’s chief executive. The three who were huddled in matching plush armchairs flush with the wall to the right of the candidate, nodded and mumbled perfunctorily. “Then we have two of Mr.Trump’s children Ivanka and Donald Junior”. The latter were at least mildly polite and both reached out their hands to the nervous “Hillary expert”.
Cliff was struck at the odd few assembled. There were not many active political types and where were the experts in debating, speech coaches and the like? If he had been still a political junkie he would have known that former speaker Newt Gingrich had chastised Trump on Fox News the night before warning that if he persisted with these irrelevant attacks including those on the Clinton affair he couldn’t win the Presidency. Both he and Chris Christie, who was being touted as Trump’s secret weapon in debate preparation, were two key surrogates that were absent less than a week from D Day.
THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN TRUMP AND THE COUNSELLOR
Neumann seated himself and began: “Mr. Trump you have obviously captured the mood, feelings and needs of a large section of the population. Without any political experience you are in a hairbreadth of becoming the most powerful man in the world. What is the largest obstacle to this prize?” A suddenly animated Trump snapped back, “Crooked Hillary”. Buoyed by Trump’s energized response he followed on, “In what way?”. “She lies about my record and she distorts my attitudes to women in particular. She drags up ancient material and then lies and lies as to what it all means”. Neumann felt the sudden palpable interest as the room dramatically grew silent. “Why do think that is her tactic?” Trump mildly irritated at what should be self evident spat out, “Because she cannot compete on policy she has to resort this type of smear and lie.” Neumann gently responded, “But do you think she is seeing any positive results?” The mogul waited and then expostulated, “It won’t last, believe me”. The counsellor paused. Then out it all tumbled, “I will get that evil conniving woman. Wait and see. The American people are behind me. Have you seen those crowds? She has the media and both the Republican and Democratic Establishments behind her who are thwarting the will of the people. It is me against them all”.
So far so good. He had the Republican contender’s attention and involvement. Following up the counsellor enquired, “But do you feel that your counters have achieved your objective of neutralizing her?”, to which the rejoinder was, “I have not finished yet….. I have barely begun”. The “Hillary expert”, probed, “What do you intend doing?" The Donald then outlined the line he had been floating ever since that fateful debate namely that he had been a gentleman but now he was about to give chapter and verse of hypocritical Hillary’s enablement of her husband’s abuses. That his patience was running out with the Hillary expert was obvious when he challenged, “What’s your plan? You are supposed to be the Hillary expert”.
The defiant Trump and the assembled awaited his divination. But he hadn’t quite given up on coaxing Trump to coming to his own eureka moment. “You make several good points but what has really flummoxed me is why she hasn’t hidden her husband. She quotes him left right and center in her speeches as to his economic success as President. She claims she has a role for him in her administration in the key area of economic growth. He is one of her chief surrogates on the stump. He currently is on a bus tour of Ohio. Why if he is such a fatal liability is she setting herself up for the type of attack you are suggesting?”
TRUMP DIGS IN
Would the denial defense mechanisms of the embattled candidate cut off his ability to make the connection that he was staring into the abyss of yet another Clinton set up? Again there was that interminable silence that therapists so often encounter. The gallery, with the exception of Giuliani of course, audibly groaned when Trump set out again on his well worn path, “Crooked Hillary is so caught up in her and her husband’s deviousness that she hasn’t a clue that her behavior towards the women he abused will be her downfall".
Neumann knew that he couldn’t let this destructive demagoguery go unchallenged. It may be swallowed by the adoring faithful but it was far from helpful. “Mr. Trump, I don’t fully understand. That doesn’t quite jive with your insightful assessment that every word that emanates from her mouth has been carefully chosen, subjected to focus groups and endless rehearsal”.
Once again the audience waited expectantly for Trump’s rejoinder. In many ways the fact that the dialogue had even reached this stage was a miracle. Well meaning supporters had been humiliated and banished for fare less. Trump had gone about as far as he was prepared to go. “You are wrong Mr.Neumann and I am right. You all have miscalculated as to the impact a full exposure as to her duplicity will have. I still haven’t heard what you suggest and how and why Hillary thinks they way she does”.
THE COUNSELLOR SPELLS IT OUT
There was no way the answers were going to come from the candidate and the time for an honest interpretation had come. “Hillary is a well defended complex character. Her behavior may have developed from the example of her mother who, in spite of her husband’s denigration of her, always counseled positivity and believed that divorce was a fate worse than death. Now, she has faced the issue you are underscoring for over twenty years. With all that experience she has honed her response to her advantage. At no time has the issue of her husband’s behavior and her “enablement” of it been a political handicap to her. On the contrary the consensus, particularly of women, has been sympathy and understanding. Nothing you have argued has persuaded me to the contrary. In fact an attack on her in this area might well be additive to her claim that you are abusive to women. They may well be preparing ads in anticipation of your well advertised onslaught. I also believe that the impact of a blitzkrieg in the intimate setting of a Town Hall will be detrimental to you”.
TRUMP IS TRUMP
Trump let loose, “You and the rest of them”, glaring across the room, “All of you are politically correct. Can’t I find a staff and advisors that are loyal to me. This pandering is not what the tens of thousands that wait hours to hear me at rallies expect. I will not let them down. Who primed you? Kellyanne? Gingrich? I will decide what I will do as I have always done. I listened once and gave in on the birther issue and look what happened? Instead of finishing the matter it reopened it. Enough. Thank you sir. Kellyanne see him out. His drink is still waiting for him at the bar. It’s on me”.
DID THE LEOPARD CHANGE IT’S SPOTS?
She handed him an envelope. “Besides your check it contains a copy of your signed non disclosure agreement. You did better than expected and we can only pray that he will see reason.” Neumann thanked her, bypassed the Trump Bar and made his way straight to the airport where he waited for the second time in the luxury of the first class lounge. He felt the bulge in his inside suit pocket. Opening the envelope he quickly ascertained that the "agreement" was padded with the usual legal mumbo jumbo. He glanced at the check that had fallen onto the table. He stared once and then again. It was for ten thousand dollars. The psychologist smiled. Even ten thousand dollars was a handsome fee for a day of work and a day of preparation. His smile became an audible guffaw. He had come to the conclusion even before he opened the envelope that one leopard at least had changed his spots. Under no circumstances could he vote for Donald J. Trump to be the Commander in Chief.
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