Opinion: Donald Trump is a bully who never grew up, throws tantrums to get what he wants

Robert Montgomery

Most of us are not psychologists, but we can easily recognize when a spoiled child is having a tantrum. Often, they will sit on the floor and kick. As they grow up, they always want their own way and pout or cry if they don’t get it. Many become bullies as older children and even as adults. I cannot help but be reminded of such persons by the behavior of Donald J. Trump.

There are two main issues with spoiled persons. One is their desire for something and the second is power to get what is wanted. When people want something, there are ways to get it that are usually acceptable and even sometimes admired, such as hard work so that the work will be rewarded with fulfillment of the desire. We are constantly seeking to make this possible in our democracy. However, a spoiled person may use unacceptable and wrong means to gain what is desired. We saw that Donald Trump was greatly disappointed when he did not win the 2020 election and he immediately lied, saying that he had won. This encouraged his followers to believe the same thing even though many courts rejected “the Big Lie” of massive fraud. Numerous false stories were made up about the election. But it did not stop there.

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Because Trump did not have the power to overturn the election, that did not stop him and his followers from trying to do just that as we clearly heard and saw on TV on Jan. 6, 2021. A frustrated spoiled child sits on the floor and kicks, as we have seen, and the former President and his followers did the adult equivalent of that as they tried to do the anti-democratic thing by exercising coercive force on the nation to get their way. They said they wanted to “take back the country” as if the country we all live in had somehow been taken away from them.

A major question in all societies is who should exercise power? Democracies have an orderly means for settling the matter of who should exercise power. It is through the whole process of trying to persuade the electorate by speeches and writings that are then followed by elections. The speeches and writings are backed by political parties that present different policies and programs for the future. They represent different governing philosophies and vie for approval from the electorate. The competition should remain within legal boundaries, but the law protecting the Capital or the Seat of Power was clearly broken by Trump and his followers, acting like spoiled children. I have been wanting to say that for a long time.

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No society, including American society, has been perfect, but democracy provides a way to continually improve society. This will never be evenly done, but we can constantly correct cases where the desire of some, especially those who are used to “getting their way,” becomes harmful. Also, through democracy we have a way to balance power between those contending for power. This is the purpose of elections as well as courts of law. We will always have spoiled people, who probably learned to be that way in early life, often a privileged life. Parents can play a part in the correction of such people, but so can teachers. Beyond these, there is the “school of hard knocks,” which seems built in to much of life. It can also be part of the judgement that comes with bad behavior 

Our democracy is meant to enable the life of most people to proceed so that the proper use of our desires and power is encouraged and rewarded. At the same time, for those who have desires that bring harm to others and use unlawful means to obtain those desires will be hindered and blocked. This applies to all of life, including to government and to economic affairs, where power and its social effects can be very harmful to many.

Democracy is the government devised by the founders to create a society in which law prevails among equals. That is why we say “No one is above the Law” and not only say it, but attempt to carry this principle. This requires both courage and effort from as many people as possible in our society, We also welcome as many nations as possible to join us in the movement for freedom and democracy.

Rev. Robert L. Montgomery, Ph.D, lives in Black Mountain.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Who should exercise power? Not bullies such as Donald Trump.