Trump Keeps Proving He’s a Raging Megalomaniac. Where Is Congress?

Note: This is an updated version of an article published in March 2025.

One-and-a-half years into Donald Trump’s new reign — er, presidency — it’s now crystal clear he is a raging megalomaniac. And, when I say Trump is a raging megalomaniac, I mean it in both senses of the word (unfortunately for us). It turns out he was not exaggerating when he promised and boasted to his followers, “I am your retribution.” More and more, his attitudes and actions mirror the infamous words of King Louis XIV of France, who grandly asserted “L’etat, c’est moi”: “I am the state.”

Frighteningly, Trump is both a super-intense version of a megalomaniac and a vengeful, aggressive one, as well. Raging. But what, exactly, IS a ‘megalomaniac’?

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines megalomania in two ways:

1) “a mania for great or grandiose performance” [note: Mania is a form of mental illness, not just excessive enthusiasm.]

2) “a delusional mental illness that is marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur.”

So, a megalomaniac is someone who embodies the above characteristics. A megalomaniac is grandiose, delusional, and laser-focused on his own supposed ‘greatness.’ A megalomaniac is an over-the-top egotist who is convinced of his own superiority, grandeur, and omnipotence — and demands fealty, loyalty, and submission.

Sound familiar?

A tsunami of aggressive grandiosity

According to the above definition, is Trump a megalomaniac? Check, double-check, and triple-check.

It’s clear now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Trump is a severe megalomaniac. Well into year two of his new ‘reign,’ it’s obvious that he wants to control and manipulate the entire world and all the nations in it. He flaunts his aggressive grandiosity constantly.

He keeps insisting that the U.S. ‘needs’ Greenland, a territory of the sovereign nation of Denmark — and thinks he has the ‘right’ to take it, even by force. He doesn’t care one bit that the citizens of Greenland do not want to become part of the US.

He says that Canada should become — and should want to become — the 51st state of the US, and he keeps insulting their Prime Minister by always calling him Governor.

He regularly insults our European allies, went to war with Iran without even informing or consulting them (or getting approval from our own Congress!) — and then had the utter gall to attack and blame them for not supporting our war efforts.

It gets worse. His retribution campaign against his domestic “enemies” keeps intensifying, as he manipulates the DOJ to go after and indict his favorite targets, like former FBI director James Comey, Senator Adam Schiff, and even the current governor of California, Gavin Newsom (who Trump refers to as “Newscum.”)

He is a giant, flaming bully and extreme narcissist rolled into one. Both of these traits get combined in the ‘raging megalomaniac’ we see strutting before us — constantly, disgustingly — and behaving badly (very badly) on the world stage. And, of course, it’s even more evident on the US stage, before the eyes of all Americans.

The obvious, necessary question now, as this mess keeps unfolding, is: Where the heck is the US Congress?

A long list of dangerous Trumpian ‘firsts’

Almost all of Trump’s recent, bizarre actions and behaviors — no matter how mean-spirited, self-aggrandizing, or aggressive — are merely the latest outward signs and symptoms of Trump’s virulent megalomania. Why is Congress doing nothing to rein him in?

Yet… they’re not even the worst symptoms.

~ What about his incessant lying, deflections, and attacks on the media?

~ What about his incessant bullying and infantile name-calling?

~ What about his persistent undermining of our elections and election processes?

~ What about all his major economic conflicts of interest and sleazy schemes to enrich his family and billionaire buddies?

~ What about his willful “war of choice” against Iran — after campaigning on “no new wars”?

~ What about the demolition of the East Wing of the White House and his unapproved ‘facelift’ for our nation’s capital — including a huge billion-dollar ballroom and a giant “triumphal” arch?

~ What about the ongoing purges, firings, and demotions he’s orchestrated, all with little or NO notice?

~ What about his late-night “rage tweeting” and increasingly unhinged midnight rants? What sane president does that?

. . .

These are all the actions and attitudes of a total narcissist and megalomaniac, and the lesson Americans should have learned a long time ago — but didn’t — is that such a man cannot be trusted with anything. Not with a business (he runs them into the ground and has declared bankruptcy five times); not with accurate communication and information (since he lies constantly and makes up his own grandiose, devious ‘reality’); not with sincere, compassionate leadership (since he has zero compassion and prefers to sling hatred and racist lies); and most of all, not with the presidency of the United States.

After his awful first presidency and failed attempt to overthrow a valid presidential election and block the peaceful transfer of power… Trump should never have been able to get anywhere near the presidency, ever again.

Our collective motto should have been: Never again.

Our (failed) system of checks and balances

Yet, here we are. And there HE is, again, serving as the 47th president of the United States. What an unmitigated and disastrous shitshow!

Even a basic ‘garden-variety’ megalomaniac should never get anywhere near the White House — yet Trump is a true one-of-a-kind (thankfully!) extreme megalomaniac. He takes ‘ordinary’ megalomania (if there is such a thing) and inflates it into a much more dangerous and out-of-control ‘creature.’

But wait! In the US, our system of government has a crucial, built-in feature called “checks and balances.” The executive branch — led by Trump — is supposedly restrained by the other two co-equal branches of government, the legislature and the judiciary. But in the Trump era, neither branch has succeeded in reining him in. The courts are doing a better job, overall, but their edicts and decisions suffer from a major flaw: their effectiveness depends on the good faith and compliance of the other branches.

After all, a court order or decision is only useful if the affected parties faithfully obey said ruling. If the affected parties — in this case, Trump and his executive branch and MAGA toadies — choose to delay, deny, challenge, or simply refuse to follow court orders, there are no effective mechanisms in place to make them comply. And they are doing plenty of delaying, challenging, and refusing.

Again, it eventually circles back to the legislature and its public-facing actions — or shameful inaction. Our Congress could, if it wanted, censure the Trump administration and publicly shame and embarrass him. It could put immense public pressure on Trump and his acolytes. It could find ways to limit or circumvent his/their worst instincts and decisions if it wanted to.

Clearly, it just doesn’t want to. More accurately, the GOP, which controls both the House and Senate, keeps choosing not to limit or rein in Trump and his excesses. This is the exact sort of partisan extremism and dangerous irresponsibility that kept our founders up at night. Today, GOP/MAGA “loyalty” trumps (sorry for the pun) true patriotism and core civic virtues.

In truth, the GOP-led Congress has utterly abdicated its responsibilities as a co-equal branch of government. It has abdicated its vital role as a check and balance for excessive executive power and overreach.

Trump’s arrogance and megalomania are out of control

What is the result? Trump has become ever more emboldened and grandiose. His unrivaled, unchallenged power — with all branches of government lined up behind him and either overtly or passively supporting him — fills him with unbridled egotism, vengefulness, and hubris. Today, his arrogance and entitled ‘rich boy’ attitudes know no bounds, and he’s talking and acting more and more like a dictator.

It’s megalomania on steroids.

He thinks he is untouchable and can do anything and everything he wants. (Sadly, he’s steamrolled our politicians and justice system so effectively that he may be right about this.)

He truly thinks he is ‘above the law’ (Shame on you, Supreme Court, for aiding and abetting his narcissism and grandiosity.)

He truly believes he has the right to meddle in other nations’ (or US states’!) affairs, insult them at will, and use economic or military interventions/ bullying to bend them to his will.

Put bluntly: he is an out-of-control megalomaniac who is endangering both the US and the entire world. He holds the reins of vast power yet again, and there are few ‘adults in the room’ anymore to constrain or restrain him — including and especially in our Congress.

The odds of chaotic US collapse are increasing — fast!

In our infinite folly, the people of the US re-elected a dangerous, amoral madman to the presidency, along with hundreds of his deeply partisan enablers. The rest of the world is deeply worried — and should be.

In our infinite folly, the people of the US again elevated an extreme megalomaniac to a position of ultimate worldly power — which may be the worst mistake our or any nation could ever make.

In our infinite folly, the people of the US have likely ensured the demise of a somewhat peaceful world order and the demise of the United States as a functional semi-democracy.

With a crazed megalomaniac like Trump in charge and ‘leading’ our nation — to intensifying disaster — the pathetic collapse of the US is fast becoming a certainty.

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This post was previously published on The Left Is Right.

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