Filmmaker who gave footage to Jan. 6 committee: Trump is 'dangerous,' living in 'cloud cuckoo land'

[UpInArms]

Source: Yahoo News

A British documentary filmmaker who recently testified behind closed doors to the House Jan. 6 select committee said that former President Donald Trump is living in “cloud cuckoo land,” and is incapable of ever acknowledging that his claims about voter fraud are “delusional.”

“Donald Trump is not a rational player. I mean, he just isn’t,” Alex Holder said in an interview with the Yahoo News podcast, “Skullduggery.” “You can't have a conversation with him in the same way that you can have a conversation with most other people. He is somebody that lives in a different reality.”

Holder was granted exclusive access to Trump and his family in the months before and after the 2020 election, giving him the opportunity to compile over 100 hours of footage of the former president, his two eldest sons and eldest daughter talking in interviews and among themselves. When the Jan. 6 select committee learned of the project — which will be aired by Discovery+ in the coming months — they subpoenaed him hoping to find footage of the Trumps speaking candidly about events that are the subject of the investigation.

Holder says his footage, and his own interviews with Trump, show the former president actually believes his assertions about voter fraud affecting the outcome of the election even though there is no evidence to back up his claims. And, he added, in the days before Jan. 6, 2021, the then president was “absolutely” convinced there was going to be violence that day.

“It was so obvious. This was his last hurrah,” Holder said. “He had this — obviously had this — ridiculous idea that intervening in this ceremonial process of certifying these results could somehow prevent President Biden being inaugurated.”

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/filmmaker-who-gave-footage-to-jan-6-committee-trump-is-dangerous-living-in-cloud-cuckoo-land-235650617.html

[VMA131Marine]

1. Trump's beliefs around Jan 6 are like Hitler's

when he heard FDR had died. He was convinced the loss of the President would cause the US to collapse, probably because he couldn’t conceive of how much more resilient to major change a democracy is compared to a dictatorship.

[gordianot]

9. There are some similarities.

Hitler in true narcissistic fashion was willing to accept defeat with suicide as long as others die. Quite a few of Hitler’s most ardent followers committed suicide. Hitler wanted revenge on the German people for losing and was willing to destroy the nation. So far Trump may not have accepted the fact he lost with his talk of return in 2024. Which is more dangerous a suicidal Narcissistic maniac or one still living in a delusional insistence he did not lose?. Hitler got his punishment when his enemies entered the compound so far Trump skates free by those who appear (to him) reluctant to hold Trump accountable. Trump views this as weakness and continues to do what he has done all his life; play the system. A jail cell or handcuffs even would be therapeutic for Donald.

[Ilsa]

13. Joseph Goebbels' wife Helga killed their six children, then themselves. nt

[gordianot]

21. The same happened with many others but not with the German people.

Note most in the bunker with Hitler survived. It is telling Germans survived and repudiated Fascism and Soviet Communism. I wonder if Republicans and America will survive Trumpism.

[FreepFryer]

2. The "ridiculous" belief that interfering w Jan 6 could sustain Trump's reign...

...wasn’t ridiculous to his Kool-Aid drinkers. That’s why numbers matter to him so much, they were a visible indication of his base’s susceptibility and readiness to act on his “alternative fact” poison.

[PufPuf23]

33. The GOP already cheated in similar fashion to "win" the 2000 POTUS election.

Tactics were similar with the Brooks Brothers riot.

Even some of the personalities are the same (Stone, Eastman used 2000 as a model for plan).

Backdrop was an out of bounds USSC. Is there any doubt if Jan 6 had progressed that the present USSC would have favored Trump et al?

[ShazzieB]

3. Very interesting interview.

From the article:

Holder: Donald Trump is not a rational player. I mean, he just isn’t. You can’t have a conversation with him in the same way that you can have a conversation with most other people. He is somebody that lives in a different reality. He had started the lie about the election back in 2016. What I saw after the first interview with him in the White House was that he now became someone who believed in his own lie, and that is a person who is delusional. That is a person who is incredibly dangerous, because you can't debate with that person. There is no way that anybody can persuade Donald Trump that he’s wrong. And this is something that’s characteristic of him all the way through his life, and the series goes into this in the sense that he will never accept that he had done anything wrong. He will always double back. He’s always right, and it’s always somebody else’s fault. I mean, he lives in cloud cuckoo land. He’s sitting in an interview in Mar-a-Lago saying that in front of a portrait, an actual oil painting of himself painted 25 to 30 years ago in a golf outfit. I mean, I actually asked about that at the end of the interview. I was like, “You’ve got to tell me about this painting.” I mean, this is a guy who literally has paintings of himself in his house. I mean, he’s just not a normal guy. I mean, you know?

I find it fascinating to hear what people who have spent time with Trump (and are not true believers) have to say about him. Especially when they confirm things I always suspected (like what a complete whack job he is).

[brewens]

7. You really couldn't even talk to the guy about much of anything even if you were willing to hang

around him. There is no way it's not everyone just listening to him run his mouth at dinners or other social functions.

As much as I hated "W" as a president, if we were stuck somewhere with a couple cases of beer, we'd end up drunk, yucking it up and having a pretty good time. With Trump, I'd kill him and drink it all myself.

[PatSeg]

30. I think initially Trump knows he is lying,

but he eventually convinces himself that his lies are true. In the process, he surrounds himself only with people who reinforce the lies. That is why he can be so convincing to his loyal supporters. I've seen compulsive liars do this over and over again. They lie so much, they lose all touch with reality.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Does that confer exculpability?

That he didn't have the correct mindset to be held responsible?

[BigmanPigman]

5. I've thought about that too....

if he is eventually held responsible will his lawyers say he is mentally unfit to stand trial?

[Kablooie]

6. Definitely they will

But Trump will probably fight and fire them over it.

[2naSalit]

12. Probably.

And proclaim that he is sane, because his ego will not let anything bad be said of him.

He's unfit to exist yet he does. So there had better not be any talk of insanity to avoid punishment, he was okay until now for his cult so they can come full circle on this.

[PatSeg]

31. Exactly

Even the best lawyer in the world can't help him because he won't listen to them. He just can't keep his mouth shut even to save himself.

[wnylib]

10. That was my concern, too, when I heard this film maker

interviewed on BBC. His words give Trump an out that I don't think he deserves. Trump knew that he was lying about the win. He set things up for it months before election day, as soon as the polls showed him behind Biden.

The only way that Trump could possibly think that the election was rigged against him is if he was convinced that his own rigging of the election guaranteed him a win. He pulled mailboxes from the streets to prevent mailed votes from getting in on time because mail in ballots were more likely to be Democratic. He had sorting machines at post offices dismantled for the same reason. He had help from Russian bots.

Trump was convinced that he had eliminated millions of Democratic votes through his obstruction of mail in ballots. How could he lose?

But he also cut off ballots from some of his own voters who were sick with covid (from rallies) or were seniors protecting themselves by mailing in ballots. Plus, due to the pandemic, several states relaxed their mail ballot restrictions so that they were received in time to be counted.

Trump cannot admit that his scheme to rig the election failed. So he accuses Dems of election fraud. In Trump's criminal mind, how people actually vote is irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant is cleverness in making the count fall his way, by hook or crook. When his initial rigging did not stop millions of mailed Biden votes from being counted, be resorted to image projection through court cases.

Proof that Trump knew he did not have the votes is his Georgia phone call. "Just get me the votes."

[gab13by13]

17. Well written post,

Fuck Holder. Trump knew he lost for fuck's sake. He figured he would lose against Hillary and planned for it. He also made plans for losing to Biden. Holder wants us to believe none of that happened. It wasn't that close of a race v Biden, there weren't any hanging chads.

[wnylib]

22. Also consider that, in order for Trump

to trust this guy well enough to let him film himself, his family, and his interactions with his political allies and advisors, this film maker had to have had some leaning toward Trump, or else Trump found something about him that he could extort. Trump's mob mentality would not allow any one else to get so close to him.

So this guy could be inclined to describe Trump in a way that gives Trump an out, an excuse.

Yet, even if Trump did believe that he actually won and that the election was rigged, that does not excuse the criminal act of turning loose a violent, armed mob on members of Congress.

I do not at all buy the mental excuse.

[dalton99a]

23. +1

[Bayard]

25. He's not delusional

Testimony proves he knew exactly what he was doing--win at all cost.

I'm not thrilled with the film maker giving him an insanity defense. He did crazy things, but it was because his ego dictated it.

The man who would be king.

[mopinko]

20. i hope they do. it's a more important convo for the country than criminal law.

[Ford_Prefect]

26. Our prisons currently hold a number of people like him who committed heinous crimes.

They may be held in circumstances that reflect their mental state but they are confined to protect us and to punish them.

[Momma]

32. Probably not, it strikes me more as a narcissistic collapse or

narcissistic rage. Pretty routine in my experience with malignant narcissism. I'm not a psychologist nor an attorney, just lived with a malignant narcissist for 15 years. It is a mental health condition, but doubtful that it would result in an insanity or a diminished capacity defense. Besides his ego would never allow for such a defense. He will always and forever have to be right.

[nowforever]

8. Narcissitic personality disorder

Their reality is created to protect the distorted/damaged ego. His true self is an inadequate fearful being who does not want to be revealed or acknowledge these perceived flaws. An outer armour, is developed as protection, that creates a self that is powerful, intelligent and admired (all the things he wants to be). It's all a fantasy but it effectively camouflages the true self. Most of his criticisms of others are just projections, which is a classic defense mechanism of narcissists. Any admission of the truth would cause this whole mental charade to collapse and he would decompensate. Most personality disordered people are impossible to treat because their defenses are so firmly established. When he does collapse it will be quite a show.

[2naSalit]

14. +1

Welcome to DU!

[SheltieLover]

15. Prisons are full of them!

[rickford66]

11. I wonder if anyone told him he's crazy to his face.

[vlyons]

16. In Buddhism, TFG's election denial is called "grasping at self"

A self that doesn't really exist. That's why he grasps at it. To try and make it real. His enormous ego has all those pictures of himself as "the great man," right up there with Churchill, Jefferson, Napoleon, etc etc. To admit that he was defeated by (in his mind) the far far inferior Biden, well that's just not possible.

Trump not only lies to us, he lies to himself. But he knows deep down that the majority of voters rejected him. In truth, it really doesn't matter what TFG thinks about the election. What matters is the final vote tabulation and that he lost his complaint in court.

I would just add, altho most of you won't get it, that we Buddhists meditate on emptiness and try to be aware, when we are grasping at self, which ultimately is the cause of suffering.

[gab13by13]

18. It isn't just Buddhists,

I read all of Ekhart Tolle's books. I do the practice of seeing how long I can go before a thought pops into my head. Tolle convinced me that those thoughts that I hear in my head are not who I am, I am the entity listening to those thoughts. Tolle would say that not only has Trump's ego taken him over, his pain body has taken him over.

[robbob]

38. I only know a bit about Elkhart Tolle

From reading The Power of Now, but I got the impression his philosophy is very influenced by Buddhism. Maybe?

[SheltieLover]

19. Ty for sharing!

Hence, all the projections.

People with antisocial PD believe, at least consciously, that there is something wrong with others who perceive imperfection in them.

He knew, or should have known that it was not his place to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.

In fact, if anything, the 2016 election should have been the one in question, resulting in the ruskie asset in such a position of power. It still boggles my mind that this result was allowed to stand, with every US intel agency affirming pootin interfered. I wish Congress would investigate 2016 next. But I know they don't have time for it.

Thx for sharing. Have a lovely, peaceful day. ✌

[tanyev]

24. Somebody needs to create a virtual world for him that he can conquer and destroy.

And he can regale the crowd at Mar-a-Lago with his exploits every night for hours and hours.

[Ford_Prefect]

28. Interesting thought but who's gonna pay for the technology and the power to run it on?

Maybe the Crypto crowd? They appear to enjoy investing in fantastic notions, well as long as the electricity is free or paid for by someone else.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

27. He's a spoiled rotten rich brat, a child, who never advanced past the terrible twos

psychologically or emotionally.

Trying to have a conversation with the MAGAt king is like trying to have a conversation with a child in the throes of the terrible twos.

"Id's" what he's all about. His narcissism is off the charts.

[newdayneeded]

29. in his baby rant about Hutchinson's testimony

He STILL belches out the stolen election lies. He knows nothing else!

[ultralite001]

34. "There is no way that anybody can persuade Donald Trump that he's wrong."

Holder continues:

"And this is something that’s characteristic of him all the way through his life, and the series goes into this in the sense that he will never accept that he had done anything wrong. He will always double back. He’s always right, and it’s always somebody else’s fault. I mean, he lives in cloud cuckoo land."

* * * * * * *

Characteristics indicative of RTump's narcissistic personality:

-- He lies effortlessly and convincingly.
-- He experiences pleasure from his lies because he lacks the normal range of human emotions.
-- RTump is empty and bored, lacks empathy for others, and does not feel shame or remorse. His emptiness
enables him to lie with minimal effort. RTump can look people straight in the eye and lie quickly and guiltlessly,
even when confronted with probing questions and evidence of his previous deceptions. He will also deny his
lies easily, making up excuses and projecting his own behavior onto others (which is a lie in itself).
-- The RTumpster will also lie to make others feel sorry for him. He is an exploiter who will take advantage of the
natural desire most folks have to help and nurture fellow human beings. RTump will use such deception (with an
added dash of truth) to create a host of fabricated ailments/problems including fake illnesses/injuries, “crazy” exes,
accidents, theft ["stolen elections"], and "fake" news.

[DBoon]

35. This other fellow was also living in 'cloud cuckoo land'

died in prison too

[Stuart G]

39. Charles Manson

[MissMillie]

36. Thank you, Captain Obvious

The scary thing is that his delusions have reached cult status.

[Grins]

37. Fun read. Nothing you didn't already know, but read the full article. NM