Kristi Noem does the blonde Trump Barbies one better by proving her malevolent sadism with an assault rife, By Hal M. Brown -- Call her Tactical Barbie.

 

I was inspired to use AI to make the image above by this comment:

.Read Kristi Noem roasted for her gun handling skills in ICE photo-op. There is a video in the article.

Here’s an excerpt:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is being blasted online for posing while pointing her rifle at an officer’s face in a new social media video.

In a 20-second video posted to X on Tuesday, Noem, who once boasted about killing her dog, stands between two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as she wields a gun. Social media users flooded the comments section of her clip to warn about the dangers of holding her weapon in that way.

“Here we are with Marco and Brian today. They’re letting me roll with them. We’re going to go out and pick up somebody who I think got charges of human trafficking,” she says in the video. “We earlier had an op that swept up somebody that was wanted for murder. So appreciate the good work that they do every day, and we appreciate them working to make America safe.

In saying “they’re letting me roll with them” Noem no doubt believes she’s got the lingo down pat.

Noem and Tom Homan together are the public faces of the Trump endeavor to deport whoever they damn well please to a Salvadoran prison where inmates are stacked in bunks reminiscent of those in Nazi concentration camps. The two of them seem to be in competition for the media spotlight. This is a Google News search for Tom Homan. Here’s the Google News search for Kristi Noem.

Rachel Maddow covered her costumed photo-ops on April 8th.

This is from the UK Americas edition of the Daily Express:

She made the news during her visit to El Salvadore, not so much for the horrors that our democracy has been reduced to, but because she was wearing a $50,000 watch.

On April 9 I wrote “Trump's Hitlerian Henchwomen: Pam Bondi and Karoline Leavitt offer the feminine tone as their Führer sets the stage for sending people to the modern day version of concentration camps.”

My AI illustration software couldn’t really tell Bondi and Leavitt apart.

My hunch is that dog killer Noem wants none of this pretty face image. Her behavior indicates she wants to be seen as the toughest of tough Trump enforcers.

Instead of the regular and social media focusing on the image photos like these convey to people who want us to stay a democracy where the rule of law prevails, they are lambasting her for how she is carelessly handling a  M-4 assault rifle.

Anyone who has had any firearms training knows that you always assume a gun is loaded and never point it anywhere near a direction other than your intended target. This was the first thing I learned as a reserve police officer when I was taken to the range for the first time. This, however, is beside the point.

The ICE agents posing with Noem, and the other ICE agents we see in the media, are equipped like SWAT members about to assault the lair of a heavily armed drug kingpin, not arrest some unfortunate immigrant who may or may not be here illegally.

They are armed like this for the purpose of intimidating, not the people about to be arrested, but the rest of the country. Cross us, their message is, and we will send thugs in body armor carrying weapons best suited for actual combat against enemies who are shooting back. 

Trump wants it both ways. He wants some of his cadre to convey a soft image and others to come across as hard as nails. He wants his muscle bound tatooed Pete Hegseth, whose photos flooded the media when he was nominated, and RFK Jr., shown below making the news with shirtless photos of him working out. If Trump can’t be a muscle bound Rambo at least he can have the satisfaction of ordering them to do his dirty work.

What’s a poor girl to do when she’s competing with the immigration czar who actually looks like he could he a psychoath?

I guess all that’s left is to show she’s not afraid to stand in front of Venezuelan gang members who may not have seen a woman in months or years and going on a raid with ICE agents… we don’t know if this really happened and if it did whether she was allowed to carry a loaded assault rifle.

Here’s another AI image of tactical Barbie:

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Am I the only anti-Trump shrink who thinks Trump may not have dementia? He may. But he may not. By Hal M. Brown, MSW I was a psychotherapist for 40 years but didn't learn about dementia until I moved to a senior community and saw it in dozens of residents.

 

Sometimes Occam’s razor can have two sides. When it comes to Trump’a increasingly bizarre behavior there are two, not necessarily mutually exclusive, simple explanations. His behavior is certainly consistent with his psychodamics, but how much of it is influenced by dementia? There are those who have jumped on a bandwagon of looking for evidence that he has dementia. They certainly have found it. However, there are other simple explanations for his unhinged behavior. 

This morning Sabrina Haake wrote this in her Substack “Trade chaos wuth a side of dementia”:

Last year we had articles with titles like 'Without any doubt': Experts say Trump shows 'staggering' signs of 'cognitive diminishment' . They didn’t leave any room for doubt. I had my doubts then and despite a chorus of people, some self-described experts and lay people, saying Trump has dementia I am have my doubts.

I am posting this as counterpoint to Sabrina Haake’s Substack and to the argument of Dr. John D. Gartner, founder of Duty to Warn, who she uses an expert source. Gartner, Wiki tells us, specialized in the treatment of borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder and depression. Haake’s other expert source is psychologist Suzanne Lachmann who wrote in Newsweek “Donald Trump Dementia Evidence 'Overwhelming.” Dr. Lachmann, per her website, works with adults and late adolescent patients with conflicts including relationship issues, trauma, struggles with self-esteem, body image, trust, depression and anxiety.

In my practice I worked with adults with a variety of common psychiatric disorders, but have had experience working with those with complex dissociative disorder (multiple personality disorder) and Vietnam combat vets with PTSD. I never treated anyone with dementia, though (as noted below) I did correctly diagnose two patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

I wrote the following on Jan. 3rd, 2025. I have not significantly changed my opinion. 

Most mental health professionals who are saying this are not neurologists, let alone neurologists who specialize in dementia. 
Many mental health professionals are absolutely, positively convinced Trump has dementia. I seem like a lone voice among them saying we need more evidence.

I am not an expert, but because I live in a continuing care retirement community I have seen a lot of people with dementia in all stages.

In my training there was no mention of considering dementia in making a differential diagnosis. In my 40 years of practice I never treated anyone with dementia. I did, however, have three clients who I thought had temporal lobe epilepsy which I knew about having read the book “Seized” by Eve LaPlante. I referred them to a behavioral neurologist who did sleep deprived EEGs with them and it turned out two of the three did have this disorder. When I began practice nobody was conversant about another brain disorder, the autism spectrum. My point is that mental health professionals must be aware that there are sometimes physiological and neurological explanations for behavior. This certainly applies to trying to discern explanations for what seems to be aberrant behavior in Trump. The unanswered question is whether is this behavior psychological, physiological, or a combinaiton of the two.

I have seen the photos and illustrations of Trump’s leaning forward posture countless times as if this was absolute proof of dementia. Lots of people his age stand that way at times.

His word salad could be an indication of mania, not dementia, or it could be, as he claims, a kind of improv which he calls the weave.

Many mental health professionals are digging in on the Trump dementia position. I think this is, in a way, wishful thinking couched in science.

We, meaning shrinks, have all the evidence we need to say Trump is a malignant narcissist, but then perhaps desperate to find more to justify saying Trump is unfit, they added dementia to bolster the argument that he was dangerous. I think mental health professionals need to be more self-critical and open minded in our judgments and not succumb to confirmation bias. It is easy to cherry pick from all the evidence when there’s so much Trump, Trump, Trump just about every hour of the day.

Is anybody keeping track of every bit of Trump’s behavior to find indications that he doesn’t have dementia?

We have ample examples of Trump going on for one or two hours without exhibiting any unambiguous signs of dementia. Much of his extemporaneous sidetracking can just as easily be considered a manifestation of his malignant narcissism as of dementia.

There’s currently a Change.org petition online “Our Diagnostic Impression of Trump is Probable Dementia: For Licensed Professionals Only.”

The petition begins:

We, the undersigned licensed medical and mental health professionals (INCLUDE YOUR ADVANCED DEGREE IN YOUR LAST NAME WITH NO PUNCTUATION) concur: From our years of training and experience, we are convinced that, while a definitive diagnosis would require further testing, Donald Trump is showing unmistakable signs strongly suggesting dementia, based on his public behavior and informant reports that show progressive deterioration in memory, thinking, ability to use language, behavior, and both gross and fine motor skills.

I highlighted the part that jumps out at me. First, the “years of training and experience” should apply to those who were in fields like neurology, particularly behavioral neurology, and neurosciense. It is true that a definitive diagnosis would require testing, however the use of the word “unmistakable” along with “strongly suggesting” shows a bias. Leave that word out and I can accept this sentence.

The petition then goes on to list diagnostic indices in these categories:

1) Decline from baseline

2) Memory:

3) Language

4) Motor:

5) Behavior:

The list reads like someone went over a text on dementia and then found things in Trump’s behavior and managed to make a case that he had this disorder. It wasn’t that long ago that splotches seen on Trump’s hands during the E. Jean Carroll led to rampant speculation that he had syphillis. Even before that the syphillis theory was in the news and no social media. This was from 2017: Trump’s ‘Unhinged’ Behavior Could Be Due To ‘Untreated Syphilis,’ Expert Claims. There is a reasonably good case to be made that Trump might be suffering from some stage of dementia. However, reasonably good isn’t good enough as far as I am concerned.

 

I think the list lacks the scientific rigor necessary to reach a foregone conclusion. This being said, I agree with the conclusion whether or not he has dementia:

This represents a unique danger because of Trump’s pre-existing Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder. As he continues to deteriorate he will become even more erratic, impulsive, paranoid, and aggressive than he already is. A demented malignant narcissist as president of the United States would have unimaginably catastrophic consequences.

Not only is Trump unfit, but he cognitively incapable of carrying out the duties of president. Under normal circumstances, relatives of such a patient would be seeking consultation with experts, and considering long term care, as he continues to deteriorate.

We feel an ethical obligation to warn the public, and urge the media to cover this national emergency.

The media must report objectively on anything that suggests Trump may have a cognitive impairment and bring in true experts from the appropriate fields. We can’t allow another Goldwater Rule fiasco to occur. When there were obvious examples of his being a malignant narcissist and mental health professionals spoke up about this they were debunked by many and accused of breaking some sacrosanct professional rule. 
Anti-Trumpers who make the news warning about the dangers of Trump wielding the power of the presidency have been accused of having a psychiatric disorder the name of which has been used to discredit them. You know what it is: Trump derangement syndrome. We must not feed into this narrative.
When mental health professionals go public about the possiblity that Trump has dementia they must do this by emphasizing that this is a possiblity not a certainty. They must write or speak with gravitas and always allow for the chance that they are wrong. 
Time will be the ultimate decider regarding this since dementia always gets worse. There may come a time during his presidency that his symptoms are so obvious you don’t need to be an expert in dementia to reach this conclusion.
This is when the 25th Amendment becomes a real possibility. Then we will be dealing with J.D. Vance. Nobody has suggested he has dementia.
More of my thoughts on this subject:

If Trump has dementia it might be a kind doctors have never seen. Call it weaveheimers. If not, the weave may be as brilliant as he says it is.

This was in Salon (I’m the clinical social worker in the title): Clinical social worker: “With the Trump Bible, one must consider dementia”

I also wrote I’m not the only mental health professional who says that Trump needs a rigorous neuropsychiatric evaluation to rule out a cognitive illness.

—————————————————

Note:

I was one of the first members of Dr. John Gartner’s Duty to Warn group and an early signatory to his petition to remove Trump (Version One) under the 25th Amendment. This was because Trump clearly met the criteria for being a dangerous malignant narcissist, or as the titles of the books edited by psychiatrist Bandy Lee, indicate, that he was a dangerous case.

Trump, newly empowered, has emerged as an even more dangerous case. He is dangerous to democracy and the established social and legal norms which are the bedrock of our society. He has gone from being an exemplar of the Dark Triad to being one of the Dark Tetrad. This has sadism added to psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism of the Dark Triad. I wrote about this here:

When I look at Trump and try to understand him I do so through the lens of psychoanalytic theory. For example “Trump's tweets are a royal road to his unconscious. As usual Trump was up tweeting last night. Psychoanalysts gain insight into someone's unconscious, and the way their mind works by analyzing their dreams. We look at his tweets.”

Can Trump be showing signs of dementia. Of course this is possible. Can we be sure? I don’t think so. Since dementia always gets worse, if he has it, in time we will see it. 

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This Amanda Marcotte brilliant take is too bad (good) not to share, By Hal M. Brown This is the best description of the month, maybe so far in 2025, of a Trump action: "Last day of Waco decline"

I read this on RawStory before looking as Salon this morning. (I would have eventually seen Amanda Marcotte’s column because I always check out Salon) The RawStory article “Trump's latest 'meltdown' has hints of 'last day of Waco' decline” jumped out at me. It summarizes Marcotte’s Salon column Trump blinks on tariffs in face of GOP resistance — but he hasn't given up on his cult leader dreams "BE COOL": Trump is still giving "last days of Waco" vibes despite a 90-day "pause" on tariffs

RawStory did all the work for me summarzing two crucial points which she makes:

• "We're getting a compelling illustration on the national stage of how a cult leader can induce his followers to stick by him, even as he loses his mind and his behavior becomes too erratic and dangerous to defend. Almost every Republican on Capitol Hill knows that Donald Trump's tariff plan is political suicide, but few are willing to admit that Dear Leader fully intends to see this idiocy to the very end."

• "Trump has a messiah complex, which has only grown since that missed assassin's bullet from July was hyped by his followers into 'proof' that he's the Chosen One," she wrote before suggesting, "Even as he blinks momentarily on his tariff mania, his behavior is getting even more erratic in a way that's got 'last days of Waco' vibes from a president who has already unsubtly compared himself to David Koresh. His Truth Social meltdown when announcing the 'pause' indicates a decline in Trump's already-fragile mental state."

• With Trump writing, "They are dying to make a deal. 'Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything sir,'” Marcotte called it "...a moment quite reminiscent of how late-stage cult leaders experience a total collapse between reality and their grandiose fantasies," before pointing to Trump also boasting, "Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!"

• "It all feels like the final stage of a cult, when the leader's frantic efforts to retain control result in escalating dictates and prophecies that become increasingly hard for followers to make sense of," she wrote before adding, "Republicans would be foolish to treat this 90-day pause as a victory big enough to justify scurrying back to their holes, to hide from the wrath of Dear Leader. He is spiraling and sees these tariffs as the final proving ground of his total conquest of the GOP. He will keep going back to that well — which means economic tumult, more stock market crashes, and more panicked constituents — unless this tariff nonsense is put to bed entirely.

From the RawStory comment section:

This is from:

Know how people often use "drinking the Kool Aid" as a metephor for undying loyalty? Referencing the Jonestown incident? That is, in fact, incredibly inaccurate. What happened at Jonestown was not mass-suicide, it was mass-murder.

Most of the cultists did not kill themselves willingly, survivors of the event claim that most were forced to drink the stuff at gunpoint, and those who refused were shot.

As far as this story goes, Jones' health had indeed degenerated by then, was informed of a possible lung infection, upon which he announced to his followers that he had lung cancer – a ploy to foster sympathy and strengthen support within the community. He was said to be abusing injectable Valium, Quaaludes, stimulants and barbiturates.Audio tapes showed he was complaining of high blood pressure, small strokes, losing forty pounds within the span of two weeks, temporary blindness, convulsions, impotence, and, in his final month, grotesque swelling of the extremities.

Yeah, he was a sick, crippled, pathetic lunatic, and if he hadn't whacked himself he'd have been dead anyway within a few month, tops. And I'd put money on the end of Trump's "reign' being even less dignified.

Below is an animation:

I won’t go into how and why Trump has deveoled a following that is often be called and analyzed by experts as a cult. Cult expert Steve Haasan appeared on TV and has writen at book, “The Cult of Trump” (review) about this. A web search of “Trump cult” will come up with numerous articles.

Above is from this DuckDuckGo search.

I appologize to my Substack readers who count on me to try to come up with an original slant on an issue. Amanda Marcotte did all the heavy lifting for me today.

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