Donald Trump’s recent announcement of a new name for his movement provoked considerable interest in the public at large. What did the ineffable former leader of the free world want to say with it? MAGAGA? Using some highly unusual techniques that I had learned during an apprenticeship with the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and after some arduous efforts, I was able to decipher its real meaning: Main Actor is Gaga. It took me several minutes to recover from the elation I felt after I found this out. Granted, not everybody will agree with this interpretation, but I have serious reasons to believe this is its true meaning. 

During the announcement of his new movement, the former TV personality said that it was “the greatest movement in the history [ruminative pause…] of our country.” Those who didn’t share his opinion wanted to leave the room, but when they tried to do so found out that it was surrounded by a narrow pond of water full of crocodiles. Horrified, they returned en masse to the event. The resultant stampede seriously injured 27 persons, including one 9-year-old child who, while crying inconsolably, said that he was brought to the event by his mother against his will and with false promises. Trying to calm him down, his mother gave the child a MAGAGA hat, which made him cry even louder. 

How can one explain that after all the damage that Trump has done –and still does—to the world he can believe that he really can make America great and glorious? Because memory is fragile let me remind the reader that his nonchalance towards the Covid pandemic has probably caused hundreds of thousands of lives. He discredited his own scientific advisers and promoted false and dangerous cures for the disease. His behavior was faithfully copied by his admirer Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, with whom he shares several personality traits. Both of them are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths that could have been avoided with appropriate and timely actions.   

He manifested an equally irresponsible attitude towards climate change, tirelessly repeating that it was a hoax.  “I don’t believe it. No, no, I don’t believe it,” said Trump of the National Climate Assessment produced by leading U.S. government scientists alerting to its dangers. His cabinet members also attacked the report, and supported Trump’s agenda of fossil fuel expansion, despite scientists’ warnings that this was the root of the problem. His administration delayed most regulatory actions concerning climate change, proposing instead new ones to accelerate fossil fuel development. At the same time, he proposed actions that undermined clean energy development and energy efficiency. 

Trump seriously damaged democracy by encouraging a mob to march to the capitol with the intention of overturning presidential election results, endangering the lives of congressmen and of his own vice-president. As if these weren’t enough illegal actions, he kept highly confidential documents that could affect national security, claiming they were his own, reportedly hidden among old copies of Playboy magazine, a rumor I find not believable.  

Trump now seems to be losing the support of many he enjoyed before. This was probably the result of the losses that his candidates for the senate suffered in important swing states, including the now defanged Wizard of Oz. Not only are Republican officials showing their displeasure at their former leader but the most famous Australian immigrant, Rupert Murdoch, who propelled him to the presidency, has clearly stayed clear of him, as has his daughter Ivanka, who suddenly found out that she has to care for her children.  

This is an inglorious performance for the man who until recently commanded world attention. An analysis of Donald Trump’s actions show that they are consistent with a narcissistic personality, a megalomaniac (as famously described by his former Attorney General William Barr) without any real concern for his fellow citizens, the world or democracy. This is the opinion shared by 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts in the book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” by Dr. Bandy Lee. Given all these circumstances, one can safely say that Donald Trump is a hero in his own mind.