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How This Ends: Escaping the Dark Triad

Image Source: Anthony E.D. Mobbs – CC BY-SA 4.0

We have all come across those in our lives who display the characteristics now known as Dark Triad Personality. It’s a combination of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. In short, it creates a person devoid of empathy, and they use manipulation as the preferred tactic to achieve their goals. They do not feel remorse for their behavior, nor do they typically learn from their mistakes. The only guardrails are consequences that they can’t avoid with their trickery, and even then, it’s more of a containment system rather than any type of meaningful growth on their part.

We have seen the chaos such individuals sow, how they seem to thrive in such conditions. We know that they seem to bring out the worst in other individuals who don’t exhibit such cluster b disorders. They simply react to the surrounding mayhem in a grasping and desperate manner. The best course of action when individuals like this are in your life is to diminish their ability to impact you, but this is of course, easier said than done. People like this are never content, even when they seem to achieve their so-called goals. It seems that the real truth of their soul is that they constantly try to establish and create misery in others to match the rot inside their own core.

We are now seeing what occurs when such personality types are given unfettered power in government. The many enablers along the way that have simply gone along to get along have been integral pavers on this path to hell. The types who were there for Trump, I knew what they were signing up for. These ghouls paved the way for Trump II, which, of course, is loaded with characters who suffer the same defining toxic traits that he does. We are seeing the domestic violence presidency emerge fully formed and grotesque. The culpability lands on every politician who has diminished the possibility of improving life for the multitudes, while expanding the horrific accumulation trends of billionaires. This falls on all of them.

When partners trapped in such situations try to extract themselves, they find that they are in the most dangerous of times. Dark Triad personalities do not take rejection lightly and they do seem to enjoy having an enemy to identify and project all of their own loathsome qualities upon. Sometimes they kill the individual trying to leave. Another possibility occurs if their focus falls upon new victims, and of course, in a broad sense, this is just a new tragedy, not a solution. Think Venezuela, then Iran, then maybe Cuba……

Our current government is operating in the very same manner as a deranged domestic partner. It’s always been this way, to some extent, due to the inherent nature of power. Those that want it often desire it for all the wrong reasons and power self-selects for the morally degenerate. The difference at this time is the lack of limiting influences. We have men who will literally wear shoes far too large for them to please a strong-arm dictator. One remembers stories about Stalin and how he would require his men to drink all night with him, punishing those who tried to substitute water in their glasses. This is certainly “never be the one to stop clapping first” standard cult behavior. Humiliation is the goal and weak men who all go along with such nightmarish clown shows help launch the horrors to the general population.

This would be but a footnote in history if the maniacs at the helm didn’t have at their fingertips the weapons to murder untold millions and crash the world economy. Many of us would say that this economy, with its cancerous growth model, needs to be brought down, but few would say that this is the way to do it. This method will plunge the vast majority into complete and utter poverty with a Caligula Plus class to lord over it. Palantir tech will be there to make sure the net is inescapable.

Through all of this, the US has treated its allies with a disgust that wouldn’t even make logical sense to cast upon enemies. It’s almost difficult to imagine how someone could take the helm of the US and bring it down any more quickly, leading one to question whether it is incompetence or outright sabotage.

I think the most likely answer is just that this is what you get when you have such damaged and compromised individuals. They love the murder, the power and are quite vulnerable to being shoved in certain directions because of the likely kompromat that is out there. Lindsey Graham went from Trump is the most dangerous man rhetoric to the seemingly drunk all the time war mongering lickspittle we see today. If we had these men in our neighborhood, we’d avoid them on our daily walks. Yet, we have elevated them to power over us. As the realization that this situation is absurd lands upon the majority, most have no idea how to combat an enemy such as this– one who occupies the Dark Triad.

Women attempt to flee abusers by running away sometimes, but our nation has made it impossible to do just that. Like a guy controlling all of the household funds, citizens have had their finances controlled to the extent that most can’t miss two paychecks before a catastrophic collapse. They probably can’t run off to Portugal in that situation. And like most abusers, alliances have been severed anyway; they like to isolate and confuse the victims. If you don’t have allies, you don’t have a place to run to. Most Americans truly don’t realize at their core how much harder it is to live here than all the other developed nations, either. This is the dog-eat-dog style of existence we all have normalized. Americans have been indoctrinated to fear “socialism” like the battered partner fears the unknown. The abuse you know versus a mysterious world you’ve been told exists but can’t quite let yourself believe in because it almost sounds too good to be true.

The US has allowed for an explosion of poverty and accompanying homelessness, not because the money isn’t there to remedy it (it’s obviously available to murder Iranians). No, that money is there, but the feature/not glitch is to force the citizens into a domesticated state of fear 24/7.

In the past, much more effort was put into maintaining the illusion, in convincing US citizens that they were at risk from other nations and it was necessary to go on Imperial Adventures. The chaotic and epic losing going on right now will perhaps pierce the illusion that this type of society can continue. The very absurdity and accompanying horror are enough to break just about anything, including our brains. The invasion of other nations before has been met with acceptance, but this blind trust is eroding.

The end of US hegemony seems near, and the loss of the petro-dollar seems to be a foregone conclusion. It’s like the abuser is about to be served papers, but he unfortunately still has a massive arsenal.

We are definitely in that most dangerous time when the victim wants to get away from the abuser. Here is to hoping that when we look back on this time, it will be seen as the tipping point before a new and better world was born. The alternative is unthinkable and we must fight it with all we have.

Kathleen Wallace writes out of the US Midwest. Her writing is collected on her Substack page.

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