Trump posted this map on social media on September 6, 2026
On Trump’s social media posts, he keeps depicting himself in fantasy roles: Superman, Jesus, the Pope, Sci-Fi leader of dystopian death machines & a larger than life military commander. His fantasies are sometimes “official,” communicated to the American public directly under White House insignia, and they frequently come in waves of multiple fantasies at one time. Over Labor Day he indulged and made it public 37 times.
Fantasizing during times of stress instead of working to resolve crises wrought by his own incompetence suggests Trump detaches from reality as a defense mechanism. I’m no psychoanalyst but someone needs to drive a serious conversation about the dangers of what we’re seeing. A sudden shift into immersive fantasy worlds is regarded as classic form of dissociative absorption, where the brain rapidly checks out of the physical world and floods consciousness with an imagined reality to cope with overwhelming real-world stress. The power fantasies also look like an admission: Trump craves supernatural powers like any pre-pubescent boy, but knows he is out of his depth.
Trump’s fantasies often portray themes of destruction. Over Labor Day he depicted himself masterminding space command, pressing buttons on the console to detonate nuclear bombs. In another, he’s leading a futuristic army of androids and killer robots. Neither is safe or sane as he as he actively moves these fantasies toward reality- his administration is accelerating the deployment of a new generation of experimental nuclear reactors, while also pursuing autonomous killing robots programmed to kill without real time human direction.
Standing alone, a president dissociating from reality to spend hours mired in fantasies of world domination is alarming enough. But in the context of what he is actually doing, Trump’s insanity is dangerous and triggers a moral obligation to act.
The world is watching, aghast
Americans are not the only audience watching his impairment; our adversaries, including those who would do us harm, are also watching. Gone are the days of ‘Trump just being Trump,’ as if an imbecilic bully were somehow charming and wink-worthy.
Trump 2.0’s unprovoked aggression on the world stage has forfeited any remaining goodwill and removed any lingering benefit of the doubt: This man means to harm others. Trump has now bombed or targeted 7 nations that did not attack us first: Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen, plus alleged “drug-smuggling” boats in international waters. The unilateral executions in the Caribbean Sea, where Hegseth has ordered the deaths of more than 225 people based on unsubstantiated suspicion of drug dealing, is an ongoing war crime. Even if the slaughtered victims were running drugs, no one has legal authority to kill them without interdiction and due process.
Trump also kidnapped Venezuela’s president, “appropriated” Venezuela’s oil, and is now bombingIranian oil tankers off Kharg Island and the Gulf of Oman, all more war crimes. In Iran alone, his stunted judgment has made extremists more powerful, energy more expensive, and our allies more alarmed, yet few Republicans will admit that his unhinged aggression doesn’t look strong, it looks pathological.
Trump’s domination designs aren’t funny
One of Trump’s infantile fantasies posted over the holiday portrayed the entire northern hemisphere including Iceland, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean as part of the United States. Harmless? France24.com described it as a US ‘takeover’ of North America, which triggered “widespread ridicule and questions about Trump’s fitness for office.”
The standalone lunacy is bad enough, but real time context makes it worse. Trump started the war in Iran without consulting allies, then turned around and castigated them for not bailing him out from his colossal mistake, blasting them as ‘cowards’ and calling NATO a “paper tiger.”
Although partners reliant on U.S. defense and trade were initially reluctant to speak out, they aren’t keeping mum any longer. As El Pais puts it, “across multiple summits and official declarations, EU officials have transitioned from quiet anxiety to sharp, public pushback.” Shame-naming “the international disorder created by Donald Trump,” our erstwhile European allies are forging new alliances with diminished— or entirely eliminated—ties to the U.S.
World leaders are calling out the danger, why aren’t Republicans?
In one of Trump’s Labor Day posts, Trump depicted himself physically dominating Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, while calling him “Governor.” If there’s any strategy behind alienating a peaceful neighbor through continuous insults, it’s hard to find.
It’s possible that Trump, a reality TV host who bankrupted six businesses and paid almost no federal income tax before becoming president, is triggered by Carney’s staid competence. Carney, elected in large part for pushing back against Trump, is an economist and former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. Carney is widely respected as an economist across major Western economies and global financial institutions, notably in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Trump, in contrast, has an international reputation as a corrosive buffoon. In polls, Trump commands the lowest confidence rating of a national leader among many nations.
Trump’s aggressive posturing exemplifies “a hostile attitude from the U.S. toward Western Europe unseen since the end of World War II.” Earlier this year, EU leaders condemned Trump’s aggressive rhetoric toward Greenland as a “blackmail tactic,” and warned that Trump’s threats to impose unilateral trade penalties on allies would trigger a “dangerous downward spiral” in transatlantic relations. Fast forward to September, and Trump continues to threaten to stop foreign trade for no sane reason other than to flex the power because he can, harm to his own citizens be damned.
Lawmakers swear an oath to support and defend the United States Constitution; this oath requires them to check any president, including one from their own party, if executive actions cross legal or constitutional lines. Trump crossed that line on his first day back in office, and he’s been crossing it ever since. Republican legislators who fail to remove him despite this latest clear evidence of his insanity and unfitness to serve will end up with American blood on their hands.
Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.
Thanks for saying this, but unfortunately this isn’t anything new, he repeatedly acts this way and nothing is done to stop him. One comment I recently read from a European commentator was that America cannot be trusted because this obscene behavior by our supposed leader exposes the fact that our form of government is broken and exhibits no checks and balances. The point being that it will be some time, if ever, America cannot be trusted because without checks and balances we are broken. I’ve stated before I’m a senior citizen, I’ve pretty much lived my life, but as a father of five and a grandparent of 13 grandchildren I pray every day our government will heal itself and step up and do the right thing. Trump is demented and is highly dangerous. Thanks Sabrina, I pray they pay attention to your warnings.
Somebody please take a hammer and pound this into the heads of members of congress. Are all the "benefits" they get from being in congress worth letting him destroy our country? Where will they be then?