The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) provides a field day for psychiatrists and psychologists trying to grasp what is or isn’t functioning in Trump’s brain. Merely Google Trump psych issues, and you will find 32 million sites. These postings range from paranoia, narcissism, personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder.

Mary Trump, niece of the former president, is a psychologist and the author of Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. In her book, she describes our former president’s father and her grandfather as “a high-functioning sociopath.” His name was Frederick Christ Trump. If I were writing a sci-fi or horror book, no one would believe the middle name of Trump’s father. Nevertheless, it does explain where our former president inherited his notion that he is a Christ-like martyr.

It was Freud who coined the term projection. It is a tool used by people as a defense mechanism. One can project that person’s undesirable feelings onto someone else. Trump criticizes weak leaders, including all elected Democrats and all the non-MAGA Republicans, while he glorifies Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un. This is Trump on Fox News.

Trump is talking about these really smart dictators, and he is so intelligent himself that he can evaluate equally smart people. My grandmother had a mantra, “I love me, I think I’m grand. When I go to heaven, I’ll hold my hand.”

Another form of projection relates to Trump’s net worth, which ranges up to $10 billion.

Forbes has an annual list of the top 400 richest people in America.

Forbes 400

Forbes removed Trump from their list last year, the second time in the past three years. No one knows his net worth, but most estimates range from $2-2.5 billion.

However, Trump’s lawyers told the court overseeing the $464 million judgment in the New York civil fraud case that Trump doesn’t have that much cash on hand. To make matters worse, he can’t find a bond company to put the cash for him.

Trump may be waiting for Elon Musk or Mohammed bin Salman to lend him a half-billion dollars. We will have to wait until Monday to find out if either Musk or MBS will give him that amount as a gift. They know it must be a gift because Trump won’t repay them. As my grandmother said, “I love me, I think I’m grand. When I go to heaven, I’ll hold my hand.”

The Manhattan Appeals Court judges will decide whether to lower or altogether remove what Trump owes on March 25. Most knowledgeable money types are betting the Appeals Court will want the total amount in cash. New York Attorney General Letitia James patiently waits for the court to decide; Trump is impatiently waiting for some sort of financial deus ex machina. Additionally, the half-billion dollars he owes New York accrues at a daily late fee of $112,000.