From the Boston Herald,
Like the self-explanatory poster that declares “Russell Crowe is ‘Unhinged,’” the new documentary “Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump” sounds like it might be a funny look at the controversial guy in the White House.
Not so, says producer-director Dan Partland, 50. “We were very aware making this film that a lot of people saw Trump’s antics as odd, unusual, out of line, outrageous even but not scary.
“What we tried to show was while that may be attractive, what’s underlying it is really deadly serious.”
“Unfit” took wing in 2018 when, the two-time Emmy winner said from L.A. last week, “Many of us were inundated with news coverage. There was a different scandal day to day but a sameness.”
Partland used a Kickstarter campaign (“We knew it would not be funded from ordinary sources”) and he went into production at the start of 2019.
“We started reading anything we could find that was published on Trump psychology.
“What the mental health pros had to share was jaw dropping. We tried to further discuss the issue with people who had first-hand dealings with Trump. One was Rick Reilly, who has known him for over 30 years.”
Reilly has written about Trump the golfer and he’s scathing onscreen, saying, “Cheating in golf reveals your character. He cheats all the time! He tells people he’s won club championships when he never played. He cheated playing with Tiger Woods!”
Anthony Scaramucci (“11 days as White House Communications Director”) and George Conway are onscreen as well.
“Scaramucci could really take you inside, he knows what Trump is like in person,” Partland said, adding, “Scaramucci provides much needed insight into the psychology of Trump supporters. He speaks very eloquently why a certain part of the electorate is so responsive.”
With “Unfit,” Partland emphasized, “We wanted to make sure we were non-partisan but anti-Trump. We wanted people to share the positives of Trump, although that was harder to come by.
“George was important because he and Scaramucci and some others could really explain the change from being a Trump supporter to being anti-Trump.”
(“Unfit” is available on streaming platforms.)
And an indirectly related exclamation from the Lincoln Project.
*****
Statement from Joe Biden on the violence in Portland:
The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable. Shooting in the streets of a great American city is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by any one, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same. It does not matter if you find the political views of your opponents abhorrent, any loss of life is a tragedy. Today there is another family grieving in America, and Jill and I offer our deepest condolences.
We must not become a country at war with ourselves. A country that accepts the killing of fellow Americans who do not agree with you. A country that vows vengeance toward one another. But that is the America that President Trump wants us to be, the America he believes we are.
As a country, we must condemn the incitement of hate and resentment that led to this deadly clash. It is not a peaceful protest when you go out spoiling for a fight. What does President Trump think will happen when he continues to insist on fanning the flames of hate and division in our society and using the politics of fear to whip up his supporters? He is recklessly encouraging violence. He may believe tweeting about law and order makes him strong – but his failure to call on his supporters to stop seeking conflict shows just how weak he is. He may think that war in our streets is good for his reelection chances, but that is not presidential leadership–or even basic human compassion.
The job of a President is to lower the temperature. To bring people who disagree with one another together. To make life better for all Americans, not just those who agree with us, support us, or vote for us.
Donald Trump has been president for almost four years. The temperature in the country is higher, tensions run stronger, divisions run deeper. And all of us are less safe because Donald Trump can’t do the job of the American president.
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