Narcissus in the White House

Milan Kundera in his novel "The Festival of Insignificance" describes one of his characters as a Narcissus and then says, "a Narcissus is not proud.  A proud man has disdain for other people, he undervalues them.  The Narcissus overvalues them, because in every person's eyes he sees his own image, and wants to embellish it. So he takes nice care of all his mirrors (15)."

Our current president is both a Proud Man and a Narcissus.  He has disdain for anyone who is different, especially persons of color, and anyone who will not submit to his total control--thus he is a Proud Man. His "mirrors," the infatuated eyes, are the persons in his base who slavishly follow and agree with his every whim. Thus he is a Narcissus.

Republicans are totally obsequious to his every demand. Even Orin Hatch who was 88 years old and not running for reelection in 2018 seemed ready to satisfy the President's homoerotic desires even if this meant their being caught In flagrante delicto. Sometimes the submission seems predicated on self preservation but many times it seems the person is simply mesmerized.