The country was on the edge of its seat to hear Donald Trump's explanation for his deplorable comments about women that surfaced in a 2005 "Access Hollywood" videotape.
Trump faced the nation in the second presidential debate against Hillary Clinton and provided his assessment: "I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do."
Huh?
What in the world is he talking about? We had all just heard the videotape for ourselves of Trump very clearly demonstrating that he has absolutely no respect for women. And now Trump's explanation is that he has great respect for women?
This is bizarre. Trump's explanation bears absolutely no resemblance to the real world. Yet in his own head he actually believes this alternate version of reality. He actually thinks that he has more respect for women than any other human being. The dislocation from reality is utterly astonishing.
A bit later in the debate, referring again to his deplorable comments caught on tape, Trump turned to Clinton and shouted with righteous indignation that "she should be ashamed of herself!"
Wha?
Now just hold on a second here. Trump was the person who was caught on tape making the deplorable statements, not Clinton, but yet somehow to Trump, Clinton is the one who should be ashamed of herself. This, of course, makes absolutely no sense.
Welcome to the bizarre mind of Trump.
This twisted perspective, unhinged from reality, is reflected in many of Trump's views. Take for example Trump's assertion that he is going to quickly eliminate the terrorist organization ISIS. Sounds great. The only tiny little problem is that Trump has absolutely no plan for how to do it. So, this is nothing more than a fantasy inside his own mind. It is as if Trump childishly views himself as some sort of a superhero who will solve every problem simply by donning a cape.
The same is true with Trump's pledge to eliminate crime. He says things like "law and order," and that he will be "tough," and that we must "respect the police." But he has no actual proposals or policies.
Trump says he will bring back manufacturing jobs from overseas and prevent companies in the future from off-shoring jobs. He also says that he will create a booming economy overflowing with great jobs while simultaneously cutting taxes for everyone. But how? Well, naturally, he has no plan. It's just pure fantasy. Delusions of grandeur.
In the rare case when Trump has actually offered a suggestion here or there, they have been shockingly over-simplistic and roundly ridiculed. Just think of his proposals to build a wall on the Mexican border, ban all Muslims from entering America, triggering a trade war with China by imposing a 45 percent tariff, defaulting on the U.S. debt, plundering oil from Iraq, instituting torture, reneging on our treaty obligations to defend our NATO allies, and allowing other nations to acquire nuclear weapons.
All of these proposals are wildly preposterous.
Trump's entire perspective is detached from reality. To make the matter worse, Trump is convinced of his own superiority, he believes that his warped views are absolutely correct despite mounds of evidence to the contrary, and he refuses to listen to advice from others.
Yet this man, off in his own detached reality, is but one step away from controlling the nuclear codes.