Caesarian madness is the translation of the German word Cäsarenwahn. Wahn means insanity, chimera, hallucination, lunatic absurdity and frantic outburst. I think two contemporary tyrants are stricken with the disease: Putin and Trump. Both of them have started wars. Putin about 10 and Trump two. For what reasons do tyrants launch wars? For resource gains? Yes, Putin wants the fertile Ukrainian plains, their precious metal ores, industry complexes and ports. Trump wants the oil of Venezuela and Iran.
For security reasons: Putin makes his people believe the myth that the ‘West’ wants to invade Russia. On that pretense he launched a preemptive war. I try to uncover the real motives. Trump knows that Iran’s Mullah regime is subverting the Middle East, Israel in particular, but not the United States. In his campaign he had promised: America first and no new wars. However, he launched his army against a nation that is exactly on the other side of the globe. It is contradictory. There must be other motives.
Putin and Trump both have the desire to extend their nations’ borders. Putin wants to restitute the defunct Soviet Union and Trump wants to incorporate Greenland and Canada. Both want to leave a lasting legacy and be mentioned in history books as glorious heroes venerated by their peoples in all future. They are looking for military glory to legitimize their rule. Another aspect of Caesarian madness is personality cult. The zenith of it is reached when the afflicted person believes to stand in a special relation to the deity or even considers himself to be God. That applies to Trump who has erected a golden statue of himself and a triumph arc. His name is on his Trump Towers and was on the Kennedy Center. He posted Artificial Intelligence images of himself as Jesus and the Pope. Putin in contrary has avoided erecting any monument in his honor, but his personality cult is visible in the mass media, political rallies and world-wide propaganda.
Hormones have a profound influence on the psychological and physical mechanisms that drive aggressive, dominant and risk-taking behaviors, which are characteristic of warmongers. A heightened testosterone level amplifies aggressive impulses and reduces empathy. Hormones do not just cause behavior, behaviors also shape hormone levels.
Studies show that individuals who win a competition or conflict experience a rise in testosterone, reinforcing their dominance and the will to knock out anyone weaker than them. Some scientists hold that baseline tendencies are inborn and develop at some point in childhood or puberty. Putin has eliminated his political rivals through forced exile, imprisonment and suspicious deaths. His successes in enriching himself as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg have whetted his ambition for more power. He became president. Trump’s election successes went to his head. He believes in having a mandate to destroy all obstacles hindering his vision of America as the ‘hottest’ and mightiest country.
Both ‘alpha’ males are ruining their respective country. And both of them do not see the chaos they are causing. They live in a fake information bubble. Putin listens to people who are afraid to tell him the truth. Trump trusts his MAGA sycophants. And when the truth comes out irrefutably they ignore it. They decide to construct a ‘parallel world’ where they can live their illusions. They declare victory although there is only defeat. They indulge in chimeras because admitting defeat is unbearable. They suffer not from the weight of their guilt but from the vague dawning that their enemy is stronger. So they lie to themselves until they believe their own lies. That’s madness.