I am cheered to see an apt psychological summation of the human shadow emerge from the world of politics.

When US President Donald Trump re-acted with a characteristically mean personal attack after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said something Trump didn’t like about trade between their two countries — which was simply the truth, had been said before, and should have been no surprise at all to Trump — Roland Paris, a former advisor to Trudeau and a Professor of International Affairs at the University of Ottawa had this to say on twitter about Trump:

“Big tough guy once he’s back on his airplane. Can’t do it in person, and knows it, which makes him feel [weak]. So he projects these feelings onto Trudeau and then lashes out at him. You don’t need to be Freud. He’s a pathetic little man-child.”

Thank you, Roland. For stating exactly how the deadly cycle of denial, projection, and blame is manifesting yet again in the current president of the United States.

Thanks also to other political analysts, who pointed out: since Trump was on his way to a meeting with another famously cruel dictator, he thought a personal trouncing of someone who dared to disagree with him would make him look tough in the eyes of the other dictator.

How low we have sunk.