Every adult in the world has some sense that he or she might be obliterated at any time by these weapons that we have created.
Robert Jay LiftonI'm a Brooklyn boy. I was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised there, and spent most of my childhood there.
Robert Jay LiftonAgain, I was influenced by my father, who was very much an atheist and took pride in combating the traditional or orthodox forms of Judaism, which his parents and which my mother's parents were very steeped in.
Robert Jay LiftonI never quite envisioned myself a proper doctor under that white coat, but I was interested in the idea of healing and in the psychological dimension rather early on.
Robert Jay LiftonBut I spent just two calendar years at Cornell University, though it was covering more than three years of work, and then went to medical school and did become interested in psychiatry, and even helped form a kind of psychiatry club in medical school.
Robert Jay LiftonDonald Trump gives the impression that he would like to govern by decree. He has that impulse in him and he wants to be a savior, so he says, in his famous phrase, "Only I can fix it!" That's a strange and weird statement for anybody to make, but it's central to Trump's sense of self and self-presentation. And I think that has a lot to do with his identification with dictators. No matter how many they kill and no matter what else they do, they have this capacity to rule by decree without any interference by legislators or courts.
Robert Jay Lifton