When Systemic Pathology Threatens the Nation
Part Three: The Public Cost of Pathology
Introduction: A federal budget is a statement of administration priorities. Under a pathological leader, it projects that leader's psychological needs.
Part One of this series examined the professional opinions of mental-health experts who argue that Donald Trump’s public behavior has, for years, consistently displayed diagnostic markers and behavioral traits associated with severe grandiose or malignant narcissistic pathology.
The medical and psychological literature describes that pathology through characteristics including grandiosity, moral judgment aligned with self-interest, indifference to harm, exploitation and manipulation of others, impaired reality perception, and refusal of accountability.
Part Two linked those traits to the economic policies of the Trump administration. It examined:
tax policies transferring enormous benefits to America’s wealthiest citizens;
Trump’s unprecedented accumulation of personal wealth through holding presidential power;
his family’s financial positioning in industries benefiting from his administration’s spending priorities;
weakened oversight of billionaires and corporations;
the transfer of greater financial risk and costs onto ordinary Americans.
The point was not that every harmful economic policy proves mental illness. It was that the observable pattern of governing behavior closely reflects the pathological traits mental-health professionals have described.
Part Three follows that pattern into Trump’s expenditure of public money.
What happens when a president driven by grandiosity, self-interest, dominance, indifference to harm, and a need to make himself visible, important, and the center of attention gains enormous influence over how the United States spends its tax dollars?
To answer that question, we need only to follow the money.
Tax dollars already spent or directly incurred
The following expenditures have already been paid for with tax dollars or have created direct, identifiable public costs. They are not long-range projections or future funding requests.
Snapshots:
Federal workforce “efficiency” — up to $15.1 billion: The Trump administration cast its federal workforce purge as a program to eliminate waste and make government more efficient. Public Citizen estimates that the “Deferred Resignation Program” instead cost taxpayers between $11.1 billion and $15.1 billion through March 2026 by paying at least 140,000 federal employees while they were no longer working.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: grandiose certainty; impulsive dismantling of institutional constraints; refusal to anticipate consequences.
Source: Public Citizen
Workforce severance and reinstatement — approximately $776 million: The expense of Trump’s workforce purge did not end with paying employees to leave. Estimates place reduction-in-force severance costs at approximately $763.9 million and the administrative cost of reinstating fired employees at more than $12.1 million after agencies rehired workers to meet operational needs or comply with court orders.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers — first to remove employees, then to rehire them to repair the consequences of getting rid of them.
Pathology link: impulsivity; refusal to consider consequences before acting; refusal to accept responsibility for destructive decisions.
Source: MeriTalk, citing the Partnership for Public Service.
Military operations in Venezuela, the Caribbean, and Eastern Pacific — at least $4.7 billion: Despite no evidence of criminal intent or national threat, The Trump administration justified Operation Southern Spear and Operation Absolute Resolve as national-security operations in Venezuela, the Caribbean, and the Eastern Pacific.
Brown University’s Costs of War project estimates those operations cost taxpayers at least $4.7 billion between August 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026. Ongoing naval and aircraft operations continued to add millions of dollars per day.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: grandiose military action; dominance as foreign policy; indifference to the financial and human consequences of escalation.
Deploying troops into American cities — approximately $496 million in 2025: The administration justified federal troop deployments to American cities as necessary to protect federal operations, maintain order, and support immigration enforcement.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the deployments cost $496 million in 2025. Maintaining the deployment footprint in place at the end of the year would cost another $93 million every month.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: coercive governing instincts; political conflict converted into military spectacle and displays of presidential power.
Source: Congressional Budget Office.
Military deportation flights — approximately $33 million: The administration used military aircraft to transport migrants as part of Trump’s immigration-enforcement campaign.
A congressional investigation into Defense Department resources diverted to immigration enforcement estimated approximately $33 million in military deportation-flight costs.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: domination; instrumental use of the military; visible punishment as political performance.
Source: Congressional cost report from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. John Garamendi.
Migrant detention support at Guantánamo Bay — approximately $73 million: Trump announced plans to use Guantánamo Bay to hold as many as 30,000 migrants as part of his mass-deportation campaign.
Defense Department information provided to Congress later placed Pentagon support for the operation at approximately $73 million, while government reporting showed fewer than 100 migrants were processed at the base during one recent reporting quarter.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers through Defense Department resources.
Pathology link: coercive spectacle; punishment made visible and dramatic; grandiose financial scale disconnected from operational reality.
Trump’s military parade — up to $45 million: The Army presented the June 2025 parade as part of its 250th anniversary celebration and a military recruiting opportunity.
The parade, held on Trump’s birthday after he had sought such a spectacle for years, involved more than 6,000 troops, tanks, artillery, military vehicles, and dozens of aircraft. Army leaders estimated its cost at between $25 million and $45 million.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers through military funding.
Pathology link: grandiosity; self-glorification; military power converted into personal spectacle.
Source: Associated Press.
Trump’s Reflecting Pool project — more than $16 million…and counting: Trump personally made renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool a priority, initially suggesting the project could be completed quickly and for roughly $1 million.
The renovation ultimately exceeded $16 million, including more than $14.6 million for resurfacing and approximately $1.74 million for an algae-control system. Days after the work was completed, the pool again suffered algae and peeling problems that required additional attention.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers through the National Park Service.
Pathology link: grandiose confidence in personal expertise; presidential aesthetic preference converted into federal priority; refusal to recognize the limits of personal judgment.
Source: ABC News and ABC News follow-up
July 4 fireworks — approximately $1.6 million: The administration used National Park Service entry-fee revenue to help finance Washington projects and the nation’s 250th-anniversary celebration.
Internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post showed $1.6 million in park revenue directed toward the July 4 fireworks display — more than five times the amount typically spent on the event.
Who pays: National Park Service through revenues earned via visitor entry fees.
Pathology link: spectacle and visibility prioritized over ordinary institutional purposes.
Source: The Washington Post.
The Tally So Far
The limited expenditures above place more than $21 billion in identifiable public costs to date on the ledger. That is a floor.
It does not measure every lost employee. It does not capture the value of institutional knowledge destroyed by the workforce purge. It does not count every continuing day of military deployment. It does not price every lawsuit, contract modification, repair, staff hour, or security adjustment caused by Trump-directed projects.
And it does not include the much larger funding commitments already created.
Tax dollars Congress has already made available
The following funding has already been appropriated or legally made available. It should not be confused with money already spent, but the public financial commitment exists.
The 2025 Homeland Security funding expansion — $165 billion: The Trump administration described the 2025 reconciliation law as providing a “historic” $165 billion in appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security to help execute the president’s arrest and deportation mandate.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: coercive capacity rewarded with extraordinary institutional expansion; punishment, domination, and indifference to harm converted into long-term government infrastructure.
Source: Department of Homeland Security.
Nearly $70 billion more for immigration enforcement: In June 2026, Trump signed another law providing nearly $70 billion for his immigration and deportation agenda through the remainder of his term.
The White House said the legislation provides $38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $26 billion for Border Patrol, and another $5 billion for unforeseen costs.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: escalation when challenged; indifference to harm; punishment and coercive power treated as governing priorities.
Source: Associated Press.
Kennedy Center renovation — $257 million: The Kennedy Center says Trump secured $257 million from Congress for a major renovation of the institution after he took control of its leadership and became personally involved in its programming, appearance, management, and identity.
Who pays: U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: grandiosity; institutional personalization; a national cultural institution treated as an extension of presidential preference and authority.
Source: Kennedy Center.
The White House ballroom — approximately $300 million in projected taxpayer exposure: Trump repeatedly assured Americans that taxpayers would not pay for his White House ballroom.
Internal contractor estimates obtained by The Washington Post later placed the project’s estimated total cost at approximately $600 million, with half projected to come from tax dollars. The Post also found public invoices worth tens of millions of dollars had already been approved.
The entire estimated $300 million taxpayer share has not yet been spent and should not be counted as an already-paid cost. It is public financial exposure.
Who pays: donors and, according to internal project estimates, U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: monumental self-display; grandiosity translated into architecture; denial or minimization of the public cost of a presidential legacy project.
Source: The Washington Post.
These expenditures and funding streams place more than $235 billion in legally opened, appropriated, or projected public exposure on the ledger from just the limited examples above.
Again: that is not the same as saying $235 billion has already been spent. But taxpayers have already been placed in the financial path of presidential priorities that closely reflect the pathological behavior examined throughout this series.
Tax dollars Trump has formally requested
The following money has been formally requested by the Trump administration but has not necessarily been approved or spent.
Operation Epic Fury (Trump’s war against Iran) — $67.1 billion: On June 24, 2026, the Trump administration formally transmitted a supplemental funding request to Congress. The biggest single item was $67.1 billion for the Department of War, including $17.3 billion for Operation Epic Fury’s operational costs, $21 billion for munitions, $12.1 billion for classified programs, and other readiness, fuel, drone, cybersecurity, and military expenses.
Who pays if approved: U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: grandiose military escalation creates consequences that return to Congress as emergency financial necessity; the leader initiates the action and the public finances the aftermath.
Source: Office of Management and Budget, June 24, 2026 supplemental request.
Golden Dome — approximately $1.2 trillion over 20 years under a CBO model: The following independent government estimate concerns the possible long-term public costs of Trump’s Golden Dome missile-defense proposal. The Defense Department has not released enough detail about its final architecture for the Congressional Budget Office to estimate the precise long-term cost of the actual system.
CBO therefore modeled a national missile-defense architecture with capabilities broadly consistent with those called for in Trump’s executive order. Its estimate to develop, deploy, and operate such a system for 20 years? Approximately $1.2 trillion.
Who pays if the project follows that path: current and future U.S. taxpayers.
Pathology link: monumental scale; personal branding fused with national strategy; grandiose objectives advanced before their technical feasibility, final architecture, and long-term costs are settled.
Source: Congressional Budget Office.
The cost still hiding in the walls
The following Trump-directed projects, reversals, branding exercises, and spectacles have documented government activity or known project value, but their full public cost has not yet been isolated.
They should not be added to the totals above without evidence. They should not be treated as free, either.
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico: Trump ordered the federal government to use “Gulf of America,” requiring changes to federal maps, documents, communications, and terminology. Federal employees did the work. The final public cost has not been tallied.
Pathology link: symbolic domination; personal branding translated into government labor.
Source: White House executive order.
Installing, defending, and removing Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center: Workers installed Trump’s name. Lawyers defended the naming decision. The courts ruled he had no right rename the building. Workers later removed the name. The government appealed.
The complete cost of installation, litigation, removal, and appeal has not been publicly isolated.
Pathology link: grandiosity creates the action; institutional compliance distributes the cost.
Source: Reuters, and Reuters after court decision, and Reuters after appeal.
The White House UFC spectacle: Government court filings described a White House UFC event valued at more than $60 million and involving tens of thousands of labor hours.
UFC and affiliated private entities funded the event itself, so the $60 million should not be counted as taxpayer spending.
But more than seven federal agencies and hundreds of federal personnel were reportedly involved in producing and securing the spectacle. The public labor and opportunity cost remains unpriced.
Pathology link: federal institutions converted into production infrastructure for personal spectacle.
Source: Associated Press.
The proposed monumental Independence Arch: Trump has advanced plans for a monumental arch in Washington. No official cost estimate has been released, and the full public/private funding division remains unresolved.
But public planning, review, security, infrastructure, and government labor do not become free because a final invoice has not yet been published.
Pathology link: monumental self-expression; scale and legacy translated into governmental priority.
Source: Associated Press.
Economic damage created by pathological government
The following costs are not direct federal expenditures. They are estimates of economic value destroyed when government policy dismantles workers, institutions, scientific research, and productive capacity.
Federal workforce and research disruption — more than $165.6 billion in estimated economic damage: The Partnership for Public Service estimates that Trump administration workforce and funding disruptions have inflicted more than $165.6 billion in broader economic damage, including roughly $94.6 billion associated with science-grant cuts and research disruption.
The workforce destruction was enormous in scale: GAO reports that nearly 378,000 employees separated from 22 major federal agencies during 2025, while only about 127,000 were hired; the workforce across those agencies declined by nearly 256,000, or more than 11 percent, from December 2024 to January 2026.
Who pays: workers, universities, research institutions, businesses, patients, communities, and the broader American economy.
Pathology link: hostility toward expertise; grandiose certainty; indifference to downstream harm; destruction treated as efficiency.
Source: Partnership for Public Service, U.S. Government Accountability Office.
So how much?
Based only on the limited projects and policies examined above:
More than $21 billion has already been paid or directly incurred in identifiable public costs.
More than $235 billion has been appropriated, legally opened, or placed into projected public exposure through the limited funding streams and projects examined here.
Another $67.1 billion has been formally requested for the Department of War to wage Trump’s unilateral war against Iran (not Congressionally approved).
Trump’s workforce and funding disruptions have also produced an estimated $165.6 billion in broader economic damage.
A national missile-defense system broadly consistent with Trump’s Golden Dome vision could place taxpayers on an approximately $1.2 trillion, twenty-year cost.
These numbers should not be combined. But separating them does not lessen their impact. The repetition reveals the pattern: again and again, the American public is forced to pay for presidential priorities that closely reflect the symptoms of Trump’s pathology.
Why Trump’s spending matters to pathology
This is not an article about a president buying an expensive toilet seat. It is not a conventional government-waste report. The spending pattern matters because it reveals what’s important to Trump and his backers and what is not.
The pattern is a psychological window into who they are.
Psychotherapist Madeline Taylor describes Trump in terms that make the spending pattern especially disturbing:
“Delusional narcissists, like Trump, cannot integrate any information that doesn’t already concur with what they need to believe. He literally can’t tolerate hearing any perspective but his own...any voice but his voice. He has even told us directly that he confers only with himself, and only his own ‘morality’ can stop him from doing something. He is driven by an ancient determination to make himself visible, important, large, and central.
“Because Trump’s behavior is now so egregiously self-centered--lying, cheating, and stealing from the American people, bullying, gaslighting, and threatening his way to billionaire-hood--more journalists, media personnel, and ordinary Americans are recognizing that there’s something wrong with him and that he is a severe danger to the nation and the world.”
Now consider the ledger. A massive military parade. A monumental White House ballroom. A speculative $1 trillion project branded “Golden Dome.” The Oval Office gilded. Trump adding his name to the Kennedy Center. Military action to project Trump’s dominance. Armed troops deployed into American cities. Trump wanting his face carved on Mount Rushmore. A vastly expanded immigration-enforcement apparatus built around raids, detention, deportation, and public intimidation.
The projects differ, but the recurring psychological themes do not: Visibility. Self-Importance at Scale. Centrality. Dominance. Obedience. Punishment. Indifference to Harm.
A federal budget is a statement of priorities. Under pathological leadership, it projects of the leader’s psychological needs.
Grandiosity gets appropriations.
Dominance gets an army.
Intimidation gets an enforcement apparatus.
Self-glorification gets construction contracts.
The public gets the invoice.
That does not mean every dollar spent by the Trump administration proves mental illness. It means the spending pattern is consistent and unmistakable. Mental-health professionals have described the traits that produce it.
The president’s pathology explains the priorities.
The system’s incentives and its pathology explain why Congress, corporations, contractors, political allies, NGO institutions, and MAGA accommodate them.
Part Three reveals that the public pays for Trump’s pathology not only through tax breaks for billionaires, higher costs from tariffs, high fuel costs and inflation due to Trump’s war on Iran, and economic damage from institutional destruction. Taxpayers also finance Trump-centric spectacles, ICE brutality, military escalation, the Navy shooting people in boats, and inept grandiose projects.
Today we measured mental pathology in squandered dollars.
Tomorrow, Part Four of When Systemic Pathology Threatens the Nation will examine what pathology looks like when counted in human deaths.
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James P. Kelly,
author of Weaponized Division: What Broke America — How We Repair It
What a brilliant summary of the costs and the connection to his pathology...I could barely read it all because it is so overwhelming...Thank you James and thank you Madeline...May we live to see the other side of this, where the repair and restoration can begin...I pray for this daily...