Hegseth’s dry drunk
Talking about self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth.
Dry drunk is an expression coined by the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous that describes an alcoholic who no longer drinks but otherwise maintains the same behavior patterns of an alcoholic.
A dry drunk can be described as a person who refrains from alcohol or drugs but still has all the unresolved emotional and psychological issues which might have fueled the addiction to begin with. These unresolved issues continue to have a hold on their psyche and hence, while they do not seek intoxication, they exhibit many of the other behavioral traits associated with addiction.
(Wikipedia)
In particular I think that Hegseth’s extreme grandiosity is partly attributable to his being on a dry drunk. He honestly seems to see himself as potentially going down in history, most gloriously, for having led a worldwide triumph, Armageddon-style, over the forces of the Muslim infidel. I know that he’s never been professionally diagnosed as alcoholic. But when his drinking was out of control to where his colleagues at Fox “News” saw the need to go public about it, I think we can take for granted that he’s a drunk.
By no means am I suggesting that everything about Kegbreath is to be explained solely by his being on a dry drunk. In all likelihood he was at least developing narcissistic personality disorder before he ever tasted his first beer. With someone as fucked up as this guy there are always multiple factors involved.
Hegseth was valedictorian at Forest Lake High School, and went to Princeton. He’s a great example of how someone can be exceptionally book-smart but a deranged, downright stupid mess in real life. Unfortunately such people are able to acquire power all too often.
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