History, indeed, repeats. One should read about Tarquinius Superbus. We need to get back to expecting clean elections - they are the only alternative to anarchy.
25
The symptoms fit and are indeed important to understanding and dealing with this president. I had a narcissistic husband and because he was so convinced of the reality he created in his head, I started to doubt my sanity and lived every day with great anxiety.
It is not a disservice to understand Trump’s behavior and our reactions to it; it is helpful information to have. At least we know this about how his brain functions, even without an official diagnosis it’s so obvious. There may be more because his behavior is pathological (like his antipathy for Obama), but however his brain works, it’s not suitable for being president of a democracy.
61
My father was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder in middle age and he only got worse as time went on. I recognized this disorder in Trump very clearly. What's interesting is that my dad came from humble origins -- he grew up poor -- and while he was very talented in his chosen profession, his personality kept him from being very successful. NPD is actually a tragic disorder, unless, apparently, you are very rich, in which case you can indulge yourself.
But I see another difference in Trump: his cruelty. Narcissists can be cruel, of course, but he takes it to another level with his constant belittling of people, including belittling their physical flaws or appearance. I don't think that is just narcissism -- his accounts of his father suggest that he was trained to be cruel by his (likely also narcissistic) father.
Whatever else my dad was, he wasn't deliberately cruel. So interesting to see how money and status shape even personality disorders.
The author is right about disengaging from narcissists. "I don't care what you think of me" is the one thing they have no comeback to.
74
Trump’s obvious narcissism is a prominent thread within the complex skein of his remarkable ego strength and aggressive personality. A strong ego is not egotistical in the common-sense usage of the expression “big ego”, but indicates accurate intuition, street-smart intelligence, and good independent judgement. Strong enough to withstand the attacks of bitter Democrats who never thought Trump would win the presidency. Strong enough to take on “the swamp” of Washington politics, politically correct liberal university professor enemies, and a massively anti-Trump and vicious liberal American press. Even smiling, Republican party enemies like John McCain and Mitt Romney were targets of Trump’s withering “unpresidential” tweets. As Trump said early in his first campaign, he knows personally where all the political bodies are buried in Washington and how the pay- to- play swamp game is negotiated, and deals are made. He knows the swamp from the inside.
3
The 500 year storm is upon us. And the weather report is for more of the same every day through November, 2020. Time to pick up and move back to the high ground America lest the Constitution and our most deeply held values become so much flood detritus.
26
Right now, right at this very moment, who among us has the courage and the power to end the Trump debacle? Mad Dog Mattis? Robert Mueller? Nancy Pelosi? Adam Schiff? Mitt Romney? Michelle Obama? Vladimir Putin? Pat Robertson? Liam Neeson? Michael Moore? Stephen Colbert? Greta Thunberg? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Elizabeth Warren? Taylor Swift? Shep Smith? Rachel Maddow? Trump taunts, "What are you going to do about it?"
14
“As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron.”
— H. L. Mencken
The Baltimore Evening Sun
July 26, 1920
Oh, H.L., how prescient you were. If only there had been an absolute requirement that all presidential candidates submit their tax returns for, say, the last 6 years. This debacle never would have happened and the requirement would favor ethical candidates in general.
69
It's not only Trump; there are hundreds in positions of great power, especially at the helm of corporate America, foreign governments and international corporations.
These creatures have no empathy whatsoever consequently never ever knowing they are engaged in behaviors which destroy humankind and indeed all species, including the planet itself.
So, it is incumbent on everyone of us, every reasonably normal human being on the planet, to prevent these creatures from inflicting mortal injury on all things existing.
With respect to political types, with can stop them cold at the ballot box; corporate types can be destroyed by shareholders, and boycotts, if shareholders won't do it; the rest can be shunned, denied quarter, identified and kept at bay.
My two cents.
22
This is what I see as a major problem with Trump's election and administration.
"But under ordinary circumstances, almost anything that comes out of the president’s mouth is considered news. Maybe it’s time, in earnest, to re-examine this notion."
Ms. Senior has "nailed it". The media have failed to understand that these are different circumstances, and that giving life to Trump's lies, tweets, insults, etc. have assisted him in turning the dynamic of our democracy upside down.
The legitimate media (not False News, Breitbart, etc) have to figure this out. They cannot just keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. What is it we call that?
17
Saying there are 43% of Americans who still support him is as much a lie from the media as turning his incoherent rants into complete sentences. As with everything else resulting from this so called administration polling is going to have to go through a rebirth.
It struck me that we watch the Democratic candidates going to town halls, debates, stump speeches, Washington Square Park, and meeting with real people. Listening and trying to understand what really means what to them.
Meanwhile, the so called president mounts a stage in front of paid actors and rants and raves about how mean the world is to him.
His cultists don't see in him the solution to their own angst and worries about the future; they see in him someone who gives them permission to whine, whine, whine about almost everything.
I want to see trump hauled out of our White House; it matters not whether he is wearing handcuffs or a straight jacket.
58
Republicans who fail to address Trump's illness are the problem. Hiding is not the right response when there is a critical need to speak out. They need to be reminded that their obligation is to the people.
Open letter to GOP senators:
“We The People” – affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens.
The president poses a clear and present danger to the country and our allies. The GOP knows this and you know this. Your silence and your failure to “be truthful” on this front with your constituents is a glaring example of cowardice and a negligence in upholding your oath of office. Don’t compromise whatever honor and integrity you may have left. DO YOUR JOB. Please, tell the truth. The president is unfit for office. Impeach or remove.
Contact your senator: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact
26
Well, Duh. Elections have consequences.
1
Egoity always comes to a dreadful end.
1
Once difference between the Goldwater analysis and now, is that the general public is much more savvy about such things. We're mostly better informed on the nuances of various personality disorders, so we can as a group make such claims. We know a crazy when we see one!
Many of us have had to deal with such people in our lives, be they lovers, friends, family or in too many cases co-workers. Which presents and whole new set of issues for us. When you work with one or a few narcissists, its much harder to call them out, and much harder to deal with. Family you can usually set boundaries, if need be, even end the relationship. You can leave a lover. You can ignore neighbors, etc. But co-workers? Your livelihood is at stake. You have to engage with them.
So think about this folks...when you yell at the TV about the White House enablers to the POTUS. We all enable these types at work. I'm not talking about the higher level staff, the Mulvaney's, the Conway's, etc...but the lower members of the WH staff. Those who would likely love to talk,scream about what they see and listen to everyday...but know their careers are at risk.
Most went in thinking things would be relatively normal, till they met the Boss. And his underlings...and then things went off the rails.
3
It is important to note that all of the pathological behaviour we see in Trump is merely a thick, thick skin of self-delusion that keeps him from seeing the true self-image he maintains: an empty knot of nothingness at the bottom of the deepest, darkest, dirtiest hole you can imagine.
That is narcissism. That is Trump.
His self-loathing, his vacuous self must be kept under wraps from himself. He is nothing, and he knows it, and his 'great wisdom' is a thin veil that everyone but him can see through.
All the posing is a feeble defence from Trump's personal truth: he is lower than slime at the bottom of the ocean - in the depths his own mind.
21
And your opinion column is the reason I read the NYTimes.
You and your Opinion Section at the Times make sense to sensible Citizens.
But alas we still have the Trump angry, immigrant hating--even though their family came through Ellis Island--followers who have to be awakened,
How?
Don't know I can't even convince some of my family and friends about our unhinged President.
17
If Trump supporters decide to follow him to the edge of the cliff and jump, he will watch them killing themselves, gleafully boasting how people will die for him.
One can only hope that the ones with a better instinct to survive will back off and call him for what he is: a coward, among other things.
Unfortunately they know that the mud/slime and excrements covering them is not going to disappear. So, most of them will continue to march to the cliff edge and jump.
That was my definition of the Republicans in the Senate, and revolving members of Trumps administration.
9
Like most of these articles about his toxic narcissism, this one focuses on our internal emotional and psychological oppression--we are the "family" locked in relationship with this bad daddy. But there's a whole other side to it: his pathology is as obvious to the rest of the world as it is to us, and his weaknesses look like opportunities to our national adversaries, whether it's the dictators he fawns before or the con-men who play to his conspiratorial fantasies. What is he not willing to sacrifice to them at the altar of his insatiable needs?
“Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
16
I need to say only one thing about this president: Go see "Where Is My Roy Cohn," now playing in theaters near you!!! I am completely serious. It should be mandatory viewing for Trump's followers. Then they may understand how Trump's early mentor, Roy Cohn, taught his student. I was only 14 when Joseph McCarthy was taken down but even then I knew I had seen the face of evil in Roy Cohn. This documentary proves that my 14 year old self was on to something. One salient point: Cohn says that if one is fool enough to pay their taxes, it's on them. Sound familiar? Go see the film. It will help those of us who are traumatized by having this man as president.
17
the personality disorder has been well documented during the past 1-4 years...The # of leadership vacancies is most alarming/ The # of 'acting heads' who have not been confirmed, but make policy/follow orders undermines our 'checks and balances'and thus threatens the foundation of our democratic republic. The silence and enabling of Congressional leadership is shameful and repugnant. Do the majority of our elected representatives in DC have bonespurs that prevent action and them upholding their sworn oath of office
5
Thank you for your article. Exactly. See also: http://www.publicseminar.org/essays/trump-is-americas-father-and-dad-is-sick/
3
For the life of me I’ve never understood why the press continues to bother with trump or his mouthpieces. As he, or whichever fabulist, is spewing their lies, journalists should just snap shut the notebooks, pocket the pens, turn around and walk out. Nothing newsworthy is being said in the blizzard of lies. Nothing of import is being advanced so, why bother?
The articles about trump should tell the truth, i.e. “Today President Trump lied once more about...”. The real stories are about all the damage this group of grifters is doing.
10
"But what do you do if that pathological narcissist is the president of the United States?"
Ain't that the question of the year?
12
My comment: What took you so long? I appreciate the article but was saying everything you've written, three years ago.
7
“Like many narcissistic personalities, he may cause more severe distress in others than he himself experiences.”
From the Puerto Ricans so disgracefully ignored after hurricane Maria, to the migrant toddlers separated from their parents and suffering at our Southern borders and now the betrayed and dying Kurds, I’d say there’s no “may” about it.
19
Absolutely there is an issue here. What troubles me, in addition to POTUS’s antics is that the media enable him. I’ve said for years that he needs to be ignored. If he tweets something that is his excuse for policy, then report it. But when he tweets his rants, ignore him. When he insults others at his campaign insult orgies, ignore him. It’s not news and it’s not newsworthy.
His goal is to get attention; don’t give it to him. He sucks up the oxygen, he distracts from important issues, and he exhausts the people. Bo. When he ! He gets into our heads because we let him! Yes, he’s POTUS, but we can put boundaries around how much bandwidth we permit him.
8
Also, with the personality disordered, at the first lie, they must be stopped, called out, held accountable, otherwise, like a steam engine heading downhill, they become unstoppable -- just ask Dr. George Simon, the psychologist who wrote about these unpleasant people.
5
Right on the dot!!!
1
According to my own amateur assessment Trump scores a “it was perfect” 84 on Psychology Today’s scale of “Dark Triad” personality traits (narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathy) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201301/shedding-light-psychology-s-dark-triad
But as Paul Krugman points out in “Luckily, Trump is an unstable non-genius” this bad news is mitigated by The Donald’s “...lazy, utterly incurious and too insecure...” personality and we should be (I intend to mention this at Thanksgiving) thankful for these flaws.
At 73 I’m guessing therapy isn’t going to help, missed that train long ago, drugs are probably not going to help a personality disorder, unlike mental illnesses and most unfortunately uncle Don isn’t just some old guy muttering out on the tire swing. So gotta go with Nancy on this one.
6
And an office full of go along sycophants won’t help either.
Who knew it would be so easy to find an endless supply of enablers?
6
Yes, yes, yes. We know this already.
Reading this makes me feel like I'm going to the tenth oncologist and being told, sorry but you have malignant yadda yadda for the tenth time as commercials for different snake-oils (KellyAnnConway, FoxNews, etc, ... keep popping up.
5
I love Adam Maida's graphic!
1
It is brilliant, no? I love it as well. He truly is "Mr. Nobody" (apologies, Jared Leto).
We're at the mercy of the NY Times which can never stop jumping to magnify the manufactured right wing controversies to distract from the very real Republican corruption that is always just reported as "we don't really know since this behavior could be perfectly legal as our Republican sources always tell us."
Witness the article about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
I never noticed this newspaper being cowardly when they reported on a President who was impeached for having an affair. I guess Republicans always get the benefit of the doubt?
7
We must not forget that Mr. Trump is the symptom more than he is the problem. The real illness is societal: Our society selected this man to be our President. Yes, I know, he got a minority of the popular vote, but we cannot overlook that we collectively allowed this man to become President. This is what we collectively have come to.
This shows that we are a deeply pathological society and removing Mr. Trump will not undo this pathology. A society that is constructed on the idea that each person should pursue their own self interest is bound to produce pathological leaders.
Of course Mr. Trump is an immediate danger: He walks about with the ability to order nuclear weapons be used. He could be like the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs. But removing Mr. Trump removes only the immediate danger. It will not heal our society. Let's not pretend that our pathologies run far more deep than this surface wart.
6
Truly. However, you must admit Trump does magnify the situation, like a wedge being driven into a crack. He is making it larger and larger, until it becomes a crevace; finally completely splitting in half.
2
What happens when a politically boxed in malignant narcissist fears he is loosing his stage? Against which country will the “war of necessity” be waged in the next year? America does not unseat a sitting President in wartime. Russia and China are too powerful and North Korea would launch nukes at everybody within site. Trump the bully would of course consider a sure win like the Philippines or Monaco. In his distorted logic he might see a double victory - immigration and election by attacking Mexico. But the best guess is that he will purposely provoke Iran.
4
People rant and rave about Trump but so far he’s pretty safe: few have taken the streets, no national strike has been called, not even an organized boycott of his hotels or a big inflatable rat propped up outside. Come on already, where is the famous activism of the American people? Can’t even a simple march be organized? The teenagers were able to organize days of action on global warming in cities across the country but the adults are sitting idle waiting for an election? Very telling.
9
The numerous articulate, even moving comments below aside, my own diagnosis of Trump is sociopath. Having worked in a state mental institution, I’ve met many such creature. They of course could wreak havoc in only a limited sphere, but only a moderate amount of attention to Trump’s bio from the time of his association with Roy Cohn through his Howard Stern years, to his bankruptcies and above all to his horrid treatment of his wives, shows a soulless man without a scintilla of conscience intent on bending as much of the world as possible to the glory of his own image. To think that such a despicable human being would be elected president, and enjoy the near deification by a “base” that sits in megachurches every Sunday, is the severest comment on the personality of this electorate. How is it that these folks don’t know even a little of Trump’s past? The unfortunate result of this ignorance is that they elected a sociopath to be the most powerful individual in the world.
13
We're also at the mercy of a media industrial complex that profits from its 24/7 coverage of the Narcissist in Chief, amplifying his every toxic effluence-via-tweet, his Nuremberg-like rallies, his impromptu lie fests a.k.a."press briefings" on the WH lawn.
Since the day he descended that elevator at Trump Tower we've been under assault. It's a vicious cycle: The NiC's boundless ego is fed, he and his sycophants get unlimited free ad time as his/their hateful messages are replayed day and night, his dark money donors are satisfied--and the fabric of our democracy is shredded literally before our eyes.
We opine in an op-ed or in this comments section about Fox News as "the in-house organ of the executive branch." Yes, it's true and its outrageous. But mainstream outlets like CNN and MSNBC are complicit. When the AG and Murdoch meet and a Fox employee critical of the NiC suddenly resigns, it's reported as if it's just another day in Trumpland.
While Maddow et. al. rail against our lawless president and his cronies, NBC and MSNBC run an RNC video-ad that falsely accuses the NiC's political opponent of corruption in Ukraine. CNN, to its credit, refused. But they promote and run Democratic "debates" as if they are WWF spectacles.
It's hard not to feel powerless. Boycotts don't seem to work. Is it time to take to the streets?
6
surprising how many categories there are for narcisstic personality disorder or bpd...most are actually bipolar disorder which almost always has the same features of narcissm and grandiosity.
You know what? I'm going to go for a walk.
21
I divorced a narcissist in 2017. But with Trump many days it’s as though I never left. And it is traumatizing. They must all embody the same demon. They are exactly alike. Imagine the hell of Melania Trump. You could see it in her face Inauguration Day. My ex ruined every holiday every vacation every special event for me. Simply I think for the fun of it. I’m thankful I got away. The only thing we can do to get away from Trump is if he is impeached or voted out of office in 2020 and God willing to protect us all he ends his days in prison in silence. God bless Speaker Pelosi and Representative Shiff.
48
It seems that quite a few of us are in need of the help of a psychiatrist to help us overcome the trauma of the Trump presidency, myself included.
The irony is that my psychiatrist suffers from the very same trauma as I, and the doctor-patient role is sometimes reversed, which makes us both laugh.
27
While a well-written article, Senior fails to mention that we live in an age where the “cult of the persona” is given license to flourish 24/7 via news coverage, social media and the internet. Trump is a narcissist, but he knows he has a platform. The role of US president has been transformed into a contest of who can posture the most, say outrageous things and get the most media time. We must also ask ourselves what we really want in a president (and our representatives). I for one would like someone a bit more quiet.
196
I need moral language to adequately describe Trump. His condition may be psychiatric but it's clearly a moral pathology.
Some conditions of the psyche, call them sicknesses if you like, are morally problematic.
Trumps's narcissism is a malignancy on the American body politic. Narcissists of his ilk indulge in fantasies of greatness and require an admiring audience to confirm it. When challenged, their claims of greatness have clinical and moral consequences. Trump's threatened narcissism severely warps his judgment. I don't know if he aches in the early morning when he tweets, but I wouldn't be surprised. His boasts, his fragmented attempts to shore up his entitlement and grandiosity are painful to read. But his pain is our hazard.
A focus on Trump's illness, undoubtably real, obscures the most important point. It misses the importance that political leadership requires accountability and authentic service to the citizenry. Trump serves himself. Suggesting he's sick rather than bad, clinical language lets him off the hook. Given Trump's privilege and power, the moral language of blame and condemnation is a better fit. Maybe he is sick, but he's a very bad person. He may be a sad little man, but he's a danger to us all.
41
The most important idea in this column is that the media and those close to Trump make him sound more competent than he is. It's like Americans are so invested in the intrinsic greatness of their country that they cannot bring themselves to see the Emperor has no clothes.
Consider this: When was the last time Donald Trump did something that ran counter to his being a complete narcissist? It's okay, I'll wait. (Jeopardy theme plays on a loop.) The reason you're drawing a blank is because those examples do not exist. The president of the U.S.A. is not, in the truest sense, in control of the country. His personality disorder is in control. Trump has little choice in the matter. He is compelled to act the way he does. He doesn't choose to lack empathy, to be wildly self-aggrandizing, to viciously attack any perceived slight, to always need the spotlight. He is incapable of empathy. He believes in his bones that he's the smartest, greatest, best looking, most appealing. The spotlight belongs on him, always, because he is so superlative.
Unfortunately for Trump, he isn't particularly smart or able. There is a yawning gap between his self-image and reality. His many desperately embarrassing performances in media interviews are telling. Trump walks away thinking he's just killed it, and everyone listening is left cringing at his childlike understanding and reasoning. The media needs to be much more forthright in calling Trump on his idiocy.
40
I was raised by a mother with NPD who also had added, bonus borderline. People who have this are always "What have you done for me lately?" "Lately" to these people means "within the last minute and a half -- or less." My mother was a giant gaping maw of need. I could never reassure her enough that her hair looked nice. I learned 4,309,492 synonyms for attractive hair. If I did A, B, C and D for her, she would scream at me for not doing E. If a boyfriend didn't court HER as much as if not more than me, he was no good. After my father decided he couldn't take it anymore and left, she married a lovely man who spent 24 years jumping through hoops to try and be ENOUGH, do ENOUGH for her -- and died at 75, two weeks after I saw her screaming at him for taking one of the cookies that I'd brought that SHE liked best.
I carry the burden of never being enough, never doing enough, never being good enoughevery day of my life. Despite years of therapy, every relationship is fraught with fear -- fear of making a mistake, fear of not being perfect, fear of anyone being angry with me.
We as a country are now suffering from this damage. These people are never healed, and neither will we as a nation be healed.
28
Armchair psychiatry is risky...but irresistible. I’m not interested in what makes Mr. Trump tick. He appears actually to believe the nonsense he peddles, and that’s nutty. I’m more interested in Trump’s supporters, though. I’d like to hear the amateur psychiatrists opine on the nature of the co-dependent relationship between Trump and his legions.
16
From my experience with narcissism in the workplace, you can't reason with them and it's useless to question their inconsistencies to nail down a final answer. If you report them to HR, sin by sin, HR will look at each event in isolation and wave it off as insignificant and look at you as a jealous disloyal tattletale with too much time on your hands.
It's much better to give narcissists a lot of room because they will hang themselves quicker and bigger and in such a way HR can't ignore. In the case of Trump, journalist and former coworkers are reporting on every event as if it's The End of Trump, but really these reporters are being waved off as jealous tattletales trying to make something out of nothing.
Narcissists feed off of attention - they don't care if it's good or bad. Trump needs to be ignored and then he will make the ultimate mistake and HR will have to Do Something or else HR looks incompetent.
These narcissist will always have their supporters in the workplace - people who like chaos, people who are scared the narcissist will target them next, people who hate their jobs or their companies, people who are fooled, and people who think it's funny one person can cause so much crazy. In the case of Trump, his supporters seem to be people who just want to shake things up in this country - they don't care how - but they think this is the only way to do it because the old ways are so entrenched.
11
I am not sure if Trump is the ultimate example of the "Peter Principle or the mask of The Wizard of Oz. He totally ignores all advice, and because "in my great and unmatched wisdom", he latest move has now put the Kurds in danger of annihilation. In his narcissistic world, he has exposed his incompetency.
4
It's tempting to go down the rabbit hole of judging the mental health of Trump, but seen through the lens of politics, he is the kind of bullish warrior that Republicans have been yearning for. Just check out one of his rallies to see his smittened fans relishing the show, and the ringmaster cracking his whip with new confidence as if to say, "You know what they can do with their impeachment."
4
Trump’s narcissistic personality disorder makes him a natural-born autocrat once invested with power. It’s a shame that the 43 percent who still support him seem to want an autocratic ruler. They’re just going to ruin this for everybody (themselves too, they just don’t know it).
14
Given a choice between Alturist and a Narcissist, I would respect a president who is sort closer to being a Narcissist simply because the job of the president of USA is not one that is meek, nimble, subservient, pushover, self effacing, cowardly, loser, etc. Trump is seriously imperfect in the eyes of many but what will matter in November 2020 is whether America is perfect and if the latter is perfect what does it matter if the former is not?
1
Trump is not a one-time aberration. He is a smokescreen for people who are attempting a genuine revolution, one that would prevent the election of another African-American president and that would maintain a white majority regardless of the consequences for democratic values. Trump is a weapon that they hope will help achieve this. His people love him. I was talking with someone today who loved his most recent rally. They love that he refuses to respect our institutions, because they want to overthrow them. So Trump and his sick head should not be the focus. We should be focusing on his supporters, because they are the genuine enemy within. They are the true enemies of all that is good about America. Rather than wring our hands and pin our hopes on the next election, we should confront them, just as we would confront any malicious invader.
20
I’ve been thinking (and hoping and praying) in recent months that Trump will see how people mock him, distrust him, dislike and even hate him, and with the investigative walls closing in around him finally say, “Know what? I’ve had enough. I’m going back to making billions of dollars in my wonderful business empire, and you can take this job and shove it. I resign. Bye-bye.” But, sadly, I just don’t think it’s in the cards.
7
I have a narcissist father and I learned to live free of the all encompassing black hole that I grew up with.
My therapist once held her hand up in front of my face and said "This is what your dad sees when he looks at you."
My god, she did me a favor in that moment.
I understand Trump and I understand my father. My dad is a brilliant man, even at 90. He has just never known that other people inhabit this earth. Narcissism is a terrible disorder and it's deadly for a president to have.
We need to get a Trump out of the White House as soon as possible. He is getting worse and anyone who has seen a narcissicist lose it knows Trump is more dangerous now than he has ever been. His family can't control him. No one can.
34
Tagging Trump with a psychiatric diagnosis just feels wrong. It gives the criticism a false tone of authority. It would be more real to simply describe him as grandiose, selfish, mendacious, vindictive, etc.
1
Interesting column that ends with a delightful what-if scenario: suppose that Trump is no longer centered in all news media (except, possibly, in Fox) and that his "message" is only transmitted by tweet. What would that look like? How would that sound? Imagine turning on the nightly news - pick a station, cable or broadcast, whatever - and hearing only news about the world, the US, bills before Congress, the election, state and local news, and the impeachment. Suppose we were no longer afforded glimpses of the lying liar and all the lying liars that support him.
Just a thought.
12
I lived with such a creature and suffered the ruthless consequences of his pathological lies and vengefulness. They can be enormously charming, but if you can't revolve around their "sun" the hatefulness begins. Once such a person realizes you are on to him, he has to "get rid of you". My son was gaslighted and permanently stunted in all his relationships. If you're intimately acquainted with an ego monster you quickly recognize the syndrome as I did when Trump "...took over the United States..." in 2016. The battle to get away from such a person leaves you in a hopeless/helpless state. Trump has no redeeming qualities.
16
Without a doubt the press has enabled Trump’s narcissism. The constant gaggles in front of a whirling helicopter where no follow up is allowed. The televising of his rallies. Repeating his lies. Even if you call them out as ‘falsehoods,’ they get repeated.
My latest frustration is the media now repeatedly says Trump ASKED Ukraine for help in smearing Biden. Why have journalists dropped the word EXTORT? Again - sugarcoating it with not only a watered down word, but also repeatedly failing to mention the withholding of arms. Maybe they think everyone knows the backstory, but it feels like a normalization of extortion. You are playing into the narrative that he ‘asked for help with corruption.’ Not true.
But this is nothing compared to the GOP that hosts this human leech. He is a leech on the soul of this country by normalizing cruelty, ignorance and mendacity.
14
This is quite accurate. He is a delusional narcissist. No one who is that out of touch with reality should run a country. To get him out of office means that delusional rants and episodes of 'narcissistic rage' are inevitable. They are the snarl of a cornered animal. They further indicate to get him out of power.
13
I have no problems dealing with Trump.
To me he is a classic sociopath, a shameless demagogue without conscience. His administration has soiled America, its reputation, its national security, and now threatens its economic prosperity.
History will judge him and the American people including the entire Republican Party severely.
His name will be remembered in ignominy.
He will be one of the villains in our history, an enemy to our ideals and our democratic institutions.
He is that terrible!
18
Trump is what you get when you don't tell your toddler no. For 73 years. He's a geriatric trust fund baby who's never had to make his own way in the world.This is a man who's never had to bear any consequences for his actions and who believes hardship is when the bankruptcy judge tells you that you have to live on a mere $450K per month.
Narcissistic personality disorder? Yes, for sure. But to put it more simply he's just plain spoiled.
21
This is the fundamental truth of Trump in my view. Racist? As it suits his needs. Bully, of course to get his way. Misogynist? for his own image. Predator? For his own desires. Liar? Cheat? to enhance his wealth. And on and on. He is so self obsessed, that the idea of service is beyond his capacity to comprehend, let alone practice.
11
I am also a mental health professional with 30+ years of experience. People might like to know that the diagnostic categories in the DSM (diagnostic manual), as for example, narcissistic personality disorder, are based upon observable behavior (actions, words spoken or by Tweet.). And as noted in this opinion piece, the observables abound. What the article does not mention, but is known by mental health professionals, is that narcissists devolve, decompensate, into increasing paranoia and megalomania. Need I say more? The observable are there, writ large, for all to see. This is a very dangerous time, because it is not just that Trump is emboldened — which he is — but that he is increasingly terrified of being exposed as the incompetent, disfigured, imperfect and weak ‘loser’ that he is. That is why his megalomania grows by the hour, and makes him even more reckless. This is not a drill. We are in great peril.
42
It's puzzling why 43% of Americans remain supportive of Trump. Are these folks just too ignorant to understand narcissistic personality disorder, because just watching him speak at a rally should convince even a layperson in psychology that Trump is seriously deranged.
It's frightening to know that the President will always make decisions that benefit him first and America second because he's mentally unfit to govern otherwise.
19
And can you imagine how he will behave if he has 4 more years without having to concern himself with re-election?
Or even if he loses in 2020 and has a few months as a lame duck President..
Very frightening.
9
"Goldwater Rule" notwithstanding, any licensed professional psychologist or psychiatrist could make a good quality judgement of Trump just from the exhibited public behaviors. His actions provide a clear map to the faults and flaws in his psyche... as well as reinforcing with fact the perception that many have that Trump is incapable of actually -doing- the job of president. Erratic, impulsive, shallow, short-sighted, and foolishly needy, Trump is a perfect storm of awfulness as president. Regardless of his personality disorders, Trump just plain cannot 'do the job' he's been 'hired' to do. As a president, Trump is a failure. As a consequence, our nation fumbles and stumbles it's way forward, eagerly awaiting the day Trump is out of office, one way or another. And that day cannot come soon enough, for the good of the country. Let's get someone who can actually do the job in as president, instead of this overconfident, under-qualified amateur fool of a buffoon, Trump.
9
Something not mentioned in the article is that a narcissistic parent triangulates children. The child that admires, emulates and is loyal to them will be their 'perfect' child. The child who doesn't offer "excessive admiration" will be considered unwell, ungrateful and unworthy, because why else would they not buy into the narcissist's image of himself? The 'perfect' child becomes vested in remaining 'perfect' knowing the high stakes of losing the narcissist's approval. Whether the child of a narcissist or some other kind of acquaintance, the narcissist has friends and enemies. No in betweens. Narcissists play friends against enemies and convince the friends that the enemies are liars, stupid, unwell, etc.
Does this sound familiar? Trump has his loyal followers who as far as he is concerned are truth tellers. He believes his enemies are liars, bad people, stupid and/or crazy. He causes division between them. His friends know what can happen if they lose his approval. The friends stand by the narcissist and call the 'enemies' liars, stupid and/or unwell.
We as a nation have become a dysfunctional family.
17
If I were a DA, I would indict the news media as co-conspirators in the Trump mess. All of them, top to bottom, no matter the outlet or the presumptive orientation people impose on them. Oh, Fox is just the worst but that skips over the fact that the national, major media have laid down for Trump. Don't they understand what they are doing?
Trump acts day by day like a crazed person on speed and EVERYTHING he says get reported excessively. Trump should be ignored like a child who learns that crying is a technique to get undue attention.
4
I still say the source of all of this is his fear of being found out, called out, and labeled “illegitimate “. Not just about his election but an entire life. He’s spent the entirety of his life trying to prove to the world that he was something, that he creates value, that he deserves adoration when in fact he has been told and become the opposite. When you are given millions (450 million dollars) as a child and yet find ways to go bankrupt over and over - just one example of so many- then you have to keep trying to prove another narrative because the pain of illegitimacy is too great. In a sick twist that only a pathologically illegitimate person could engineer, his only escape is to seek to make any and all others who don’t adore him (and stoke his bottomless need for feeling legitimate) feel illegitimate. That’s why he seeks to punish, ‘otherize’, and erase those who don’t buy into fulfilling his pathological need. It’s sad. It’s painful. It’s unending. And now we all have been consumed by the same and the consequences are beyond any scale of comprehension and will be felt for generations or more.
7
@David H...”I now appreciate his plain spoken manner and the way he has reshaped politics.” Well now, your take on Trump may be the one of the oddest I have read to date. Do you really equate foul-mouthed, lying, ranting, incomplete and incoherent sentences and speeches with being “plainspoken? In addition, you state you appreciate Trump reshaping politics. True, indeed he has. He’s changed it from a long standing tradition where the majority of the members of Congress served the nation with honor to the current administration service to itself. Ah, David, none are so blind than those who will not see.
10
Now that we are beginning the presidential campaign, the media could start by separating all his campaign verbiage from his purported presidential duty verbiage.
That is admittedly difficult, but as a candidate, which he has never stopped being, we no longer should see his standing in front of a bunch of people with vacuous expressions, wearing red hats and T-shirts, who haven't realized and never will realize that they will be thrown under a soon-to-be-at-your-place bus. Show only pictures where he is talking to the press, with one change:
Right now, the words from the journalists appear on the screen in words. I suggest the words from the entire exchange be in words without sound. It would be one less stressor.
4
This article is right on... every day we cannot escape his domination of our country and our lives... from water to air to children in cages, to a constant changing cast of characters in his cabinet, his harsh voice blasting out of rallies, his ugly mouth and face... it is excruciating.
4
While Trump is clearly a malignant narcissist, it makes more practical sense for the sake of public and international safety to simply call him a psychological black hole which will consume and swallow everything in its path if its allowed to continue violently swirling around unimpeded.
This black hole has already consumed the minds of those who inexplicably voted for him and who continue to support his awful performance art.
This black hole has consumed the Republican Party, the Presidency, the Senate and much of the Supreme Court and federal judiciary.
He's currently swallowing the Federal Reserve.
Earlier this week he shredded the Constitution before inhaling it.
Unchecked, he will destroy the entire country, all of our institutions, civility, reality and the ecosystem.
Black holes require require isolation, quarantine and energy deprivation.
Only when we deprive the Trump black psychological hole of its energy sources do we have any hope of controlling this incredibly destructive force of nature.
Impeachment, indictment and incarceration would be be a good start...along with unplugging its Twitter account.
Let's get going, Congress !
29
Now that the chickens are coming home to roost we can expect a cornered Trump to turn to inciting violence. We are entering a very dangerous time where an unhinged president may do anything to protect his ego - and it may end up our having to drag him screaming from the White House.
7
My mother is a psychopath who resembles Donald Trump in so many ways, that every day under his administration I really do feel like I am reliving the traumas of my childhood.
The constant lying, the gaslighting, the sadism, the deviousness, the lack of empathy, the lack of remorse, the lack of anything resembling a conscience, and the all-consuming need for loyalty and admiration: For years I thought it was all normal. When I finally realized that something was wrong and she was never going to change, I cut off all ties and got away, and I’ve never regretted it. But like the Republicans who attacked Justin Amash for speaking out against Trump, the rest of my family turned against me and stood by my mother, because to them she is normal.
And because of Trump, psychopathy (or malignant narcissism) has now been normalized.
Make Psychopathy Abnormal Again. Vote all Republicans out of office in 2020!
22
Yes we all are at the mercy of this fool, not because he's the president but because he feels that he is above the law and not because he's the president but because he's Donald J. Trump.
5
Trump is a narcissist. What is Mitch McConnell?
4
The single most effective thing which could be done now, when no other kind of intervention seems available, is for the nation's news outlets to publish Trump's utterances straight, without edits or clean-ups. NYT, don't run interference, don't deliver to your readers misleading reassurance about Trump's mental condition.
6
Or, siblings.
Q. Which person is it who suffers from NPD? Trump or McConnell?
A. I can't tell the difference!
2
Who's we? There's a good 30%+ of the country out there that ecstatic that the lunatics are running the asylum. 10's of millions of Americans, and 100s of millions more of their ilk around the world who love populism/fascism. Love it. People on this planet very neatly break down into 30% left, 30% right and 40% centrist with left and right leanings on various issues. You need to learn to make peace with that or go to war with it. Sulking about achieves nothing and is an abdication of moral responsibility. Pick a side and do something about it already.
1
Spot on. It seems malignant narcissistic sociopaths are having their day. Putin, McConnell, Trump, Barr, Zuckerberg, Boris Johnson, Koch Brothers, Sackler family, Murdoch family, Walton family, Justin Kennedy, CEOs, Bankers... The list is too long.
Pelosi and Democrats in Congress struggle to keep up with the minute-by-minute spin coming from Trump’s sphere. I can’t blame them because they’ve inhabited a world where they expect people to be reasonable, ethical, and servants of public trust in good faith. They’ve never dealt (knowingly) with a sociopath, let alone one as malignant as Putin and McConnell or as chaotic and disordered as Trump.
4
Forget Ukraine, and China and all the others to be uncovered...Article 25 of the Constitution should be enough to discharge this president. He is simply not smart enough, lazy enough, sick enough to perform any of the presidential functions. That's a fact.
3
Okay, it's a small, but glaring nit, and someone has to pick it. Got my attention enough to do so. "He is like a man trapped inside a disco ball. No matter which direction he tilts his head, all he sees is himself." Um, no. It's worse than that, actually. I get what you're trying to say, but all the mirrors of a disco ball are on the outside, a person trapped on the INSIDE would be in total darkness, a void. Given enough audio reflectivity, it would be more of an echo chamber, which would pretty much accomplish the same thing.
The reality is that feeding this narcissistic personality in Trump has put the rest of us in a room full of disco balls . No matter where we turn, it's Trump, or reflections OF Trump. News media, social media, foreign media, everywhere is Trump. Perhaps the only same way to cope is taken from the title of the late Harlan Ellison's short story, "I have no mouth, and I must scream."
6
“We’re still playing chess while the president is playing checkers.”
What Trump is doing is more like lining up the chess pieces in order of increasing fatness and then smashing the last one with his slippers.
4
This comes directly from the Mayo Clinic website discussion of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
“Signs and symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder and the severity of symptoms vary. People with the disorder can:
Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance
Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration
Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
Exaggerate achievements and talents
Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
Believe they are superior and can only associate with equally special people
Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior
Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations
Take advantage of others to get what they want
Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
Be envious of others and believe others envy them
Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and pretentious
Insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office”
3
Absolutely right. We not only need a resourceful and determined opposition party — go Nancy go! — we need a huge nationwide support group. We are all living inside the very sick projections of a man suffering from a clear cut personality disorder. When Trump is impeached or voted out we need a collective period of trauma recovery. Oprah should lead a massive televised panel discussion on recovery and self care in the post NPD President era. I’m not joking — the toxic stench from living in Trumpworld must be acknowledged and we must actively work to cleanse our minds and spirits. Vote blue no matter who; then join Trump- related Trauma Survivors International.
4
Trump is an emotionally disturbed and charismatic (to some) adventurer and grifter celebrity who by historical accident became President.
We have to remind ourselves that he is behaving as he always has if not according to his nature. It might be disconcerting but he is incapable of even pretending to act 'presidential' in any conventional and reasonable sense of the word
About people who like him, they fall for his charisma (inseparable from his narcissism) and they identify with him, he's a regular guy like them
Good article
October 11, 2019 at 7:39 PM
2
Resident of that shadow universe reporting in. None of this is surprising and all of it is accurate.
2
A psychologist, in New York City, who counsels Secret Service agents and other law enforcement officers (all of whom carry loaded weapons) counseled such that The President of the United States, (incoming in Nov. 2016) was, and I quote, "a narcissistic sociopath." Translation from medical jargon: he is a man who lives in his own reality who cares not for anyone else. And, dangerous therefore. Hence, when someone's grandmother is put out of a healthcare facility because of cuts and that agent is upset about it, they have to know what they are dealing with. And most importantly, what they DON'T do about it. This information goes back to when T was the President Elect, and while the cesspool of NY crime infiltrates the NYPD, I have known cops for years who called Trump, "the narcissist in chief" and that was before he was even running for his civil service job.
3
“That’s the trouble with pathological narcissists: You can never love them enough.” Narcissist Trump isn’t concerned or wanting love, just more loyalty than most can devote to a man who is cruel.
1
That Australian Journalist was just one. Katherine Taylor, an Austrlian Guardian editor wrote a marvelous article (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/28/when-donald-met-scott-morison-reporters-inside-account-trump-white-house-wonderland) well worth US correspondents review. The column showed the sheer silliness and puffery of the daily WH show.
The US journalists should be taking a much closer view of the real issue in our 3-part system, and that is Mitch McConnell. He is holding the WH in his arms. He is the pusher, in essence, of the WH authoritarianism.
4
Narcissists have a pretense that they return the love you poor out to them, but it is only a pretense. They may even have grandiose claims of being the greatest, but that is also a pretense. When you cross them they reveal their true colors and attack you for not giving them your loyalty or love. To them the demand for loyalty expressed by not criticizing them is their greatest desire. If you fall under their spell, they will suck you dry and leave you wondering why. But like most narcissists who are also scam artists you may come back for more as you have bought the story that he actually cares. which in the end was only a mirage oflove, love which the narcissist has never felt at all.
6
“And there’s the rub: You can no sooner quit your president than you can quit your family.“
But you can quit your president. He’s not you’re family. In this case he’s a threat to your family and their descendants.
The blow by blow description of narcissism is helpful if not hopeful that Trump needs to be excised from the body politic.
We cannot stand by while he goes for his last desperate Trump card....a war against Iran.
Wheels are turning in that direction as I write.
3
Unfortunately, any positive signal coming from FOX has just apparently been blocked following a Bill Barr visit to Rupert Murdoch. Mysteriously and abruptly the next day we learned of the “resignation” of Shepard Smith. Coincidence?....I think not. Why was the AG of the USA visiting the owner of the major Trump supporting “news” organization?
7
Wow. What are you going to do when he gets re-elected?
1
I like the idea of an alligator filled moat:)
3
I was married to someone who was just like trump, except that his father did not give him $ 200,000,000. It is amazing how many people he was able to fool in part because he had few long term relationships.
3
If you want to know what a Republican with a shred of morality left feels like, just watch the Twilight Zone episode It’s a Good Life. I bet some would just as soon be wished into the cornfield and get it over with, because nobody is going to do away with our version of 6 year old Anthony.
1
The mentally impaired person cannot help himself.
The fact that we have a mentally impaired president demonstrates clearly that a large segment of our electorate has been corrupted, brainwashed to arrive at such an outcome.
Who brainwashed them? After Trump, they need to be the next to go.
We are way past deciding whether it’s safe or prudent or PC to use a particular label on this “person.” Time to get on the bus. Band together and Vote Him Out next year. I’m talking to you, NYT opinion columnists. There is no higher American cause.
2
Thank for for capturing how I’ve felt since Trump’s election. I have thought “Now I know what it’s like to be in abusive family dynamic with a raging and domineering father, and you’re just waiting until you’re old enough to leave and move far far away.” If it has been Obama acting this way, people would be saying that Blacks can’t be trusted with the vote in presidential elections. That’s how I feel about all those who still support this unstable and malignant narcissist.
2
Note to Republicans:Trump is unfit to serve
You got your judges
It’s time for the cabinet to invoke Article 25
3
It is past time to disown him, evict him from the house and give him a swift kick out the door. We hive had enough and so has the rest of the world.
3
"[Congressional Republicans] live in fear that the narcissist will turn on them" This reminds me of the great scifi story "Its A Good Life" by Jerome Bixby. "Anthony Fremont is a three-year-old boy with near-godlike powers: he can transform other people or objects into anything he wishes ... The adults must satisfy Anthony's every whim, or risk displeasing him ... Anthony changes the weather according to his whims [without a Sharpie] ... Nobody is safe from Anthony ... As Anthony can read minds, the town's population must not only act content with the situation when near him, but also think they are happy at all times. ... everyone acts as if everything is 'good' no matter what ... " (Wikipedia) Must be a frightening way to live every day.
2
No doubt Trump is a pathological narcissist. I agree. So is Bill Clinton. So is Al Gore. So is Barack Obama. So is Joe Biden. So is Hillary Clinton. So is.....
Do you see it now?? All this Washington drama and intrigue looks like something out of the Godfather. Or perhaps the Hatfields & McCoys. There may be something nefarious about Trump's behavior with Ukraine. It seems likely there's something nefarious about the Biden's behavior too.
The more this all unfolds, the more disgusted I get. I'm certain Trump will be impeached. I'm also certain that when Horowitz & Durham are done with their investigations, a goodly number of Democrats will look pretty bad too.
I think Americans have been abused by both parties over the past three decades. It's pathetic. And it's more pathetic that our media thrives on it. They love this stuff.
Maybe, someday, we'll all know the truth.
Another NY Times article that praises President Trump - is it any wonder that he might be developing some narcissistic tendencies?
The NY Times should be more restrained, more tempered in offering up fawning articles about President Trump, as it has been doing since President Trump was elected - and maybe, as some have suggested, even before he was elected.
A little balance would be nice. Some good, some bad. Covering ONLY the good about President Trump is not balanced reporting.
Heres one solution - let every Democrat pledge to make a donation to the DNC or Democrat of their choice after every tweet the stable genius posts. A dime or a dollar, it doesn't matter. It would be great to see a verifiable uptick in donation corresponding to the time and date of his evrh brilliant post.
2
There are still countless people -- some of them NYT comment writers of assumedly high intelligence -- who will blithely state that the president is disliked by the left because he is strong or conservative or defiant or whatever. They are literally blind to the Narcissistic disorder -- as I assume Trump's own children are, as they have identified with it and probably absorbed it themselves. The reasons for this identification would be of high interest to psychological researchers and therapists like myself, though they would be useless to the lay population. Still, we must face the fact that millions of people misperceive his disease as his virtue.
3
"But under ordinary circumstances, almost anything that comes out of the president’s mouth is considered news. Maybe it’s time, in earnest, to re-examine this notion."
Maybe it's time? MAYBE?
FFS, we are three years into this national narcissistic nightmare and journalists are still debating whether or not to do the obvious. It really is not this difficult to recalibrate coverage based on how this administration lies, backpedals, sucker punches, and obfuscates.
Just do it ... for democracy's sake.
4
I, for one, am sick of lay people and professionals alike diagnosing Trump with a mental disorder. Hold him accountable for his behavior, sans diagnosis. You do a great disservice to those who suffer from mental disorders, personality disorders included, who engage in treatment and seek to take responsibility for their behavior and cultivate empathy.
105
@Amie It is the rare Narcissist who will take responsibility for his behavior, since he is right at all times. However, I one-half agree. The primary actionable diagnostic label for Trump would be sociopath, owing to his aggressive malevolence. I wouldn't worry about offending the countless people who have emotional injuries and struggle to make their life work, by pointing out the president's toxic flaw.
44
I want Trump gone as much as anyone, and I’ve held him to be exhibit personality disorder since before it became fashionable. But leveling criticism based in psychology diagnosis will get laughed out of America by his supporters. Psychology is one more aspect of modern life they despise and distrust. All it earns you is derision.
Trump opponents have to convert that knowledge to a fear about Trump that enough of his supporters find palpable sufficiently to vote against him.
And good luck with that project. If they can’t dislike a and distrust a human being as obviously distorted as Trump it’s because in their own lives there accustomed to such behavior and they accept, even prize it.
They also are the danger you know.
Most prominent American presidents spoke to their constituency with words of inspiration for all. Abe Lincoln, FDR, JFK, both Bush presidents and Barack Obama delivered addresses meant to inspire the nation as a whole. Donald Trump has yet to say anything of a moving nature that will be quoted in history books, or inscribed on monuments long after his reign. That’s because he does not inspire, he incites.
This is no laughing matter. At political rallies, he rages against his opponents, using unfounded accusations and outright lies to rile his adoring supporters. Name calling, mocking and cursing, he outright encourages hatred of dark skinned immigrants and suggests, not so obtusely, that his political opponents should face the death penalty. Their crime being that they oppose him. His ugly rhetoric intentionally draws laughter – nasty, hollow guffaws.
Witnessing such behavior by my fellow Americans is not only shocking, it’s downright frightening. Seemingly decent people falling for his odious lead puts me in mind of the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. It seems he intends to lead us over a cliff with his magic pipe, his incendiary words. Let us hope that our other elected officials can succeed in dousing the blaze.
3
As the impeachment investigation proceeds, Trump is deteriorating. You can see it in his behavior and his speech. His speech at his Minnesota rally this week was startling. He could barely contain his rage. Grasping the sides of the podium like a man about to go under, his face was red, not its usual orange, and tight with anger. As he spewed his profanities and his insults, the words couldn't come fast enough. He looked like a man about to burst a vein. As I witnessed the event, it occurred to me that what enrages him so is that people he considers beneath him are daring to question his behavior. Trump would go full Henry VIII and behead Adam Schiff if he could. No wonder he says his critics are "treasonous." He believes himself to be infallible, beyond the reach of mere men. Our laws can't touch him, he makes his own law. Watching his speech, I was really struck by just how disturbed he truly is. He is out of control.
9
Trapped inside a disco ball - the absolute best description yet. Thank you Ms. Senior, a wonderful column.
1
I am angry at those who continue to support this illegitimate presidency. But more angry at those who continue to try to undermine our country for personal gain. Rick Perry, Sessions and the rest of those who have, by their actions, proven they are not worthy of government service.
16
I too grew up with an NPD parent, which is why I'm so put off with him. BUT, the larger issue is the 10s of millions that love and vote for him. "We're playing Chess while he is playing Checkers". That line cannot sum up enough the problem and discourse in our country at the moment. The Checker players have guns. I'm honestly scared about what will happen when he's impeached or loses the election. Is it just me?
29
@Scott G No, it's not just you.
5
One exceptional fictional account of PN can be found in the lesser known Dostoyevsky novel Friend of the Family; as only that most beloved author could render.
It's clear that Trump has a wide range of personality defects. But the problem is with the media, whose only goal is to drive clickstreams and increase readership. So, they focus on every Trump mistake and statement, feeding the public's outrage machine, so the people will keep paying attention and want ever more. Very little focus, if any, is put on what Trump is actually doing in the background, or what he is enabling Congress to do.
Trump is an overheated distraction blizzard with the goals of hiding what he's up to and stealing as much from the government as he can get away with. The media has let the world become only about Trump because that helps their business. The Times is better than most others, but is still guilty of this, too. The media needs to focus on responsible, ethical journalism and stop the continual train wreck reporting we see so much of. That won't fix Trump, since only the voters can do that. But at least it would make the public better informed.
7
@Max Dither, here we go again. "It's clear that Trump has a wide range of personality defects. But the problem is with the media......."
I get the complaint about the media, but at what point do you expect America to ignore the president? If it's clear that trump has a personality disorder that makes him think he's infallible, that's it. End of story.
Not only the voters can 'fix trump'. Impeachment does it, and he's certainly proved himself worthy of impeachment.
15
@deb Impeachment is important, but is ineffective if the Senate doesn't convict him as well. Frankly, I don't see that happening, so removing Trump will be up to the voters.
My point wasn't to ignore Trump. How can we, when he's destroying our country every day? Instead, my point was that the media needs to stop its incessant coverage of trying to make Trump look stupid. We already know he is. The media needs to better focus on real news, not just his covfefe moments to poke fun at him. Responsible journalism isn't about just driving clickstreams.
It was easy to see his pathology during the 2016 Republican primary. Anyone who has encountered a narcissistic personality disordered individual, and came to terms with it, could see the many giant wildly waving red flags, and watched in dismay as a large percentage of our population voted for him to assume the highest office in the country. It has been a nightmare for those of us who have learned to keep wide berth from these disordered individuals and have gone on to live happy productive lives because of it - because we are once again confronted with the daily assaults to decency that is endemic in these folks. We already knew his presidency would be a disaster, but we did not have any idea how bad. To see a portion of the general populace and many in the GOP still supporting him while everything around him crumbles is sad and alarming. This won't end well. The amount of damage he'll be able to inflict between now and when he finally out of office is impossible to predict but will be immense.
23
Fantastic interesting stuff. I will be looking for this person's byline in the days ahead.
5
Why? This is the same op ed that the NYT crews writes every day.
1
43%, I just don't understand it. How can that be? I think many who are in that 43% fall in my advanced age group. I just don't understand it. Is it pied piper syndrome (a phrase I thought I just coined until I Googled it in the middle of writing this comment)?
It's just depressing.
13
I worked for a pathological narcissist for the last four years until I quit about a month ago. I had a spotless 19+ year career until this person became my boss and everything Ms Senior describes happened to me. I was afraid that if I didn’t quit, the depression and anxiety I’d developed would deepen until I harmed myself.
I described it as working for Donald Trump except that my boss didn’t have the nuclear launch codes. I wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone, including the American people.
38
@Joanne I hope things are better for you now. No job is worth risking your health and it sounds like you did the right thing to quit. I had a not dissimilar experience, left, and never regretted it. Trump on the other hand I regret constantly ...
13
Viewed at arm's length (maybe as an exercise in political science?), it's fascinating that his Black Hole of Neediness dominates this entire globe of 7.5 Billion peeps. What must it be like to be in his head? Yikes, scary thought…
In terms of political policy (noting that it's ridiculous to use the word "policy" in reference to the Very Stable Genius), and looking past the tsunami of drama, he's not much different than any other (R) administration of the past 50 years.
2
@Miss Anne Thrope - what's it like to be in his head? I bet every waking minute he's thinking how can he make something on whatever it is he's thinking. I mean, literally, how can he make something for himself, or possibly his family. Absolutely, nothing else.
1
One need only to see Rep. Mark Meadows standing behind Trump at a recent rally and obediently mumbling assent to Trump's vilification of the Whistleblower to acknowledge the apt comparison between Congressional Republicans and abused children. But these elected officials are not children, and they swore an oath to protect our country and its constitution. They, like Trump, betray both. While Trump may suffer malignant narcissism, Congressional Republicans suffer from cowardice and lack of integrity.
46
Dr. Allen Frances wrote the criteria for this disorder for the DSM-5 manual.
"He points out that there are two threshold criteria (significant distress and/or impairment) for the diagnosis of all personality disorders, and that the president does not meet either one, so he does not even have narcissistic personality disorder itself, let alone the disorder of malignant narcissism."
"He may be a world-class narcissist, but this doesn’t make him mentally ill, because he does not suffer from the distress and impairment required to diagnose a mental disorder," Dr. Frances says.
"Trump does not show the distress one typically has with this disorder and that he has been quite successful at making money and getting elected President so that you can’t say that he’s socially impaired."
"He can, and should, be appropriately denounced for his ignorance, incompetence, impulsiveness, and pursuit of dictatorial powers. In other words, his behavior may be bad, but that does not mean that he’s mentally ill."
5
@Joel Solonche ….Among the main characteristics of a narcissist are pathological lying and delusions of grandeur. You can say that by itself doesn't make someone mentally ill all you want, but neither is it the behavior of someone who is sane.
3
@Joel Solonche .........the DSM is only a guideline as psychiatry is not an exact science.
If a patient meets all but one of the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder than consider him a pre personality disorder like pre diabetes.
2
@Joel Solonche which actually removes any excuse and increases his culpability.
And what of the psychological profile of all the people in Trumpland who blindly swear allegiance to a man with such obvious mental challenges? Certainly, their total, unconditional support of him has to be based on more than his policies, which are fluid and unclear, even to himself (other than those which benefit him personally).
Conservative or liberal, all rational people must know that his rants, his incivility, his vulgarity, his constant lies, his unconcern for the Rule of Law and our democracy are not appropriate nor desirable in a POTUS. Right?
Wrong. I not only worry about the mental health of our president, but about the millions of people who are oblivious that Trump even has a problem.
17
I think we're well beyond calling this man a narcissist. That was fine for what we knew two years ago. It's now closer to the truth to say we've got a psychopathic personality engaged in criminal actions. Let's not medicalize this.
42
I'll suggest it again - stop printing/using his photograph. Use an image of the presidential seal, the White House, an empty suit, a bankruptcy sign on a gilded whatever.
Then stop using the name unless absolutely necessary (as in, a direct quote) - stop feeding the ego.
14
It is time to stop acting and speaking like we are all victims. The only reason trump can get away with all of his antics is by the fawning sycophants he surrounds himself with and a gutless craven group of politicians who for more than a decade now have been far more interested in getting and holding office than for governing, leadership and public service. To change this you need to change the calculations of these enablers. At a minimum call your representatives and tell them to support impeachment or you will vote them out of office. Even better would be for mass protests to force the issue. Or you can sit by in which case .......4 more years? The choice is ours.
10
My mother is a malignant narcissist. People with this disorder do not accept boundaries. If you are a child of a malignant narcissist the only thing you can do is cut off all contact, a course of action recommended by every one of the psychiatrists I saw beginning when I was 19. Twenty years later I cut off all contact. The only problem is that people expect you to keep in contact with your parents and it is hard to explain the severing of this relationship without going into her damaging behavior.
19
@Bathsheba Robie Stay strong and don’t feel any obligation to reveal anything. There is a temptation to feel that it’s rude not to explain - I used to feel the same about a different family situation - but it really isn’t. They are rude to intrude into what is none of their business. Share with the folk you are close to and tell the others you don’t discuss the situation.
6
I'm retired, and have a very full life. In fact, I am far more at the mercy of my dog -- a very demanding Australian shepherd / German shepherd cross -- by orders of magnitude than I am by the guy in the White House.
1
It is still not acceptable in most circles to align Trump with figures like Hitler or Mussolini. But while those two horrific figures were responsible for far more unthinkable acts, Trump does share characteristics shown by autocratic, narcissistic "leaders" whose actions, and whose followers, led to terrible consequences.
That so many in Congress have been unable to shake free from his intimidation, and so many of his base still find his rally rhetoric exciting and inspirational -- that to me is frightening. It doesn't require a majority to turn a democracy toward fascism. As Ms Senior's essay states, "We are all at the mercy of the narcissist in chief." Even more active -- and legal -- resistance is necessary to ensure this man and his party become a feature of our history, not our future.
9
Thanks Jennifer, this opinion column is resonating with so many, its like group therapy. For once the Twitter in chief spoke the truth when he proclaimed : we have a mental health problem in this country!
12
The great value in having a obvious misfit in the White House is that it acts like a stress test on our form of government, thus revealing its weaknesses.
The first weakness is the electoral college. This is self explanatory. It is too easy for a misfit to get elected.
The second is the weakness in the impeachment process, deliberately left vague by the founding fathers to allow latitude but allowing naysayers too much room to sabotage the vote in the House.
The third is the weak design of the 25 th Amendment which leaves the removal decision to appointees of the president.
The fourth weakness is the two thirds majority required in the Senate to convict the president. A simple majority in each house should be sufficient.
With over two hundred years to repair these weaknesses in the Constitution, America has been lax in strengthening the loopholes in our User Manual.
18
I think the public is well aware of Mr. Trump's psychological difficulties, but American voters are divided into two categories -- those who obsess about how unfit he is to be president (represented by most of the comments below), and those, like me, who understand that he is a passing phenomenon and are content to sit back and watch him smash china and turn Washington DC upside down. I did not vote for him, and initially despised him. But , having lived and worked in Washington DC my entire adult life, I now appreciate his plain spoken manner and the way he has reshaped politics. I think he has done all of us a big favor by breaking the mold. Sure, he is repulsive and egocentric, but I'd humbly suggest folks not get to worked up about it. We all can vote in 13 months.
1
@David H .......your argument minimizes the gravity of the president’s damage to the country.
Trump is not a garden variety neurotic people find annoying.
He is a real and present danger to Constitutional law and the violation of his oath of office.
His damage to America’s foreign relations and the internal functioning of federal agencies like the state department is difficult to measure.
Trumps lack of relevant government and political experience is causing a significant dysfunction in the Executive branch.
8
@David H People have died because of Trump. Special that things are going well for you
3
The scariest part is we entrusted him with the nuclear codes! He would have no reservations about taking the rest of the world down with him.
13
And to make a bad situation even more difficult to get out of: there is an underlying system to fund and grow support for more candidates like Trump.
Steve Bannon, the Koch Brothers, the Mercers will still be around, no matter where Trump ends up. A Iarge group of Americans have been trained to distrust mainstream news sources, so Fox News and Breitbart can pump out the propaganda and lies and it is accepted as gospel ,
Many people believe that the Mueller Report completely exonerated Donald Trump, because their media said so. They will view his impeachment or his loss of an election in the way their media and Trump himself tell them to perceive it.
26
Not enough has been written, and said, about the narcissism of Trump. When you see him from this perspective you understand him better. Should a fixated narcissist, any kind of narcissist, be a leader in a democracy?
Can a narcissist be a leader? Perhaps, if his/her followers are “yes” people, fear abiding, surrendering themselves to magnificent wisdom of “their supreme leader”. These people appear to be in awe of this “leader” who resembles the carnival barker at a circus. He lures his audience to buy his magic potion: Himself. (Only spelled with a capital “H”.)
The other point about Witch Hunt Trump, that I believe, is not written about enough, is his divisiveness. From day one, he, in his all-knowing “incredible”, “tremendous” narcissism, has preached his “millions and billions” personal demons to his “beautiful” base. He, like Scrooge McDuck, only understands the world by the almighty dollar. He certainly doesn’t understand or care about people, even those people who have been talked into buying his magic potions. If they buy, his ego is fed.
4
We are at the mercy of our own dreams - not Trump's.
His are dark and black anyway - I prefer to dream in color - don't we all?
1
I completely understand the triggering aspects of a Narcissist in Chief. But what about the folks who are drawn to this nightmare like a moth to a flame? What exactly are the personalities that enjoy raging narcissism? People who had incredibly weak, subservient parents?
12
Finally, people are beginning to openly discuss trump’s manifest mental illness. Any lay person can read the DSM-5 and see that trump is a sociopath and has a lifelong history of untreated narcissistic personality disorder. He exhibits each and every diagnostic criterion. This should be the first article of impeachment. A dozen others can follow. If he wants to refute it, he can sit for a full psychiatric exam. Now that would be a treat.
18
As terrible as Trump is, that thousands continue to show up at his Nuremberg rallies and roar their approval at his verbal, political and moral atrocities is far worse. I can’t imagine how hopeless and pointless a person’s life would have to be show up to cheer for someone as abysmal as Donald Trump—especially when he’s stealing from them every day he’s in office. It’s no surprise his largest demographic is the least educated.
39
@Cousin Greg …. "that thousands continue to show up at his Nuremberg rallies and roar their approval at his verbal, political and moral atrocities is far worse". …..I remember as child watching pictures of Hitler's rallies with thousands of people roaring heir approval. What were they shouting? "Build the wall", "Lock her up", "Send then back". I could never understand how so many people in a country could endorse something so ugly. I still don't understand, but now I believe.
10
Trump holds a rally while Kurds are literally dying because of his decision. The Kurds try to flee with only hours of notice. Children, their legs blown off, babies being killed in their mothers’ arms during Turkish attacks while Trump shouts lies and obscenities to his cheering crowds. Shame on all of them.
What else does this president do with his time? Tweet, golf, sign executive orders he probably hasn’t read, entertain foreign dignitaries and wealthy donors at his resorts, blast reporters with his very impressive smugness in front of the whirling blades of the U.S. Marine helicopter, concoct even more cruel policies against migrants, plot with his cabinet officials and dear Rudy to undermine our election process . . . The list goes on. I am ashamed for our country. I am appalled at the probable misuse of tax dollars by this lawless narcissist. I shudder at the prospect of what can happen between now and November, 2020.
57
Enablers have fed his narcissistic needs instead of setting boundaries. When he physically taunted Clinton during the debates by walking around the stage, no moderator gave him a boundary. Why not? Republicans have failed to set boundaries by funding his campaign, by being silent, by using euphemisms such as "troubling." When the Democrats set boundaries, Trump and fellow Republicans claim it is partisanship. So, yes. We are at his mercy, and I would love to see no reporters on the tarmac where he gets the attention he wants-a total boycott of his favorite attention-getting behavior.
12
He is a pathological narcissist but also a sociopath. How a functioning voter, much less an elected senator or representative can support this mental sickness on display each and every day, will be written about for decades to come, in addition to being a blight in their obituaries and a stain on future generations of their families. The collective blindness, well, I’ll just stop there. That will be the name of the book.
27
This is more of an abusive relationship than a dysfunctional one.
Trump is the person who comes around when he wants something, but never considers anyone but himself. Trump is the person who will spew horrible things to and about others, but expects constant adulation. Trump is the person for whom ‘keeping the peace’ means that everyone has to do what he wants or he will carry on. Trump is the person who bullies, but still fancies himself a victim.
This relationship is irreparable. It cannot and should not be saved. And if Trump is this awful now, imagine how he would act if re-elected, when he would no longer even want to secure votes.
14
If you ever have to listen to a full Trump speech rather than a selected soundbite, it is clear that the man is ill. Especially the off-the-cuff statements. Especially the attacks on individuals. He is a disgrace to his office and our country.
48
I withdrew from daily aural contact with the President more than a year ago. When he shows up babbling during any evening news show, I mute the audio. I unmute it after that specific story is completed. I’m not missing anything by not hearing his weird voice and his bizarre malapropisms
I don’t watch MSNBC or, certainly Fox, and the occasional times I watch CNN, when our egotistical Motormouth-In-Chief shows up, I also press mute.
The new sense of calm in my life is wonderful. Not having to hear him sputter and spew is refreshing. After almost three years of his grotesque racist presidency, with all of its foreign policy mistakes and failed national policies, there’s a new-found joy in my life.
The excellent New York Times, my only national digital subscription, keeps me well-informed about the chaos caused by the corrupt colluding criminal in the Oval Office.
I wish Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert on their shows, both of which I watch a few times a week, didn’t have so many short clips of the president ratcheting up his venom, but there’s nothing much I can do about that. It’s pointless to mute a quick soundbite. I like Meyers’ “A Closer Look” segment a lot.
For me, I don’t need to actually listen to the sick and twisted narcissist in the White House. I’m looking forward to the day he’s impeached or loses in 2020.
Civilized Americans will sing happy songs again. What a truly glorious breath of fresh air that will be.
23
@Carmela Sanford
Thanks for this. It encourages me to try to remove the grifter from my life as best as humanly possible.
2
How about a column analyzing the psychological difficulties of those who refuse to do anything about invoking the 25th amendment?
10
Elsewhere in this issue of The NYT is a letter by
Leonard L. Glass, Bandy X. Lee, and Edwin B. Fisher
addressing this same deep concern. The writers are professors, respectively, at Harvard Medical School, Yale School of Medicine and Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
9
@Liz C
And? I can only wonder if they vote.
1
Washington works for us. Donald Trump is unfit to be the president of any organization, let alone the United States of America. 2020 will be louder than 2016. The Republican Senate should unite, now, rather than later. Remove Trump. I am sick and tired of reading about Trump's mental problems because, by this time, there is enough evidence to impeach both Trump and Pence.
7
What do I do? I tune in to Bill Maher. He has the best words.
4
I hate to quibble with the premise of this article because I don't like trump either, but it is time to reset the conversation about the degree to which the president - any president - actually affects our lives. Trump and the political / media culture in this country is annoying and dysfunctional, but it really isn't affecting my life in any meaningful way. No president ever has. I'm certainly not traumatized. You all give this man too much power over your emotions and way to much credit. Perhaps the real problem is with the media. They say and write this all the time as an excuse for their coverage of him:
"almost anything that comes out of the president’s mouth is considered news."
And that's simply wrong. It's news that the country elected this horrible person to be president but that's about the extent of it. It's time to just laugh at him and his deplorable supporters.
4
@Neildsmith This argument always makes me so sad. Yes, we can turn off the news and hope that our lives will stay the same, and that can help us sleep at night. But the truth is that every President the United States has EVER had affects your daily life. I assume you drive on the interstate highway? I assume you work with people who are African-American? Those friends and co-workers are not slaves today because of the policies of a president. Unless your ancestors were Native American, you are an American thanks to the immigration policy of one administration or another. You will (hopefully) get a small pension when you retire from Social Security, which gives many Americans some peace of mind. Likewise, if you lose your job, you will be saved from absolute poverty while you look for a new job by unemployment insurance. The food and drugs you buy are safer because of FDA policies. The very air you breathe and water you drink has been affected by EPA requirements. The list is endless.
Certainly no President did any of these things on their own. They are the the result of programs, laws and regulations hard won by hundreds of years of debate between all the branches of our government. Your argument ignores the fact that this particular president believes that he "alone can do it" and thumbs his nose at the authority of the other branches of government.
The risks to our daily lives may never have been greater.
4
All right, fellow NYT readers: survivors of a pathological narcissist are triggered by the pathological behavior of the president. As a retired therapist, I agree with the assessment in this opinion piece but the author merely reiterates the symptoms stated in the DSM V and does not attempt to make an armchair diagnosis.
It’s clear to more than just mental health professionals, that the subject of this article is unqualified to serve, has no desire to serve anyone except himself, his own interests and his financial and emotional needs— not the country’s.
There is no grand hidden strategy. This sociopath and pathological narcissist is a gaping open maw of need and self gratification. Leading a country was never part of his reason to seek office. Never before have we seen such a corrupt and overtly self seeking person in the Oval Office.
For the press to attribute his motives to something more sophisticated or complicated than the driven pursuit of personal greed is to overestimate the man. Let’s have more journalists be honest about this and maybe more of the public will catch on.
10
My friends who are mental health professionals all warned that Trump was mentally ill soon after the 2016 election. His behavior has confirmed that pretty much every day that he has been in office. He embodies the classical definition of narcissistic personality disorder, and yet he holds the king like powers of the US presidency.
But ever worse 43% of American voters are just fine with him as president and follow him with cult like devotion. What does that tell you about the future of the United States?
14
Excellent analysis, Ms. Senior. The truth seems to be the only path through this tycoon's typhoon.
4
A spectacular moment of truth- even if only in the ironic sense of the word- when President Trump, speaking from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly no less, enlightened us here and throughout the world by clarifying that the future, the future of the world, "is nationalism, not globalism."
Turtle Bay in Manhattan is some great real estate.
Maybe he has some plans for the site.
1
I have a slight disorder myself - the daily urge to read Trump's Twitter feed. It is informative and hilarious.
It is often mentioned that Trump has - gasp! - 60 million followers. If one reads any of his outrageous Tweets, 90% of the responses are tart, often extremely clever, rejoinders. His Twitter feed is, counterintuitively, a source of hope.
On the other hand, his supporters exhibit a trait that is very important to recognize. They have a great need to project strength and nearly divine status on Trump. They almost invariably address him as "Mr. President," "Sir," or other honorifics. They often allude to their God as if Trump was anointed by a deity and they are fortunate to be alive to experience such holy leadership. They long for an authority figure and ascribe qualities to him that he obviously doesn't have. It is a very odd kind of psychological projection. It is not far from the behavior of children of an authoritarian parent.
I think perhaps they suffer from Stockholm syndrome, which is why Trump may deserve the Nobel prize after all!
5
This is not difficult. Mr Trump, Mr W Bush and Mr Nixon are likely and were addicts. Anyone with any training in this field is likely to agree as reluctant as professionals are to do so. So, Mr Trump claims never to drink alcohol. Merely ask why. His behavior follows addicts exactly. If any reader has had the chaos in their life created by an addict, they will understand. The supporters of Mr Trump are likely all addicts and hope for a better outcome as do all who find something in the addict to love. I am not one of those people.
2
There appears to be an increasing consensus that there is something drastically wrong with the emotional makeup of one Donald Trump. A growing number of Americans seem to be persuaded of it.
But what of Trump's apologists who blithely ignore all the signs, defend the indefensible, and support the unsupportable?
What's wrong with them, what's their excuse, and what's their diagnosis?
9
I do not subscribe to nor accept the mythological roots of any religion.
But if I did, I might wonder whether the Devil weren't deceiving the countless millions of ardent, self-professed "Christians" who ferociously defend the president, regardless of what he does.
Virtually everything about the man stands contrary to the deep instincts of Christianity, as (sometimes, but far from always) illustrated in the person of Jesus — empathy, humility, forgiveness, grace. And yet, his "Christian" fans see him as some kind of latter-day savior.
If that isn't devil's work, I don't know what is.
4
Excellent, well written opinion piece. Bravo.
The writer mentions the role of the media in Trump's apparently rampant, unbounded disease of self love:
"An Australian journalist, recently writing for The Guardian, noted that we often render Trump more coherent than he in fact is, spinning word salads into orderly sentences, rendering caprice as deliberate policy."
If I were a DA, I would indict the news media as co-conspirators in the Trump mess. All of them, top to bottom, no matter the outlet or the presumptive orientation people impose on them. Oh, Fox is just the worst but that skips over the fact that the national, major media have laid down for Trump. Don't they understand what they are doing?
Obama was, in comparison, a quiet president. He was not enamored of the role of public leadership inherent in the presidency, having come strictly from a legislative background (A crippling fault? Perhaps.) In point of fact, Obama admitted in a post-presidency interview that his wife Michelle caught on much more to the public leadership role than he did and urged him to exercise it more. He didn't. One result is that he was made almost invisible day by day by major media which, in turn, allowed the right wing media to overwhelm the public narrative.
Trump acts day by day like a crazed person on speed and EVERYTHING he says get reported excessively. Trump should be ignored like a child who learns that crying is a technique to get undue attention.
4
I am not a professional psychologist. But it was perfectly obvious to me before the election from observing Trump’s behavior that he exhibits all of the traits of a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and said so publicly.
7
I was married to a violent narcissist; in fact, although I've had no idea where he is for years, I'm still married because I'm too fearful to start divorce proceedings. The toxicity of these people cannot be overstated. They know right from wrong--they just don't care. You cannot placate them because it becomes a kind of desperate extortion. No matter how much you give, the ante will be upped and if you don't meet it, you'll pay the price, as has happened to so many of Trump's advisers and cabinet.
11
The pathology of narcissism very often comes bundled with what are known as "Borderline" personality traits - impulsive behaviour, unstable relationships, extreme sensitivity to perceived slights, and emotional unpredictability. You often feel like you're walking on egg shells around a Borderline personality. Sound familiar?
14
The other major problem with Trumpolini that this column does not address is that he is clearly showing signs of age related dementia. He forgets what he's talking about all the time, confuses the names of well known people, speaks in confused word salads (although some this is on purpose, much of it is due to his inability to formulate and articulate coherent thoughts). His lack of impulse control and instances of flying into rages are typical of an angry alzheimers victim. This doesn't contradict the writer's diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Trump's progressing dementia is clearly exacerbating and magnifying those malignant personality traits.
8
"...Maybe it’s time, in earnest, to re-examine this notion...."
I have been saying for at least two years that the press must stop putting him on TV over and over and over, as if we are hypnotized, and stop treating every tweet like news. Report in a factual and unemotional manner and do not show his provocations, just report them. Imo, all of the cable news programs have become enablers of a form of psychological warfare and - if you are a sane person - have become unwatchable.
I took dialectical behavior therapy training in order to help with a family member suffering from borderline personality disorder. Rule #1 is to not feed the beast: listen, but do not engage in the dramatic behavior: instead, scale it down by contextualizing it and distancing yourself from it.
9
How do we stop this teflon man, before he does something extreme? He wouldn't get away with all that he is doing if the GOP were not cowards. I hope they all go down when Trump finally gets impeached. The many good people who have left the Administration by force or willingly will talk. Soon there will be many whistleblowers. The end of Trump and his enables are near.
2
Can narcissists actually recognize what love is? I doubt it. And that is no doubt why they want it so badly. It is the thing they can never have.
9
They desire love so deeply that they do everything they can do destroy it for others, like a petulant child who breaks another’s toy. They know nothing but destruction.
5
What is the role of Fox News in this relationship? As a Republican infomercial it must be to heal Trump of his defects, give him glowing reviews, and try to repair any damage his craziness might be doing to them. When AG Barr met with Rupert Murdoch recently likely they made some therapeutic plan, such as to let Shepard Smith go who, by being critical of Trump, was creating too much cognitive dissonance in Fox News viewers' minds. If this is a dysfunctional relationship Fox News is its enabler; and if Republicans are stuck in it, Fox News is the glue.
8
@Sherry - Barr asks Murdoch to fire Smith and Fox News makes Smith resign? That doesn't seem fair and balanced.
3
It's the bullying that's the worst, the indignity of it, the humiliation, the loss of gravitas and sense of self and self-esteem. The constant fear of reprisal for speaking up and fighting back. People like Trump are experts at instilling a constant state of fear.
We Americans have been bullied as voters, citizens, longterm government workers trying to do good, immigrants seeking asylum, Dreamers, journalists (the worst because they are our defenders and truth tellers, and you can see their fear as they try to confront him), even supposedly powerful people like senators and Supreme Court justices.
I even believe that many thousands of his supporters feel bullied, like the farmers who are suffering, but because of the sickness of acquiescence and buckling under, and wanting to stay of the good side of the bully, they are hanging with him. It's like, "Yeah, see, I'm still in w/ him, I'm safe."
The bottom line is that the single worst personality type in the world to ever become the most powerful person in the world walked away with all the marbles.
The way to end it is for everyone to agree to fight back together, and to elect a president next time who respects the rights and dignity of every American and every human being.
7
Whether Trump is merely a narcissist, or suffers other disorders, he is a prince of our (political) disorder, taking from the title of a book by John Mack about TE Lawrence.
There has been much made about his enablers in the GOP. To the naive, which largely describes columnists in the NYT, they see Congressmen and Senators as potential statesmen. Why can't they defend all that has come to be good about America? Why don't they see what we see?
Grow up. The GOP did a quick pivot in no time at all once it became apparent donors would have a field day under Trump. So far tax cuts and deregulation have been dreams long delayed and finally realized by the likes of the Kochs and Mercers. Non-compliance means you will have a better financed primary opponent and loss of a lucrative post-service career making millions.
We see our disorder as a temporary bout of insanity personified by the Great Narcissist.
But the truth is that the system, corrupted by private money and personal influence, set the stage, and will survive Trump. It is the donors big payday that keeps the GOP in line. They care not for democracy nor even their country. Trump is merely the insane relative of an army of narcissists armed to the teeth with money and political influence.
If he were truly a populist he would have been on his way out courtesy of the oligarchs.
4
We are at the mercy of a "narcissist in chief" because the electorate allows him to continue. Put the blame where it belongs.
1
I am not a psychiatrist.
I don't know if Trump is mentally ill or just a rich spoiled brat who is just evil.
The problem is not Trump but why Trump has a considerable amount of support from voters.
Trump assembled a coalition composed of two segments.
Rich conservatives who never accepted the New Deal and want to repeal its provisions and want the tax cuts that Trump enacted.
Working class voters who have lost good paying mining and manufacturing jobs and if now employed are working at minimum wage jobs.
Trump has promised to restore their jobs and economic status. He has not and can not keep his promise.
Racism and sexism do not explain Trump's 2016 victory.
Obama [a black] carried PA, WISC, OH, MICH in 2008 and 2012 but HRC [a white] lost these states in 2016.
A majority of white women supported Trump in 2016.
To defeat Trump in 2020 the Dems must devise and support programs to restore the lost economic status of displaced workers.
HRC had no program to do this. Telling laid off workers to become call center operators at a fraction of their former wage is not a solution. Calling them deplorables is not a solution.
Such programs exist and do not require reviving coal or destroying the environment.
Expanded use of the EITC and FDR type PWA WPA/ CCC programs would help.
The rich conservatives are a lost cause but addressing the concerns of displaced workers would restore these displaced persons back to the Dem party.
2
The issues allow Trump to maintain his 40%, intimidating sane Republicans. Separating the issues from the man’s mental illness, in ways that cannot be ignored, might reach those very voters. And, in fact, it is the psychopathic man, not the issues journalists hold dear, that presents the greatest danger.
Psychopathy is a word with precise scientific meaning; it is a medical syndrome, usually signifying a defect in brain development. Just as autism spells out a list of life symptoms; psychopathy (ascertainable from biographical facts, no therapy sessions needed) indicates a complete lack of empathy, irrational self-involvement to a degree that, via chaos and outright evil, endangers everyone else.
Trump scores 34 on the Hare Psychopath Test - extreme psychopath, totally lacking empathy.
4
America no the best columns I’ve ever read on this president. Thank you for this.
3
Anyone accustomed to analyzing complicated problems and situations in his or her business or profession should know how to size up Donald Trump. As annoying and destructive as Trump’s daily Tweets and encounters with the broadcast media are, they provide a complete picture of who he is and what demons drive him.
The political problem facing the nation regarding Trump is that he entertains and captivates a segment of the population which is not adroit at analysis of anything or anyone. The traveling Trump fan club at his rallies tends to be comprised of people who have not done well in their careers, but not necessarily because of being dull-witted.
The attendees often seem to be people of average intelligence who, nevertheless, have made bad decisions most of their adult lives. Donald Trump, the perpetual victim, offers followers the illusion that they now have a champion who will help them blame their failures on others.
Trump points out the culprits – the dishonest media, the ungrateful people of color concentrated in big cities, the immigrants who have prevented them from getting better jobs, the elite intellectuals and politicians in Washington who somehow work against real Americans.
It is clear that Donald Trump has a malignant narcissist disorder, but we can explain his destructive effect on our society without delving into his psyche
1
The absolutely horrible thing about NPD and related disorders (PPD, for instance) is that they are essentially incurable, because the patient does not believe they are ill, or they believe that caregivers are "out to get them." Sound familiar?
There is no hope or help for Mr. Trump.
We can only pray that his tyrannical rage doesn't ruin us all -- something I am not entirely sure of at this point.
10
"An Australian journalist, recently writing for The Guardian, noted that we often render Trump more coherent than he in fact is, spinning word salads into orderly sentences." This must stop. Journalists must report Trump's statements verbatim and at length so that the public can see how incoherent and nonsensical he actually is. No more editing to make what Trump says comprehensible - at this point, this is inaccurate and a disservice to the public. In fact, this is an example of what the article describes, an attempt to turn the irrational statements of a narcissistic authority figure into something that makes sense in order to protect one's own sense of reality. But that effort leads nowhere except to draw us further under the power of a deeply disturbed individual.
5
We are not "in a relationship" with Donald Trump. He works for us. He's doing a bad job. He should be fired. It's fun for writers to craft these metaphors, but the import of all of the narcissism is that he is incapable of executing his duties faithfully as required by the Constitution. Therefore, he should be removed. Fairly straightforward, no anxiety required.
3
One thing that would be very helpful is for reporters to stop asking Trump questions. He loves a stage above all else and the news media continues to give him the mike. Let Fox and Breitbart ask softball questions and lets the rest of us just ignore him. Best thing for him really and way better for us. Then if we could just continue to weigh in on truth and facts maybe we can break the hypnotic spell of RNC TV/News.
1
The only way to manage a narcissist is in fact to quit them, completely.
Narcissists require people around them to function as props in the various tableaux they construct as part of their superiority complex.
They are completely devoid of empathy and compassion and only understand love as a transactional exchange, not as a bond built on sacrifice and selflessness.
When rejected, narcissists will undergo a psychotic break, become despondent or irrationally angry - but are famously immune to therapy as the outcome of any “healing” is merely a restoration of their prior delusion.
When rich and successful, these people are empowered by their wealth and fame to indulge In obsessively toxic behaviors, and when poor, they often end up as incarcerated sociopaths.
In all cases, the thing they crave the most is attention and adulation, and the only way to deal with them is total social exile.
Speaking from experience.
9
As a mental health professional, I agree with you about not attending to a pathological narcissist’s every word and strengthening our collective boundaries against further manipulation by this disordered personality.
However, since this severely mentally ill man is president, ignoring him is a double edged sword as his rage and inverted shame can turn into violent acts against the people and the country who do not pay what he considers to be sufficient attention to his massive ego.
He’s very skilled at manipulating the press. It’s probably his greatest accomplishment.
The press needs a new and well thought out strategy in dealing with this dilemma.
5
"He is like a man trapped inside a disco ball. No matter which direction he tilts his head, all he sees is himself."
It is inevitable that Trump's con will unravel. In fact, that process is playing out now. When Trump is ultimately consigned to the cell that awaits him, authorities should take pains that it includes no mirror for him to gaze into.
2
I was astounded to learn recently that, as Ms. Senior points out, journalists have routinely been silently "spinning" Trump's "word salads into orderly sentences." She suggests maybe they should stop. Say what? How isn't that fig-leafing a gross and grievous dereliction of journalistic duty, a betrayal, a virtual conspiracy against citizens to delude them into thinking their great leader can talk sense? And pray tell how do you make sense of a word salad anyway? Where do journalists get off pretending they can make a salad into a soufflé? Have journalists been Trump's saviors all this time? I'm completely stunned.
6
By the time he is no longer the president, he will be the only one who thinks he is a stable genius. I know. I know. You think no one thinks he is. Sorry to say but it seems like some people actually think he is. Hard to believe but they want to believe he is.
3
"...almost anything that comes out of the president’s mouth is considered news. Maybe it’s time... to re-examine this notion...we often render Trump more coherent than he in fact is, spinning word salads into orderly sentences, rendering caprice as deliberate policy."
You can't ignore the president entirely. But you don't have to run all his tweets on the front page. His purely snarky tweets can go onto the back page along with the crossword puzzle and the astrology chart.
There is also a codependency problem. Cable TV gets rich off feeding the Trump hysteria around the clock. Does anyone imagine that MSNBC would voluntary cut back its Trump coverage in the interests of national mental hygiene? Its ad revenues would plummet.
Same thing for political pundits. Every Trump peccadillo is examined every day from a thousand different angles. The same breathless moral outrage is recycled day after day. Livelihoods depend on it.
Finally, apologists for the establishment order cannot afford to admit that the emperor has no clothes. You can criticize Trump from every angle and as harshly as you like. But what you can't say is that the entire performance is a meaningless sham. You are not to point out that the official show is an empty diversion.
While Trump preens and dances before the cameras, the global natural order is rapidly degrading. But powerful interests are still quietly taking huge profits as the ship goes down. Trump's main job is to distract us from seeing that.
2
"Drill deeper, and you just get more Trump."
The deeper one goes, the worse it gets. There is no bottom to the abyss of Trump's awfulness.
2
Since when is a narcissistic personality disorder a crime? When
someone who arguably has it also has a history of committing crimes for his entire life.
Criminal behavior, even and especially when it's not considered such, is the most powerful strain of this disease and, when acknowledged, must be dealt with firmly, fairly and effectively.
Vote.
3
From the mouth of our Commander and Chief himself,
"I don't know why a person who defrauds the American public should be protected".
That sums up pretty well the majority view of this country's people.
Our POTUS sees as if through a TV camera that is pointed back at himself. He is the most extreme and dysfunctional narcissist I've ever seen in the wild (i.e., not institutionalized).
4
This article is missing a key interesting point. While it examines the trauma of Trump's opponents in the electorate due to his narcissism, it fails to examine how his narcissism affects his supporters.
It's possible that Trump supporters subconsciously support him *because* of his narcissism and his related refusal to acknowledge the feelings of shame. Shame is such a powerful and deeply unpleasant emotion - Trump models and legitimises the narcissistic rejection of shame to his followers. As Trump supporters openly proclaim their support for Trump, they are also learning to reject the feelings of shame. Well-used tactics by narcissists to reject criticism, such as denial of facts and personal attacks on critics instead of the criticism, are being displayed by Trump supporters, as well as Trump himself.
5
“Like many narcissistic personalities, he may cause more severe distress in others than he himself experiences.”
———
This is why I believe he hasn’t yet suffered a stroke or heart attack. His poor diet, rages, and lack of exercise, coupled with his age, would have rendered anyone else six feet under by now. In fact, Bernie Sanders most likely had a heart attack because he feels too MUCH, unlike Trump, who feels nothing. His rages energize him, rather than cut him down. His kryptonite is boredom and stasis and a fear of being ignored. His addiction is the spotlight, good or bad (but it may also be Sudafed, which was seen in stacked piles of boxes in an open drawer in the back of a photo of him eating a taco bowl, taken at his desk at Trump Tower). Narcissists don’t suffer stress like the rest of us.
6
Sent from my iPad
We are really ruled by the 40-43% defiantly ignorant indifferent callous electorate.
We are also ruled by our antiquated constitution that gives states with a handful of people and a moose 2 Senators. In addition we have no provision to invalidate an election when it was clearly tainted by cooperative outside and internal cheating ( e.g voter suppression). We encourage cheating because the beneficiary of the cheating gets the power to prevent any oversight and to essentially do as he pleases. The House can have the most air-tight case in history but unless a good portion of the 40 or so % care enough to listen and learn we are stuck in mud (decorum prevents me from using other more colorful terms).
Even if we get rid of this wacko tomorrow a lot of damage has already have been done. It might take years to remedy, if it’s fixable at all. Lives have already been lost by his incompetence and cruelty (see southern border and Syria). He’s proving that crime pays. Narcissism is too kind a description for what he’s doing— and he’s not done yet. Heaven help us.
8
@Roy A
Excellent comment. What astonishes me is the way people (Americans in particular) create their own reality. Sleep walking. Consider the organizations that feed and survive on this strange phenomenon. In the East, people cling to Gurus. But, Gurus abound in many forms. Until people figure this out, we are all in for a long slog of difficult times.
1
The picture fronting this Opinion conveys its message most effectively with bite and clarity. Personally, I'm almost as sick of descriptions of Trump's personality as I am of the man himself. While he is the most grotesque figure in the public area, what about the personalities of those in his very large base? Trump's salesmanship and canny cons don't entirely explain it. Our country opened its doors to him just as he opened the door for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish military to ethnic cleanse the Kurds, for a start. Our country was a mess before Trump and his cronies made it worse. Dark Money isn't going anywhere after Trump. Its purveyors did very well before him and they'll do very well without him. This land is too fertile for them to quit, even while climate change drowns, burns and blows us away.
4
The Constitution has remedies and safeguards, use them.
History will show that the partisan obstruction being carried out by a frightened, cowed Republican party makes them, willingly or not, complicit.
Cowardice or conspiracy?
2
Consistent with the theme of this article; the therapist Karen Horney coined the phrase "a neurotic sense of entitlement".Trump in his business dealings felt entitled to renege on various agreements and displace blame for his shortsided judgements. AS president his behavior has culminated with his rationale for deserting our Kurd allies while removing himself from feeling responsable for the chaos that this has caused.
3
The following examples epitomize for me the narcissism of trump: that apparently he was uncertain about making his son’s name DJT Jr in case he turned out to be a “loser”
that during a private tour of the National Museum of African American History he was shown horrific information about the Dutch involvement in the slave trade and his comment was about how much he is admired by the people of the Netherlands
And how during his meeting with the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad and she recounted the slaughter of her Yazidi people, including her entire family, a few minutes later trump merely inquired as to where her family was now.
Of course there are myriad other examples, but the above exemplify his raging narcissism for me even, if they’re not the worst.
5
"He is like a man trapped inside a disco ball. No matter which direction he tilts his head, all he sees is himself."
Great description. But one thing left out of this characterization of Trump's narcissim is how it's wedded to his cruelty and vindictiveness.
That's the aspect that frightens most of us: not that he's affected by solipsism but what he does with it. All this lashing out, personal attacks, cutting slights, desire for revenge, calculated cruelty combined with the power of the presidency is absolutely chilling.
It's going to be hard to get rid of him because of his use of power: power of his ardent supporters who cheer and scream the worse his language and lies, the power of his office, the power he's installed by having cronies in high places of government.
Sociopaths like Trump should never be given the power he has. Yes, we're all suffering, but so are our foreign allies and our most vulnerable citizens across all 50 state.
4
It is breathtaking that Trump enjoys as much support as he does.
Equally incredulous is the absolute inability or unwillingness for those on the left- including the press, to attribute this support to any but the most vile causes.
Trump is a narcissist - a spectrum on which every President has claimed a spot. Overwhelming confidence is a necessity to function in the oval. Trump' s unsettling 'style' is just what the rest of America has always associated with New Yorkers - a smug, arrogance that precludes consideration of any views not conforming with his own.
Trump's support is reactive - absent the incessant negative assessment of both Trump and his supporters, he would already be on his way out. But the hatred for his supporters in 'flyover country' - Anna Eschoo's 'Podunk USA' has turned neutrality to suspicion to hatred of the self styled philistines of the left.
"We’re still playing chess while the president is playing checkers."
Checkers? Looks more like one-dimensional hopscotch to me!
Played by one who can't really hop and is handicapped overall.
As someone said, he has an Achilles Mouth.
2
this is not about Trump, a symptom, but about a failing democracy that is essentially a country on the side of a military base. Whether it's a non crazy war country killing war criminal, Dubya, or a gentle nice country killer, Obama or crazy Trump, we need to go deeper into US history, it's foundation, it's violence.
3
This is it in a nutshell; " spinning word salads into orderly sentences". I have thought from day one that the media, including the NYT, have been covering for the fact that trump can't produce a single coherent sentence to save his life, let alone govern. His brain is completely scrambled, something his supporters seem to think is "crazy like a fox", instead of just crazy, which he clearly borders on. Once a person, even a crazy person, has enough money under their control, they buy the support team needed to foster the craziness they spin. Just look at Jeff Epstein, and how many people were in his sphere of debauchery, despite all the signs that he should be locked up. This president will need to be dragged from the White House some day, that's my bet.
4
I first read Seutonius' The Twelve Caesers as a high school student and what I found hardest to believe was that the intelligent, cultured, sophisticated Romans put up with people like Caligula and Nero. Then Berlusconi was elected and I wondered if it was an Italian thing. Then came Trump.
Some future school kid is going to be completely bamboozled at the thought that intelligent, sophisticated, elected officials not just enabled this man, but also did everything they could to keep him politically safe.
2
Having dealt with a malignant narcissist some years ago, the experience was so stunningly damaging that, after disengaging from the man, I proceeded to study the disorder, as well as my own upbringing and tendencies that made me vulnerable to and permissive of these vampiric people. One of the main takeaways is that I wish more was done to warn people about the predatory methods of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and how to recognize the traits. When Trump was brought into the White House, I shuddered, and thought, “Well, at least the population will get a wholesale lesson in NPD”...
4
I never marvel that trump's support numbers are so low, but rather that they are so high.
How much evidence do you need? The man and his horrid crew are a rolling disaster.
2
I would add one more comment on this wonderful article, Trump has a memory like an elephant, and no matter which way the wind blows he will use it to get whatever he wants. Republicans should have made deals with Democrats to keep Trump in check but they didn’t now the genie is out of the bottle and oh the secrets he can Twitter tell.
In addition to narcissistic personality disorder, the DSM describes another disorder that fits Trump's behavior: oppositional defiant disorder. In adults, it is characterized by frequently losing one's temper, arguing with family and coworkers, defying or refusing to comply with rules and laws.
5
I think the more we all talk about Trump's severe personality disorders, the more we share, the more we understand, all of this is helpful. He's brutal, it's not fun. He is a nightmare and there is a suffocating cloud hanging over the country. I was watching the new David Cross special and in it he acts out a type of severe revenge on Trump. It had a cathartic effect be it temporary. People like David, Stephen Colbert, Rachel Maddow, George Conway, Rick Wilson, Bill Maher, and even Nancy Pelosi's new found directness, this is all appreciated and needed in this time. The voices of opposition need to get even louder and it would be nice if a few GOPers in the Senate like Mitt Romney could do a little bit more than say things like, I hope the president changes his mind. A GOP Senator who took a firm stance against Trump right now, that person would be elevated to hero status and it would endure the test of time. Trump is a major mistake, there's no way around it.
4
Among that 43 percent of supporters are people for whom the narcissist is appealing - they want to believe that they are like him, and maybe in part they are, and they want to act like he acts. Some even believe that he likes them, and believe that if they do his wishes, beat up his opponents, threaten those who disagree (like waving a gun at a woman who has an opponents bumper sticker), they will be rewarded for their behavior by his love and admiration - and they are.
We have seen this play out during his "rallies", when he has encouraged and praised violence, in the acts of community violence when his muted voice is heard as vindication, and when he clearly supports the worst behavior in others.
The people who have that kind of fixation, who have identified with the pathological leader, who see him in themselves and themselves in him, who will do his bidding, are not going to be easy to deal with.
6
"But there are signs that this is changing. Even Fox News, the in-house organ of the executive branch, has begun to buckle under the strain of covering such an impossible personality, and Trump has started to howl in return."
I suspect that with the firing of Shep Smith, FAUX is signalling a return to the fold.
17
Narcissism as used here is a medical diagnosis. And it is a very rare one. It is believed to be caused by both genetic and environmental factors. And its diagnosis is unethical without first-hand examination.
Ms. Senior revels in her lack of ethics. A layman’s casual diagnosis is one thing. But she purports to make a professional diagnosis which she acknowledges to violate APA rules. There is no excuse for knowing and flagrant unethical conduct.
2
True that. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a severe and debilitating mental illness. Think Michael Jackson. Though Trump is certainly EXTREMELY narcissistic, I don’t believe it rises to what the DSM-5 refers to as Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
And, yet....
I have had a cartoon on my fridge since the election that sums up my feelings. Two people are walking, one says to the other "My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane."
28
@Hummingbird Hahahaha. I have that hanging over my desk.
1
The saddest aspect of our current president's tenure is reflected both in this op-ed and many of the wrenching comments from readers. We read the stories and find ourselves weeping for them and for ourselves, trapped in the amber of this administration.
Before we appreciated PTSD as well as we do now, Vietnam veterans would disappear into the streets or the woods to find relief from the flashbacks.
Now we see victims of NPD reliving the traumas through which they have passed in the actions of our president and his evil band. To help NPD survivors and ourselves, we must expunge this administration from top to bottom.
Now.
4
In my 35 years working for the same company, in the Internal Audit Department, I had 5 different managers. As part of our responsibility, we investigated both internal and external fraud and made sure that our internal controls for the variety of departments we were auditing were in place and functioning properly. So we were in effect the police of the company forwarding our reports to higher management.
Our mangers were basically decent people who had their different styles and ideas in how our department should function. And then one day, our nightmare narcissist arrived. She lasted 3 years, but the havoc and dysfunction she created devastated our department.
Turnover: Over a ten year period we were losing an average of 1 and a half people a year. In her 3 years, we lost 10 people which included some of our best and most productive workers.
Replacements: She hired people who must have in private interviews pledged a loyalty oath to her. Their number one objective was to please an audience of one.
Atmosphere: She developed her spies on the floor and instead of the free and open atmosphere we had enjoyed in the past our department became paranoid and suspicious of each other as a result our productivity spiraled downward.
So what is happening with Trump is no surprise to me. It follows a depressing script.
33
A certain amount of self confidence is healthy. Many CEOs and politicians have some degree of narcissism but Trump`s case is different. Mental health issues do not necessarily disqualify a politician to be President. Lincoln suffered bouts of depression and was one of the best. It is the severity and the type of disorder present what matters. Trump is clearly unfit to be President. The chaos and outrages you see on a daily basis are due to his very severe personality disorder. We are living in the times of a new Caligula and many people refuse to look at the truth right in from of their faces. It is bad now but it will get worse , if that is possible , due to the stress he is under. The 25th Amendment of the Constitution was written for situations like this. Invocation of that Amendment is what should have happened already if our institutions were really working.
43
While it's true that many of us who survived the mental illness of our parents are retraumatized by Trump, I think many of his followers find it comfortably familiar for the same reason. They are revisiting their own trauma through him and getting that craved affirmation.
He reminds them of their fathers, grandfathers. He is a "real man" because he is like the malignant one they were taught to respect.
30
@Renee YES! Thank you.
3
LBJ championed and signed the civil rights act, the voting rights act, the fair housing act, Medicare, Medicaid, Headstart, Foodstamps, the immigration act of 1965, which prohibited discrimination in legal immigration on the basis of race, religion or country of origin, etc.
The Association of Psychological Science recently ranked LBJ as the most narcississtic president in US history. Obama and Trump were not included in the survey. I suggest that the Goldwater Rule was correct then and should be followed now. Articles such as yours, books about Trump's brain and George Conway's comments only serve to triviliaze psychiatric and psychological illnesses and their sufferers. The term "mental illness" is itself stigmatizing. The brain is a physical organ and all psychiatric disorders are fundamentally physical; resulting from gene abnormalities or chemical imbalances in the brain whose source may be the person's upbringing or other environmental factors.
Please think of the persons who have these serious brain disorders as you would someone with heart disease or cancer. There is no place in politics for these types of articles.
6
As a diagnosed bipolar II I appreciate your words, but (and it’s a big but) I am dismayed at the President’s words and actions and I think we, as a country, need someone more able.
18
@James Ricciardi So think of it however you wish but if the cancer patient has gotten to the point they can't do their job then they need to step aside. If not then there needs to be an intervention.
Surely you cannot have watched the rally Trump held in Minnesota recently and thought this a person capable of presiding over a global superpower. Surely not?
37
@MamaReen Of course we do. I have personal experience with one of the most horrible diseases known to humanity. Unlike cancer, which can be cured or kills you, there is no cure for bipolar disorder although many times the sufferer would prefer death.
But the LBJ example demonstrates that mixing psychiatric diagnoses with politics is nonsense.
1
My day started taking my granddaughter to day care then had coffee, unexpectedly, with friends before going to my office and helping my clients and colleagues. Neither the president of the United States nor any other politician prevented me from savoring every second of what life brought on this day. How tragic, shallow and immature so many, led by handwringing columnists, look to politicians for inspiration, affirmation, happiness and meaning. How tragic so very many are so obsessed by and distressed by a man who does not know their names.
10
How tragic that this man who does not know their names damages so many people. That casts a pall on my every day. It is what makes me human.
315
@greg I enjoyed my day too. The problem is, there are so many people who can't, as a direct result of the actions of this nightmare administration: children locked in cages at our borders, our Kurdish allies dying after the US abandoned them. I could go on, but I think I've made my point.
I'm not looking to politicians for "inspiration, affirmation, happiness, and meaning." I'm looking to our elected officials to do their jobs. I'm looking for a coherent foreign policy that won't leave the US a laughingstock. I'm looking for safeguards against rapacious corporations destroying our environment. I'm looking for elected officials to stand up, follow the Constitution and settled law, and restore competence and order to the country.
If all I wanted was personal happiness, perhaps I could turn my back on all this. But since I am blessed (or cursed) with empathy and compassion for my fellow humans, I can't do that.
714
@greg I agree with you mostly - this is how I've dealt with politicians all my life - don't give any power to them, and you can only control your reactions, etc. You are paying taxes to the US government which is being abused by him...
But assuming you have some empathy and some compassion for others, you have to know others who suffer due to this more directly not just due to Trump nbut due to Republican policies. Trump also has personally hurt others and that also deserves a pause at least.
So yeah, enjoy your life but understand some people are suffering directly with Trump.
113
I remember the morning I woke up and saw on the cover of the New York Times that Donald Trump was our new president.
I burst into tears putting my head down and crying in disbelief. For the next week I was inconsolable. My life has been tormented because I love this country so much, and believe in, truth, and justice and the American way. I know that sounds so corny. But when I look at what Trump has done to this world I am ashamed to say I'm an American. Please God take this cruel man out of office.
58
I am a mental health professional, and I think it an excellent idea to have presidential candidates undergo a psychological evaluation. We are very concerned about their physical health, why not their mental? Trump has done us a favor in that he has made us aware that the temperament and mental health of a president is at least as important as the physical.
37
"...George Conway decided it was time to write the definitive if-it-walks-like-a-duck analysis of Trump’s pathologies for The Atlantic. (Conway is a conservative, but about as bearish on Trump as his wife, Kellyanne, is bullish.)"
Kellyanne has been noticeably quiet of late. Have her husband's views neutered her effectiveness as a go-to person for Trump? Or has she concluded that Trump is a runaway train, and she's looking to a spot to jump?
We're way too lax about vetting presidential candidates. We need to look beyond financial proprieties (we've already botched that) and begin to account for intent and competence. We need to eliminate the free-for-all debates and institute discipline by requiring standard outlines of political goals, priorities, and plans for implementation. We need a medical assessment that goes beyond blood pressure and BMI.
Finally, we need to overhaul how we deal with ethics compliance. Trump revealed our vaunted "checks and balances" to be toothless. We can't just wait for the next election, we have to ensure the enforceability of rules and laws.
Enough is enough. Trump, narcissist or not, has trashed our norms. We must decide if they're worth saving.
46
Great piece but isn't there a case for saying that narcissism (or at least mild versions of it) is one of the defining features of our age at a collective level? Maybe I'm just getting old but many people these days seem convinced of their own self importance and righteousness, won't listen to rational argument and are convinced that if you disagree it's a personal assault on their fragile egos. It might also explain the myriad of micro aggressions you witness in public spaces when people won't voluntarily move out of the way to let others pass,or walk straight across you as if you're not there or push in front of others as if they don't count....
20
There is an enormous difference between garden variety narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which the author is discussing.
I understand the desire to show deference and respect for the office of the presidency, but at this point it should be clear Trump's mental deficiencies make him unfit for that office and incapable of carrying out the duties of the presidency, which require at the very least putting the national interest ahead of personal interests.
Trump has deteriorated alarmingly while in office. When Trump raves incoherently, the media tries to piece together a coherent narrative for readers and viewers. This gives the dangerous impression that Trump has reasonable faculties and is capable of performing duties he actually is not. The American people have a right to know that no one is steering the ship and there are icebergs ahead.
If the ship sinks, we're all going down, not just the Republicans or the Trump supporters.
68
The ship is being steered by Capt. Queeg, formerly known as Cadet Bonespurs.
4
@DB
In my experience, criminals frequently seem to ramble in almost a filibuster to consume time at a meeting or on a phone call. The point seemed to be monopolize the space, irritate victims or prevent coherent scrutiny. It may also be a loyalty test, or, in the case of a phone call, a way to waste the time of anyone monitoring the line.
There may or may not be some mental deterioration, but rambling speeches from a stressed con man are not evidence of it.
2
@DB
I read the cited article. My main comment is that the neurological 'evaluation' of tRump and the 'diagnosis' of malignant narcissism are not mutually exclusive. There is a high level of agreement among those in the mental health community that tRump has a serious personality disorder that clearly accounts for much/most of his behavior.
4
A neurologist writing in the Stat medical magazine thinks that Trump is suffering from degenerative brain disease, based on an evaluation of Trump's physical appearance, movements, fidgeting, mispronunciations and so on:
"I’m a brain specialist. I think Trump should be tested for a degenerative brain disease"
https://www.statnews.com/2017/12/07/donald-trump-should-be-tested-for-brain-disease/
Some people object to this diagnosis because the doctor has not met Trump in person. I do not think that is a valid objection. This doctor has watched Trump for a long time in close-up videos, at things like the Cabinet meeting. He has observed Trump for at least as long as a doctor would observe a new patient before issuing a preliminary diagnosis and a recommendation for additional testing.
In the 1960s, psychiatrists diagnosing Goldwater did not have a chance to meet him, and they could not review and rewind hours of unscripted video showing him close-up at work. This neurologist can see Trump. More to the point, degenerative brain disease has physical symptoms that can be identified more more easily with more assurance than psychological problems.
62
The fact that Trump was even allowed to become president, and that about 43 percent of Americans still support him, is enough to make anyone in their right mind extremely depressed....
168
An interesting point of view. I wonder if our future politicians (and those who eschew the profession) will trace their neuroses to these Trump years?
His self-serving ruthlessness and narcissism can not help but impact the formative years of our nation's future leaders. We need to be vigilant and on the look out for indications of the pathologies Trump has introduced.
15
I don't need to be protected from Donald Trump.
I need to be protected from the people that elected him.
Because if they did it once, they could do it again.
369
I agree. Trump is who he is, and who he always has been.
The only reason he’s any sort of issue is because enough people were foolish enough to vote for him.
20
Ralph Ginzburg, the publisher of Fact (and Eros, which landed him in prison for obscenity), was a fascinating guy, but essentially a mail order operator, not a traditional publisher. I don't believe his titles ever got onto a newsstand shelf, and I wouldn't necessary believe he really had all the 2,000 claimed responses from members of the American Psychiatric Association, unless someone could find the shoeboxes they were stuffed in Humorist Dan Greenburg, once a young assistant to Ginzburg, wrote about trying to toss away hate mail from conservative Christians incensed about the content in Eros. Ginzburg stopped him, demanding: "Save those names and addresses for our Bible list!"
3
Don’t forget the sadistic aspects of Trump’s personality. The late personality theorist Theodore Millon described the behavior of the sadistic personality type as “...Expressively Precipitate (e.g., is disposed to react in sudden abrupt outbursts of an unexpected and unwarranted nature; recklessly reactive and daring, attracted to challenge, risk and harm, as well as unflinching, undeterred by pain and undaunted by danger and punishment)... [and] Interpersonally Abrasive (e.g., reveals satisfaction in intimidating, coercing and humiliating others; regularly expresses verbally abusive and derisive social commentary, as well as exhibiting vicious, if not physically brutal behavior). This is all observable behavior. All we need to do is listen to his speech and his facial expressions at his rallies to see that there’s plenty of sadistic behavior along with the narcissistic.
67
Yes, absolutely. I’ve had the same thought- Trump isn’t simply a classic example of NPD, but what’s called a “dark triad” type- reeking of Machiavellian tendencies in his efforts to discredit, humiliate and destroy others- only to subsequently profit from said destruction. A great example is the abuse of his brother, Fred, Jr. Trump and his equally dysfunctional father bullied Fred, Jr. incessantly, instilling and reinforcing the idea that he and his chosen profession weren’t good enough in the eyes of the family. Fred, Jr. died of alcoholism at a young age, leaving behind a disabled child. Even then, Donald worked vigilantly to prevent the child from receiving their legal inheritance.
He knows no decency, and there is no bottom to his vitriol.
14
Well, although I agree with all of this assessment, and have for sure experienced many symptoms since that terrible day in 2016, I feel the need for someone to figure out what to do. I know that Nancy Pelosi, and Adam Schiff, and others, are trying. But it's not simply my blood pressure that's at stake here. We are losing our country while the Republicans fiddle. I had no idea, really, that a snake oil salesman could scam a huge portion of the populace, including so-called public servants who purport to be bound to uphold the Constitution. How do we get back to the United States? How do we make Amerika America again?
37
Great piece. I was married to a narcissist, although not one of Trump's order of magnitude, and watching Trump disintegrate has been like reliving the last years of my marriage. I knew our new president was not just a garden-variety oaf within the space of a few months, and my stomach has been in knots ever since. I know he's a danger to the world, but he also feels like a threat to me on a very personal and immediate level. I cannot psychically endure much more of him.
65
Whatever this man is diagnosed with, he is a danger to our Constitution and democratic republic, to say nothing of the world disrespect and chaos. I sincerely hope we can get through this, because if there's 4 more years of 45 the USA we've known it will be done.
23
It’s about time we come right out and say it- “Trump’s behavior is that of a mentally ill person” and treat all his actions and statements in this way. When I read journalists trying to do rational critiques of his statements, I wonder, would you look closely at the logic of a screaming three year old? We should assume that logic is absent from his statements and that many statements are simple inventions out of whole cloth. The emperor wears no clothes, and what we see is naked self-advantage with no moral inhibition.
62
Since being sworn in as President there has been nothing but psychological analysis of Trump. Somehow the press missed this during the 2016 election and has sought to make up for it adnauseam. This column is just the latest Trump as narcissist verse.
Perhaps a columnist could psychologically analyze the Republican Party for giving us Trump. Or, postulate how anyone with money can become president, build a library, and go down in history as a US President regardless of executive acumen and psychological fitness.
I have weathered the Trump presidency by viewing him as a celebrity who was elected president. He’s not the only narcissistic celebrity. If fact, his role on the The Apprentice pretty much supports that moniker. He entertained us with that role.
Now he entertains us with his tweet-storms. And, if we don’t happen to read them, the press reports them.
There’s more psychological analysis that needs to go on here because it’s not just Trump’s narcissistic ways that are the problem.
3
One thing that is not mentioned in this well-written piece is that though narcissistic behavior often plays out in tragic ways at a personal level, and now nationally as well, its manifestations are highly adaptive for politicians. Trump has thrived up to now by effectively projecting his flaws onto others and making exaggerated claims of his abilities. A surprising number of voters cannot see through this facade.
Ms. Senior's view of Republicans' silence in the face of gross incompetence and corruption is too generous, as Trump is but an exaggerated version of the lack of empathy, the quest for power without responsibility for consequence, and denial of realities like human caused climate change that permeate Republican posture and policy.
32
Agreed. Let’s start looking for a better analysis and explanation— political and psychological— of the narcissism underlying the entire Republican Party.
No doubt you could start with newt Gingrich.
3
We are in the third decade of the 21st Century and the most egregiously unfit president in American history is overturning our democracy. How much longer must we wait until the Congress impeaches Donald Trump? Until the Senate tries this president and removes him from office? Time is of the essence.
31
I want to be hopeful about all Americans, but it’s difficult to watch the people at the Trump rallies, as Trump embarrasses himself. I feel awful saying this, but when do we admit that they are actually not just misguided, but truly deplorable?
99
@Richard Lee: I saw something last night that made me immediately think of the Deplorables. On the one channel I get on my tv (a Fox channel, much to my disgust), promptly at 8 p.m., the WWF Smackdown came on, live from Las Vegas. The cameras were panning the huge crowd, and darned if it didn’t look exactly like a Trump rally, with people yelling and screaming and foaming at the mouth, jumping around and waving their signs and gesturing for their heroes of the WWF. They looked almost out of control, and I expected that at any moment Trump would step out of the wings and then they would really go nuts.
What do Trump and the WWF have in common, other than they are both built on pure fantasy and accomplished with the aid of smoke and mirrors and other assorted fakery? I guess there really is a portion of the population that are truly low-educated Deplorables that will fall for anything .... and Trump has them in the palm of his hand, as long as he is “sticking it to the libs”. Sad, if it wasn’t so scary.
12
@Richard Lee
Unfortunately I think you are so right. Just watch his fans (our fellow citizens!!!) gleefully cheering "Lock her up" and "Send them Back". I think it is clear/many have said they enjoy inflicting or witnessing the pain of others, i.e. just as bad/deplorable as The Donald!
5
It seems everybody, yes, even laypersons, can witness Trump's obvious narcissism. But it less important than his blatant paranoia. Go ahead, look up the symptoms of paranoia and paranoid personality disorder and anyone can see that he fits all of them without exception. The most common symptom is the sense that everyone is out to get you and EVERYBODY is out to get Trump. Literally everything he says and does on a daily basis is a reflection of that single symptom. His paranoia is a remnant from caveman days who needed paranoia in order to survive. You can even see it in his face and is why he is an insomniac. The problem with paranoia is that since it is unconscious, he isn't even aware of it but the paranoid brain prioritizes its fears over everything ( a survival mechanism) including the well-being of the people, country and planet. THAT is why he should not be in position of public policy. And his supporters have the same symptoms which is why they support him no matter what. It is because they too prioritize their fears over everything, so Trump is a hero and champion to them.
35
And here I thought that his insomnia was a side effect of all the Adderall he allegedly snorts! Silly me.
2
The Donald is a reflection of his upbringing - a family dynamic that produced an insecure bully who lies, cheats, and sneaks his way through life, business, and now politics.
He learned to outflank local rules and regulations from his father in their construction and apartment rental businesses.
Although we often look at Trump's authoritarian father as the bad guy here, it would be instructive to find out more about his mother's family in Scotland. What combination of genetic traits resulted in this damaged person?
Trump clearly values only one thing - making money. He will lay the blame on anyone and everyone when the money isn't forthcoming. Money means success. Getting money for the wall was paramount - and he had to cheat Congress to get what he wanted. Bending the law is his idea of negotiating. He will wear you down until he gets some money or doesn't have to pay what he legitimately owes. And he doesn't care who he runs over to do it.
18
@Honey, I come from a severely dysfunctional family and you are exactly right. In recovery terms, if 45’s father was his qualifier, his mother was likely the enabler and, herself, came from a similar background. Children of trauma grow up with a distorted sense of our own agency. We bring the worldview (and exaggerated coping skills) we developed to survive the dangerous situation of our childhoods into our adult lives. Unless we actively recognize and address this problem, we end up with someone who has a similar perspective, go through life with it, and pass it on to our children. I think the entire family is probably a mess. Given the Kushner family history, you can see it playing out with Ivanka and Jared.
1
It seems to be, perhaps not coincidentally, what it must be like working at a business overtaken by a criminal group.
Paranoia and faux secrecy rule the day, the leader's favorite hobbies are revenge and self-promotion, and nothing is rewarded except blind loyalty and willingness to engage in criminality.
In some situations, like being a cornered crook (or a crook under the 24/7 miceoscope of news coverage) both paychologically normal people and disturbed people are likely to act similarly erratic. It is high stakes and high stress and desperation will eventually take over from any rational decision-making that may have existed previously.
It may not be the psychological disorder that makes him act like a criminal, it may be the criminality that makes him act psychotic.
6
Another useful way to look at trump is through the enneagram, an esoteric Greek symbol with nine connecting points that can be used as a map for almost anything. In recent decades, it's become the best personality type tool I've seen. trump is instantly recognizable as an unhealthy type eight.
From the Enneagram Institute:
Average eights want to feel that others are behind them, supporting their efforts. Swaggering, boastful, forceful, and expansive: the "boss" whose word is law. Proud, egocentric, want to impose their will and vision on everything, not seeing others as equals or treating them with respect.
low average health: highly combative and intimidate to get their way: confrontational, belligerent, create adversarial relationships. Everything a test of wills, and they will not back down. Use threats and reprisals to get obedience from others, to keep others off balance and insecure.
Unhealthy: Defy any attempt to control them, completely ruthless, dictatorial, "might makes right." The criminal and outlaw, renegade, and con-artist. Hard-hearted, immoral and potentially violent.
Deeply unhealthy: Develop delusional ideas about their power, invincibility, and ability to prevail: megalomania, feeling omnipotent, invulnerable. Recklessly over-extending self.
Sociopathic: Vengeful, barbaric, murderous. May brutally destroy everything that has not conformed to their will rather than surrender to anyone.
17
I think many people still do not understand what is meant by a narcissist having "an incapacity for empathy", how literally those words are true. It took me 20 years of marriage to a narcissist to even begin to understand.
While it is true that a narcissist doesn't CARE about what others think or feel, those with the most extreme versions of the syndrome do not even comprehend that others HAVE thoughts or feelings different than their own. They have no theory of mind, there are no "others".
Whatever the narcissist thinks, feels, or believes IS fact to someone with the disorder, and they know it to be fact to all people, everywhere. That is why they make such accomplished liars, because (in their world) they are not lying.
In my case, during our divorce a legal agreement was changed at the last minute when my ex called the real estate attorney's assistant, and said "Your boss told me to tell you to change X". The assistant never even checked with her boss, my ex was so convincing.
This lack of theory of mind is also why narcissists are so defensive. Literally any disagreement with their opinion, about anything, is taken as a personal insult and attack, because it is so obvious to them that they are correct.
An example of how trivial this can be was when my ex mentioned one day that "Yuck, it's raining." When I simply offered that "Gee, I kind of like the cool breeze", I was instantly met with a screaming attack that "How dare I tell me I am wrong!"
16
Your article resonates for me. It's painful to revisit my experience with a malignant narcissist step-parent who entered my life when I was nine years old. For me everything sacred and of value, every important family bond, was step-by-step ruined. Permanently. The destructive personality requires a choice--will you participate in a distorted narrative that serves one person, in this case the mentally ill president and, thereby be ultimately complicit, or will you recognize that you can have compassion for this sick person yet choose to not have anything more to do with him and align with protecting America and her sacred constitution, valuable institutions, and important allies?
28
Re “We Are All the Miserable Children of the Narcissist in Chief”
Hard to know which came first, a flawed citizenry, or a deeply flawed chief.
As they mutually amplify each others flaws, it’s tempting to not assign blame. I’ll dodge that temptation and squarely place the blame on the President. As in a family, the responsibility is with the parents. But we are not children and must stop this narcissist from deserting the Kurds and thence in final desperation, into a war against Iran.
12
Numerous psychiatrists warned the country that Donald Trump was dangerous and basically off his rocker. They even wrote a book explaining their reasons.
No one took them seriously. Time to take them seriously before Trump totally goes over the edge. No telling what he’d do. And no matter who he’d hurt.
29
The absolute worst part of what's going on in plain sight is that there remain so many who pretend everything's...okay. Is there any question that a significant portion of our country would happily fiddle as the United States Constitution is being set on fire by a con man whispering sweet nothings in the form of lower taxes while actively increasing the deficit, in their ears.
25
While Trump’s malignant narcissism stresses us out, it is also what may bring him down. His support for Turkey’s invasion of the Kurd autonomous zone and his attempt to get the Ukrainian President-elect to investigate Biden make no sense even for his own personal interests. His base doesn’t care, but he’s lost support from some Republican politicians and part of Fox News. Trump’s real threat to America and the world is his racism, authoritarianism, patriarchy, support of wealth and corruption, and climate denial. He sews divisions that threaten the Republic, democracy, and can lead to civil unrest and an autocratic Presidency. Trump plays his need for attention and dominance to control the narrative, and mainstream media laps it up because it gets eyeballs and makes money. When are journalists going to write in depth stories on how Trump inspires white nationalist terrorists, how he’s neutered the Supreme Court on the 14th Amendment due process and equal protection, how his corporate tax breaks were not invested in creating goods and services for Americans but on expanding corporate wealth and power?
13
Bumper sticker of the year:
"Any Functioning Adult, 2020"
52
The awful consequence of Trump’s narcissism is that he has created a culture where he and those around him lie, whether for self preservation or self interest or just because they feel they have no obligation to the truth. Sure politicians spin and lie and you have to pay attention. It was just sad when Clinton lied about his affair and Gingrich exploited his personal failings, and it was awful when the birtherists and the Benghaziists spun their webs, denigrating their opponents. Some say despicable, others call that politics and the end justifies the means. But the lying has now become institutionalized. It is so pervasive that the liars can’t or don’t even bother to make their lies self consistent; the lies dominate the news cycle, and the truth, hidden by the new lies, never sees the light of day. Human relationships are based on trust, and cannot endure pervasive lying. Likewise our government, which has been well served by a two-party conservative-liberal tension, cannot endure pervasive lying since compromise depends on trust. Narcissistic Trump’s has found a willing cabal in McConnell and the Republicans, and together, Iago-like, they have knifed trust and institutionalized narcissism; they lie without regard for the “other” since they care little about the “other. “ Ill fares the land.
25
@Daniel I've said from the very beginning, Trump is a liar and nobody can trust a liar. Simple. Because he constantly lies, he needs to be gone. Nothing more complicated need be said.
3
Looks like they are purging the anti Trump people from Fox after Barr visited Murdoch. They know they need massive propaganda to get Trump re-elected.
Why are republicans fighting so hard for Trump? They could hide and remain silent and let nature take its course rather than fighting to get a second term for him.
I suspect that they've decided this is the best chance they'll ever get to dismantle social security. They will never say it, but with a trillion dollar deficit, you can see the drool from your living room.
23
The bigger issue is nepotism.
1
Trump's not a narcissist, he's an egoist.
Obama, is a narcissist.
And we're not at Trump's mercy.
His time on station is limited by statute, and in the meantime almost everything he wants to do - could - be stopped by the House, which controls the pursestrings..
That this has not happened is proof that the differences between House leadership and Trump are actually small for most topics.
He is throwing the progressive legacy to the wind, or better put, down the toilet where it belongs.
No question there, and some folks are angry about it.
Not me though.
He's a blunt instrument.
Some might say, a classic New Yorker.
1
I don’t think you understand the difference between narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The former can actually be beneficial to leadership. The latter systematically destroys everything it touches. And having lived for many years in NYC, I can assure you that Trump is nothing like a typical New Yorker.
6
"Never take the bait. If you can disengage, by all means do; if you cannot, keep clear boundaries."
For quite a while, I've considered disengaging from the news about Donald Trump.
Until 2016, I truly enjoyed staying up to date. My preferred news sources are The New York Times, PBS News Hour and Washington Week, BBC World News, and NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. I also listen to WAMU's 1A and the Kojo Nnamdi Show.
Aside from 1A and Kojo, more often than not the "news" begins with "Today, Donald Trump [blathered, tweeted, pontificated, proclaimed at one of his silly little rallies, .... ]
So, at long last, I think I should disengage from "the news" for a while, and take care of myself.
Of course, Donald Trump will keep doing what he does. I just don't want to listen to it.
5
@Karen Lee : Last night I was watching Ari Melber on MSNBC and all of a sudden I felt overwhelmingly ill. I went to bed at 6:30, just to 'get away from it'.
I believe we are all getting sick because of Trump the Criminal.
4
@Karen Lee
As an antidote to the corporate press, I suggest The Intercept, Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!, your local Pacifica radio station (I don't know its call letters in D.C., in the New York metropolitan area they are WBAI).
2
Given how meticulously Trump represents the disorder, it would be hard to claim that anyone should be diagnosed with it, ever, if he was not.
5
Was there any one of our "elected emperors" who wasn't a narcissist?
The presidential libraries of the modern era, gaudy grotesqueries in their own right, are just one of the many examples of the narcissistic and megalomaniacal tendencies of our "elected monarchs".
Historically, the imperial presidency really took off with Richard Nixon, who liked having 'Hail to the Chief' played whenever he entered a room for some ceremonial this or that.
3
Re journalists and their attention to Trump, Jennifer Senior writes "we ought not to give it to" him. But, indeed, and on the contrary, please do maintain and keep your focus on this Narcissist-in-Chief, aka in my estimation as a sociopath. But I will not get into semantics. True, journalists and psychologists in spite of the "Goldwater Rule" may anger Trump's rabid supporters and encourage even more their defense and support of him. Nothing, I believe, will change their minds or their ignorance and lack of discernment. But thinking Americans need to know everything about this man...from his egregious behavior and actions to his venomous rants and vile tweets to his twisted psyche. I credit journalists from respected news' organizations as the Times as being our most necessary and important instrument in informing the public of all that is wrong and corrupt about Trumpism. Heaven's, without investigative journalism and articulate and smart op eds, the public at large would be in an even darker cave of anxiety. Lastly, I think I speak not only for myself but also for thousands of Americans when I say that we do not consider ourselves part of this dysfunctional White House family. However, Jennifer is right on target when we reflect on Republicans in Congress, the few who still have moral compasses. They ARE scared and weak children.
6
very weird title- no way am I related to trump and since I am not, I am not captive to him and his behaviors.
1
Great article. Let's not forget the cruelty, even sadism, that is intrinsic in those who are malignant narcissists. It's as important a part of Trump's personality as is his inability to experience empathy, his propensity to project, and his need to have the world revolve around his every burp.
21
The explanation for why a portion of Americans still support Trump is deeper than that they feel emboldened by his behavior. Trump appeals to them because he legitimizes their own narcissism.
6
“Since [narcissists] deep down, feel themselves to be faultless,
it is inevitable that when they are in conflict with the world they will invariably perceive the conflict as the world's fault.
Since they must deny their own badness, they must perceive others as bad. They project their own evil onto the world.
They never think of themselves as evil, on the other hand, they consequently see much evil in others.”
― M. Scott Peck
9
@teoc2
I think about Scott Peck's books, "The Road Less Traveled", and "People Of The Lie" often these days. He talked about exactly what's happening in both of these books, albeit in the 80's. Too bad we didn't listen. We have a "Moby Dick" complex as a nation- either we swallow the monster or we get swallowed by the monster. The important part is the drama, something D.T. knows something about. We are addicted to hubris.
This is Redemptive Trump Hatred: if only we were rid of him, our problems would go away. Really? Then how did he get elected?
2
@Michael Livingston’s : Trump won by 77,700 votes over three states. How many of those millions of Facebook ads targeted at those voters by Russia disinformation/lies changed the minds of voters, especially black voters? That's how he won. He cheated. And will do so again in 2020. Hopefully people will be more aware of what is happening and not fall for it again.
3
"But under ordinary circumstances, almost anything that comes out of the president’s mouth is considered news. Maybe it’s time, in earnest, to re-examine this notion"
I've been saying this for a long time. Starve the beast! Deprive Trump of his "oxygen" - attention. Before he cancelled the Presidential Daily Briefing, the media ought to have cancelled it first. After all, it was just an exercise in his Press Secretary spinning lies, and treating the media as the enemy. But even without the PDBs, the media has had ample opportunity to simply refuse to give his tweetstorms and self-serving pronouncements no coverage. If it isn't actually news, if it's just propaganda, and self-promotion - which almost all of his utterings are - then ignore it. This is the most powerful weapon that could be used against this bully who has taken our country hostage.
Ignore this insatiable ego, and watch it shrink from lack of attention.
3
We live in dangerous times, truly dangerous times. trump has only started to wreck the republic and world stability, it will get much, much worse. We have the 25th amendment for a reason: to jump start and fast track the removal of an insane president in a much faster manner than impeachment. I only hope that Pence and the cabinet members recognize his mental illness and stop him before it is too late. God help us.
11
Yes, everyone knows Trump is narcissistic, and we all work with or for persons who are narcissistic to some degree. But we manage. Trump's children do not appear to have developed the symptoms you ascribe to other children of narcissistic parents.
Why do his followers tolerate his narcissism, and his opponents despise him? The opponents don't understand his followers' seemingly blind allegiance, so put them all into Hilary's deplorable basket. Media and internet social sources amplify this phenomenon to the point that Trump's opponents have become deplorable themselves, resorting to anonymous name-calling and shaming of fellow human beings whose opinions ought to be "co-equal" to their own. They have become the worst kind of haters, those who project their own self-hate and displaced anger. They wear the masks of anonymity, perhaps from the fear that the narcissist will turn on them, as you quote.
From the article's end:
"But there are signs that this is changing. Even Fox News, the in-house organ of the executive branch, has begun to buckle under the strain of covering such an impossible personality, and Trump has started to howl in return."
Indeed. I guess. Sort of.
Except, Shepard Smith bowed out of Fox today. He was holding the tide back for a long while, laboring valiantly and seemingly nearly alone over that at Fox "News."
Who's left there that is a real and at critical moments, an honest news person: Chris Wallace, perhaps? Bret Baier(?).
I don't watch Fox 'News' because it's such bile, so don't know all the players, much less the more or less decent ones. But I did know of Shep and rather marveled that he was able to hang in there still.
I recommend "The Loudest Voice" (HBO) to see Roger Ailes portrayed, and how Fox more or less came to be, the vision behind its creation and with Rupert Murdoch still kicking, I assume that vision is still is the mandate (no matter one son is bucking the trend).
You'll need several showers after every episode of this mini-series, but when I heard Shepard Smith threw in the towel today, I thought ... geez, Roger wins still and must be smiling ... up, from the hellscape he wrought upon this nation and the world.
9
@jazz one : Shep 'quit' after Bill Barr visited Rupert Murdoch this week. Trump's top henchmen got Shep fired for his boss's insatiable need to stomp on his critics.
1
My mother is diagnosed narcissist and I’m familiar. The difference is she’s my mom; it’s a mental illness and as miserable as she tries to make me, I feel sorry for her. That gets me through the worst of it... though not always.
He is clearly ill, my anger is focused on his children and his cabinet and top aides. All those people who said they were there to contain him, etc, they are they ones who failed us. By protecting him, they unleashed his sickness on all of us. I can’t imagine ever doing that... I support my narcissistic mother as best as I can but I do my damndest every day to prevent her from hurting others.
26
William James a noted Harvard philosopher and psychologist had similar feelings about Teddy Roosevelt. Psychology, was in it's infancy at the turn of 19th century. Think how much the field has advanced in the last hundred or so years. Leonard L. Glass, Bandy X. Lee and Edwin B. Fisher professors, respectively, at Harvard Medical School, Yale School of Medicine and Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (I pasted that) have done a similar number on Trump. Excuse me diagnosis of lack of fitness.
But one must ask is such a diagnosis as qualified as what an average cashier at a supermarket or security guard makes in their daily endeavors. How about you? Taken the required courses? Any one can pass a scientific judgement. Look at the current terms ADD, spectrum disorder, are you not awed by science?
Sure they say don't stigmatize because of mental illness but how many people have you written off as unfit in your school, or job. We have come a long way from 100 years ago. Anyone can hand out psychological diagnosis. Remember you're the expert.
1
How many Trump supporters (especially the ones who cheered loudly for the despicable things he said about Biden last night) know that he is mentally unstable? And that they are supporting that instability by pretending it doesn't exist?
40 to 48% (or more) support him, in spite of the fact that, not only is he a proven pathological liar who conducts foreign policy according to his own needs, but also displays a tendency to live in a completely fantasized reality. (In other words, he can no longer distinguish between his lies and the truth.)
They are the people I distrust; the ones who will still be there, after the miserable disaster they've inflicted on us is gone. (If it ever is.)
They have neglected to be citizens.
16
Narcissism is bad in and of itself for someone whose job it is to serve as the leader of a country and effectively the entire planet. Add to it a large dose of Attention Deficit Disorder and a lack of logical decision making aptitude all wrapped up in a baseline of moral turpitude and you have a Trump.
May sycophantic quislings like Stephen Miller, Kelly Anne Conway Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Sarah Sanders and most of Fox News live long lives in shame for helping create a travesty of elected office.
14
The limits of psychiatry have become painfully obvious in the past
2 ½ years.
If a President exhibiting strong signs of mental confusion and instability who greatly influences the destiny of billions of people around the world cannot be required by Congress to submit himself to urgently required psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, what good is it?
Listening to Trump’s incoherent ramblings has got me to thinking that the man is seeing and hearing things that none of the rest of us are privy to.
Could it be that he is actually suffering from a very bad case of the old hot dog optical illusion trick that all of us played when we were kids?
And seeing things before his eyes like a huge concrete wall that will never exist, along with billions of pesos from Mexico to pay for it?
http://amagicclassroom.com/uploads/3/2/3/0/3230875/finger_sausage_illusion.pdf
3
All well and good, but Trump and supporters hold up essays like this and say, “See how the elites hate me, and they hate you for supporting me. This is why I’m right and you should vote for me.”
3
The real problem is not the Narcissist-in-Chief - he's merely a symptom. The disease is the people who voted for him and still support him despite all the evidence they've seen telling them that they voted for a man with a malignant mental disorder. Those people suffer from a cognitive dissonance as malignant as the brain of the man they continue to honor with their votes and their trust.
And they alone are responsible for putting our country in the hands of this sociopath. They know how bad he is and, really, that's exactly *why* they voted for him. They don't care what he does to the health of America as long as he keeps putting it to the people they consider "elites" - who actually are nothing of the sort, just people like themselves who go to work every day and try to make ends meet and keep their lives and their families in some semblance of order. In other words, the substantial majority of this nation's people.
His voters not only don't care how truly awful their guy is but also want to see more of the same. That's as immoral as the president is amoral. The fact that 43 percent of Americans think this is OK is a tragic comment on the health of our society and our democracy. They represent a political and sociological cancer that has metastasized throughout the country. While most parts of the nation are in decent enough health, overall America is as sick as its president.
29
It's way past narcissistic, what Trump has done has cost people their lives. We need to look at the end game when everyone turns on Trump, and they will ... How is he going to handle it, he has the codes ;-(
1
Thank you for this admittedly depressing op-ed. It actually describes well my daily undertone of sadness, outrage, confusion (in terms of wondering why so many seem ok with this), and dread (and I am typically a happy optimist!). Trump reminds me of some of the horrendous bullies from my youth (yes, I was bullied). He reminds me of a few mentally disturbed borderline personality disorder narcissists in my own family. I can't wait for this dreadful nightmare to end. If only enough republicans would come to their senses (and decency) to join the Democrats to impeach this most malevolent monster.
5
Having a narcissist in the White House is almost business as usual. Being utterly self-centered and living in a bubble of self-importance are prerequisites for anyone running for office. The quality of certitude, so pronounced in a narcissist, is mandatory for presidents especially. They are always right because they willfully surround themselves with people who will not disagree with them. The American system breeds narcissists.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
3
I grew up with a Bircher father who was temperamentally very similar to trump, but also a brutal alcoholic, and the alcohol was additional fuel for the dumpster fire of his life. Every morning started with the awareness that bad stuff could, and would, probably happen. Every day was an exercise in making myself as invisible as possible to avoid the slings and arrows of his erratic temper and head-spinning pivots from one roaring grievance to the next.
Living with trump as president is just like that. Every morning it’s checking the headlines first thing to see whether he’s started launching nukes yet because he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Every day, I wait to see what kind of bitter, gratuitous cruelty has he inflicted on the powerless just for the sheer joy he gets out of it.
I’m exhausted by it, and I think I have lots of company.
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@Claire Elliott
I have never had to live with a narcissist, but I've met a few. After 5 minutes in their company, I was looking for an exit. What is really strange is the number of people who thought they were exciting and real leaders, etc. Which doesn't actually explain trump but does show that he is not the only narcissist who has that effect on some people.
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@Claire Elliott
"I’m exhausted by it, and I think I have lots of company."
Have you checked his rallies and his 90% approval rating with Republicans.
18
@Babel
My mother was a narcissist. She managed, like Trump, to find adorers. At her funeral, her children sat silent while the neighbor across the street gave her euology. This is the same neighbor who had two children about her granddaughter's age. My mother praised them to the skies to my daughter, while making her feel unloved and unworthy, until my daughter reached an age where she refused to visit her grandmother.
The narcissist is often charming and will use that charm to reward and enhance fealty where he can find and maintain it. Trump's rallies are Exhibit A, but if one of his supporters is shot, their baby will be featured in a thumbs up photo op for Trump.
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MY mom has severe malignant NPD - and I had to set a strict boundary 8 years ago, breaking off all contact for my own safety and the safety of my family. I have not seen or spoken to her since - and it was the wisest decision I have ever made in my life. NPD is untreatable and unbearable.
Trump really is the most dangerous man in the world right now. 24/7 gas-lighting and impulsive behaviors with his Republican enablers. He must be stopped - the world as we know it is literally at stake. He would rather burn it all to the ground then admit he has any issue.
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@Brett B
Excellent comments. This is what makes me so angry with his most ardent Republican supporters. They know better and support him anyway to our nation's peril.
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@Brown
Perhaps because he feeds into their own sick personalities. As the article says they feel empowered.
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@Brett B
Last week I commented to a friend that I felt like an abused spouse; bullied, disrespected, gaslighted, trapped, my resources (both financial and emotional) squandered for my abuser’s satisfaction and amusement. Thank you for sharing your personal story. It brings some clarity to why I feel so powerless and exhausted.
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It is obvious to many that he is self-centered and self-aggrandizing. He is also a liar. He is also incompetent along with most of his Administration. None of this makes him a pathological narcissist. The personality disorders section of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association is the weakest section. Among psychiatrists, establishing a firm diagnosis of a personality disorder is the most fraught among all psychiatric conditions. But, regardless of diagnosis, none of us has a personal relationship with Trump, much less a dysfunctional relationship. After winning an upset, he has expanded executive authority and implemented policies that damage the US economy and security, but not because he is a narcissist or because the rest of us don't understand how to deal with a narcissist. He maintains his power for one reason only: there are 54 Republican senators who back him to the hilt. That is politics, not psychology.
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Conversely, 54 Senators supporting him to the hilt doesn’t mean he’s not a pathological narcissist.
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@MEM Please read the following symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and decide for yourself if trump has Malignant Narcissism:
1. American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition DSM-5, Narcissistic Personality Disorder 301.81 (F60.81). Diagnostic Criteria
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of EMPATHY, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g.,exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Believes that he or she is "special" and unique an can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).
4. Requires excessive admiration.
5. Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., ureasonalble expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations).
6. Is interpersonally exploitative ( i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
7. Lacks EMPATHY: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.
9. Shows arrogant, haughty, behaviors or attitudes.
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@MEM
You write, "That is politics, not psychology." Actually, it's both. Trump IS a NPD and Republicans support him in spite of the danger he is to our country.
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Even worse than the distress he brings many Americans is the weight of guilt. Trump’s cruelties and corruptions implicate us all in the policies he carries out. Being opposed or horrified by them makes us no less responsible. What he does he does in our names.
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@Paul. Well stated and clarifying in describing the costs Americans feel and grieve about. Currently the shock of seeing the Kurd fighters after helping us fight against even larger odds while their people run for their lives. . .
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@Paul Vitello , nope. Those who will and do cruelty are responsible. Those who have fought them are not. This "we're all guilty" chest-beating lets the guilty off the hook by splashing accusation across the board. It's factually and morally mistaken to do so, and I salute those working against this dangerous narcissist and his greedy enablers now in power. They are more numerous than you know.
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The value of a demonstrable malignant narcissism diagnosis is neither academic nor an exercise in armchair psychiatry. The value is in learning the drivers of the narcissist's behavior and actions he is likely to take. The media fruitlessly attempts to understand the narcissist's bizarre actions through the lens of policy, political platforms, and strategy; but the only dimension that consistently offers understanding is through the lens of ego preservation. Vote against me -- high-tax states, Puerto Rico, Democratic House, California, and other blue states -- and suffer the consequences of revenge politics.
Putin, Kim Jung-un, Erdogan, and MBS learned how to navigate this personality long ago. What is taking the rest of us so long?
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@erstwhiledoc
I read somewhere long ago that we are understandably deceived by narcissists, at least for a time. They look like us, eat like us, walk around like us. It's hard for many to grasp that they live and move through a hall of mirrors, unlike the majority of people.
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@erstwhiledoc
Do you mean that these gangsters (Putin, Kim Jung-un, Erdogan, and MBS) learned how to navigate Trump? And the rest of us could also learn how to properly manage a narcissist, one with whom we cannot at this time go No Contact?
If so, then here is how we wisely manage a "relationship" with a narcissist, until he is gone:
1. Maintain a civil relationship with him. It's fine if the relationship is largely superficial. Just friendly and polite is what is called for here.
2. Note/call him out after every untruth. Stop him every time he breaks the law, contact the appropriate authority. This must be handled promptly after every lie or illegal action.
3. Don't argue with him. Go about the business of making the country better, healed, or whatever your personal responsibility is, in your realm. Don't fixate on him.
4. Challenge him to recognize that he is the president of the whole nation of citizens, not the president of only a percentage of Americans, and to come to a closer understanding of what being the president of all of the American citizens means, and how to take action with that understanding.
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@erstwhiledoc "Putin, Kim Jung-un, Erdogan, and MBS learned how to navigate this personality long ago."
I sincerely hope that the Democrat leadership is availing themselves of the best advice possible and following the lead of the above in order to learn what to expect from trump during his impeachment. That might sound awful to some, but the men referenced all have figured trump out and know how to play him like a violin.
18
There are numerous documentaries about Donald Trump. Some are available now on Netflix and Amazon.
It is difficult to watch any of these without thinking that Trump is a spoiled narcissist lacking any moral or ethical center. He does as he wishes irrespective of consequences. Very little analytical thinking seems to go into his decision making.
A megalomaniac like Trump should not be running any enterprise much less a nation. There's a limit to how much damage Trump could do running a business...... running a nation... the prospects are frightening.
The truly frightening aspect of the Trump Presidency is that many voted for him hoping and expecting him to literally 'blow things up' in Washington DC.
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@cynicalskeptic
What I find deeply or maybe more disturbing is the fact that his base seems as pro Trump as they were during his campaign before they could even see how deeply disturbed he is and what a danger he is to the world's survival.
Sure we've witnessed many other mad men before but they had also quashed all public debate about them.
But here we have a society with freedom of speech so why can't they see. But maybe the common man hasn't been hurt enough by his policies and when they do they will
walk, run, away from him as fast as they can.
Wishful thinking? We need those people to help us construct a society after Trump gets through with us.
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@sheila
Sadly, many, if not most of them are lost/hopeless. If you know anyone who watches FOX "News" hours a day, supplemented with the light listening of sweet, humanistic right wing radio"personalities" like Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and other such sc-m...
Watch Trump's rally goers viciously cheering "Lock her up" and "Send them back". You mention "maybe they have not been hurt enough". As many others have suggested, many Trumpers obviously enjoy hurting/cheering on the pain of others... Our fellow citizens. Wish FOX would disappear! Would be great for America and humanity!
18
@sheila -- Every video clip I see after a Trump rally just makes me so sad for our country. All those people, clapping for him, some even crying in his presence like he's a religious leader. They laugh at his profanities and his insults. The worse he gets, the more they applaud. I have no hope that Trump's followers will ever turn on him. They will lose their homes, their jobs, everything before they will oppose him. I've read about farmers bankrupted by Trump's tariffs who still claim to be supporters. It's impossible to understand this devotion to a man so unworthy of it.
30
For our own mental well being, maybe now is time to disengage from the constant updates about this pathological narcissist president-- and his amoral enablers---and our politics too.
We see a dramatization, as our news media amplifies every tiny worsening detail hour by hour of the downward slide in our national & international politics--in our democracy itself.
Time to disengage from the 24/7 obsessed political chatter. Disengage from the pundits whose occupation is to say SOMETHING daily on the media.
Disengage from TV news personality hosts who try to grab viewers. And from columnists who say the same things over and over. And over.
I've long been interested in politics and public policy, but I suddently cannot stand this any more. Actually my disgust has been building up.
To save my sanity I'll have to watch very very little TV, read just 1 or 2 brief summaries of the news. It will be healthy.
I'll vote in 2020. The choice will be easy. Why should I go through the details of this repugnant political daily mess until then---over a year away! It's like a daily poison.
I guess the journalists have protections built in from their professionalism so the can keep some objective distance from our pathological politics. They have to do their jobs. But it can't be easy. Good for them. And good luck!
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@Meredith The problem is November 2020 is a century away in Trump Time - the time it takes for him and his human toadstools further strip the country of the progress is has indisputably made and reduce the few but genuinely great things the country has done for rest of the world to a memory in a rear view mirror. To use trump's favorite word, it would be a disaster to escape accountability for what has transpired thus far.
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@Meredith
Maybe there are stages that we undergo when we realize what we have let loose in the world just like stages of grief.
I do remember how horrified I felt when I realized how very dysfunctional he was and feeling guilt for the horrible way he was dealing with our allies.
And becoming more horrified when he started reducing government agencies into the shadows they once were.
And becoming more horrified at his appointing his children into positions they weren't qualified to run.
AND now even more horrified that he was attempting to use Ukraine to demolish Joe Biden's career. There is no place that is beyond his reach. And I'm afraid to wake up tomorrow and reach for my computer and my coffee.
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@Meredith It is comforting to find that someone else feels just like I do.
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Here’s another thing that children of pathological narcissists know: these dangerous and differently wired individuals live by a “scorched earth” policy. When the narcissist doesn’t get the attention, respect and worship he craves, nothing else within the hemisphere he inhabits is allowed to flourish, or even exist. Destruction on a grand scale is the only option granted and the narcissist’s legion of flying monkeys (see: Giuliani) will gleefully do his dirty work, much like members of a brainwashed cult. What does this mean for U.S. security? What do you think Trump will do when he realizes, finally, that his game is up? To a narcissist, money and power will always TRUMP loyalty and honor. I watch, from afar, in horror, with the lens of someone who knows this tale all too well.
Study the histories of dictators- there are many to choose from. Familiarize yourself with the fates of their victims. Talk with the adult children of malignant narcissists who were fortunate enough to escape and really listen, without judgment, to their stories. The scripts have already been written and the future, as it is currently unfolding, is not so hard to predict.
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@A. P.
You are right about one thing, these people will literally burn down the house rather than give it up. I'm thinking of men who kill their children/wives rather than let them leave. I'm thinking of leaders who are willing to make their countries a funeral pyre when they are losing control. I'm thinking of trump when the end comes and I am afraid.
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@A. P.
I have been saying this since 2016 and everyone told me I was "crazy" and "it wouldn't be that bad." Sadly, I knew better.
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@A. P. Good point about the “scorched earth” possibly. Narcissists have no conscience and there is the chance if and when he’s utterly defeated he might in anger take us all down with him. He doesn’t care about the country or the world for that matter. We could all be in serious physical danger if he flips out. look at history, Hitler basically made Germany commit suicide by refusing to see reality, he could have surrendered and saved lives but instead destroyed everything. I hope not.
30
I read the whistleblower letter, then today I read Marie Yovanovitch's introduction letter to the congressional committees.
Narcissist Trump has hounded us yes, but I gain solace in knowing that behind this crippled mind and his cronies of an Administration are American Patriots. And let's not forget SDNY with their arrests of more cronies.
I had a really good week. Trump did not.
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I have an ex-husband who has Narcissistic Personality Disorder, so I saw this up close and personal for many years. I, too, fell under his spell for a very long time, until I crossed him and suddenly turned into "the enemy." Once I wised up, what amazed me was how many people bought his spiel hook, line and sinker. Unquestioningly loyal, blind to the facts, willing to believe everything that he said, no matter how crazy. Had he been a crazy bum on the street, nobody would have paid him any mind, but he was in a position of power, and part of his allure was that people enjoyed basking in his reflected glory, and were afraid of what he might do to them if they decided to actually listen to his craziness with a critical ear and, as a result, quit being his adoring audience.
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@Jackie Yep, completely explains much of the behavior of the Senate and others. Many of them are caught up in the illusion. Thanks for your insightful and articulate comment.
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@Jackie learning to navigate Trump only merges deeper into the illogical bottomless pit of his ego’s need for affirmation. It’s too dangerous to have him in a position of power over so many people. He has to be contained not manipulated, because there is no way to stay ahead of his dysfunction unless you join In with him wholeheartedly. Many have, unfortunately.
25
President Trump's behavior mirrors that of many individuals who were exposed to the toxic stress of repeated childhood trauma. Persons with normal childhood development grow up feeling safe, learning to use higher order cognitive and social skills to solve problems. By contrast, those subject to repeated trauma grow up feeling that they are unsafe and always in danger, and this alters their perception of themselves and others. They are stuck in survival mode, constantly relying on lower order fight-or-flight responses. They lie. They're alternately aggressive and defensive. They are self-centered. They throw tantrums. They engage in repeated name calling.
It is one thing to attach a clinical label such as "narcissistic personality disorder" to the President, as Ms. Senior and George Conway have done. But it is another thing to delve more deeply into the root causes of the President's conduct. Although biographers have described antecedent behaviors of Mr. Trump as an adult many years prior to his ascendancy to the presidency, they have not sufficiently zoomed down on his childhood. Nor have they carefully examined whether and how his parents in his earliest years may have epigenetically transmitted to him a chronic sense of being unsafe.
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@jeffrey But you can’t fix them You can only save yourself and get away
I once had a boss, and in a different job a senior co-worker, who are textbook malignant narcissists. I quit both jobs, and should have done so a lot sooner.
One of these moral monsters is a fringe player whom Trump actually called a “great lawyer” in a tweet.
Yes, the gaslighting is a trigger, because I keep asking how Republicans can still support Trump, and then I remember what happened to me.
I did quit those jobs (and struggled to find work the first time). For the sake of my soul, sanity, and wellbeing—and the well-being of others—I should have quit sooner.
The news sure is a trigger. Thank you for writing this.
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“Trump got 46 percent of the vote in 2016, and polls say that roughly 43 percent of Americans still support him. They most likely feel emboldened by the president, not traumatized by him.”
And there you see our malaise. Political choices made by feelings, not rational thought, analysis and debate.
This is what our founders, but also other chaperones of democracy around the world and human history, could not foresee.
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@CitizenTM
Our Founding Fathers could also not foresee the dismantling of the checks and balances that they built into our government.
I suspect that those that were behind this restructuring of government always believed that they would be in control of things, that any President would be part of their inner circle.
While past 'outsiders' ran for President out of some personal conviction and belief that they could do good, Trump's run for President was simply an ego driven 'brand enhancement'. Trump was looking for publicity, never really thinking he would get the Republican nomination much less the Presidency. Trump was like Howard Stern or Jesse Ventura - a 'celebrity' of sorts that drew support from the uninformed 'anybody but the usual politicians' voter.
Trump truly is a loose cannon. That is why so many voted for him. The DC insiders gave him far more power than he ever should have had by trying to give themselves more power.
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@CitizenTM
As a long time psychotherapist I have often wondered what proportion of avid Trump supporters were themselves bullied and abused in childhood situations? One theory of human development talks about "internalizing the aggressor" and becoming like him/her to make sense of childhood terror in the face of violence or abuse. One then grows up to turn this outward on to others- or, at very least, it becomes a hidden part of oneself that can be projected on to a powerful figure, and vicariously identified with.
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@Mattie
Thanks. I can absolutely follow and understand what you are saying. And assume that this is part of what is happening.
My point in the columnist line "feel emboldened" was focusing on the "feel" part. Because Trump has not made these people's life any better, yet they feel he has.
2
I disagree. We are not at his mercy. If ten or twenty million would throw it down in a general strike, I think we'd be rid of him.
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@Chris
Agree with that. It won't happen. They don't seem capable of making such moves as that to save themselves.
Sorry, but they don't. I have been suggesting it for over a year as indeed have others (or just mass demonstrations daily) It never happens. They answer, ''is not the way we do things here''. But the way they do things there is doing nothing and waiting for an election that might be cancelled or likely again be rigged. And could well lose to thugs and cheats.
How to fix that lack of urge to save themselves?
I am so supportive of them in so many threads but after a while you wonder why..
20
this comment shows a regrettable lack of understanding of how power works. I say this frankly and without malicious intent. I do wish that the dynamics of power were this simple. they are not.
2
@Chris In the worst case, we'll have Trump for another term. I will take that, any day, against living in one of the many countries where a general strike, or worse, is the way to change leaders.
"If pathological narcissists derive their power from attention, we ought not to give it to them. But under ordinary circumstances, almost anything that comes out of the president’s mouth is considered news. Maybe it’s time, in earnest, to re-examine this notion. An Australian journalist, recently writing for The Guardian, noted that we often render Trump more coherent than he in fact is, spinning word salads into orderly sentences, rendering caprice as deliberate policy."
Yes, by all means, when Trump says, "launch the nukes", don't listen, he'll never know and when confronted that he ordered a nuclear attack which never occurred, he'll deny ever saying it. Luckily, the military commanders know how to filter out his looney bin orders, as I'm sure they discuss this amongst themselves daily.
37
In reality, none of this is news; it's been known for along time, including for a long time before Trump was in the White House.
What can be argued is that the stress of the position, along with age--there is a distinct possibility of encroaching dementia on top of the narcissism--has only made him worse.
Unfortunately, most psychological professionals report there is no good treatment for narcissists, nothing that makes them less like that over time. The only thing to do, as this analysis suggests, is isolation and removal from the narcissist's field of influence. And, in this case, as the narcissist's field is so large, that means removing the narcissist rather than those in the orbit.
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@Glenn Ribotsky
That there is no good treatment is no longer true. There are some therapists trained in leading edge body-based therapies that are having success (Somatic Experiencing and Internal Family Systems for example). But narcissists rarely seek help; it's usually a huge loss or crisis that sends the few that do to therapy, and they're prone to not stick with it.
19
@Barbara
maybe after he's writhing in torment after he loses the adulation of that 43% he may seek out treatment, although I doubt it. Treatment not for his personality disorder but for his pain. Likely his delusional architecture will quickly kick in and the torture will not be long lasting but will be filled in by the ever present emptiness that he is continually trying to fill. What might he do at that point?
2
McCluhan was on point. The medium( Trump) is the message. And there isn’t more to him.
We can go on thinking a lightbulb will go on,
or better, jettison the weight and return to a sane argument. Though it beats me when we had that state of affairs. It is an ideal however, that we must strive for. An exercise we can call
Democracy.
6
It's as if he has become the unavoidable narcissistic father, and since his control and presence is so extensive -- and we cannot get rid of him - - he has created a sense of helplessness and futility.
I choose to think that it will not be permanent, that the inquiry and impeachment process will free us. But his behavior will become more extreme as he senses increasing rebellion. I do not imagine that I am unique in having been unable to stomach watching the latest rally.
151
I’m not an auto mechanic, but when a car engine is screaming, rattling and belching clouds of black smoke, I am expert enough to know something is seriously wrong, to stop the car, and to commend the car to an expert.
In the same way, I’m not a trained professional in a field related to mental health. But I can tell there’s something seriously wrong with Trump, even if I can’t make a clinical diagnosis. Indeed I can tell Trump is getting worse. It’s time to “stop that car”.
707
It is getting worse, but how much worse can it get? Will he shoot someone on a New York Avenue, as he once bragged to prove his invulnerability?
12
@Prunella ... Not only is he shooting someone on a New York Avenue, he's pausing to reload.
5
The best way forward is to get the facts of the investigations out to the American people in a clear, concise and articulate presentation. Impeachment is a good possibility even if removal is less so due to the makeup of the Senate.
Then let the voters now approaching 1 yr away, throw this narcissist out of office along with GOP members of Congress who enabled him out of fear or opportunism as seen by the like of Lindsey Graham.
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@JT FLORIDA
Of course, Trump and his Rotten Republican enablers in Congress obviously intend to do everything they possibly can to make sure the American people do NOT get the facts of the investigations in a clear, concise and articulate presentation.
2
The fact that so many voters and Republican politicians support Trump speaks volumes about how they feel the country should be governed. By fiat and by them. This country is bruised and traumatized and I don't know how we are going to heal from this administration.
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@Judith
It is not so much support for Trump but an intense anger at the political system that has made such a mess of this nation. Many of those that voted for Trump did so believing that the man was nuts and that he would make mess of Washington DC. It's an irrational pov but still very real.
5
@Judith exactly! When more than 40 percent of the adult population endorses and votes for the fool on the hill, democracy’s problem is far greater than the fool . . . Remove and/or ignore him, the rest ain’t going away. America’s on the road to being a failed state, if not already there. I hope it can be turned around but thedamage will be felt for a long time, just as we still deal with reverberations from the second world war today. . . The devil makes me say: the kurds didn’t help at normandy, right?
10
@Judith
The week that he was elected, my spiritual teacher A.H. Almaas said something like, "now we know how much pain most people are in."
10
Most important, we should understand that he is what he is.
His disposition does not allow for that hoped for pivot to the presidential. It was never in the cards.
But waiting for it sure damaged us.
And he is the perfect tool for Putin, weakening the US as an ally of democracy and a world power.
Here’s hoping our constitution, Congress and courts are up to the task.
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@Clare "Here's hoping our Constitution, Congress and courts are up to the task." So far, the evidence is not promising.
4
I admire you greatly, Jennifer. My only issue with your piece is with the citation of George Conway. As much as I agree with him, the notion that he rallies the opposition while his partner defends the President leaves me with the unmistakable feeling of being bamboozled by two people who, regardless of how things shake out, will be handily rewarded for their "principled" positions in these truly perilous times. I truly care not for the integrity of the Conway marriage; but are we really to believe that despite their fundamental differences over such mendacity, they remain "in love?"
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@Andy Bachman : And, George Conway was initially a supporter of DJT -- never forget that. All of his relatively recent words in opposition -- tweets, op-eds, articles -- can't undo that.
(Fwiw, I think their marriage is toast. How can it not be?)
13
@Andy Bachman,
Actually I haven’t seen Kellyanne making any public statements in a while. Could she be slowly turning? Still unforgivable how she enabled tRump but, just saying... maybe she’s like Snape.
9
@JA Nope. Nothing so ethically-based like that is happening. KA C'way is just your garden-variety opportunist, although she is clever enough to manipulate DJT's obvious maternal complex. It always appears as if she's laughing at DJT behind her hand while waiting the next spin of the wheel that will render her next paycheck.
If he goes down, she'll be the first one to write the book on how mentally ill he really was--that's the money she's really waiting for--book contract!
Sad....she's a smart woman who's prostituted her considerable skill set. Imagine if she put that kind of time, energy and talent into producing tangible change for women, children, and the civic good.
7
What do you call it when 60 Million people blindly follow and support said Narcissist? We have an enormous problem whereby a large portion of our electorate have their worst fears and weaknesses manipulated and become willing participants in a highly dysfunctional relationship. The damage will be done by the time any realize what’s happened and it will be too late for most to recover, which will drive their hatred even deeper. It’s a very sad thing to watch and be part of...
242
@Tim Perhaps the large portion of our electorate that you refer to, are the ones saying the opposite, that the other portion has Trump dysfunction syndrome driving their hatred toward him and his followers. As Ellen repeated, "It's OK to agree to disagree."
2
@Tim Another term for a narcissist is an authoritarian. A lot of people grew up with one or more authoritarian parent. If they were mentally beaten-down and meekly accepted their fate, they would be more inclined to think of Trump as a Father Figure. IMHO, rhose of us who grew up with authoritarian parents but whose natural sense of rebellion may have bent a little but did not break, would be naturally more inclined to rebel against authoritarians.
24
Every con, scam, sting, every hoax or blackmailer has a mark. But none before has profitably bamboozled 60 million Americans.
4
My mother was a narcissist, and arguably my sister is also. Jennifer's description of how and in what way a narcissist causes distress and trauma ring true. I endeavor to cut all narcissists out of my life, and you should too.
The psychiatrist I see described how so many women came to seek help from her after Trump's election. The distress and trauma is real and disproportionately fall on them.
371
While agreeing with the personality assessment, our bigger issue is the break-down of a political party and the institution of the Electoral College, who are the gatekeepers to prevent such a person from ever appearing on a ballot in the first place - and if such a person does appear, then get elected, prevented from taking office, due to their manifest unfitness.
These would be the same problems which will likely prevent the Senate from convicting a POTUS on Articles of Impeachment.
168
@R. Law, in the weeks between the general election and the Electoral College vote, I actually thought that perhaps the Electoral College would prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.
Nope. And the United States and the world are the worse for it.
136
@Karen Lee - That singular failure should have been the nail in the coffin for the Citizens United fed corruption of our system.
15
Both the electoral college and the Senate are as undemocratic an elected institution as exist.
15
Congressional Republicans are not distressed children, they are craven opportunists who will support Trump right until it threatens their own power and position, just as their predecessors did with Nixon.
911
@Pat
But the truth of Trump's mental disorders is being talked about more and more openly.
FINALLY!
34
@Pat narcissists always gather a crowd of enablers to ride on their coat tails in return for whatever they can get out of it.
6
@Pat Amen. Well put and thank you
4