What’s Wrong With Donald Trump ?
As the Orange Emperor’s chaotic reign continues to lurch from drama to crisis and back again to drama, millions of Americans are wondering what’s wrong with him. How can you make sense of his behavior when he seems to occupy a fact-free alternative reality all of his own ?
Clearly it’s not safe to diagnose anyone as having an aberrant personality disorder without having professional expertise and sufficient face-time with them to make a clinical determination. Absent that, no psychiatrist could definitively diagnose Trump despite the vast amount of publicly available material that records his unusual behavior over a long period of time.
However there’s a difference between a clinical diagnosis and an informed opinion. Precisely because there is that wealth of recorded Trumpiness to study many expert mental-health professionals have felt able to offer their opinions on his personality and mental state. The most common diagnosis they suggest to explain Trump’s abnormal behavior is Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)
So what is that ? Well, Narcissistic Personality Disorder can be a serious mental condition in which people have an inappropriately inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others. But behind a mask of extreme confidence theres a fragile self-esteem, sensitive to the slightest criticism, which often makes the individual lash out and exhibit fits of rage in response.
People are diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder if they exhibit most (at least five or more) of the symptoms listed below :-
- Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment by others.
- Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
- Self-perception of being unique, superior, and associated with high-status people and institutions.
- Needing constant admiration from others.
- Sense of entitlement to special treatment and obedience from others.
- Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain.
- Unwilling to empathize with others’ feelings, wishes, or needs.
- Intensely jealous of others and believe others are equally jealous of them.
- Pompous and arrogant demeanor.
Sound scarily like someone in the news ? A certain Donald Trump perhaps ? He ticks every single box. When I first saw that list I got a little chill down my spine. It could have been written by someone specifically trying to describe Trump’s personality, rather than a general diagnostic checklist for a serious personality disorder.
Several mental health professionals have argued publicly that he is indeed a classic (and extreme) case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It’s “textbook Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” according to clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis. “He’s so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops,” clinical psychologist George Simon agreed. Others have suggested that he’s a Malignant Narcissist, a Sociopath, a Narcissistic Sociopath, or some combination thereof. But who knows ? Certainly not me.
Determining whether he has a diagnosable personality disorder or not, and the seriousness of that condition, would require that mental health experts are given access to talk with him about it. And that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
What’s in a name, anyway ? Whether anyone is ever able to definitively put a name to what’s wrong with Trump or not, it won’t change the fact that he is an arrogant, egotistical, and thoroughly awful person without any morals, empathy, or conscience. Quite simply, a bad human being.
(cartoon by David Horsey)
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