The «Make America Great Again» Man: Trump the Narcissist
By Nour Rida
Beirut – The “Make America Great Again” man is narcissistic. This description of US President Donald Trump was not made recently, it was declared by many psychiatrists and experts before he even came to office some 6 years ago. Psychological scientists have established a relatively simple taxonomy to differentiate one person from another, known widely as the Big Five:
Extroversion: gregariousness, social dominance, enthusiasm, reward-seeking behavior
Neuroticism: anxiety, emotional instability, depressive tendencies, negative emotions
Conscientiousness: industriousness, discipline, rule abidance, organization
Agreeableness: warmth, care for others, altruism, compassion, modesty
Openness: curiosity, unconventionality, imagination, receptivity to new ideas
Scientists, unsurprisingly, say Trump has a sky-rocketing level of extroversion and around zero agreeableness. This is when normally most people score near the middle. Trump scores two opposing extreme poles on the scale.
More recently, many psychology scientists and researchers say Trump scores high on Neuroticism. Higher scores on neuroticism are always bad, having proved to be a risk factor for unhappiness, dysfunctional relationships, and mental-health problems.
Freshly, several experts in the areas of psychology and psychiatry have dealt with Trump and his psychological well-being. Psychiatry professor says President Donald Trump is so mentally impaired that he cannot think in abstract terms and can only view things in a one-dimensional way.
"Trump has no policy on any issue because his mental impairment means he cannot think strategically or in abstract terms," tweeted John M. Talmadge, MD, a physician and clinical professor of psychiatry at U.T. Southwestern Medical Center.
According to Newsweek, Talmadge notes "He cannot weigh options, assess risk, or foresee consequences. Concepts like fairness, justice, honor, and integrity quite literally do not register. You can see this in every interview or press encounter. He never states an abstract thought or idea.”
"What is true today is that Trump is not normal, Trump is mentally impaired, Trump cannot think normally, and Trump is dangerous."
Therapists, researchers, psychologists, and experts in mental health seem pretty consistent in their belief that Trump suffers from narcissistic traits consistent with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Here is a brief to the symptoms:
He has a grandiose sense of self-importance, is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love, believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people, Requires excessive admiration, has a very strong sense of entitlement [e.g., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations], Is exploitative of others [e.g., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends] Lacks empathy [e.g., is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others], is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her, regularly shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.
Of course, some analysts go beyond that and say the president of the United States is seriously, frighteningly, dangerously unstable. And he’s getting worse by the day.
Whether it is Korea, China, Iran, Russia, or else, these traits are highlighted in his speeches, inconsistent decisions and actions. What also indicates Trump's instability and narcissism is the unceasing campaign of lies to convince people of things that aren't true. Trump made more than 2,700 false claims in 2019.
The instability and grandiosity is evident in his statements, according to analysts. When it comes to Iran, Trump has said that “some groups will never be anything but our enemies”. He made the statement after attacking Obama for doing deals with Iran. Only he claimed shortly afterwards “The world must know we do not go abroad in search of enemies, that we are always happy when old enemies become friends, and when old friends become allies.”
Trump criticized Obama for failing existing overseas partners, promising “America is going to be a reliable friend and ally again”. Yet he delivers warnings about paying for NATO membership as if blackmailing these “friends”. “The countries we are defending must pay for the cost of this defense – and, if not, the US must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves.”
He claims that “We have to be unpredictable and we have to be unpredictable starting now,” and then contradicts himself saying “The best way to achieve goals is through a disciplined, deliberate and consistent foreign policy.”
As Marina Fang, a reporter at the Huffpost tweets, “Trump condemns the role of racism, white supremacy and the internet in mass shootings. Not mentioned: his own racism and white supremacy in person and on his Twitter feed. Also blames video games, mental illness.”
Under the title “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President - Updated and Expanded with New Essays”, some of the most prominent psychiatrists and psychologists have written essays in a book depicting the instability of Trump.
According to the authors, “Our message was simple: The president was more dangerous than people suspected, would grow more dangerous with time, and could ultimately become uncontainable. Much of what we predicted in the book has come to pass: Trump's rhetoric has clearly incited violence, cruel policies against children that could lay the groundwork for future violence, enhancing a culture of violence both domestically and abroad, and the weakening of institutions that might have contained him.”
