Article:
One of the most notable things about the 34,000 tweets that Rachel
Montgomery culled through for this new book is their sheer quantity. It’s like
looking at your phone in the morning, the night after a brief dinner date, and
finding thirty-seven nasty texts from your date. The quantity alone warns that
this person may not be mentally stable, and then the gratuitous nastiness
confirms it. Donald Trump’s manic dark energy drives him to vaunt himself and
denigrate his fellow human beings relentlessly: all day, all night, every day,
and every night.
To make sense of his aberrant behavior, you need to understand, specifically,
what is psychologically wrong with Donald Trump. His diagnosis is the Rosetta
Stone to cracking the Trump Twitter code, revealing its underlying structure,
and unfortunately, how much danger all the rest of us are in as a result. He
is a malignant narcissist who is also on the bipolar spectrum. From a
psychiatric perspective, the prognosis could not be more dire—for us.
Much has been written about Trump having Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
For example, Trump embodies the diagnostic criteria of believing himself to be
“uniquely superior,” (“Only I can fix it”) to a degree that would be comical if
it weren’t so frightening. He appears to literally believe that he knows more
about everything than everybody, despite his lack of experience, study,
intellectual curiosity, or even normal attention span. An amusing video montage
made its way through social media, where through the miracle of editing, in the
course of three minutes Trump brags about being the world’s greatest expert in
twenty different subject areas, literally using the exact same sentence—just
fill in the blank. “No one knows more about (fill in the blank) than me,” he
repeats over and over, while it becomes more absurd, as his imagined portfolio
of expertise expands with each improbable bombastic claim. When candidate Trump
was asked from whom he sought foreign policy advice, he responded, “I’m
speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain.” Just how
good a brain he has is up for debate, but the narcissistic fantasy that any
brain is so good it doesn’t need a brain trust bigger than me, myself, and I,
is scary and crazy. “I know more about ISIS than the generals, believe me,” he
boasts. Trump has more ways to say, “I am the best” than anybody. Believe me.
Much has been written about Trump having Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
For example, Trump embodies the diagnostic criteria of believing himself to be
“uniquely superior,” (“Only I can fix it”) to a degree that would be comical if
it weren’t so frightening. He appears to literally believe that he knows more
about everything than everybody, despite his lack of experience, study,
intellectual curiosity, or even normal attention span. An amusing video montage
made its way through social media, where through the miracle of editing, in the
course of three minutes Trump brags about being the world’s greatest expert in
twenty different subject areas, literally using the exact same sentence—just
fill in the blank. “No one knows more about (fill in the blank) than me,” he
repeats over and over, while it becomes more absurd, as his imagined portfolio
of expertise expands with each improbable bombastic claim. When candidate Trump
was asked from whom he sought foreign policy advice, he responded, “I’m
speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain.” Just how
good a brain he has is up for debate, but the narcissistic fantasy that any
brain is so good it doesn’t need a brain trust bigger than me, myself, and I,
is scary and crazy. “I know more about ISIS than the generals, believe me,” he
boasts. Trump has more ways to say, “I am the best” than anybody. Believe me.
But as critics have pointed out, merely saying a leader is narcissistic is
hardly disqualifying. Most are. But malignant narcissism is to garden variety
Narcissistic Personality Disorder what a malignant tumor is to a benign one.
Both are bad, but only one will kill you.
“The quintessence of evil,” was how Erich Fromm described malignant
narcissism, a term he introduced in 1964. Fromm, a refugee from Nazi Germany,
developed the diagnosis to explain Adolf Hitler. While Fromm is most well-known
as one of the founders of Humanistic Psychology—the basic premise of which is,
ironically, that man’s basic nature is good—the Holocaust survivor had a
lifelong obsession with the psychology of evil. Malignant narcissism was,
according to Fromm, “the most severe pathology. The root of the most vicious
destructiveness and inhumanity.” Erich Fromm saw evil up close and applied his
genius to boil it down to its psychological essence. A malignant narcissist is
a human monster. He may not be as bad as Hitler, but according to Fromm he is
cut from the same cloth: “The Egyptian Pharaohs, the Roman Caesars, the
Borgias, Hitler, Stalin, Trujillo—they all show certain similar features.”
My former teacher Otto Kernberg is the modern figure most associated with
the study of malignant narcissism. He defined the syndrome
as having four components: 1) Narcissistic Personality Disorder, 2) antisocial
behavior, 3) paranoid traits, and 4) sadism. Kernberg told the New York Times
that malignantly narcissistic leaders like Hitler or Stalin are “able to take
control because their inordinate narcissism is expressed in grandiosity, a
confidence in themselves and the assurance that they know what the world
needs.’’5 At the same time, “they express their aggression in cruel and
sadistic behavior against their enemies: whoever does not submit to them or
love them.’’
As G. H. Pollock wrote, “the malignant narcissist is pathologically
grandiose, lacking in conscience and behavioral regulation with characteristic
demonstrations of joyful cruelty and sadism.”
When you combine these four ingredients—narcissism, antisocial traits,
paranoia, and sadism—you have a leader who feels omnipotent, omniscient, and
entitled to total power, who rages at being persecuted by imaginary enemies,
which includes anyone who disagrees with him, as well as vulnerable minority
groups who represent no threat whatsoever. All who are not part of the in-group
or those who do not kiss his ring must be destroyed. And destroying them in the
most humiliating and painful way will be an exquisite pleasure. Once you
understand the logic of malignant narcissism, all of Trump’s tweets make
perfect sense.
Paranoia
In the same week, the New York Times and the Washington Post both ran
front-page stories about Trump as a conspiracy theorist. Before the election,
Rightwing Watch accumulated a list of fifty-eight conspiracies proclaimed by
Trump. And of course, the list has grown since then. Many are truly bizarre.
For example, not only is Barack Obama a Muslim born in Kenya, but according to
Trump, Obama had a Hawaiian government bureaucrat murdered to cover up the
truth about his birth certificate:
How amazing, the State Health Director who verified copies of Obama’s
“birth certificate” died in plane crash today. All others lived
Dec 12, 2013 04:32:44 PM
Antonin Scalia was murdered: “They say they found a pillow on his face,
(which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow.)”
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Later, fake news websites sponsored by the
Russians laid this “murder” at Hillary Clinton’s feet. Fellow candidate Ted
Cruz’s father even aided the Kennedy assassination—the mother of all conspiracy
theories. “What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death?
Before the shooting? It’s horrible.”
Yet, the world was shocked when Trump accused Barack Obama by tweet of
illegally wiretapping Trump Tower. Why were we surprised when this tweeting
about conspiracy theories has been going on for years, as the author’s research
shows?
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Trump also meets criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder. Antisocials
lie, exploit, and violate the rights of others, and have neither remorse nor
empathy for those they harm.
Politifact estimated 76 percent of Trump’s statements were false or mostly
false, and Politico estimated Trump told a lie every three minutes and fifteen
seconds. So in his tweets, Trump freely and frequently lies. He doubles,
triples, quadruples, and quintuples down on transparently disprovable
falsehoods.
We have ample evidence of Trump’s pervasive pattern of exploiting and
violating the rights of others. According to New York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman, Trump University was a “straight up fraud…a fraud from beginning
to end.” Dozens of lawsuits attest to his pattern and practice of not paying
his contractors. Finally, there is Trump’s pattern of serial sexual assault,
which he bragged about on tape, even before a dozen women came forward, who he
then called liars.
Trump is allergic to apology and appears to feel no remorse of any kind. It
is as if being Trump means never having to say you’re sorry. When Frank Luntz
asked Trump if he had ever asked God for forgiveness, Trump said “I’m not sure
I have…I don’t think so.” His unrepentance notwithstanding, he also boasted that
he loves God and his church.
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Sadism
Because he is a sadist, the malignant narcissist will take a bully’s glee
in persecuting, terrorizing, and even exterminating his “enemies” and
scapegoats. When a protester was escorted out of a Trump rally, Trump famously
said “I’d like to punch him in the face,” in a tone that suggested it would
genuinely bring him great pleasure. He relished the thought of throwing another
protester out in the cold without his coat. “I love the old days. You know what
they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d
be carried out on a stretcher, folks.” Narcissists often hurt others in the
pursuit of their selfish interests. A noteworthy difference between the normal
Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the malignant narcissist is sadism, or
the gratuitous enjoyment of the pain of others. A narcissist will purposely
hurt other people in pursuit of their own desires, but may regret and, in some
circumstances, show remorse for doing so, while a malignant narcissist will
damage others and enjoy doing so, showing little compassion or shame for the
damage they cause. People with simple Narcissistic Personality Disorder often
feel shame when being forced to confront the reality that they have hurt other
people in pursuit of their selfish or self-centered goals. For malignant
narcissists it’s a bonus. It’s part of the fun.
Trump loves to “punch down” people that he views as weaker than himself by
demeaning and humiliating them. Not only are sizable portions of Trump’s 34,000
tweets dedicated to cyber-bullying, but sometimes, he will send the same nasty
tweet six times across a day’s news cycle day to maximize his victim’s
humiliation.
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Trump lives in a paranoid zero sum world divided into two types of people:
Winners and Losers. Strong and Weak. Victors and Vanquished. Bullies and
Victims. Predator and Prey. The guys who get to grab the pussies and those that
get their pussies grabbed. All that matters is coming out on top.
Winning Takes Care of Everything
As the author points out in her illuminating chapter “They Are Laughing at
Us!” the worst thing Trump can say is they are winning. They are taking
advantage. They are laughing at us. We should strike back at those bastards.
Turn the tables, make them pay, and laugh in their faces.
Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The
world is laughing at us.
Nov 6, 2012 8:30 PM
The United States better address China’s exchange rate before they steal
our country and it is too late! China is laughing at us.
Feb 25, 2013 6:54 PM
“The Chinese laugh at how weak and pathetic our government is in combating
intellectual property theft.” (cont) http://tl.gd/g70qiu
Mar 1, 2012 12:28 PM
Like the myth that the Inuit have one hundred words for snow, Trump has one
hundred phrases to express his contempt (and that’s not a myth). The quantity
and tone of these insults say more about the insulter than about the people he
is publicly verbally abusing. Here is a sample of some of the phrases used
throughout his tweets: low life!, overrated, 3rd rate, lightweight incompetent
clown, major sleaze and buffoon, total dud!, mental basket case, true garbage.
Trump’s put-downs break into two basic categories: bad and weak. Losers are
weak, and haters are bad. Indeed, haters and losers are his shorthand for
anyone not on the Trump train:
Happy Thanksgiving to all--even the haters and losers!
Nov 27, 2013 2:22 PM
Happy Veterans Day to ALL, in particular to the haters and losers who have
no idea how lucky they are!!!
Nov 11, 2013 7:59 AM
To EVERYONE, including all haters and losers, HAPPY NEW YEAR. Work hard, be
smart and always remember, WINNING TAKES CARE OF EVERYTHING!
Dec 31, 2014 4:15 PM
The narcissist in him imagines he is superior to everyone in every way, so
he must constantly assert he is more powerful in every respect. During the
campaign he effectively diminished his Republican rivals as weak, making him
the winner of the primate alpha male competition in a simple contest of
fitness, size, and strength.
Leightweight chocker Marco Rubio looks like a little boy on stage. Not
presidential material!
Deleted after 1 hour at 11:17 AM on Feb 26
Low energy candidate @JebBush has
wasted $80 million on his failed presidential campaign. Millions spent on me.
He should go home and relax!
Jan 21, 2016 6:32 AM
He loves to call his critics stupid—essentially accusing them of mental
weakness. As in:
Highly untalented Wash Post blogger, Jennifer Rubin, a real dummy, never
writes fairly about me. Why does Wash Post have low IQ people?
Dec 1, 2015 12:46 PM
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How many ways can Trump call someone stupid? Let us count the ways: dumb as
a rock, truly dumb as a rock, dummy dope, total dope!, very, very dumb!,
dumbest of them all, lowest IQ on television, a spoiled brat without a properly
functioning brain, gets dumber each & every year--& started from a very
low base.
Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all
know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure,it’s not your fault
May 8, 2013 9:37 PM
If his critic is a woman, he will always find a weakness in her appearance:
There are many editorial writers that are good, some great, & some bad.
But the least talented of all is frumpy Gail Collins of NYTimes.
Mar 17, 2014 2:03 PM
Frumpy and very dumb Gail Collins, an editorial writer at The New York
Times, is so lucky to even have a job. Check her out - incompetent!
Mar 15, 2014 4:31 PM
Huffington Post is just upset that I said its purchase by AOL has been a
disaster and that Arianna Huffington is ugly both inside and out!
Apr 20, 2014 4:57 PM
At his rallies, he said about one of the women who accused him of sexual
assault, “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you,”
implying she wasn’t attractive enough to assault.15 When asked about his rival
Carly Fiorina, he said: “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you
imagine that, the face of our next president?!”
Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at
. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at
