The Psychological Disorder Of Trump

Over the past year, there have been numerous analyses and essays focusing on the mental health of neo-fascist bumbler and Twitter twit Donald "Rump" Trump. The common "diagnosis" seems to be that he suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, given his enormous self-regard and need to degrade and humiliate people that are unwilling to bow to him. Alfie Kohn has a detailed piece at AlterNet that examines every symptom of the disorder that Rump possesses in spades:

"Donald Trump has distinguished himself as someone who is:

* given to boasting, preening, and swaggering to the point of self-parody;

* not merely thin-skinned and petulant but vindictive when crossed or even criticized;

* restless, with the attention span of a toddler;

* desperately competitive, driven to sort the world into winners and losers, and to regard other people (or countries) primarily as rivals to be bested;

* astonishingly lacking not only in knowledge but in curiosity;

* not merely given to uttering blatant falsehoods on a more or less constant basis but apparently unaware of the extent of his dishonesty, as if the fact that he believes or has said something makes it true; and

* possessed of a sense of absolute entitlement -- such that if he wants to kiss or grab an attractive woman, for example, he should of course be free to do so -- along with a lack of shame, humility, empathy, or capacity for reflection and self-scrutiny."

This is a man soon to be in charge of America's nuclear arsenal and Federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and who sadly was viewed by 62 million Americans (roughly 20% of the population) as qualified and acceptable for those roles. Foreign adversaries have a good psychological grasp of Rump and how to manipulate him, in particular Russian autocrat Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin. As a former KGB officer, Putin has been thoroughly trained in exploiting an adversary's psychological weakness, and he's found that by simply flattering Rump's ego, all things are possible. Here's Kohn again:

"It's not just that [Trump's] an extreme risk-taker, but that he takes those risks purely in the service of his own wealth and glory.  It's not clear that he has any principles, as such; what he has is an overwhelming need to be the center of attention, to be liked, feared, admired.  Apart from considerations of personal profit, his foreign policy is likely to be determined at least in part by which individuals on the world stage stroke his ego and which ones criticize him -- never mind that despicable leaders may do the former and reasonable leaders the latter (which is actually more likely than the reverse, if you think about it)." (emphasis added)

Rump's business dealings are already putting him in jeopardy of violating the Constitutional prohibition on "emoluments," not to mention his various his threats against rights under the First Amendment. Now, our international relationships and national security are also in danger of being severely damaged by a man who had needed psychological care for a long time, but who will never seek it.