This excerpt from an article by three psychologists explains so much about pathological liar and sociopath Donald "The Chosen One" Trump's ease with habitual lying:
"Trump seems to know that many of the things he says are not true. After all, he did go along with the characterization by Tony Schwartz (the guilt stricken and repentant, actual author of Trump’s 'autobiography,' The Art of the Deal) of his many lies as 'truthful hyperbole'. So, he does seem to have some partial awareness that what he says isn’t always quite so. How then does Donald Trump avoid being seen as a liar by his base? Why is he so convincing to so many? Why don’t people spot the telltale signs indicating Trump’s awareness of his own lies?We have a mentally unstable sociopath in the Oval Office, and all of his psychological flaws and pathologies are in plain sight and are responsible for his increasing reckless and self-serving behavior. November can't come too soon.
The answer appears to be that for Trump there is only one reality, one truth: Donald J. Trump is the world’s greatest genius and he, and only he, can solve the problems we face. Yes, that does sound crazy. But that’s precisely the nature of narcissistic personalities; they have delusional beliefs about their own importance and greatness. For Trump, that is the only significant truth. Anything said in support of that truth is … true. Like Hitler declaimed chanting the term Lügenpresse, Trump uses the same term to refer to any challenges to this great truth, 'fake news.' There is no relevance to a correspondence notion of reality in which verbal descriptions of things must match empirical facts. The way things are has no importance if noting the reality would interfere in perceiving and promoting the One Great Truth.
Because of this, Trump consciously experiences no awkwardness when lying. Every word is judged against only one standard: Can this utterance convince my audience that they should support and follow me? If so, it is true (remember what the One Great Truth is). If not, it is false." (our emphasis) -- Psychologists Daniel Kriegman, Robert Trivers, and Malcolm Slavin.
