Is our president a narcissist? And, if so, how dangerous does that make him? Most of us don’t know the DSM-V definition of narcissism, or Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and I’m not going to include it here, because Google. Yesterday, though, a new word was added to the armchair psychiatrist diagnosis of our Commander-in-Chief. Malignant. As in malignant narcissist. That sounds worse than narcissist. It sounds like a narcissist with cancer, and, in a way, that’s true. But is it his cancer, or ours?
Yesterday, U.S. News and World Report, in an article by Susan Milligan titled ‘Temperament Tantrum,’ published the following:
John D. Gartner, a practicing psychotherapist who taught psychiatric residents at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, minces as few words as the president in his professional assessment of Trump.
"Donald Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president," says Gartner, author of "In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography." Trump, Gartner says, has "malignant narcissism," which is different from narcissistic personality disorder and which is incurable.
Gardner was quick to point out that he has not personally examined the president, but that his opinion is based on Trump’s public actions. He also noted that there is no diagnosis of malignant narcissism in the DSM-V. It seems that there has been an internal conflict among psychiatrists about narcissism diagnoses for decades. To us, the laypeople, malignant narcissism is simply narcissism with a sadistic twist. Great.
Should we be worried about how such a diagnosis will manifest itself in this presidency? Yesterday, ‘Hitler’ was one of the most searched Google terms. I think we are very worried, and wondering how we will recognize when our president reaches the danger zone, and risks our lives and welfare, and the lives of others whom he has targeted.
In 2002, Betty Glad, of the Department of Government and International Studies at the University of South Carolina, in her article ‘Why Tyrants Go Too Far: Malignant Narcissism and Absolute Power’ written for Political Psychology (Vol. 23, No. 1, 2002) concluded this:
Machiavelli's ultimately flexible power seeker-a man without a nature-does not exist. The person who is completely ruthless in the struggle for power is not apt to act moderately when that is to his advantage. Such an individual, given certain political skills, is apt to have an advantage in coming to power in anarchic or otherwise troubled situations. His self-idealization and apparent self-confidence are attractive to a people who are beset with troubles, and his ability to act without the constraints of a strong moral conscience gives him an advantage in raw struggle for power. Securing absolute power, moreover, meets some of his psychological needs. With his position and new instruments of control, he can orchestrate support of his idealized self-image and secure "friends" and punish "enemies" as he sees fit.
Sound familiar? She goes on:
But absolute power, paradoxically, is apt to result in even more extreme behavior. Even a malignant narcissist, in the climb to power, operates within certain external political constraints. But once he has attained absolute power, he can act out the grandiose fantasies that he had hitherto kept in some check. Fantasies, however, are not good guides to action. The individual under their pull is apt to overestimate his capabilities, fail to appreciate realistic obstacles in the external environment, and act in increasingly chaotic ways. As his cruelties and apparent erratic behaviors expand, he creates new enemies. Eventually, as he engages in ever more extreme behavior, his major psychological defense-paranoia-breaks down.
The particular finale to the tyrant's story, however, will depend on the political structure in which he operates and the vicissitudes of fortune. If his extreme behavior leads to the creation of opposing alliances, new boundaries may keep his potential for fragmentation in check. But if he has undertaken a path that permits no face-saving exit, he may take a route that risks the structures he has built. Caught in a maelstrom of conflicting wishes and emotions and undertaking adventures for which there is no realistic productive end, the individual in such circumstances may seek some sort of way out. For those confronting such a leader, efforts should be made to maintain clear, firm, but non-provocative boundaries. Compromise with him is likely only to whet the appetite. But confrontations that humiliate him could lead to behavior that is destructive both to him and those threatening him. Short of keeping such a person from ever coming to power, the creation of countervailing constraints that are both clear and impersonally used may be the best alternative available.
Betty Glad did not know, in 2002, that we would be facing the situation we’ve found ourselves in now. Betty was studying the rise and fall of such notable bastards as Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein, yet she describes the man we see in the news and on Twitter. The malignant narcissist has characteristics of grandiosity, defensiveness, deception and intimidation, among other things. Under extreme stress, paranoia and cruelty are added to the list. Other sources say that malignant narcissism manifests out of a response to some trauma or early separation, and serves to freeze the narcissist at the emotional age that the trauma occurred. If the pattern of behavior is recognized early enough, there is treatment. For Narcissistic Personality Disorder, not Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Either way, that ship has sailed.
I am worried and you should be, too. Everyone can see the president’s erratic behavior, his self-aggrandizing manner, obsession with what everyone thinks of him, and his promises to get even with those who have slighted him. He has truly made little or no attempt to begin to foster the relationships needed to run a democracy, preferring to watch news about himself on television, tweet absurdities and threats, and sign overarching executive orders that affect the lives of millions of us.
Those who are catering to the president’s puerile fantasies are playing a dangerous game. Now is the time for men and women on both sides of the aisle to come together and develop a strategy for removing Trump from office. We have the opportunity to see the future through the eyes of the past. What will we tell our grandchildren if we do nothing?