Hardly a week goes by when I don’t see indications and examples of Trump’s psychopathology in his behavior. Those of you who follow my columns in Trumpology: The psychological study and analysis of Donald Trump know how frequently I write about this subject.
Politico Magazine published an article that is worth reading.
EXCERPT: But those who know him best say this is merely the latest episode (Whistlegate) in a lifelong pattern of behavior for the congenitally combative Trump. He’s always been this way. He doesn’t stop to reflect. If he wins, he barely basks. If he loses, he doesn’t take the time to lie low or lick wounds; he invariably refuses to even admit that he lost. Regardless of the outcome—up, down or somewhere in between—when one tussle is done, Trump reflexively starts to scan the horizon in search of a new skirmish.
“If he’s not in a fight, he looks for one,” former Trump publicist Alan Marcus told me this weekend. “He can’t stop.”
“He’s always in an attack mode,” former Trump casino executive Jack O’Donnell said. “He’s always got adversaries.”
“He does love a confrontation—there’s no question about it,” added Barbara Res, a former Trump Organization executive. “Trump thinks he’s always going to win—he really does believe that—and he fights very, very, very dirty.”
“A street fighter,” Louise Sunshine, another former Trump Organization executive, once told me.
Trump, of course, has said all of this himself, and for as long as people have been paying him any attention. For decades, he has been redundantly clear. “I go after people,” he has said. “… as viciously and as violently as you can,” he has said. “It makes me feel so good,” he has said.
In another Politico article (Trumpism without Trump) Trump’s psychopathological narcissism, also known as malignant narcissism, was referenced:
Trump is all id, the oldest and most primitive part of our brain, concerned only with the evolutionary basics: sex, sustenance and survival. His brain is not filtered by our social and emotional brain, much less by the rational, pre-frontal cortex. He has no Jeb Bush brain to digest facts and figures, issues and policy. Instead, Trump is a predator. When something enters his world, he either eats it, kills it or mates with it. That is all his predatory instincts can do.
The president’s primitive nature is the root of his narcissism. Trump’s immediate and voracious appetites allow no concern for others or understanding of tomorrow. He reacts instinctively, not emotionally, morally or intellectually. He is insensitive to truth and incapable of discipline or strategy.
John Gartner, Ph.D., wrote in Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump (2018):
“Trump suffers from malignant narcissism, a diagnosis [that is] far more toxic and dangerous than mere narcissistic personality disorderbecause it combines narcissism with three other severely pathological components: paranoia, sociopathy, and sadism. When combined, this perfect storm of psychopathology defines the ‘quintessence of evil,’ according to Fromm, the closest thing psychiatry has to describing a true human monster.”
Trump’s narcissism is mixed with characteristics of anti-social personality disorder (SOCIOPATHY) — which is the definition of malignant narcissism (Psychology Today article). The following is from Wikipedia.
Malignant narcissism is a psychological syndrome comprising an extreme mix of narcissism, antisocial behavior, aggression, and sadism.[1] Grandiose, and always ready to raise hostility levels, the malignant narcissist undermines families and organizations in which they are involved, and dehumanizes the people with whom they associate.[2]
Malignant narcissism is a hypothetical, experimental diagnostic category. Narcissistic personality disorder is found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), while malignant narcissism is not. As a hypothetical syndrome, malignant narcissism could include aspects of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) alongside a mix of antisocial, paranoid and sadistic personality disorder traits. The importance of malignant narcissism and of projection as a defense mechanism has been confirmed in paranoia, as well as "the patient's vulnerability to malignant narcissistic regression”. Wikipedia
Malignant narcissists are “always ready to raise hostility levels, (they) undermine families and organizations in which they are involved, and dehumanizes the people with whom they associate...”
Those who can observe him objectively see that he has no empathy and has signs of near clinical paranoia. He goes out of his ways to demonize of the press, minorities, immigrants, and anyone from political rivals to celebrities. Anti-social personality is a diagnosis that describes Trump because he constantly lies, violate norms and laws, exploits other people, and shows no remorse. As a sadist he takes pleasure in harming and humiliating other people.
Trump is basically an addict. He needs his fix of bullying.