I wrote a story here in January saying that while I didn’t think Trump met enough criteria to say he was an anti-social personality (sociopath), now I do. Like most all of the Duty to Warn therapists I’ve concluded that Trump is a malignant narcissist. This is a disorder that includes all or most of the traits of narcissistic personality disorder in extreme form, plus those of antisocial personality disorder, often with paranoia and delusional beliefs.
Dr. John Gartner just published an article in Salon which is one of the best summaries of malignant narcissism. I recommend reading the entire article; but below is what Gartner says about 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.
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.
As you read the DSM-5 definition (scroll down, right column) I’m sure you don’t need me to tick off the ways Trump has amply demonstrated how he meets the criteria.
What I think needs to be emphasized is something the media needs to address more thoroughly.. That is his sadism. In fact, Hillary Clinton in her soon to be published book described the Trump looming behind her during the debate and how she felt. This is classic sadism. The sadist just doesn’t bully and intimidate. He gets pleasure out of doing it. He enjoys the discomfort he causes others. In some criminal case he enjoys inflicting physical pain.
The closest Trump has come to physicality (that we know of for sure) is his grabbing women in the genitals. The pleasure, while it seems entirely sexual, it isn’t entirely. It also is enhanced by taking the woman by surprise. I think a case can be made that toucherism (below) is psychosexual sadism.
Toucherism is sexual arousal based on grabbing or rubbing one's hands against an unexpecting (and non-consenting) person. It usually involves touching breasts, buttocks or genital areas, often while quickly walking across the victim's path. Wikipedia
I’m not even sure that bullying occurs on a spectrum with the most benign not being sadist, rather being someone who just enjoys intimidating others to those who get a visceral — perhaps sexual — pleasure in doing so. I think all bullying is sadistic, just some bullies are more sadistic than others.
Trump expresses his sadism in two ways.
First, it is easy to find examples of people he has enjoyed bullying from Hillary to most of his opponents in the primary to, well, just about everyone he want to belittle. This isn’t just a power play calculated to throw his opponents off-balance, although it may be that too. From numerous observations, he enjoys doing it. He has exhorted his followers to bully as well, witness his encouraging his fans to beat up protestors at his rallies and his recent support for violent Nazis and white supremacists.
Second, and this is a guess because I am not privy to what’s in his mind, what he fantasizes about, or what kinds of dreams he has I strongly suspect are often sadistic.*
Recently he encouraged police to smash suspects heads when they put them into their cruisers. Yesterday he endorsed the dehumanizing and brutal law enforcement of Joe Arpaio. His endorsing torture leads me to think he fantasizes about his enemies being waterboarded or worse, and even about being the torturer.
Fan’s of “24” remember how Jack Bauer (Kieffer Sutherland) often tortured terrorists. But is was all business for him, after over eight seasons all the terrorists knew where the deadly bomb was hidden. Trump I suspect would do it for fun. (I wrote a story about this in January. Here it is.
We know Trump lives in world where alternate reality and reality gets mixed up on what seems to be a daily basis. We know he doesn’t read and loves to watch TV. We know it seem like he lives in episodes of The Twilight Zone. He also may live inside TV shows which play on his paranoia. After all, he considers the clinically paranoid Alex Jones (of InfoWars and Prison Planet) one of his pals. Watch his “explosive” 2015 interview with Jones. Or don’t, just check this out:
Alex Jones, a voice of the so-called "alt-right" and perpetrator of conspiracy theories, told listeners that he received a call from President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend thanking Jones and his supporters for aiding in his victory.
The online radio host, who casts doubt on the 2012 Newtown elementary school shooting that left 26 people — mostly children — dead, told listeners that he had received a call from Trump, who also spoke with world leaders from the United Kingdom, Russia, France and China in the days following his win.
"On my way here, Donald Trump gave me a call," Jones explained. "And I told him, 'Mr. President-elect, you're too busy, we don't need to talk,' but we still spent over five minutes.” from Infowars’ Alex Jones Says Trump Made Thank You Call on NBC News.
Considering Trump’s emphatic belief that torture works, I think it is vital we remind him that TV shows where the heroic anti-hero saves the world by brutally getting a terrorist to reveal where the nuclear bomb is hidden (within a time span of just one day) — if you were a fan you know how many times Jack Bauer did that from one season to the next.
Attention Mr. President, Jack Bauer wasn’t real. He was a fictional character. Don’t believe me, look it up on Wikipedia. He was played by Keifer Sutherland.
Of course Bauer only resorted to torture when he absolutely had to. Cut to the timer on the bomb: 75 minutes 12 seconds, 11 seconds, 10 seconds, and counting.
Jack wasn’t bad. He wasn’t a sadist. He wasn’t a bully. Mr. President, you could learn that from him.
He did what he had to do to save the world or the country, and did it eight times over 192 episodes. He was loyal to his friends and had a compassionate side. But then, all of this was penned by talented screenwriters.
Mr. President, you ought to catch up on Keifer Sutherland’s latest TV series where he plays the “Designated Survivor” who becomes president when terrorists blow up the Capital building during the State of the Union address. He’s be a perfect role model for you to follow as president. He know he’s unprepared, he is willing to admit that there are many things he doesn’t know… and eager to learn.
He’s a reluctant president. Modest, sincere, smart but not a genius.
You could model yourself on “The West Wing’s” Jed Bartlett (even though he also has a Wikipedia page, alas he’s really Martin Sheen); but that would be too much to hope for.
Yesterday my story was related to this:
www.dailykos.com/…
www.huffingtonpost.com/…