Stormy Daniels may tell us what Trump is like under and on top of the sheets, and whether he has unusual sexual preferences including fetishes or paraphilias which are not ipso facto psychiatric disorders.
However, I hope she is willing to tell us more and give us insight into the depth and breadth of Trump’s potentially dangerous psychopathology. Mental health professionals like me want to know whether the would-be president revealed aspects of his psychopathology we need to be concerned about in his time with his paramour.
If you haven’t read John Gartner’s article from this summer, now’s a good time to do so, or see excerpt at the bottom of the page.
There are two possibilities as to why Stormy Daniels decided to a have a sexual relationship with Trump, a married man in the public eye who had to keep their relationship secret.
One, the most simple, is that he paid her lots of money and lavished expensive gifts on her.
The other is that she fell for him.
We know that narcissists, even malignant narcissists, can be Intelligent, high functioning, soft-spoken, charming, seemingly emotional, gracious, well mannered, and kind. As long as others play by their rules they can develop relationships of a superficial sort.
We (both shrinks and the concerned general public) need to know whether Stormy observed signs of paranoia, lack of conscience and sadism not necessarily in how he interacted with her, but in what he said about others. We need to know just how pathological his lying was. Did he believe his lies or lie consciously to get what he wanted?
Did Stormy see or experience any of the following in how he treated her?
- deception, as indicated by repeatedly lying, or conning her
- impulsivity or failure to plan ahead;
- irritability and aggressiveness
- reckless disregard for her comfort and safety
- lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated her
These are all traits of antisocial personality disorder, sometimes called sociopathy. Many people have sociopathic traits like being willing to ignore their better angels, for example, the stereotypically depicted used car salesman selling you a car they know has a transmission filled with sawdust. However, most despots are hardcore sociopaths.
Stormy Daniels may be in a position to offer the only in-depth picture of Trump’s psychopathology that we're likely to see.
On the other hand, she may have been a perfect gentleman with her and she won’t tell us anything besides he was a cheating husband.
Even if this is all the beef there is, it could be the final straw and lead to Melania leaving him and some of his blindly loyal diehard female supporters finally getting fed up with his misogyny.
See my story from yesterday, A smoking gun for Melania.
Excerpt from John Gartner article:
Much has been written about Trump having narcissistic personality disorder. As critics have pointed out, merely saying a leader is narcissistic is hardly disqualifying. But malignant narcissism is like a malignant tumor: toxic.
Psychoanalyst and Holocaust survivor Erich Fromm, who invented the diagnosis of malignant narcissism, argues that it “lies on the borderline between sanity and insanity.” Otto Kernberg, a psychoanalyst specializing in borderline personalities, defined malignant narcissism as having four components: narcissism, paranoia, antisocial personality and sadism. Trump exhibits all four.
His narcissism is evident in his “grandiose sense of self-importance … without commensurate achievements.” From viewing cable news, he knows "more about ISIS than the generals” and believes that among all human beings on the planet, “I alone can fix it.” His "repeated lying," “disregard for and violation of the rights of others” (Trump University fraud and multiple sexual assault allegations) and “lack of remorse” meet the clinical criteria for anti-social personality. His bizarre conspiracy theories, false sense of victimization, and demonization of the press, minorities and anyone who opposes him are textbook paranoia. Like most sadists, Trump has been a bully since childhood, and his thousands of vicious tweets make him perhaps the most prolific cyber bully in history.