By Hal Brown
Chauncey DeVega has interviewed many of the top experts from the fields of psychology, sociology, and social psychology, and other fields of study, about Trump and Trumpism. This month he summarized and synthesized what he has learned into two articles, one published three weeks ago and one published today. Taken together they are a present a deep dive into the psychopathology both of Trump and Trumpism.
From October 5th:
Will Trump's illness break his hold over his followers? Mental health experts say probably not — Malignant narcissism can form unbreakable bonds, experts say: Expect even nuttier pro-Trump conspiracy theories
… and from today when it was the lead story (right):
When worlds collide: Can reality finally defeat the Trumpian delusion? Like him or not, Joe Biden is from Earth. Donald Trump is from a malignant shadow-realm and has almost destroyed us
By now I would venture to say that 99% of those reading Daily Kos and everyone following the progressive media knows what malignant narcissism is thanks to Donald Trump. A poll I posted on one of my stories showed that another collection of traits, the Dark Triad, wasn’t very well known (the poll which 1200 answered showed it was new to 75%).
This is why I was glad to see that he referenced The Dark Triad in the second article, about which I have written on Daily Kos here and here.
Trumpists, Republicans and right-leaning independents also possess more death anxieties (social psychologists describe this is "terror management theory") and related fears of personal and societal change. They are also more likely to manifest what is known as the dark triad of personality traits (Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) as compared to others.
It’s no surprise that so-called Trumpists manifest the traits of the Dark Triad. After all they a members of a cult where the leader is the exemplar of the Dark Triad. Just as we can click off all the characteristics of malignant narcissism for Trump where he scores 100% we can do the same with the Dark Triad (below from Wikipedia).
All three dark triad traits are conceptually distinct although empirical evidence shows them to be overlapping. They are associated with a callous-manipulative interpersonal style.[9]
- Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.[10]
- Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulation and exploitation of others, an absence of morality, unemotional callousness, and a higher level of self interest.[11]
- Psychopathy is characterized by continuous antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callous and unemotional traits (CU),[12] and remorselessness.[13]
Here’s an Internet search for Trump dark triad.
All presidents are studied in college history and political science courses. Trump will be the first president who will also have entire courses devoted to him in many other departments: for example psychology, sociology, social psychology, and communications, as well as public health and epidemiology, to name some that come to mind.
Just look at some of the people Chauncey DeVega has interviewed recently. In addition to the mental health experts they range from historian Timothy Snyder to neuroscientist Seth Northam to scholar Larry Bartels to media critic James Poniewozik to the editor of the journal Science.
Trump has fostered some creative word smithing. I was struck by Jennifer Senior’s being the first (as far as I could tell after a search) to call him a preening narcissist. She did this in one of her NY Times columns. I wrote a brief diary about it.
Likewise I think DeVega can take credit for adding the term “malignant shadow realm” to the Trump lexicon even though it is only in the subtitle.
Afterthought:
I don’t think Chauncey is old enough to have seen the 1951 George Pal movie “When World’s Collide” (in the first part of the title of his article) in the theater although When Worlds Collide is the also title of a 1975 album (the related single is "Did Worlds Collide?") by Richard Hudson and John Ford. "When Worlds Collide" is also the title of a single by the heavy metal band Powerman 5000 from the 1999 album Tonight the Stars Revolt!
The Poll: Just seeing if anybody is reading this.