TRUMPOLOGY: The scale to assess The Dark Triad is called The Dirty Dozen and Trump scores 100%

"The Dirty Dozen narcissism scale (i.e., egocentricity) is a combination of high extraversion and (to a lesser extent) high neuroticism with low agreeableness. Both the psychopathy (i.e., callous affect) and Machiavellianism (i.e., manipulation) scales appear to combine low agreeableness and conscientiousness (with small differences between the two in their associations with other personality features)."

When I posted the primary characteristics of The Dark Triad as a reply to Trump’s sarcastic tweet about Mitt Romney testing negative for coronavirus had I realized it would receive 35,000 impressions I would have put a link to the Wikipedia description lest people think I made up this up.

The fact that Trump is a self-serving liar is merely one aspect of The Dark Triad fitting in with his psychopathy and to some extent with his narcissism.

Leaving the lies out, I pay attention to how frequently Trump demonstrates these characteristics of components of The Dark Triad: 

• narcissistic bragging is number one, he can barely make a statement without saying how great he is
• blaming others (currently serving Democrats and President Obama)
• bullying reporters and their networks
• mocking reporters
• lack of true empathy
• unemotional coldness
• indifference to morality

You can add pathological lying, paranoia, impaired reality testing, poor impulse control, bullying, frotteurism, sadism, possible delusions, Illeism, and more bring the list to over 20 items.

Sometimes psychologists researching The Dark Triad use a scale they call the Dirty Dozen to rate subjects they study and use this.  Here it is:

.

Item		Scale Name in Present Manuscript	Original Scale Name
1.	I tend to manipulate others to get my way.	Manipulativeness	Machiavellianism
2.	I have used deceit or lied to get my way.	Manipulativeness	Machiavellianism
3.	I have used flattery to get my way.	Manipulativeness	Machiavellianism
4.	I tend to exploit others towards my own end.	Manipulativeness	Machiavellianism
5.	I tend to lack remorse.	Callous Affect	Psychopathy
6.	I tend to be unconcerned with the morality of my actions.	Callous Affect	Psychopathy
7.	I tend to be callous or insensitive.	Callous Affect	Psychopathy
8.	I tend to be cynical.	Callous Affect	Psychopathy
9.	I tend to want others to admire me.	Egocentricity	Narcissism
10.	I tend to want others to pay attention to me.	Egocentricity	Narcissism
11.	I tend to seek prestige of status.	Egocentricity	Narcissism
12.	I tend to expect special favors from others.	Egocentricity	Narcissism

DETAILS: Several measures have been developed to capture dark personality features. Many of these measures sought to capture the so-called Dark Triad, which consists of the interrelated features of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. These features have traditionally been assessed with separate measures, but after 2010 several measures were developed to assess the whole Dark Triad. Among the most frequently used of these is the Dirty Dozen (Jonason & Webster, 2010). The Dirty Dozen scales are internally consistent, its items function well, and its intended factor structure has been confirmed in several studies (e.g., Chiorri et al., 2017, Czarna et al., 2016, Jonason and Webster, 2010, Klimstra et al., 2014, Webster and Jonason, 2013). Typically, the three scales are considered separately, but various studies also consider a general Dirty Dozen factor, modeled by means of a bifactor model (Czarna et al., 2016) or a hierarchical model (Jonason & Webster, 2010). However, bifactor models have been criticized for various reasons, including the general factor being uninterpretable and the superior fit being a symptom of overfitting (e.g., Bonifay, Lane, & Reise, 2017). Hierarchical models also come with problems. Specifically, the higher-order factor removes meaningful variance from the lower-order dimensions (e.g., the subscales), because the empirical overlap between these dimensions is modelled into the higher-order factor. Recent research using the Dirty Dozen measure suggested that working with residualized constructs can lead to validity issues causing associations with outcome variables to be non-replicable (Vize, Collison, Miller, & Lynam, in press A). Thus, a three-factor structure likely provides the most valid representation of the Dirty Dozen. Still, a general factor onto which all items load could be of interest for examining whether constructs such as agreeableness-antagonism are indeed at the core of the Dirty Dozen (e.g., Lynam & Miller, 2019). ^{(Reference: Age trends in dark personality features)}

Trump could never be studied using The Dirty Dozen scale because he would need to answer every question honestly. We can study him only from a distance by rephrasing the questions into the third person like this:

.

Item		Scale Name in Present Manuscript	Original Scale Name
1.	He tends to manipulate others to get his way.	Manipulativeness	Machiavellianism
2.	He has used deceit or lied to get his way.	Manipulativeness	Machiavellianism
3.	He has used flattery to get his way.	Manipulativeness	Machiavellianism
4.	He tends to exploit others towards his own end.	Manipulativeness	Machiavellianism
5.	He tends to lack remorse.	Callous Affect	Psychopathy
6.	He tend to be unconcerned with the morality of his actions.	Callous Affect	Psychopathy
7.	He tends to be callous or insensitive.	Callous Affect	Psychopathy
8.	He tends to be cynical.	Callous Affect	Psychopathy
9.	He tends to want others to admire him.	Egocentricity	Narcissism
10.	He tends to want others to pay attention to him.	Egocentricity	Narcissism
11.	He tends to seek prestige of status.	Egocentricity	Narcissism
12.	He tends to expect special favors from others.	Egocentricity	Narcissism

Of course the word “tends” hardly describes how he manifests these characteristics. For Trump you should replace that word with stronger words like “obsessed with” or “always” since these behaviors are hardly mere tendencies.

Here I always considered the Dirty Dozen to be heroes. Clearly Cadet Bone Spurs is no Major John Reisman.