Donald Trump: textbook narcissist

NO LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

In his own research, Thomaes is primarily focused on
narcissistic children. But still, he is very familiar with
narcissism among adults. That research is primarily on narcissistic
managers and directors of big companies. All that research reveals
a certain pattern. “You’ll often see that narcissists happily
present themselves as born leaders. And the crazy thing is,
especially if they are not too well-known yet within their
companies: others will follow them in that presentation. Thus,
colleagues will also see the narcissist as a good leader. It’s the
paradox of narcissistic leadership. It’s a paradox because after
some time, the narcissist will virtually always be rejected by
others. Because what turns out to be irreversible? The narcissist
doesn’t have any leadership qualities. He thinks about himself
excessively often, not about the public interest, not about the
collective. And they always overestimate themselves. That’s what
Trump is doing too: overestimating himself.”

FAILURE?

All of that is behaviour that can be observed. What Thomaes
would very much like to see: what will happen within Trump if he
loses the election? How will he feel? “I think that, once he is
alone up in his Trump Tower, he will doubt himself immensely. Don’t
forget: a narcissist especially wants to think about themselves in
a positive way. That does not mean they always succeed at that. If
a narcissist fails, you’ll often see a dent in their self
appreciation.” Would Trump consider himself a failure? “That’s not
unthinkable. His reality, befitting a classical narcissist,
consists of winners and losers. If he loses while the whole world
is watching, that’ll have a big impact on him. But I don’t think
we’ll get to see that.”

IS DONALD TRUMP ACTUALLY A NARCISSIST? THERAPISTS WEIGH
IN! As his presidential campaign trundles forward,
millions of sane Americans are wondering: What exactly is wrong
with this strange individual? Now, we have an answer. BY HENRY
ALFORD

NOVEMBER 11, 2015

For mental-health professionals, Donald Trump is at once easily
diagnosed but slightly confounding. “Remarkably narcissistic,” said
developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard
Graduate School of Education. “Textbook narcissistic personality
disorder,” echoed clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis. “He’s so
classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops
because there’s no better example of his characteristics,” said
clinical psychologist George Simon, who conducts lectures and
seminars on manipulative behavior. “Otherwise, I would have had to
hire actors and write vignettes. He’s like a dream come true.”

That mental-health professionals are even willing to talk about
Trump in the first place may attest to their deep concern about a
Trump presidency. As Dr. Robert Klitzman, a professor of psychiatry
and the director of the master’s of bioethics program at Columbia
University, pointed out, the American Psychiatric Association
declares it unethical for psychiatrists to comment on an
individual’s mental state without examining him personally and
having the patient’s consent to make such comments. This so-called
Goldwater rule arose after the publication of a 1964 Fact magazine
article in which psychiatrists were polled about Senator Barry
Goldwater’s fitness to be president. Senator Goldwater brought a $2
million suit against the magazine and its publisher; the Supreme
Court awarded him $1 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in
punitive damages.

But you don’t need to have met Donald Trump to feel like you
know him; even the smallest exposure can make you feel like you’ve
just crossed a large body of water in a small boat with him.
Indeed, though narcissistic personality disorder was removed from
the most recent issue of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, for somewhat arcane reasons, the traits that have
defined the disorder in the past—grandiosity; an expectation that
others will recognize one’s superiority; a lack of empathy—are writ
large in Mr. Trump’s behavior.

“He’s very easy to diagnose,” said psychotherapist Charlotte
Prozan. “In the first debate, he talked over people and was
domineering. He’ll do anything to demean others, like tell Carly
Fiorina he doesn’t like her looks. ‘You’re fired!’ would certainly
come under lack of empathy. And he wants to deport immigrants, but
[two of] his wives have been immigrants.” Michaelis took a slightly
different twist on Trump’s desire to deport immigrants: “This man
is known for his golf courses, but, with due respect, who does he
think works on these golf courses?”

Mr. Trump’s bullying nature—taunting Senator John McCain for
being captured in Vietnam, or saying Jeb Bush has “low energy”—is
in keeping with the narcissistic profile. “In the field we use
clusters of personality disorders,” Michaelis said. “Narcissism is
in cluster B, which means it has similarities with histrionic
personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and
antisocial personality disorder. There are similarities between
them. Regardless of how you feel about John McCain, the man
served—and suffered. Narcissism is an extreme defense against one’s
own feelings of worthlessness. To degrade people is really part of
a cluster-B personality disorder: it’s antisocial and shows a lack
of remorse for other people. The way to make it O.K. to attack
someone verbally, psychologically, or physically is to lower them.
That’s what he’s doing.”

What of Trump’s tendency to position himself as a possible
savior to the economy despite the fact that four of his companies
have declared bankruptcy? “It’s mind-boggling to me that that’s not
the story,” said Michaelis. “This man has been given more than
anyone could ever hope for,” he added, referring to the fact that
Trump is not wholly self-made, “yet he’s failed miserably time and
time again.” Licensed clinical social worker Wendy Terrie Behary,
the author of Disarming the Narcissist: Surviving and Thriving with
the Self-Absorbed, said, “Narcissists are not necessarily liars,
but they are notoriously uncomfortable with the truth. The truth
means the potential to feel ashamed. If all they have to show the
world as a source of feeling acceptable is their success and
performance, be it in business or sports or celebrity, then the
risk of people seeing them fail or squander their success is so
difficult to their self-esteem that they feel ashamed. We call it
the narcissistic injury. They’re uncomfortable with their own
limitations. It’s not that they’re cut out to lie, it’s just that
they can’t handle what’s real.”

Indeed, the need to protect or exalt the self is at odds with
the job requirements of a president. Michaelis said, “He’s applying
for the greatest job in the land, the greatest task of which is to
serve, but there’s nothing about the man that is service-oriented.
He’s only serving himself.” As Prozan sees it, “He keeps saying he
could negotiate with Putin because he’s good at deals. But
diplomacy involves a back and forth between equals.” Dr. Klitzman
added, “I have never met Donald Trump and so cannot comment on his
psychological state. However, I think that, in general, many
candidates who run for president are driven in large part by ego. I
hope that does not preclude their motivation to govern with the
best interests of the public as a whole in mind. Yet for some
candidates, that may, alas, be a threat.”

Asked what, if Mr. Trump were their patient, they would “work
on” with him, several of the therapists laughed. “I’d be shocked if
he walked in my door,” said Behary. “Most narcissists don’t seek
treatment unless there’s someone threatening to take something away
from them. There’d have to be some kind of meaningful consequence
for him to come in.” Simon concurred but added, “There is help
available, but it doesn’t look like the help people are used to.
It’s not insight-oriented psychotherapy, because narcissists
already have insight. They’re aware; the problem is, they don’t
care. They know how you’d like them to act; the problem is, they’ve
got a different set of rules. The kind of approach that can have
some impact is confrontational. It confronts distorted thinking and
behavior patterns in the here-and-now moment when the narcissists
are doing their thing in the session. It’s confronted on the spot;
you invite them to do something different, then you reinforce them
for doing so.”

But for at least one mental-health professional, the Trump
enigma, or should we say non-enigma, is larger than the bluster of
the man whose own Web site calls him “the very definition of the
American success story, continually setting the standards of
excellence”—to this mind-set, Trump may be a kind of bellwether.
Mr. Gardner said, “For me, the compelling question is the
psychological state of his supporters. They are unable or unwilling
to make a connection between the challenges faced by any president
and the knowledge and behavior of Donald Trump. In a democracy,
that is disastrous.”