That too, but it's one factor. There were New York mayors and governors.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2016 5:02 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Psychopathology of Donald Trump
Mob connections?
Frank Ventura
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 1, 2016, at 2:24 PM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
Everyone has his or her price.
But there have always been a lot of Republican middle income voters,
and even lower income voters, who've voted against their own
interests. That's the majority in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long
Island, for example. Af for Trump, all you need to do is read one or
2 books about him and listen to some of the stuff he says and it's
easy to know that there's something wrong with him psychologically. I
kept saying that he's a sociopath or a psychopath, and that he
functioned, emotionally, like a toddler. The real question is, why
did all those banks and New York politicians cooperate with him for so
many years when it was obvious that he lied and cheated. No one cared,
so long as they thought they could benefit financially from what he
was doing. And Tony Sschwartz, who is now so remorseful about ghost
writing his book. He saw what kind of person Trump was and he was
willing to promote him because he, Schwartz, needed money at the time.
We should be concentrating on the corruption in our society, on the
fact that everyone, from Obama on down, can be bought off. Trump is right.
think Trump would have a chance?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Abby
Vincent
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2016 12:42 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Psychopathology of Donald Trump
Very interesting. I've always had the impression that the Donald was
unstable. I wonder what social psychologists think of Trump
supporters. I hear they want a strong father figure and all that
implies. What about their willingness to vote against their own
economic interest? How much of their devotion is due to hating
Hilary. To put it another way, if Uncle Joe, with his ability to
connect with white male blue collar workers, were running, would anyone
Just taking a break from dreaming about all that utopian Green partyas to policy and personality.
platform.
Abby
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of joe harcz
Comcast
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2016 7:31 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Psychopathology of Donald Trump
This is a very right on article.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2016 10:09 AM
Subject: [blind-democracy] The Psychopathology of Donald Trump
Truthdig
The Psychopathology of Donald Trump
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_psychopathology_of_donald_trum
p_2016
0731/
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Email Posted on Jul 31, 2016
By Bill Blum
Gage Skidmore(https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/) / CC BY-SA
2.0(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
Does Donald Trump only say crazy things, or does he say crazy things
because he actually is crazy? In a speech delivered on the third day
of the Democratic National Convention, former New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg openly questioned the GOP candidate’s
sanity(http://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12306214/michael-bloomberg-dnc-dem
ocrati
c-convention) on prime-time television.
More importantly, if less sensationally, the issue of Trump’s
emotional stability has also been raised by a growing number of
influential and highly respected mental-health practitioners. They
have done so out of a sense of urgency, even in the face of a code of
conduct(http://www.jaapl.org/content/44/2/226.full) promulgated by
the American Psychiatric Association that cautions psychiatrists
against making public statements about public figures whom they have
not formally evaluated.
Ordinarily, as someone licensed to practice law rather than
psychology, I’d stay out of the debate and remain in my comfort zone
of traditional legal and political commentary, committed to exposing
the policy shortcomings of both major-party candidates and their
surrogates. But Donald Trump has secured the GOP nod for president.
He’s one election away from being the commander in chief of the most
powerful nation the planet has ever seen. As such, he, like Democratic
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, deserves heightened scrutiny, both
here’
This column is about Trump. There will be future ones on Clinton. And
s my take, with no punches pulled: If Trump is elected our 45thapproach.
president, he could well be the most profoundly disturbed occupant of
the Oval Office since Richard Nixon, our 37th, whose extreme
paranoia(http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=1509) brought us
Watergate and precipitated the most far-reaching constitutional crisis
of the late 20th century.
Some readers, particularly on the progressive left who by orientation
are predisposed to policy critiques, may not be comfortable with my
Some may even ask if it isn’t a waste of time to examine the psyche ofinteraction.
a president or a presidential hopeful, noting that even a paranoid
Nixon agreed to end the Vietnam War and opened the door to normalized
relations with China. So why not just stick to policy?
To such doubters, I would say that few people, including world
leaders, rarely represent pure evil or insanity. Most are capable of
the occasional act of goodness or kindness or wisdom, even if by
accident. But to gain a more complete understanding of any
person-especially someone on the national stage, who once in office
will be subject to the external pressures of social and political
movements and public opinion and be responsible for the well-being of
millions-a more nuanced and dialectical methodology is required that
takes account of both the objective and subjective realms of human
like “bombastic,”
So comfort be damned. As we head for the general election in November,
when it comes to the former reality-TV show host, I’m not going to be
content to focus simply on what the Republican standard-bearer has to
say about Mexican rapists, building a wall, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly
“bleeding from her whatever,” New Jersey Muslims cheering the fall of
the World Trade Towers, being the “only one” who can save America from
chaos, crime and radical Islamic terrorism, or any of the other abject
falsehoods, outbursts and calumnies he’s uttered or tweeted.
I’ve decided to probe the why behind such seeming lunacy. To do that,
I’ve done something positively un-Trumpian: I’ve consulted the experts
and dug deeply into the public record.
Here’s what I’ve found thus far:
The Diagnosis
A consensus has emerged that Trump suffers from narcissistic
personality disorder (NPD). Unless you’ve tuned out of politics
completely in this election year, you’ve no doubt heard the word
“narcissist” bandied about in connection with Trump, along with labels
“hyperbolic” and “politically incorrect,” and criticisms that he lacks
the temperament and judgment to be president.athletic club or medical care.
But NPD is more than a label, or a momentary mood or affect. It’s a
sickness.
The Mayo Clinic, in a website
entry(http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-perso
nality
-disorder/basics/symptoms/con-20025568) posted before Trump’s current
presidential bid was a twinkle in anyone’s eye or a nightmare in
anyone’s mind, defines it thusly:
Narcissistic personality disorder is one of several types of
personality disorders. Personality disorders are conditions in which
people have traits that cause them to feel and behave in socially
distressing ways, limiting their ability to function in relationships
and other areas of their life, such as work or school.
If you have narcissistic personality disorder, you may come across as
conceited, boastful or pretentious. You often monopolize
conversations. You may belittle or look down on people you perceive as
inferior. You may feel a sense of entitlement-and when you don’t
receive special treatment, you may become impatient or angry. You may
insist on having ‘the best’ of everything-for instance, the best car,
features:
At the same time, you have trouble handling anything that may be
perceived as criticism. You may have secret feelings of insecurity,
shame, vulnerability and humiliation. To feel better, you may react
with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make
yourself appear superior. Or you may feel depressed and moody because
you fall short of perfection.
Many experts use the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric
Association, to diagnose mental conditions. This manual is also used
by insurance companies to reimburse for treatment.
DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include these
● Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance.anybody smarter.”
● Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements
that warrant it.
● Exaggerating your achievements and talents.
● Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance,
beauty or the perfect mate.
● Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or
associate with equally special people.
● Requiring constant admiration.
● Having a sense of entitlement.
● Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your
expectations.
● Taking advantage of others to get what you want.
● Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and
feelings of others.
● Being envious of others and believing others envy you.
● Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner.
Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem
like having confidence, it’s not the same. Narcissistic personality
disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so
highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value
yourself more than you value others.
In a Vanity Fair article
published(http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/donald-trump-narcissi
sm-the
rapists) in November, a group of six mental health professionals
weighed in on the subject of Trump’s narcissism and gave the diagnosis
an unequivocal thumbs-up. One interviewee, a clinical psychologist who
lectures on manipulative behavior, went so far as to say of Trump:
“He’s so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in
workshops because there’s no better example. … Otherwise, I would have
had to hire actors and write vignettes. He’s like a dream come true.”
But identifying Trump as an NPD sufferer is only the first step toward
inventorying his personality. Not all versions of NPD are the same.
To some commentators-lay and expert alike, including, most recently,
Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate William
Weld(http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/2016/07/william_weld
_dubs_
donald_trump_a_malignant_narcissist) -Trump presents as a “malignant”
narcissist, commonly
described(http://psychologia.co/malignant-narcissism/)
as someone who mixes a blend of narcissism, antisocial personality
disorder, aggression, lack of empathy and sadism.
Malignant narcissists take special pleasure in the humiliation of
others, often in response to perceived threats and disparagements.
They frequently respond with over-the-top vitriol of their own.
The New York Times keeps a running tab on Trump’s verbal abuse in a
feature(http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-tr
ump-tw
itter-insults.html?_r=0) titled “The 250 People, Places, and Things
Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List.”
Psychologically speaking, many of Trump’s barbs appear to be a form of
“projection,” a primitive defense
mechanism(https://artistresearcher.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/sigmund-fr
eud-ps
ychological-projection/) long ago identified by Sigmund Freud,
whereby a person ascribes negative feelings about themselves to
others. A good example-as a projection of Trump’s own racism-might be
his bizarre allegation that federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is
presiding over the Trump University litigation in San Diego, is biased
against him because of his Mexican heritage.
Other experts see Trump as more of a “thin-skinned” narcissist-one
who, because of severe insecurity, is easily insulted, easily hurt and
lashes out at perceived enemies in order to receive reassurance and
affirmation from supporters. Among those who espouse the thin-skinned
assessment is Justin
Frank(http://www.obamaonthecouch.com/blog/) , a Washington, D.C.-based
psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and a professor at George Washington
University. Frank is also the author of two popular
profiles(https://www.amazon.com/Obama-Couch-Inside-Mind-President/dp/1
451620
640/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469816738&sr=1-1) on our last two
presidents-“Bush on the Couch” and “Obama on the Couch.”
Frank, who has never treated Bush, Obama or Trump, explained how he
goes about his trade, utilizing the techniques of “applied
psychoanalysis,” in an hour-long
interview(https://www.peterbcollins.com/2016/03/22/in-depth-interview-
dc-shr
ink-dr-justin-a-frank-puts-trump-on-his-couch/) in March with San
Francisco radio host Peter Collins.
“I look for patterns and do a lot of careful study,” Frank told Collins.
“I look for what pops up over and over again to really understand people.
Trump is a piece of work as a person.”
Trump’s narcissism, Frank continued, also combines with elements of
other traits, such as paranoia, an inability to process facts, and
attention-deficit disorder. Referring to Trump’s loopy boast that he
consults primarily with himself on foreign
affairs(http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-an
d-resu
lts/2016/03/trump-foreign-policy-adviser-220853) , Frank remarked,
“He’s not interested in hiring anybody smarter than himself because
there isn’t anybody, and he’s paranoid enough that he wouldn’t want
“magical thinking”
Regarding the GOP candidate’s thought processes and unwillingness to
admit to making any mistakes, Frank said, “Trump takes a preconception
[for example, that Mexican rapists are streaming across the border]
and turns it into an absolute fact, whereas most people have
experiences that can change their preconception into a new conception.
You can’t argue with a narcissistic person [like him] on content.”
In Frank’s view, Trump’s limited vocabulary-his overuse use of words
like “amazing,” “huge” and “winner” to describe himself, and terms
like “loser” and “disgusting” to smear his foes-is typical of
youngsters struggling with ADD and lack of impulse control. Like such
children, he added, Trump engages in the “childlike quality” of
when it comes to his policy proposals. The fact that his proposalsmoment,” Frank maintained.
lack detail or make no objective sense is of little consequence,
because his programs will be “great,” as if wishing will make it so.
Frank departs, however, from other observers on the question of
whether Trump is a pathological liar. Because of his magical,
childlike thinking, “Trump actually believes what he says at the
“He lives in digital, not analog time. He doesn’t think about what heoffice.
said an hour ago.”
Liar or not, the end result is someone entirely unsuitable for high
“He has the brains of a big man, but the maturity of an 8-year-old,”potentially.”
Frank said, summing up. “And those people are very dangerous
anyone else.
The Experience of Tony Schwartz and the Art of the Deal
If Trump, who is 70 years old, in fact has NPD, the malady should have
shown up long before his current presidential run.
From all appearances, it did. Just ask Tony Schwartz, the co-author of
Trump’s signature memoir, “The Art of the
Deal(https://www.amazon.com/dp/0394555287/ref=dp_proddesc_1?_encoding=
UTF8&n
=283155) ,” originally released by Random House in 1987.
No other piece of publicity did more than this book to catapult Trump
into the limelight as a world-class celebrity, endowing him with the
glittering image of the consummate, swashbuckling deal-maker, who
always walks away from high-stakes negotiations richer and stronger than
story.
Schwartz first came to Trump’s notice after writing an expose for New
York magazine in 1985 about the real estate mogul’s protracted battle
to evict a group of rent-controlled tenants from a building he had
purchased and planned to redevelop on Manhattan’s Central Park South.
Although the article was extremely unflattering, the magazine pasted
his photo on the cover. The resulting publicity was enough for Trump
to seek out Schwartz and offer him a lucrative deal to ghostwrite his life
published in late July.
Although the ensuing collaboration netted Schwartz a
half-million-dollar advance and copious royalties, Schwartz has
regretted the undertaking ever since. “I put lipstick on a pig,” he
confessed to New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer in a tell-all interview
beyond power and money.”
Schwartz told Mayer, in sum and substance, that the best-selling book
is a fraud, much like its subject. Instead of a “charmingly brash
entrepreneur with an unfailing knack for business,” as depicted in the
book, Trump, said Schwartz, is a human “black hole,” a man with no
real friends, fixated on publicity, motivated by “gaudy, tacky,
gigantic obsessions,” with “an absolute lack of interest in anything
can’t sit still in a classroom.
As Trump’s presidential bid gained traction, Schwartz decided to go
public with his misgivings. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I
contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider
attention and made him more appealing than he is,” he said. “I
genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there
is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”
Schwartz also told Mayer that he kept a diary of his dealings with
Trump over the 18 months that he tagged along with him to business
meetings and listened in on phone conversations to acquire material
for the book. From those notes and his recollection, he explained, in
terms strikingly similar to the Mayo Clinic’s description of NPD and
standard definitions of ADD, that Trump “was like a kindergartner who
It was impossible to keep him focused on any topic, other than his ownroyalties.
self-aggrandizement.”
Schwartz related that Trump spoke to him, much as he does on the
campaign trail, in “cryptic, monosyllabic statements.” His short
attention span left Trump, in Schwartz’s view, with “a stunning level
of superficial knowledge and plain ignorance. … If he had to be
briefed on a crisis in the Situation Room, it’s impossible to imagine
him paying attention over a long period of time.”
Equally worrying from a public-interest standpoint, according to
Schwartz, was the way Trump was always “playing people,” easily
segueing from “flattery” to “bullying.”
Even worse-and here, there is a slight variance from Dr. Frank’s
analysis-was Trump’s dishonesty. “Lying is second nature to him,”
Schwartz said to Mayer. “More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump
has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any
given moment is true, or sort of true, or ought to be true.” When
confronted with contrary evidence, Schwartz elaborated, Trump would
“double-down, repeat himself, and grow belligerent.”
In keeping with that belligerence, Trump has responded to Schwartz’s
revelations with a cease-and-desist letter
penned(http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-threatens-
the-gh
ostwriter-of-the-art-of-the-deal) by the chief legal officer of the
Trump Organization, demanding that Schwartz stop giving interviews
about his experiences writing “The Art of the Deal” and forfeit all
Schwartz has hired an attorney to defend himself.millions of his core supporters.
The Mass Psychology of Fascism
Understanding Trump’s personal pathology is essential to any
assessment of his fitness for office. But understanding the GOP
nominee is only part of the task of combating his presidential
aspirations. To fully comprehend Trump and the social and political
dangers he represents, it’s necessary to understand the appeal he has for
whites, to “Make America Great Again.”
To be sure, there are some legitimate reasons that explain why some
have embraced Trump: The uneven economic recovery that has left large
swaths of the working and middle classes behind is one. Another is the
failure of neoliberalism, represented by Hillary Clinton and the
Democratic leadership, which appears to many as a corrupt philosophy
of governance incapable of addressing genuine popular needs. There are
also some open, obvious and unsavory reasons for Trump’s popularity,
rooted in racism and ethnic nationalism, as exemplified by his
racially tinged campaign slogan, aimed mainly at disaffected blue-collar
disastrous consequences.
But at the same time, there is something percolating underneath the
surface at an unconscious level beyond economic distress, racism and
social nostalgia that keeps a candidate who should be consigned to the
margins of political life in the thick of the presidential race. What
is it that explains the allure that a TV strongman, a clone, some say,
of Benito Mussolini, holds for broad segments of the working class,
who buy into the myth of Trump as an anti-establishment champion (a
“blue-collar billionaire,” to
quote(http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/02/01/3745100/donald-trum
p-blue
-collar/) his son Eric) when he is in truth precisely the opposite?
The Marxist psychoanalyst Wilhelm
Reich(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich) struggled to
understand a similar question as he tried to come to terms with the
rise of Nazism and Stalinism in the 1930s. The answer, Reich posited
in his classic work, “The Mass Psychology of Fascism,” lies with the
authoritarian and hierarchical structures of the patriarchal family,
the dominance of the father as moral law-giver and bulwark against
external danger. In times of extreme social stress, dislocation and
fear, especially in the absence of viable alternatives, large numbers
instinctively turn to figures of authority for protection, heedless of the
Trump.”
As University of California professor George Lakoff, a specialist in
cognitive linguistics, described the phenomenon in a recent Huffington
Post
blog(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/understanding-trump_b
_11144
938.html) : “In the strict father family, father knows best. He knows
right from wrong and has the ultimate authority to make sure his
children and his spouse do what he says, which is taken to be what is
right. … Fear tends to activate desire for a strong strict father-namely,
him.
A
study(http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016
-autho
ritarian-213533) completed this winter by Matthew McWilliams, a
doctoral candidate in political science at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, further underscored the authoritarian bent of
Trump’s base. In a sampling of 1,800 registered voters across the
country and the political spectrum, McWilliams found that only two
variables had a statistically significant bearing on a voter’s
preference for Trump: authoritarianism, followed by fear of terrorism.
Northwestern University psychology professor Dan P. McAdams also
explored the authoritarian strain among Trump supporters in The
Atlantic magazine’s June cover cover
story(http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/the-mind-of-
donald
-trump/480771/) .
And therein lies the rub for the rest of us. In Donald Trump, one of
our two major parties has nominated for the highest office in the land
a deeply troubled and volatile man with the potential to attract and
unleash the darkest undercurrents of the nation’s soul. However you
decide to vote come November, you can’t in good conscience help to elect
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