“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.”
John Bright
(1811 – 1889)
British statesman
But apparently the business was called “Elizabeth Trump & Son” before Donald took over and renamed it to the Trump Organisation, so maybe this is more nepotism than narcissism?
All I know about Donald Trump is that if I had several million dollars to invest in real estate in New York in the 1980s I would not have gone bankrupt even once since then. He’s a perfect example of how making your way to the top is almost entirely dependent on luck and not on any kind of merit.
His desire to be an unmasked, ugly, gold-plated caricature actually makes him so much less dangerous than the incredibly wealthy, quiet and “tasteful” barons who are rather more inconspicuously dismantling and preventing anti-aristocratic and pro-democratic legislature, and setting themselves up as America’s royal sovereigns.
I mean, he hasn’t screwed over as many people as the Kochs, but I’m sure he’s still ruined more than a few lives with his scheming. He was notorious for not paying many of his contractors outright and through many bankruptcies.
He’s a great example of “bootstrappers”, in that he’s a multimillionaire only by virtue of being born with billions and a handed-down career from his father.
...barring some extraordinary intervention, you’ll be Trump tomorrow.
Enter Nemesis, above. To her three Furies bringing in the scales.
Obama did a disservice to Carnival Barkers when he compared that profession to Trump’s public persona.
Sounds like it sucks to be Trump.
So. Trump.
This article is supposedly about spotting narcissists but it really seems to be about making narcissists feel good about themselves by letting them think they can spot a narcissist. Hint: Its never you, its always someone else.
Take this for example:
It’s the windbag drinking buddy who can go on for an entire evening
about himself and his work and his new car and new house, but whose eyes
glaze over and whose mind wanders the moment you begin to talk about
yourself.
What if the narcissist is really the guy who can’t stand listening to a guy “go on” about his new car.
If you’re the listener, and you think he’s a windbag for going on and on about his new house, well, aren’t you the one with the glazed over look? Then you’re disappointed because the guy doesn’t want to hear about you?
Then there’s this.
It’s the lover who charms the pants off of you — literally — and never returns your calls after that…
Narcissists are not the type to leave you alone, unless they think they can’t manipulate you. But that’s not the important part, if you just turn the example on its head, (nevermind that narcissism isn’t needed to explain this), maybe, the, guy/girl just figured you were too toxic to call you.
The way this is structured as a narrative is deceptive. It goes from “Trump is a narcissist and here’s why”, to “Narcissists are all around you, and they’re the people that don’t care about you”
There’s a pretty big plot hole there, the trouble is, its self serving to not notice it.
That paragraph leads off with “The very word narcissist […] has entered the cultural argot as a shorthand descriptor for all manner of unpleasant characters, and we recognize each of them.” It sounds like Kluger is making a list of the kind of people who get called narcissists, not necessarily the ones who actually are.
I think we’re missing a lot of context here; this seems to be “just the part that mocks Donald Trump” cut from an entire book about narcissism (not that he doesn’t deserve it).
[quote=“tachin1, post:9, topic:40747”]
Hint: Its never you, its always someone else.
[/quote]
A few things about Trump stand out as a classic narcissist::
Raised by a wealthy family
Bad temper
Reckless
Vanity
Public cruelty (“You’re fired”)
Endless need for being the center of attention
Envy, wants thing they can’t have deserve (wants to be president)
String of trophy wives (narcissists abandon others)
Accusations, but lack of self awareness or empathy makes the accusations sound stupid (Birther)
General disconnect from realtiy and others make people ask “Is this guy stupid or something?”
The best other example is John McCain, who just won’t get off your tv. Mitt Romney seems like he has strong narcissistic traits with a dose of neurosis, Palin is a narcissist/histrionic personality disorder, Michelle Bachmann is narcissist/sexual hysteric maybe, and someone suggested Glenn Beck is a narcissist with schizoaffective disorder. For the Democrats see Anthony Wiener and John Edwards.
Notice that the GOP is obsessed with the idea that Obama is narcissist?
Everyone needs “narcissist supply” (Have you lost weight? I love those shoes! Have your shoes lost weight?). The question is, does the loss of narcissistic supply create “narcissistic rage?”
Trump may be an easy target, but he is also, in some ways, a sympathetic one.
Is it wrong that I feel much more sympathy towards those who suffer from a mental illness but can’t afford “compensations”? It’s possible that a less wealthy narcissist–like “the drunk or philanderer or compulsive gambler” could get help, could even be encouraged by friends–assuming they haven’t alienated all their friends–to seek help. Trump, on the other hand, has the wealth to confirm he’s doing everything right–a belief that’s fed by everyone close to him.
Hey you may be right, I might be reading this the wrong way since its just an excerpt, its just that the author does describe a set of traits and actions that are “shorthand” for narcissism but doesn’t deny them as such. In fact, with the very next paragraph, he seems to accept them as he goes on to say:
For too many people, the very idea of love — that greatest and most
other-directed of human impulses — is folding in on itself, with
admiration turning to exhibitionism, charity to greed, altruism to
appetite. We are more and more living in a mirror world—with the most
prominent sight being the reflected one. And too many of us like that
view just fine.
I’m thinking that the possible reason he would use this definition of narcissist is that while we can easily talk about narcissistic traits as laymen, Narcissism personality disorder is a diagnosis to be done by a professional, not a writer, however capable he may be.
Of course, in doing this he’s set the bar for calling someone a narcissist pretty low as he can single out narcissistic traits and, free from context, label “the other” as a narcissist.
But that’s just my subjective reading based on what’s on the excerpt, I assume nothing, not even that he makes a better case in his book.
There are different types of pathological narcissism besides Narcissistic Personality Disorder. There’s “compensatory narcissism” such as Charlize Theron’s character in “Monster.” (“I’m a good person,” “I have the will to accomplish anything.”) that puts a bandage on their inferiority. There is also narcissism under the obvious inferiority of people who refuse to help themselves and forces other people to bail them out. There’s also supposedly a strong dose of narcissism and omnipotent fantasies behind bulimia and self mutilation (I asked someone that used to have these problems and they agreed vigorously).
I kind of had the impression that before “The Apprentice” launched, Trump was quite nicely dwindling from public view. Or maybe I just wasn’t paying attention?
Anyway, “trump” itself is an entirely reasonable English word with its own colorful implications and thus seems fine for use as a business name.
Paaaarp! 
Donald Trump The Fragrance
I assumed that was a joke – it’s not. What does it smell like? For that matter what does a Hulk Hogan air freshener smell like?
