There have been heaps of books written on dysfunctional family systems, in particular homes with one or more narcissistic or borderline parents. Why? Because so many people raised in such homes end up in therapy, or worse. The mental gymnastics and attendant lasting psychic damage to children raised by NPD parent/s is staggering, since narcissists lack utterly the empathy required to be even a ‘good enough’ parent. If you as an adult were left maddened, perplexed and betrayed by a narcissist, imagine the dilemma faced by children raised by them. Children in such homes are faced with a continual ‘double-bind’ form of dysfunctional communication, as in “I love you”, but my actions continually belie my words. Narcissistic parents are known for playing favourites with their children, and for playing family members off against each other. It is almost certain Trump was raised in such a home, with one or both narcissistic parents, and that these toxic patterns continue within his own family: Ivanka the favourite, Donald Jr. and Eric in 2nd and 3rd vying for their father’s attention, Tiffany who has wisely removed herself and with any luck has had therapy, and Barron, invisible.
On the one hand, Sharpie-gate (if you’ll excuse the suffix) explains everything about Trumpism and our moment. It cannot and must not be dismissed. On the other, he doesn’t have psychological impairments he didn’t already have. (He’s not getting worse. It’s more of the same. We’re just seeing it better, I hope.) Indeed, citing mental illness gives this authoritarian far too much credit. He’s not lying because he’s unhinged. Trump is lying because to him, it feels good to lie.
What began, I suspect, as mere error (misreading a map) turned into an opportunity for an authoritarian president to impose his will. He might have known he was wrong, but being wrong, or being right for that matter, is immaterial when the authoritarian’s objective is getting you to accept what he says as the only truth. Moreover, the more ridiculous his statements—like using a Sharpie on a weather map to “prove” he was right—the more pleasure he’ll derive from its ultimate acceptance. To the extent that he’s “not well,” it’s to the extent that your humiliation is to him a source of pleasure.
Trump isn't lying because he's mentally ill -- he's lying because he likes lying - Raw Story
We were warned.
I’ve been lightly scorched here before on employing certain terms related to mental health, so I’m not saying shit about this article. Oh, not well.
He would probably have nuked it, if he could have, if he hadn’t asked a general why they haven’t done it already, if he had the cunning to not say anything and just “go with his gut.”
THIS. SO MUCH THIS!
Thanks for this. I want to frame it and hang it on the wall. Such a concise expression of everything that Reagan (and his sidekick Thatcher) started and which, 40 years later, is still as accurate as the day he said it. Remarkable.
To make clear why scapegoating mental illness for the behaviour of a fascist politician is a spectacularly misguided and destructive thing to do, a reminder of where the Holocaust began:
And here’s a quote from a message recently sent to an Australian disability advocate:
“Day of the rope”.
Murderous ableism has always been a core feature of fascism. By amplifying this reckless and unethical horseshit, you are doing the fascists’ work for them.
The GOP were advocating the mass imprisonment of the mentally ill just a few weeks ago.
You are not helping. Fucking hell.
Thank you.
For those whining that BBS won’t let us have this discussion: we can discuss TFA without making assumptions of our own. We aren’t obliged to buy into the premise of the article.
The rule exists because – as the current actions to pretend to deal with gun control show – scapegoating the mentally ill and using us as bogeymen is a bipartisan affair. To far too many, it’s a reflex action. It doesn’t say we can’t have conversations about mental illness. It does say that you have to show a modicum of respect to your fellow BBS commenters when you do so.
I will not apologize to those who feel that respect is too much.
One of the things that got me through years of working for CrazyBossLady was being thankful that I was not her child. It is no wonder that her relationship with her adult daughter is strained.
In Trumps case, I don’t think it is scapegoating, it is a problem on top of his fascist tendencies.
His ideology is dangerous and misguided, and his alleged cognitive disorder makes his actions erratic, illogical, and contrary to social norms.
If he wasn’t a fascist, his behavior would still be troubling. Arguably this condition makes him an ineffective fascist.
There is some positive feedback, though. between his narcissism, his authoritarianism, and his cognitive decline. The fact that he can’t remember what he said yesterday means that all decisions have to go through him TODAY. Which feeds into his inflated sense of self importance.
Yes, Jimmy was a visionary of sorts. First pres I ever voted for, and the last one I really liked, though Barack came close. But Jimmy was a true liberal. Barack was a fake liberal, if that word even has any meaning anymore, in this age of money influence.
To further complicate assessment, the more subjective nature of psychiatric diagnoses introduces potential political biases among clinicians who might be asked to evaluate a president.
As critically, the American Psychiatric Association’s Goldwater Rule expressly prohibits armchair analysis by psychiatrists who have not directly examined the president. Those who had the opportunity would be equally constrained by patient confidentiality. This creates an ethical Catch-22.
The thing about Trump is that we can, fairly easily, separate him being an awful person, and him being “not well”.
He is and has always (or as long as he’s been a public figure, which is close enough for our purposes) been a boorish, bullying braggart. He’s got a long, long history of gross sexism, nasty racism, egomania and soulless greed. All of this is unquestionable, and part of his established character: someone who should be kept the hell away from the White House, because he’s unfit for the presidency on every level.
However, if you compare Trump right now, and Trump even just five or ten years ago, there’s a marked difference. Again, he’s always been an awful person (we could argue about the causes, but ultimately it doesn’t matter), but he used to be at least coherent. Right now, he’s rambling, repeating himself, unable to focus, changing his mind all the time. His behavior in public really reminds me of the cases of dementia I’ve seen in elderly people, before they lost all track of when, where, and who they were.
I get why psychiatrists would have a rule forbidding them to do so, and I certainly am aware of the stigmatisation of the mentally ill. (Since I’ve been diagnosed with depression, and am being medicated for it, technically I count in that category of people myself.) But Donald Trump is the POTUS, not any random old man whose erratic behavior is starting to worry his neighbors and family. He’s not even a run-of-the-mill billionaire. He’s in a position of tremendous power and responsibility, famous for wearing people out, and if we can’t discuss his very apparent decline, I think we’re making a serious mistake.
Ineffective in doing his day job, maybe.
Hasn’t hindered him in pointing his country, and the institutions that make a country run, towards a very unfavourable direction. If I had to come up with an analogy I’d say that he provides the growth medium for a disease .
I don’t think it makes any sense to “blame” Trump’s behaviour on a mental illness. It makes sense to describe Trump’s behaviour in terms we use to describe the behaviour of people with narcissistic personality disorder and to predict future behaviour by looking through that same lens.
Describing Trump as an ignorant, horrible person with bigoted ideas and as a narcissist are complementary.
Whether we can put information to good use is always a kind of impossible question. But I think there are definitely people putting knowledge of how Trump’s personality works to good use. Primarily Stephen Miller and Mike Pence. Whether knowledge of Trump’s workings can be put to use by people who are against Trump and who don’t have personal access to Trump is a more challenging question. But, as an example, perhaps the heads of NOAA ought to have use more boundary setting and less capitulating.
I totally agree with what you are saying, that most horrible things are done by “normal” people. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Sean Spicer weren’t hallucinating a world in which Trump’s lies were true, they just decided to go up and lie because they did some mental gymnastics to tell themselves it was right or okay. Stephen Miller doesn’t have antisocial personality disorder, Miller is just a hateful bigot that attached to power to achieve hateful bigoted ends. Mike Pence… well, I’m less sure about Mike Pence.
But Trump’s behaviour is extremely well described by a specific pattern that 1 to 2% of the population fit. I think knowing that is worth knowing. The bigger question is why we live in a society where someone who so clearly fits the pattern of some of the most destructive and dangerous personality disorders is able to become president (I don’t like in America, but I don’t assume Canada is really so different). To me it’s not just that it’s possible for a narcissist to become president, but that they actually may be more likely than other people.
Wow! Probably sounded a lot like political rhetoric at the time, but Carter really knew what was up.
Yes. Though I think there are two things under discussion. One is Trump’s narcissism, which is a personality disorder. The thing you are pointing to is Trump’s mental decline, which is a physical issue with the brain. Less psychiatry and more neurology. I agree that decline is also clear, though. Watching interviews with Trump from the 80s makes Trump’s present personality even more disturbing.
Of course that’s not meant as an excuse. Cognitive decline does not turn someone into a bigot. It may make them more likely to say bigoted things out loud.
Maybe that’s the case, but I myself am not fit to judge that. And even if he is, he did not get into power on his own. No one does. So, even if we can categorically say he’s “not well” mentally, there are still others responsible for ensuring that he came to power in the first place.
Yes, there are an entire host of enablers, people who met with and know trump and were still willing to support his candidacy, even if they thought he was “not well”. It’s likely a combination of the rightwing libertarian playbook of destroying the government from within, the logical outcome of dog whistling politics of the past 45 or so years, and people who believed that his being “not well” would allow them to control him better.
But also the whole narcissicist in the board room issue, the sociopathic CEO, who exhibit traits that are encouraged by the capitialist system, is the bigger context here, I’d argue.
I’m not super concerned about removing Trump anymore.
https://twitter.com/TomJChicago
Do they plan on trying to keep him (literally) propped up long enough to win 2020 with his mysterious powers? Are they expecting him to keel over so Pence can slide right in? Is it all just going to fall apart? (probably not with the districts and all the judges they’ve gotten in lately)
Holy hell, that’s disturbing.
Let’s not forget that he said that “when you’re a star”. So not just Trump? Anyone who thinks they’re a star?
Also, I’d love to hear Trump’s off-the-record critique of her physical looks. For some reason, she doesn’t strike me as Trump’s type.
Think he went to military school when he was old enough to know better. He is less mature now.
