CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

This Isn’t Mad Man Theory, It’s a Mad Man

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

Our reliance on the mainstream media, even the revered New York Times, for an understanding of Donald Trump’s psyche and behavior is a waste of time.  The media continue to discuss Trump in terms that normalize his psychotic behavior, refer to his style as transactional rather than dysfunctional, and deemphasize the risks associated with his remaining in power for two and a half more years.  If you want to understand Donald Trump and the risks he represents to all of us, you need the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

The DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association; it is the authoritative guide used by clinicians and researchers to diagnose, classify, and treat mental disorders.  The DSM’s description of the symptoms associated with pathological narcissism clearly relate to Trump’s exaggerated self-centeredness that crosses the line into narcissistic personality disorder.  The obvious symptoms include pervasive pattern of grandiosity (“Only I can fix it.”); the need for admiration (sycophantic behavior of his political appointees); and a lack of empathy (“that’s the way it is”) upon learning the first U.S. soldiers had died in Trump’s war.

For an example of Trump’s disorderly mind and incoherence, there is the following from one 24-hour period the day after Easter: he began the day calling the prospects for a cease-fire a “significant step;” by noon, he demanded that Iran “cry uncle;” and following dinner, he stated the “entire country can be taken out in one night.”  This is typical of Trump’s behavior in both presidential terms over the past ten years.

If the DSM is too theoretical, then Mary Trump (Donald’s only niece) wrote an important book (“Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man”)........

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