“His behavior… is completely solipsistic. He sees the world through his own sense of self… and he couldn’t be more erratic or scattered or dangerous.”

— Robert Jay Lifton

Donald Trump’s first term as president of the United State disrupted some long-held assumptions about American leadership, transforming conflict, spectacle and unpredictability into defining features of political life. His administration was characterised by chaos—public feuds, rapid staff turnover and combative press briefings - that deepened national polarisation. Trump’s disregard for factual accuracy and his tendency to distort reality redefined public discourse, undermining trust in institutions and eroding the very notion of objective truth. Politics under Trump became an arena of emotional loyalty, tribal identity and “alternative facts.” To his critics, he normalised deception and authoritarianism; to his supporters, he embodied authenticity, defiance and strength. This divergence reflects a broad psychological fracture in American civic life—one in which competing realities have supplanted a shared understanding of truth. This necessitates a dispassionate analysis of Trump’s personality because his decisions, even statements, can have a profound rub on the international events, from Gaza to China and beyond.

Trump’s personality has attracted unparalleled psychological scrutiny. Many scholars and clinicians have identified traits consistent with narcissistic, antisocial and paranoid personality patterns: grandiosity, aggression and a consuming need for admiration. His niece, psychologist Mary Trump, attributes these traits to a childhood shaped by emotional neglect and the dominance of his father, Fred Trump, who equated empathy with weakness and success with ruthlessness. These early lessons—never apologise; never back down; and always win—produced an adult personality that views relationships as contests of dominance. Whether understood clinically or politically, Trump’s........

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