Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Trump Cries "Fraud!" The Histrionic Narcissist-In-Chief

 


"This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. They can't catch us … We want the law to be used in a proper manner, so we'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at 4 o'clock in the morning and add them to the list. It's a very sad moment."

Donald Trump, early morning November 4, 2020

The 2020 presidential election remained up in the air early Wednesday after tight races, strong turnout and record amounts of mail-in voting left millions of legitimate votes still to be counted, and races in six key states too close to call.

Democratic candidate Joe Biden urged patience until "every vote is counted," but President Trump railed against the extra time required to count the ballots, falsely accusing Democrats of trying to steal the election from him.

In the middle of a pandemic and a historic election that many believe will define the soul of the country, the nervous, unsure American public saw this president …

  • Asserting election fraud,

  • Boasting prematurely of his inevitable victory,

  • Priming his base for resistance to a loss and taking dangerous actions,

  • Threatening to take the fight to the Supreme Court.

They Mayo Clinic tells us people with narcissistic personality disorder have “an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others.”

But behind a narcissist's mask of extreme confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that's vulnerable to the slightest criticism. A person with the disorder will be generally unhappy and disappointed when they're not given the special favors or admiration they believe they deserve.

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, is a textbook narcissist. He is incapable of of attending to any issue beyond his own personal need for adulation. Dr. John Zinner, the former head of the Unit on Family Therapy Studies at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), says, “This stems from failure in childhood and beyond to develop an inner sense of worth or self-esteem,” and added that it “makes one’s worth entirely dependent upon admiration from others.”

(James Crump. “Trump has narcissistic personality disorder, says leading psychoanalyst.” Independent. August 11, 2020.)

Erich Fromm (1900 – 1980), psychiatrist and a world leader in many aspects of mental health and diagnosis, defines malignant narcissism as “not about achievement, but rather something the person thinks they inherently have that’s special, “for instance, his body, his looks, his health, his wealth, etc. ... Malignant narcissism, thus, is not self-limiting.”

John Gartner, Ph.D., is a psychologist who taught at Johns Hopkins University Medical School for 28 years. He says Trump has malignant narcissism, as follows in his chapter in the book Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump (2018):

Trump suffers from malignant narcissism, a diagnosis [that is] far more toxic and dangerous than mere narcissistic personality disorder because it combines narcissism with three other severely pathological components: paranoia, sociopathy, and sadism. When combined, this perfect storm of psychopathology defines the ‘quintessence of evil,’ according to Fromm, the closest thing psychiatry has to describing a true human monster.”

(Bill Eddy, LCSW, JD. “Malignant Narcissism: Does the President Really Have It?” Psychology Today. March 12, 2019.)

Gartner specifically describes Trump …

* Narcissism (he knows “more about everything than anyone” and “has empathy for no one but himself”);

* Paranoia (“his demonization of the press, minorities, immigrants, and anyone who disagrees with him, are all signs of paranoia”);

* Sociopathy (“a diagnosis that describes people who constantly lie, violate norms and laws, exploits other people, and show no remorse”); and

* Sadism (“He takes gleeful pleasure in harming and humiliating other people. He is undoubtedly the most prolific cyberbully in history.)


It is a madness that tends to grow in the lifetime of the afflicted person. The more he tries to be a god, the more he isolates himself from the human race; this isolation makes him more frightened, everybody becomes his enemy, and in order to stand the resulting fright he has to increase his power, his ruthlessness, and his narcissism.”

Erich Fromm

The “human monster” cries “Fraud!” He further divides the nation with a “we versus them” analysis of the election. And, most defiantly, he demands all voting stop on his sadistic, malignant command – a voice that he hopes stirs his legions to mindlessly affirm unfounded election deception and trickery.

And still, over 67 million have voted for four more years of feeding the malignancy in the White House. To me, that is incomprehensible. Yet, the nation waits for the result of the 2020 election. One certainty – Trump will never concede and admit defeat. Why? In his disordered mind, he is in complete control.

The Story of Two Wolves: A Native American Parable

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. 'A fight is going on inside me,' he said to the boy. 'It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.'

He continued, 'The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.'

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, 'Which wolf will win?'

The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed.'”



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