I’ve made no secret of my contempt for Donald Trump and everything he has promoted. As I watch his candidacy implode I am torn between relief and pity, relief for the country and our future, pity for Trump himself.
Why should we pity Donald Trump? Because his deepest, darkest fears are coming true.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Donald Trump is empty, pathologically needy, fragile and self-hating.[/pullquote]
Trump clearly suffers from narcissistic personality disorder.
According to the Mayo Clinic website:
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a psychological disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultraconfidence lies a fragile self-esteem that’s vulnerable to the slightest criticism.
Symptoms include:
- Requiring constant admiration
- Having a sense of entitlement
- Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
- Taking advantage of others to get what you want
- Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
The paradox of NPD is that the outward show of bluff and bluster conceals deep seated insecurity. Donald Trump is plagued by pain, fear and emptiness.
As this blogger explains:
For all the narcissist’s ‘confidence’ and ‘acclaim’ and statements of ‘specialness’ about him or herself – the narcissist has an very poorly defined Inner Self, and is constantly plagued by feelings of inadequacy and not being good enough.
The narcissists tries to be ‘perfect’, ‘special’ ‘wealthy’ supportive’ ‘attractive’ ‘an incredible lover’ or ‘wonderful’ or whatever it takes to win your approval (in order to feed and maintain his or her False Self), and then acts incredibly imperfectly when he or she does not get the payoff (you mirroring back sufficiently) to maintain feeling ‘perfect’, ‘special’ ‘wealthy’ ‘attractive’ or ‘wonderful’.
It is the same False Self (ego) which tries so hard to be approved of, which when not being sustained by ‘the outside’ constantly (a necessity because it is not self-sustaining) becomes pathological and vengeful and behaves atrociously…
The larger the ego the more pronounced the backlash…
Trump has a monstrously large ego and as his primal fear of abandonment appears to be coming true, he has created a monstrous backlash.
Trump has brought this upon himself. He has lied, cheated and stolen during his entire professional life. He has made vicious racial slurs a centerpiece of his campaign along with malignant misogyny. Yet he has been undone, not by this egregious flouting of American values, but by his own words. A 2005 tape from Access Hollywood reveals Trump bragging about sexually assaulting a married woman among others, claiming his fame excuses his predatory behavior.
This startling revelation could have been predicted — indeed would have been predicted — had Trump allowed his own campaign to examine his past. This is standard procedure for a political campaign. It is imperative to identify and neutralize any questionable statements or behavior before the opposing side finds it and uses it. But Trump would not allow his campaign to perform a basic task of due diligence.
That’s not the action of a politician; that’s the desperation of a narcissist. Trump needs to see himself as special and above reproach. He was aware that research would reveal that he was neither and so he quashed the research. Finding out about the faults he knew he had and the missteps that he knew made was literally intolerable to him.
Now that those ugly faults have been revealed Trump is reacting with psychological projection, the narcissist’s favorite tactic.
Narcissists don’t like the fact they are empty, needy for approval, pathologically envious, and have horrible thoughts about themselves and other people. They detest their own feelings of vulnerability, deep shame and unworthiness…
Narcissistic injury feels like emotional annihilation to the narcissist. It is unthinkable, unbearable and will be avoided at all costs.
The narcissist’s … goes into automatic deflection and projection.
He or she will inevitably assign these parts on to [others].
This ensures two things:
1) [They] are punished for challenging the [narcissist] and
2) [They] become the atrocious person who has committed all of these unacceptable things…
Hence Trump’s jaw-dropping performance at today’s rally in West Palm Beach: Trump denied his own failings — lying, smearing others, sexual predation — and tried to pin them on everyone else. According to Trump:
The establishment and their media enablers wield control over this nation through means that are very well known. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed. They will attack you. They will slander you. They will seek to destroy your career and your family. They will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie. And then, again, they will do worse than that. They will do whatever’s necessary…
But the liar is Trump. He’s lied about everyone and everything. Virtually every word that comes out of his mouth is a lie. He slanders people; he threatens them; he promises to destroy them and lock them up. He is just as likely to lie about, threaten and promise to destroy his erstwhile allies in the Republican Party as he is to lie about, threaten and promise to destroy his enemies in the Democratic Party.
When presented with indisputable evidence that he is a sexual predator, his knee-jerk response is to drag Bill Clinton into the muck with him is a sexual predator; claims about Bill Clinton’s behavior explored in excruciating detail during Clinton’s impeachment and could not be proven. Moreover, even if Bill Clinton were a predator that would not excuse Trump’s sexual predation.
Donald Trump is empty, pathologically needy, fragile and self-hating. His rejection by the voters, the press and the world is unthinkable and unbearable. His monumental narcissism has led to an extraordinarily vengeful response against enemies and friends alike. He is hurting his family, his party and his country, but he doesn’t care. He feels like he is being emotionally annihilated and he has adopted scorched earth tactics in response.
We should pity him.
