In retrospect those of us at Duty to Warn should have called Trump a narcissistic sociopath
By Hal Brown, MSW
Duty to Warn (website) is a group composed of mental health professionals and others formed by clinical psychologist to want about Trump's dangerous pathology. It was originally advocated for this removal from office through the 25th Amendment. It was formed by Dr. John D. Gartner (Wikipedia profile). He was the first mental health professional to describe in the media why Trump fit the criteria for being a malignant narcissist. This was way back in 2017.
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Here's a YouTube report about Gartner's diagnosis:
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I also wrote about this in 2020.
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Here's the first page of a web search on DuckDuckGo for Trump malignant narcissist:
"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...
Psychoanalyst and retired Harvard Medical School Professor Lance Dodes said, "The best diagnosis for Trump is that he is a malignant narcissist. It contains the narcissistic part, which is...
The film assesses Trump as suffering from a condition known as malignantnarcissism, which consists of narcissism, paranoia, anti-social personality disorder and sadism. Justin Frank, a...
Malignant narcissism, thus, is not self-limiting." Unlike most personalities that stay stable over a lifetime (including most personality disorders), he said malignantnarcissism "tends to...
Donald Trump, Malignant Narcissist, Blames Ukrainian Casualties on "Rigged" U.S. Election He apparently thinks that baseless claim will be of comfort to the grieving families and friends of "all...
May 4, 2017Donald Trump's malignant narcissism is toxic: Psychologist Mental health professionals have a 'duty to warn' about a leader who may be unfit to serve. John Gartner If you take President...
In light of Donald Trump 's unprecedented behaviors during phone conversations with two of our closest allies and his continuing early-morning habit of tweeting out his pathology in the form of foreign policy, I have created this brief checklist describing the signs of one of the most severe expressions of personality as described by mental …
Jun 14, 2021Based on Trump's public behavior and other available information, these experts warned that he appears to be a malignant narcissist, a pathological liar who is obsessed with violence, easily...
Watching Trump these past 24 hours, swinging between grievance and grandiosity, have been like a playing a game of DSM bingo for "narcissistic personality disorder," the diagnosis of which ...
While this was true it wasn't a good descriptor as far as conveying to the general public what Trump was. My contention ins that we are talking about marketing concepts here, about words that have the most impact on the general public. Sociopath and sociopathic have more impact than narcissism. Some writers, even those who weren't mental health professionals like George Conway put the later into their articles: NEWSWEEK
Here's another Newsweek article, this one form 2019:
My point is that "sociopath" should have been used much more frequently.
The far better term is finally being used:
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There's no way to know whether the labeling many mental health professionals used to describe Trump as a malignant narcissist would have had more impact if he was called a narcissistic sociopath.
The reason I wonder about this is because the the first term emphasizes "narcissist" and
the second term empathizes "sociopath."
While "malignant" is well understood as something that is dangerous and often deadly I am not sure combining it with "narcissist" did more than confuse the public who had never heard of malignant narcissism.
Everyone, even diehard Trump cultists, know that Trump is narcissistic. Narcissists can range for being mildly annoying to those they have relationships with to being toxic, or I suppose you could call them malignant.
There are lots of narcissists in public life. This doesn't make them dangerous.
The most dangerous people in positions of power and authority are the sociop
aths whether they are narcissists or not. From what I've read about Hitler he wasn't known for being a narcissist. Putin with his proclivity of being photographed shirtless on horseback on the other hand probably has some narcissistic traits but is certainly a ruthless sociopath. Idi Amin was generally photographed with a chestful of medals.
If American presidents wore uniforms I can imagine Trump having one made which would rival a four star general's. Just about all Trump can do is wear a red baseball hat and sell digital trading cards of photoshops of himself, or (upper left) posting a photo of himself in front of Mt. Rushmore (read story here).
Trump has been compared to the emperor with no clothes in the Hans Christian Anderson.
The fairytale emperor's vice was his vanity. Trump's obsession with his hair and facial makeup has been roundly mocked. The emperor for all his gullibility and grandiose narcissism was depicted as moron but never as a malevolent leader.
Trump, on the other hand....
