Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:53 pm
*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*
Some Americans have probably heard the saying that “opinions are like assholes; everybody has one.” It is, of course, true that every person alive gets to have an opinion, but those opinions better be founded on some kind of fact or expertise to have any validity; opinion writers know this all too well. One of the opinions that no small number of political commentators and pundits have proffered is that based on the actions and speech of Trump, he must be mentally ill; this column is certainly among that group.
However, opinion writers and political pundits are not real psychologists and psychotherapists, and that includes Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman who, earlier in the week, said Trump is “obviously mentally ill.” Those “opinions” about Trump’s mental state and psychological defects are, although, on the mark, not psychological “expert” opinions and just informed perspective founded on observations of a stark raving lunatic who should not be living in the White House.
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Now, though, a growing number of the nation’s leading psychologists and psychotherapists have bolstered the political punditry’s mental defect diagnosis credentials by agreeing that Donald Trump’s mental state is an honest-to-dog really severe psychological disorder that makes him a dangerous and serious threat to America and the world.
There have been many top America psychologists who have implied that they think Trump is mentally unstable and “unfit” to be president, but now there are many honest-to-dog psychological experts from different leading institutions who diagnosed Trump as a “textbook narcissist.” Trump is not the run-of-the-mill narcissist with an over-abundance of confidence, thinks they’re irresistible to the opposite sex, and possesses the drive to achieve something remarkable. No, he is one sick twisted malcontent and a clear and present danger to any and everyone within his sphere of influence. And now that he gets to live in the White House, that sphere includes the entire world and it is why world leaders, except Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, are growing very nervous about what that crazy “American psycho” is going to do next to threaten the world.
One top psychologist, Harvard professor and renowned research scientist Howard Gardner said that Trump is “a textbook narcissist.” Professor Gardner’s diagnosis is in complete agreement with many other noted clinical psychologists, including George Simon who told Vanity Fair that, “He’s so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops.” According to the nation’s leading psychological experts, and in agreement with this column, Trump’s narcissistic mental state puts him in the exact same category as a number of infamous tyrannical dictators like Muammar Gaddafi, Adolf Hitler, and Saddam Hussein just to name a few.
Trump suffers a plethora of pathologies and mental defects, but none more terrifying for America’s and the world’s fate than his severe “narcissistic personality disorder.” According to the Mayo Clinic, narcissistic personality disorder is “a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others.” If that definition needed a single image to accompany and sum up the text, it would be a picture of Donald Trump.
Prior to the election, psychologists posed a prescient question that Trump supporters never paid heed to and they should have. They asked that if elected president would Trump at least pretend to act on the behalf of the will of the people, or would he be a dictator and silence dissenting voices, refuse to compromise, and oppress groups that he doesn’t like. The events of Trump’s first week as White House occupant should put to rest any doubt that he is a dictatorial tyrant and intends on putting Americans under a fascist regime. He is not even acting like he cares about the will of the people or pretending to act on their behalf. He is, besides a raving lunatic, a typical Republican.
Another renowned registered psychotherapist from Johns Hopkins University Medical School, John D. Gartner, says that Trump is one with a serious problem. Dr. Gartner teaches psychiatric residents at Hopkins and took the extra-ordinary step of betraying the ethical code known as the “Goldwater Rule” to warn the “American public about the dangerousness of its new commander-in-chief’s mental state.”
The “Goldwater Rule” is typically defined as “the informal term for part of the ethics code of the American Psychiatric Association saying it is wrong to provide a professional opinion of a public figure without examining that person and gaining consent to discuss the evaluation.” It is noteworthy that for a growing number of psychological experts, violating that part of their “ethical code” has become more important than remaining silent simply because the fate of the nation, and the world, is at stake.
As Bobby Azarian at Raw Story wondered rhetorically exactly one year ago this week; “Will we see the start of World War III because the [possible] leader of the most important nation in the world doesn’t feel that others are kissing his ass as much as they should be?” If Trump’s raging attack on the press, protestors, other nations’ leaders, and political opponents are any indication, the answer to that rhetorical question then is the same as it is today as it was a year ago; definitely in the affirmative.
That fact was already borne out by Trump directing ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley to threaten America’s allies just yesterday if Trump thinks they don’t rush to support his plan to run roughshod over the rest of the world that won’t bend to his will. The rest of the world should expect no less savagery from the Trump for not acknowledging his deity than the American people or media does.
As even average psychologists will note, narcissistic personality disorder is known and proven to have strong negative effects on relationships no matter where they occur, but that is generally a problem restricted to small interpersonal groups, not the entire world. It has only been a week and Trump’s mental disorder has already negatively impacted and strained relationships with other nations as well as within America’s borders.
Trump’s severe mental dysfunction and disorder affects the nation and his acolytes’ attitudes towards other Americans, and it is straining relationships with the rest of the world, including America’s allies. And because Trump has no ability or desire to be diplomatic or compromise on anything, it is crystal clear he is incapable of ever being “an effective and responsible national or world leader.” It is precisely why a growing chorus of real psychological experts’ diagnosis is that Donald Trump is mentally ill and a clear and present danger to America and the rest of the world; an “opinion” this column has proffered for months.
The above commentary is the sole opinion of its author and a few of the nation’s leading psychologists.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
