Trump’s Rampant Narcissism

 

 

I like to find a graphic before I begin writing and let’s face it – it’s been a while. As Trump dominates the news, what better image than Frank Underwood’s cufflinks from the Netflix series House of Cards?  Frank is the cloying sociopath who has wormed his way (with help from his wife, Claire, who is cut from the same cloth) into the highest office in the land – the  President of the United States. Sound familiar?

I read an interview today  Donald Trump and Narcissistic Personality Disorder – An Interview with Sam Vaknin on American Thinker, an uber conservative blog focusing on national security issues and Israel. Vaknin is a former Israeli citizen who was imprisoned there for fraud and now hangs his hat in Macedonia. He is the author of Malignant Self-Love: Narcissism Revisited. I like to think of Vaknin as the Head Vampire. But then I’m sentimental.

I’ve mentioned Vaknin once before in Barack Obama is a Narcissist and Other Urban Myths. Although this interview cites Vaknin’s numerous academic titles and refers to him as “Dr. Vaknin,” that title was bought via a diploma mill in California. Vaknin is touted as the ultimate authority when it comes to Narcissistic Personality Disorder while the interviewer fails to mention that Vaknin has proclaimed himself a “self-aware narcissist.”

That said, his assessment of Donald Trump, based on way too many hours of watching him on video, is pretty spot on.

Vaknin wonders, in light of Trump’s call to kill the families of terrorists, if there could be something else in play here aside from NPD. Since then, Trump has backtracked and I chalk up a lot of this due to his bombastic style and telling people what they want to hear at any given moment. He turns on a dime.

Should we be more alarmed about the popularity of Donald Trump or his “followers” who are basking in the Idealization Phase? Those who know a thing or two about Narcissistic Personality Disorder know what comes next. And it ain’t pretty.