VERDICT

BEHAVIOUR like this is typical of Donald Trump, who I have always said is a malignant narcissist.

This means he is ruthless with little remorse, but malignant narcissists are often successful and charming. He would be similar in private as he is in public. And he will always have been like this but we’ve only just started to see the true extent of it.

I don’t think he’s trying to be provocative. All he is doing is being himself, but that’s not a very nice person.

By making the conversations about himself, by not

Trump is ruthless with little remorse, but also disarmingly charming

listening properly and abruptly ending phone calls, he shows he’s absolutely self-obsessed.

By name-dropping people like Vladimir Putin, he thinks he will impress people. It’s typically narcissistic. It shuts people down and stops them questioning him. He appears like someone with perceptive self-awareness, but that’s just a role he has to play.

I don’t think he has early-onset dementia. Saying that would be very kind to him.

He is incredibly smart and he wouldn’t be able to exercise this level of ruthlessness if he had dementia.