A matter of reflection
POLITICS AND NARCISSISM ARE NATURAL BEDFELLOWS
Doesn’ t anyone read Miss Manners anymore?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized “unreservedly” for losing his comportment this week in the House of Commons when he marched into a gaggle of MPs, took Opposition whip Gord Brown by the arm to speed up a vote related to the government’s proposed assisted dying bill and unceremoniously escorted him back to his seat, accidentally elbowing NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau in the chest.
Some say the confrontation has been exaggerated. “This episode is precisely what it looks like,” political analyst Scott Reid wrote in the Ottawa Citizen. “The prime minister lost it ... let’s not pretend that he turned into a raging green goliath and razed a city to the ground.” Opposition MPs, however, have accused Trudeau of “shocking physical bullying” and “bizarre, outrageous behaviour.” Others go even further: They don’t think this was a misstep but a troubling sign of narcissism in our prime minister.
The question, though, is not only whether Trudeau fits that bill — but whether that would even be a bad thing.
Peter Harms, a Canadian professor of management at the University of Alabama who studies narcissism and leadership, agrees that, “nothing in ( this week’s) situation seemed very Can- adian to me, even if it was minor by the standards of other countries.”
But he and other experts in the field are careful to say that not only does the PM lack signs of a disorder (not that they would offer an official diagnosis from a distance), but that politics demands such supreme selfconfidence that any politician, almost by definition, has narcissistic traits.
“It takes a certain type of person to say, ‘ There are a lot of problems in this world. You know what the solution is? Me,’ ” Harms says. “Many people don’t have that instinct, but narcissists do.”
Other typical traits include a sense of self-importance and a need for excessive admiration. And, it’s true, in recent weeks Trudeau tried to make a media moment out of boxing in a tank top in a Brooklyn gym and then held a one-arm plank in a YouTube video to promote the Invictus Games.
Mostly, though, narcissistic behaviour is a plus for politicians — including Trudeau.
“He’s such an interesting politician because, in a lot of ways, he has what you would see as almost positive narcissistic qualities for a campaign — he’s attractive, he’s young, he shows off his body, he takes selfies with people,” says Keith Campbell, head of the department of psychology at the University of Georgia and author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement.
“That seemed to be his main campaign strategy, which was brilliant. He sort of mastered the selfie, in the same way (U. S. President Barack) Obama used Facebook and (Donald) Trump has used Twitter.”
Narcissism seems to be good for getting elected, and leadership in general, especially the grandiose qualities — the extroversion and confidence, Campbell says. “Those seem to be really helpful in rising to positions of power.”
Presidents who have been judged historically as being more narcissistic “were able to get more done,” he adds.
In the U.S., “narcissism, to some extent, is basically a job requirement” for presidency, Campbell says. “The election process is so driven by popularity it’s a lot like reality television. It’s not like people are sitting around reading a lot of position papers.”
He sees the incident as a stumble. “( Trudeau) has apologized and is probably fine.”
But when we select for traits like confidence, charisma and boldness, when people acquire an image of “Mr. Nice Guy” and he does something that doesn’t fit that image, “that changes perceptions,” Campbell says.
The driving force of narcissism is self-enhancement — the desire for attention, status and power. “Obviously political office, or celebrity (are) ways you can get that. But I want to be 100 per cent clear — I’m not slapping a label on the prime minister of Canada.”
Regardless, we often end loving narcissists, at least in public life, Harms says.
“When a leader who is very distant from you is like that, you can idealize them, you can romanticize them in some ways, but you don’t have to deal with what they’re like as a person.”
Frank Farley, a past president of the American Psychological Association, also says the House melee may be as much a sign of our own narcissism — the latest outcropping of what he sees as a new “era of disinhibition” and incivility.
Farley blames the Internet and the “negativity and really raw self-expression” in comment sections of articles for helping drive what he sees as less inhibition and “impulse control” throughout society.
“Canada has this reputation of being so civil, and so this (incident) stands out more.” But the British parliamentary system, as practised in Canada, involves more “face-to-face” confrontation, he adds.
“The U.S. president goes to Congress once or twice a year. In the Canadian system, the prime minister is right there, in the fray, day after day, and it’s kind of a different world,” Farley says.
“It just seems to me that it’s unusual that it hasn’t happened before.”