Worsening psychopathology?
SE EEMINGLY every day now, US President D onald Trump escalates his policy and perso onal attacks against other countries and th heir heads of state, the poor and the weak, an nd migrant families.
Most M recently, Trump championed the heartle ess separation of migrant children from th heir parents. Though public outrage may ha ave forced him to retreat, his disposition to at ttack will soon make itself felt elsewhere.
Most pundits interpret Trump’s outbursts as s playing to his political base, or preening fo or the cameras, or blustering for the sake of st triking future deals. We take a different vi iew.
In line with many of America’s renowned mental-health m experts, we believe that Trump su uffers from several psychological pathologi ies that render him a clear and present dange er to the world. Trump shows signs of at le east three dangerous traits: paranoia, lack of em mpathy, and sadism.
Paranoia is a form of detachment from re eality in which an individual perceives th hreats that do not exist. The paranoid indivi idual can create dangers for others in the co ourse of fighting against imaginary threats.
Lack of empathy can derive from an indivi idual’s preoccupation with the self and a vi iew of others as mere tools. Harming others ca auses no remorse when it serves one’s own pu urposes. Sadism means finding pleasure in in nflicting pain or humiliating others, especially y those who represent a perceived threat or a reminder of one’s weaknesses.
We believe that Trump has these traits. We ba ase our conclusion on observations of his ac ctions, his known life history, and many re eports by others, rather than as the finding of f an independent psychiatric examination, which w we have previously called for, and call fo or again.
But we do not need a complete picture to re ecognise that Trump is already a growing da anger to the world. Psychological expertise te ells us that such traits tend to worsen in indivi iduals who gain power over others.
To justify his belligerent actions, Trump lie es relentlessly and remorselessly. In fact, ac ccording to a Washington Post analysis, Tr rump has made over 3,000 false or misleadin ng claims since taking office. And, the Post no otes, his lying seems to have escalated in re ecent weeks.
Trump’s confidants describe him as in ncreasingly likely to ignore any moderating ad dvice offered by those around him. There ar re no “grownups in the room” who can stop hi im as he surrounds himself with corrupt an nd bellicose cronies prepared to do his biddi ing – all of which is entirely predictable fr rom his psychology.
Trump’s wild exaggerations in recent w weeks reveal the increasing severity of his sy ymptoms. Consider, for example, his repeated d claims that the vague outcome of his m meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jongun n constitutes an end to the nuclear threat posed by Kim’s regime, or his blatant lie that Democrats, rather than his own policies, caused the forced separation of migrant children from their parents at the southern border with Mexico.
(Under fire, Trump on Tuesday said he “misspoke” when, after his one-on-one talks with Vladamir Putin in Helsinki, Trump said he didn’t believe US intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
“In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’,” Trump backtracked from his earlier remarks. “The sentence should have been,‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’)
The Post recently counted 29 false or misleading statements in a mere one-hour rally. Whether intentional or delusional, this level of persistent lying is pathological.
Since Trump actually lacks the ability to impose his will on others, his approach guarantees an endless cycle of threats, counter-threats, and escalation. He follows any tactical retreat with renewed aggression.
Such is the case with the spiraling tit-for-tat trade war now underway between Trump and a widening circle of countries and economies, including Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union.
The same is true of Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from a growing number of international agreements and bodies, including the Paris climate agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, and, most recently, the United Nations Human Rights Council, after it criticised US policies toward the poor.
Trump’s paranoia is translating into heightened geopolitical tensions. Traditional allies are clearly shaken, while adversaries appear to be taking advantage.
Many of Trump’s supporters seem to interpret his shameless lying as bold truth-telling, and pundits and foreign leaders tend to believe that his bizarre lashing out reflects a political strategy. Yet this is a misunderstanding. Trump’s actions are being “explained” as rational and even bold, whereas they more likely are manifestations of severe psychological problems.
History abounds with mentally impaired individuals who have gained vast power as would-be saviours, only to become despots who gravely damage their societies and others.
Their strength of will and promises of national greatness entice a public following; but if there is one lesson of this kind of pathology in power, it is that the long-term results are inescapably catastrophic for all. – The Korea Herald/ Asia News Network
Jeffrey Sachs is Director of Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development. Bandy X. Lee is a forensic psychiatrist at Yale School of Medicine and a project leader for the World Health Organization. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Sunday Star.