Connect with us

News

Trump ‘Is Much Stranger Than Any Diagnostic Category’: Psychology Professor Says He Is Not ‘Like Other Dictators’

Published

on

President Donald Trump’s unique personality and mental habits make it hard for mental health professionals to categorize him.

The American Psychiatric Association pushes the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Currently, in its fifth edition, the book is known as DSM-5.

Dan P. McAdams, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, was interviewed by Dinesh Sharma, Ph.D. for Psychology Today.

“Without putting the president on the couch, are you willing to say he has a ‘personality disorder’ as in the DSM classifications?” Sharma asked.

“I do not find the clinical categories of the DSM all that useful in explaining how a person has come to be and in making sense of a person’s life, including President Trump. He is much stranger than any diagnostic category can convey, in my opinion,” McAdams replied.

“There is no diagnostic label that captures his unique blend of attributes and orientations,” he explained. “Among the most interesting features of Trump’s inimitable personality are (1) his peculiar form of extraversion-based charisma, (2) his startling lack of an animating life narrative in his own mind to make sense of who he is and how he came to be, and (3) his belief, shared unconsciously by a percentage of his supporters, that he is not ‘a person’ – he is more than a person, like a superhero, like a primal or mythic force, but less than a person, too, in that he is not held morally accountable in the same way that other persons are. I am not speaking metaphorically.”

McAdams explained how Trump views each day.

“He wakes up every morning ready to do battle with his enemies, and he wins by developing tactics that are unprecedented and completely audacious. He did this in the real estate industry in the 1980s, and he does it today. Because he has no story for his life in his own head, Mr. Trump approaches each day as a new episode, with a new battle to win,” he said. “All that matters is winning the episode. The episodes do not build from one to the next. There is no narrative flow to Donald Trump’s life, at least not in his own head.”

“This is why he is able to lie with such shameless abandon, and why he is unpredictable from one moment to the next. All tactics, no strategy,” McAdams explained. “Each day is a different battle, ending in victory or defeat. The days do not add up. This is not a long-term war with a cumulative plot. It is, instead, a series of one-off skirmishes, one after the other, day after day after day. This is how he has always lived. And now we are living it with him.”

“Do you think the president reflects the times we are in globally, in which dictatorial strongmen are able to get people’s votes in a populist wave? We see this in the EU, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. So might he be a reflection of the times where globalization has failed people significantly?” Sharma asked.

“Yes, I believe this is probably true. But President Trump is still a one-off. He is not fully like other dictators, either. And I am not sure he can be replicated,” he replied.

McAdams is the author of the forthcoming book The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump: A Psychological Reckoning.

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Incurable Conflict of Interest’: Kushner Under Sweeping Investigation by House Democrats

Published

on

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and his Special Envoy for Peace, is being investigated by House Judiciary Democrats who allege a “glaring and incurable conflict of interest.” The probe is led by Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, MS NOW reports.

In their six-page letter dated April 16, they charge that Kushner’s clients, Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “have unique and significant strategic, economic and political interests that are certain to diverge sharply from the strategic, economic and political interests of the American people.”

“To whom do your professional obligations and fiduciary duties belong?” asks the letter, signed by Ranking Member Raskin.

“You cannot both be a diplomat and a financial pawn of the Saudi monarchy at the same time; you cannot faithfully represent the United States with billions of dollars in Saudi and Emirati cash burning a hole in every pocket of every suit you own,” Raskin writes.

READ MORE: Conservative Christian Broadcaster Slams Franklin Graham’s ‘Embarrassing’ Defense of Trump

Calling it “an outrageous betrayal of the American people,” Raskin notes that were Kushner a government employee, “these conflicts of interest would be disqualifying, not only preventing you from conducting your current duties but from receiving security clearance.” He says that Kushner has “taken advantage” of his non-government position, “with all the trappings of government authority and power to insist that the normal rules do not apply to you.”

MS NOW reports that “Kushner, who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka, founded the investment firm Affinity Partners in 2021 after serving as a senior adviser during Trump’s first administration,” and notes that “Affinity’s largest and earliest investor, according to The New York Times, is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”

“The fund invested roughly $2 billion after the first Trump White House ended. Sovereign wealth funds tied to other Gulf nations, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have also invested.”

Raskin also included a fifteen-point list of requests for records from Kushner. Among them, “All communications with the White House and Trump campaign, including your father-in-law, regarding your role within the government from July 1, 2024, to the present day.”

Also, “All communications received or sent by you relating to the Board of Peace,” and, “All communications received or sent by you relating to financial investments or the economy in Gaza, Ukraine, Iran or any other area in which you have negotiated.”

READ MORE: Trump’s Coalition Is ‘Kaput’ — Midterms Threaten to Be ‘Brutal’: Columnists

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

Trump’s Coalition Is ‘Kaput’ — Midterms Threaten to Be ‘Brutal’: Columnists

Published

on

The coalition that united to put Donald Trump back in the White House in 2024 is “kaput,” and with a president polling even worse than at this point in his first term, the November midterms are threatening to be “brutal” for Republicans, argue Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Elaine Godfrey at The Atlantic.

“A shocking number of the president’s supporters have turned against him,” the columnists write.

“When Trump opens his mouth, three-quarters of what he says is stories, lies,” Tomas Montoya, a Trump voter, told The Atlantic outside a popular Hispanic grocery store in Casa Grande, Arizona.

“Montoya voted for President Trump in 2024, but now, well, frustrated doesn’t begin to cover how he’s feeling. The president is bragging about the economy, even though everyone Montoya knows is hurting; he promised to stop wars, but started one in Iran,” The Atlantic notes. “He’s planning to vote in the midterm elections this fall. But he may not choose a Republican.”

Some Trump voters, like Montoya, the columnists explain, sound “anxious, and a little regretful about how they voted two Novembers ago.”

They describe some of Trump’s “fanboys in the libertarian-leaning manosphere” as “baffled by his actions on the Epstein files, immigration, and now Iran.”

Religious conservatives “have been criticizing their once-unassailable leader after he posted a photo on social media of himself as Jesus and attacked the pope, calling the first American pontiff ‘WEAK on Crime.'”

Some battleground Republican operatives would prefer the president not campaign “too hard” for their candidates.

READ MORE: Conservative Christian Broadcaster Slams Franklin Graham’s ‘Embarrassing’ Defense of Trump

How bad are the midterms expected to be for the GOP?

“Almost every new poll is a red flag for Republicans,” they write. “Independents, young voters, and Latinos—groups that were crucial to Trump’s win in 2024—aren’t in the bag anymore. Even non-college-educated white Americans, once the president’s strongest group, have turned on him, according to a CNN polling average.”

One 61-year-old Democrat who opted to vote for Trump in 2024 hoping he would bring down high prices says she is poorer today than she was two years ago.

“High gas prices mean that she is staying home more often—skipping Bible studies at her church, volunteering less, and even missing exercise classes. Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was her breaking point with the president. ‘I think that he just wants war,’ she said. ‘He’s made it plain that he’s adversarial with everybody.'”

Trump’s highly controversial AI post of himself “dressed in flowing robes, surrounded by a heavenly glow while healing a sick man … alienated the one group of Americans that has rarely left his side: Christian conservatives. The picture, declared the Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, was ‘OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy.'”

Far-right pastor Joel Webbon, who, The Atlantic noted, opposes women being allowed to vote, said that Trump is “currently demon possessed.”

Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, whom the president has called a “tremendous athlete,” wrote that “God shall not be mocked.”

Some fundraising “plummeted” in early March after Trump launched his Iran war.

“If this is a two-week stretch, not a huge deal,” a GOP consultant told The Atlantic. “If we’re still bombing Iran in November? I mean …”

READ MORE: ‘I’m All About the Gospel’ Trump Says After Refusing to Meet With Pope Leo

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

‘I’m All About the Gospel’ Trump Says After Refusing to Meet With Pope Leo

Published

on

Amid an escalating feud with President Donald Trump lashing out at the first American pope, Pope Leo XIV, and the pope promoting a pro-peace, anti-war message the president opposes, Trump is refusing to meet with the Vicar of Christ.

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” Trump declared on Thursday afternoon, despite new poll numbers that show his support among Catholics slipping after his attacks on the pontiff.

Earlier on Thursday, Pope Leo had posted to social media a message some thought was meant for the president.

“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” he wrote.

Asked specifically about it, Trump did not answer directly, instead telling reporters that it’s “very important that the Pope understands, very, very important…Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump also told reporters, “I’m all about the Gospel. I’m all about it as much as anybody can be!”

READ MORE: Conservative Christian Broadcaster Slams Franklin Graham’s ‘Embarrassing’ Defense of Trump

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.