I live on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, which is a pocket of red in a blue state, so I drive by two types of Trump signs: either giant ones placed on a farm or commercial land by wealthy people, or personal ones, often on lower-income properties. Why don’t we see as many Harris signs here? Often because reasonable, intelligent and many times middle-class, hard-working individuals already know who they’re voting for and don’t feel a need to advertise it, or in my case because the signs would be stolen by feral Trumpers.
There’s a very narrow substrata of Trump voters who confuse me: people who are otherwise intelligent. Especially women. I don’t understand how you, as someone in a party who allegedly wants (or used to want) “freedom” amd “less government” you’re okay with women completely losing bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. Also, curious: how as a woman do you rationalize a vote for someone convicted of sexual assault with over 25 accusations of sexual misconduct by women?
How can any smart citizen, beyond issues people prioritize like the economy or immigration (even though the economy was not worse under Biden and Trump voted against a bipartisan immigration bill) vote for someone with the obvious mental health issues Trump has?
It’s not difficult to break this down. Psychologists have debated the mental health and signs of malignant narcissism of Trump. His former staffer Jenna Ellis stated:
“I simply can’t support him for elected office again,” Ellis said. “Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he’s never done anything wrong.”
What are the symptoms of malignant narcissism? Take a look:
• Preoccupied with fantasies about beauty, brilliance, success, and power.
• Unable to handle criticism.
• Tendency to lash out if they feel slighted.
• Likely to take advantage of others to get what they want.
• Overly concerned about their appearance.
• Expect to be treated as superior and craves this validation, also known as narcissistic supply.
• Lack of empathy for others.
• Inflated sense of self and inability to self-regulate.
• Have no remorse for hurting others and no interest in apologizing unless it benefits them.
• Have an attitude of deserving the best of everything.
• Tendency to monopolize conversations and/or mistreat those who they perceive as inferior.
• Hidden insecurity and a weak sense of self.
• Tendency to blame others for their own bad behavior.
Any of those ring any bells if you follow the behavior of the former president? And you’re ok with this being your guy as a world leader? Social psychologist Erich Fromm, who first coined the term malignant narcissism, called people with this type "the quintessence of evil."
People with this subtype contain the general traits of NPD, including regular egocentricity. They also have antisocial traits and even a sadistic streak, as well as a poor sense of self and lack of empathy. There’s often some paranoia involved with malignant narcissism as well.
John Gartner, Ph.D., is a psychologist who taught at Johns Hopkins University Medical School for 28 years. He says yes, the president has malignant narcissism, as follows in his chapter in the book Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump (2018):
“Trump suffers from malignant narcissism, a diagnosis [that is] far more toxic and dangerous than mere narcissistic personality disorder because it combines narcissism with three other severely pathological components: paranoia, sociopathy, and sadism. When combined, this perfect storm of psychopathology defines the ‘quintessence of evil,’ according to Fromm, the closest thing psychiatry has to describing a true human monster.”
There’s a documentary dedicated to Trump’s psychological diagnosis as the sole reason why he’s not capable of leading a nation. “Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump" interviews several psychologists who argue they have a medical duty to warn the US public about Trump's alleged mental state.
So I see the signs in the yards and on the side of the road, but don’t understand how nearly half our country thinks it’s ok to vote for the severely mentally unstable person whose name is on them.
