I have yet to read an article that deals with Donald J. Trump’s mental health and its impact on his behavior and subsequent policy formulations central to his administration. As a former clinician, clinical supervisor, and director of several Catholic Charities agencies with strong counseling divisions, I will attempt to do that here.
Mary Lea Trump in her book, Too Much and Never Enough, describes the long-term family dynamics on her uncle Donald that included alcohol addiction and emotional neglect without offering a diagnosis. Let me make a diagnosis based in part on Mary Trump’s work but mostly on the behaviors all of us see but few seem willing or able to confront.
Our president, Donald J. Trump, has the personality disorder we in the helping professions call narcissism. A person with a narcissistic personality disorder has only one frame of reference, himself (or herself if a woman). His opinions are the only ones that count. If he is wrong on something, for example, the efficacy of vaccinating children, he will never admit it. His ego is too fragile to take responsibility for any of his mistaken positions. Perhaps the best example in Mr. Trump’s case is his inability to admit he lost the 2020 election. In his own mind, he can’t lose, can’t tell a lie, and can’t admit to making a mistake. It’s not that he doesn’t care for the truth, the country, other people, or even members of his own family; he can’t care because of his acute narcissistic personality disorder. Again, my objective here is to comment on the President’s behaviors and interpret them for a broader understanding among the general public but, more importantly, among those working with him. They have a right to know what kind of person they are dealing with.
One characteristic of a narcissist is grandiosity. Mr. Trump showed this characteristic as a real-estate developer by inflating his financial worth and that of his company. As President he has raised the possibility of invading Panama, annexing Canada and Mexico, and buying Greenland. In this way he shares the imperialistic designs of some other world leaders: Putin over Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe, Xi Jinping over Taiwan, and Kim Jong over all the Korean Peninsula. Trump’s contemplating a third term is yet another example of his grandiosity.
Another characteristic is the insatiable quest for power and control, often at the expense of others. His approach: “You are either with me or against me.” There’s no middle ground. The narcissist must be right. President Trump not only seeks to control the issues he has highlighted for his administration, i.e., immigration, national security, reducing the size of government, he also has a need to control the messaging on these issues. If someone can do this for him almost as good as he can himself, like Elon Musk, he will deputize that person as an extension of himself. If the President perceives that he can’t control the message, as with the Voice of America, he will shut it down, thus ending, at least for now, over eighty years of broadcasting to the world about Americans and American democracy.Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The narcissist exercises power and control by starting with the most vulnerable. In Trump’s case he began his reduction in the cost of government with AID (Agency for International Development) which represents less than 1 percent of the Federal Government’s annual expenditure. Overnight, about 15,000 AID employees lost their jobs because Trump didn’t see them furthering his agenda. He sought to delegitimize these employees by calling them “woke, radical left, and scum.” In our country’s name, they were proud to provide treatment to people with HIV/AIDS, children’s vaccinations, food assistance, and Ebola prevention.
Early in my religious life, having served as a missionary in Tanzania, I met many AID workers from the United States. They were among the best and brightest young adults I’ve ever met. They often worked under extremely difficult conditions, including famine and disease. The American pull-out has left our friends in the developing world thinking that our government no longer cares for them.
Lack of personal accountability is the last characteristic. Trump has preached accountability and transparency, but his actions have betrayed him. The best example was his firing the Inspector Generals (IGs) from almost all major government departments. Their primary jobs were to tackle the very things he talks about: “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Trump would rather obfuscate than admit to the real reasons behind his extreme actions.
