Intro (from book)

> Note: This Introduction has been slightly revised. To see the current version, please download a copy of the book.

Introduction

    It is becoming increasingly clear that something is out of whack, off the mark, and just plain wrong when it comes to Donald Trump. Over 40,000 health care professionals have signed a petition stating their belief that “Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness”—but what specifically is at work here? Well it’s not just a mental illness, it’s not just being erratic or unconventional—more precisely, Donald Trump shows all the signs of suffering from "Antisocial Personality Disorder" or APD. (In common parlance, such a person would usually be referred to as a sociopath or a psychopath.) When looking at the standard checklist of APD traits (compiled by Cleckley and Hare) we can see that Donald Trump exhibits most if not all of the characteristics associated with this disorder. Some of the traits associated with this disorder include:

    ■ Glib and Superficial Charm
    Ability to mimic feelings and charm people yet never feeling the essence of his words or actions.
    ■ Grandiose Sense of Self-Worth
    A grossly inflated view of one’s abilities;a belief that one is better than everyone else; a constant
    need to exert power and control over everyone and everything
    ■ Need for Stimulation / Proneness to Boredom
    High degree of risk-taking; focused on immediate results rather than long-term strategies
    ■ Severe Narcissism
    Treats people as objects and as having but one purpose--to satisfy his needs; extreme and distorted sense of entitlement; takes everything personally
    ■ Pathological Lying
    ■ Lack of a Conscience
    An inability to gauge the morality of his actions; never feeling guilt or remorse for his harmful actions.
    ■ Emotional Vacuity
    Inability to feel true feelings such as love or empathy; only able to feel rudimentary, reactive emotions
    such as anger, outrage, and contempt.
    ■ Poor Behavioral Controls
    Irritability, annoyance, impatience, bullying, etc.
    ■ Impulsivity
    Behaviors that are unpremeditated and lack reflection; a failure to consider the consequences of
    one’s actions; unpredictable, erratic, and reckless
    ■ Lack of Insight
     Inability to see himself through the eyes of others; distorted view of himself; inability to gauge the
     truth and/or appropriateness of his own actions.
    ■ Failure to Accept Responsibility for One’s Actions
    An absence of dutifulness; an inability to apologize or admit doing wrong

    If Donald Trump is indeed a sociopath, and if this poses a serious threat to this country, then why are so few people addressing this issue head-on? Why is the press reporting on the symptoms of his illness and not talking about the illness itself? The most obvious reason is that people are not knowledgeable enough about this pathology to recognize it. The psychological community as a whole is hesitant to pronounce that Trump is mentally ill even though it's clear to many psychologists—and this is because there’s an ethical code that dissuades psychologists from diagnosing someone from afar, without clinical observation and control.
    So, what to do? Educate yourself. Educate the press. Educate your representatives. As more and more people become familiar with this pathology, and realize that Donald Trump suffers from APD then, finally, they will realize the profound danger this poses to our country. Having a president with APD, who is unable and unwilling to "discharge the powers and duties of his office,” should not be acceptable to anyone on any level—not to the Founding Fathers, the Republicans, the Democrats, or the people of America.

    Note: A person who suffers from antisocial personality disorder is often referred to as a "sociopath" or a "psychopath." Some people also use the term "malignant narcissism" to indicate this disorder. For simplicity purposes we will be using the term "sociopath."

Some Illustrations of Trump’s Sociopathy

In order to get a sense of how Trump’s sociopathic personality plays out in his words and actions let’s look at a few illustrations:

    The first demonstration of Trump’s disorder is found in his pathological lying and his pathological distortion of the truth; and we clearly find this in his refusal (or inability!) to acknowledge that he lost the popular vote to Hillary (or that he had a smaller crowd size at his inauguration than Obama). Only the biggest and the best is acceptable to the sociopath who forever seeks to affirm his me-first—or rather, me-only—version of reality. Is it not disturbing (and embarrassing) that the president of the United States, months after the election was over, could not stop talking about his winning numbers?—be they real or imagined? Trump prefaced almost all of his early talks as president, including his first appearance at FBI headquarters, by telling of his landslide victory in the Electoral College. This kind of behavior is beyond strange or unconventional, this is the stuff of a sociopath. Everyone knows that losing the popular vote doesn’t mean a whole lot so long as you win the presidency but not to a sociopath—he has an obsessive need to win every contest and be better than everyone at everything. And how would Trump pull off the magic of winning the popular vote (at least in his own mind) when he actually lost? Well, simple: deny reality, dismiss the facts, and introduce a new truth, an alternative truth which reveals that he was, in fact, the winner. And what alternative reality did Trump grab onto? He claimed there was massive voter fraud, in the amount of three million people; and that all those illegal voters voted for Clinton; and had it not been for this massive voter fraud he would have won the popular vote. Who could bend reality like that and believe it?—only a sociopath.
    The sociopath is always impelled to construct and believe in a version of reality that is beneficial to himself—a version that makes him out to be a winner and someone who is never wrong—regardless of what the facts may be. So, when coming upon unfavorable or unflattering facts we can expect to see the sociopath come up with some fantastic, reality-bending contortions—and we find no exception with Donald Trump. In all likelihood he believed, and still believes, that he won the popular vote no matter what anyone says—and he is surer still that he would have won the popular vote by even a bigger margin if that was what was needed to win the presidency.

    @realDonaldTrump 27 Nov 2016 In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally

‏    @realDonaldTrump 27 Jan 2017 Look forward to seeing final results of VoteStand. Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal. We must do better!

    @realDonaldTrump 21 Dec 2016 I would have done even better in the election, if that is possible, if the winner was based on popular vote - but would campaign differently

    Putting all these mental machinations aside, what evidence did Trump ever produce to support his contention of widespread voter fraud?—none.

    Here’s another “truth” in the world according to Trump:

“Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.” When the interviewer said that the mayor and the police say it didn’t happen Trump doubled-down and said, “It did happen. I saw it. . . I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down—as those buildings came down. And that tells you something. It was well-covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good.”

    Indeed, not good—having a president who just makes up shit whenever it suits his needs.
    There may have been televised footage of a few teenagers cheering as news of the attacks was broadcast. This might have been what Trump saw or heard about; alternatively, he just imagined the whole thing, making up a story that supported a truth he wanted to believe.

"Dishonesty is Trump’s hallmark: He claimed that he had spoken clearly and boldly against going into Iraq. Wrong, he spoke in favor of invading Iraq. He said he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11. Wrong, he saw no such thing. He imagined it. His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power." ~Mitt Romney

    Then we have the so-called birther movement—a movement based on the misplaced hope that Barack Obama was not born in the USA (and, therefore, was not a legitimate president). At some point Donald Trump jumped on the birther bandwagon. Then he asked (or demanded) that Obama produce his birth certificate but the president did not oblige. Then he sent some investigators to Hawaii to uncover the truth; then he announced that they found some really amazing stuff that he would soon reveal. Days passed, weeks passed—nothing. In classic style, Trump made an offer to Obama: if Obama released his birth certificate he, Trump, would release his tax returns. Fair enough. Sometime later Obama released his birth certificate. Nothing from Trump. No tax returns. Trump’s reply: “A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate.” But this rouse was pretty shallow: most people knew that Trump was never going to release his tax returns.
    Let’s explore how this story relates to the standard behavior of a sociopath: Trump said that he would release his tax returns if Obama released his birth certificate—which, of course, was a promise he never intended to keep. Sociopaths are pathological liars and manipulators. One way they manipulate others is to enter an agreement, or propose an agreement, with the intent that you follow through on your end of the bargain but with them having no intention whatsoever to keep their end of the bargain. And to this end, they come up with and endless stream of blame and reality-bending excuses as to why they did not keep their end of the bargain—and most often it relates to how you did not keep your end of the deal. (Sometimes, however, the excuse will be that you did something “unfair” or “dishonest” in another situation which then de-obligates them from having to honor this agreement.)
    In most cases the sociopath knowingly lies like a “normal” lyin’ cheatin’ person—but not always. In many cases he does not know he’s lying; he believes that his own lie is true. (This reminds me of an essay I studied while at Harvard, on my way to a degree in psychology, entitled: “In Order to Fool Others the Magician Must First Fool Himself.”) And, peculiarly, a sociopath will lie even when he knows he will eventually get caught in the lie! So, it’s not that Trump simply said that Obama did not produce his real birth certificate Trump actually believed, and still believes, this to be true. This distortion of reality—where the sociopath is unable to distinguish between the truth and his hoped-for version of the truth—along with the non-stop lying to defend his false “truth”—is one of the more dangerous traits of a sociopath president. (And when a president has his whole staff lying to cover up his lies, it begins to look a lot like The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Strait.)
    Enough noise already—Obama finally releases his long-form birth certificate. The evidence is now irrefutable: Obama was born in the USA. Trump’s position was exposed as being false; and did he ever say he was mistaken or admit to being wrong?—or, God forbid, apologize?—of course not. The sociopath never believes he is wrong even when proven wrong, so why would he ever have need to apologize? (If, perchance, a sociopath is caught in an outright lie or falsehood, no problem—he always has a backup plan, a “blame someone else” plan, which he pulls out whenever the need arises: “That’s what I was told, that’s what was reported, that’s what the article said—that’s what they said, not me.”)
   Fast forward: Trump wins the Republican nomination and decides to end the birther movement once and for all. And why did he finally decide to end it? Because he had nothing more to gain from it and, admittedly, the focus was too much on Obama and not enough on him. (1) Not good. Trump finally announced: “President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period.” He then went on to claim victory, saying “Hillary started the birther movement but I ended it.” Mission accomplished. Now let’s get the focus back to where it belongs—on me.
    In the end, in his own version of reality, Trump emerged as the winner. Even when he loses, a sociopath will convince himself (and do his best to convince others) that he actually won. Sociopaths don’t like losers—or vets who are injured, or soldiers who are captured—they only like winners, like themselves.

    (1) “I’ll answer that question [about Obama’s birth certificate] at the right time ... I don’t talk about it anymore. The reason I don’t is because then everyone is going to be talking about it as opposed to jobs, the military, security … [i.e., me and what I’m doing].”

     ♦ Article: Trump and the Birther Movement (ABC)

      Here’s another illustration of Trump’s mental disorder; this one coming in the form of some early morning Tweets:

    @realDonaldTrump 4 Mar 2017 Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!

    @realDonaldTrump 4 Mar 2017 How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

    And the evidence Trump produced to support his claim?—none. And the corroborating evidence produced by the FBI?—none. And the NSA?—none. And the DOJ?—none. And that folks is the mental state of Donald Trump—he just wakes up one morning, reads a fake news report, then accuses the former president of a felony. You just can’t make this stuff up—or can you?
Those who are familiar with this disorder will recognize this as a particularly sociopathic form of lying, where the sociopath will just make stuff up and lie without it serving any purpose whatsoever or lie even when his lie will surely be exposed as being false.

     And here’s one more stunner, one more example of how Trump is out of sync with reality but in sync with his own imaginary world. He made this statement about the Dakota pipeline:

    “And then, as you know, I did the Dakota pipeline. And nobody called up to complain, because it was unfair. Years of getting approvals. Nobody showed up to fight it. This company spends a tremendous amount, hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars and then all of a sudden people show up to fight it. That’s not fair to our companies. And I think everyone’s going to be happy in the end. Okay?” (Feb 7, 2017)

     As every sane person knows, protests over the Dakota pipeline brought about one of the largest gathering of Native peoples in the history of the United States. “Tens of thousands of people, from hundreds of tribes stood in solidarity for months against the building of this pipeline. I did not know how many of us actually called Donald Trump’s White House but no halfway informed leader could legitimately say they had not heard voices of opposition, especially the President of the United States.” (Mark Charles, Navajo). As it turned out, none of the White House phone lines were up and running at that time. So it was not that nobody called up to complain nobody’s call went through, and nobody’s call would have ever been put through to the president. Tens of millions of calls could have been made but not one would have reached the president. So in the president’s world, in his me-centric version of reality, “nobody called up to complain.” And the reason why nobody called up to complain, according to Trump, was “because it was unfair.” Unfair? To whom?
    Trump’s version of reality—that “nobody called up to complain” and “nobody showed up to fight it”—is more than a lie, it’s a wholesale fabrication, a complete denial of the truth. And what kind of person could lie with such brazen disregard for truth? Why, of course, a sociopath. Having no conscience and no remorse enables the sociopath to lie with great skill and ease; it’s like second nature to him. A narcissistic, self-aggrandizing charlatan is also able to pull off flagrant lies but since he has some conscience, and does not fully believe in his own lie, he cannot do it quite as well or quite as “smoothly” as a sociopath.
    And why does Trump often couch things in terms of it being “unfair”?—sounding more a like a five-year-old than a president? Because the sociopath has a very simple, dichotomized view of the world; he sees things in terms of black and white, good and bad, like and dislike, win and lose, fair and unfair. He lacks all sense of nuance when it comes to feeling or emotion. So, even in the most inappropriate of contexts a sociopath will put these black-and-white labels on everything, saying: “This is good, that is bad; I win, you lose; this is fair, that is unfair.”
    In Trumpworld there is something about the Dakota pipeline issue that is “unfair.” And what is “unfair” is that all these protestors, “all of a sudden show up to fight it.” That’s unfair to the company that spent millions of dollars and also “not fair to our companies.” So these pesky, unfair protestors had to be quashed as that was the only fair thing to do. Trump went in there and approved the pipeline, and put an end to all of those protestors—but he offered a silver lining: if you do what is good, what is fair, what I say then “everyone’s going to be happy in the end. Okay?”
    If you look closely at Donald Trump’s statement you’ll find something disturbing—and it relates to the sociopath’s severe emotional poverty, to his lack of empathy, his lack of remorse. People with this disorder can only process rudimentary feelings or “proto-emotions” related to fear, anger, frustration, contempt, boredom, and glee. They treat people as objects; they are unable to feel compassion or relate to another person’s suffering. Not only does a sociopath lack a feeling nature he sees feelings—or what he understands to be feelings—as a weakness, as something to be viewed with contempt and disdain. Thus, he never takes the feelings of others, or the harm his actions might have upon others, into consideration. When he harms people he feels no guilt, or shame, or remorse. To the contrary, he gets a kind of thrill when he destroys weaker, vulnerable people, putting them in their place.
    So, in Trump’s view, these protestors were being “unfair” to the company; but putting a pipeline through sacred land, which poses a threat to the lives and livelihood of these indigenous people, as well as the water supply of tens of millions of people, was not unfair. The most dissettling part of Trump’s statement and the sociopathic as a whole—and what we expect to see reflected in all of Trump’s policies—is his dehumanization of people; his total contempt for human beings and, indeed, for the very thing that makes us human. (This total disregard for anything weak, or sacred, or indeed human also applies to the natural environment which Trump surely sees as something to be controlled, dominated, and exploited for profit.)
    In addition to his “total blank” for people and their feelings—and an actual contempt toward anyone who is weak or in need of help—the sociopath, pressed by his immediate needs, is able to consider long-range plans or actions that might affect future generations. The sociopathic view is this: let’s do things now, let’s create some jobs now, let’s remove environmental restrictions now, let’s do what is best for me now—and let’s worry about the future later. Better yet, let someone else deal with that; let future generations take care of that. Sacred land, the beauty of life, human suffering, the luminosity that connects us all, native traditions—what could that possibly mean to a man who has no conscience, no feeling nature, no connection anything other than himself?

    "A mind-boggling contempt for others’ dignity characterizes their [the sociopath’s] worldview"
~ Steve Becker

   Perhaps these illustrations will give you some insight into Trump’s particular pathology; and hopefully, by reading through this paper and studying the sociopathic mind in greater detail, you’ll come to know the exact nature and scope of the problem. You may turn on the news and see what Trump is doing and still feel disturbed, perplexed—or as Bernie Sanders put it, “stunned”—but at least you won’t be fooled or bewildered by all of this. You may even find The Trump Show a bit more entertaining. On the other hand, you may become increasingly disturbed, and agitated, and filled with a sense of dread knowing that the president of the United States is a heartless sociopath—and that this sociopath is the commander and chief of our military, our nuclear arsenal, our economy, our healthcare system, our environment, and indeed our future. Not good.

    “I put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.” He went on, “I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”
   If he were writing “The Art of the Deal” today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, “The Sociopath.”
    ~ Tony Schwartz, Ghostwriter for The Art of the Deal
                                   (See full article in The New Yorker)

What is a Sociopath/Psychopath?

    "It must be remembered that even the most severely and obviously disabled psychopath presents a technical appearance of sanity, often with high intellectual capacities and not infrequently succeeds in business or professional activities for short periods, some for considerable periods. Although they occasionally appear on casual inspection as successful members of the community, as able lawyers, executives, or physicians, they do not, it seems, succeed in the sense of finding satisfaction or fulfillment in their own accomplishments."    ~ Hervey Cleckley, The Mask of Sanity

    On the outside sociopaths appear to be sane yet inwardly, behind the veneer or “the mask of sanity,” they suffer from a crippling emotional poverty, an inability to actually feel or truly relate to another human being. In the context of this stunning emotional lack (where nothing is truly felt and where people are seen as objects) no conscience can develop and an extreme narcissism takes hold. Then a whole cascade of sociopathic traits ensues, with its anti-societal or anti-personal behaviors. These include lack of remorse, reckless disregard for the welfare of others, irresponsibility, obsession with winning or beating others, deluded sense of entitlement and invincibility, no obligation to follow rules, abide by laws, honor agreements, keep one’s word, tell the truth, etc.
     All these aberrant behaviors relate to three core characteristics of the sociopath: a) an extreme emotional poverty that renders them unable to feel any depth or range of emotion such as love, empathy, pity, or remorse, but only able to feel superficial proto-emotions (“primitive responses to immediate needs”) such as anger and frustration; an inability to form true emotional bonds with others, b) lack of conscience; no inner voice of restraint; nor moral compass; “absolutely no capacity to see himself as others see him,” a total disregard for, and resistance to, societal norms, rules, laws, restrictions, agreements, etc.; and c) severe narcissism; a narcissism without restraint and “impervious to self-reflection and self-correction”; a narcissism that not only focuses on oneself above all others (and feels that others exist solely to gratify his needs) but one that does not even recognize the true and legitimate existence of others; thus, a narcissism in its most extreme manifestation, one that is not only “me first” but “me only.”
    In terms of their interactions, sociopaths are often seen as “social predators” or “consciously violating individuals.” They are always looking for people to exploit, use, or dominate. This expression of power over others is a primary thing in life that gives them a sense of satisfaction or glee. Sociopaths are usually smart and skillful. One skill the sociopath often develops—as part of his predatory arsenal—is that of charm, charisma, and the ability to manipulate others. They are often masters at displaying the affect of feelings even as they, themselves, feel nothing; and they are often adept at using words in a way that makes others feel important, or special, or even loved. And since they’re not burdened by a conscience (or any sense of remorse) they’ll say anything that is useful to them; they’ll tell another person (or a whole nation of people) exactly what they want to hear so long as it helps them. And, they will make every kind of promise or agreement, one after the other, without any intention to keep their word or do as they say. (On occasion, their words reflect some truth but that can be seen as part of an overall plan of deception; nothing the sociopath says should ever be taken at face value.)
    For the most part, people find sociopaths charming, and alluring, and fun (at least in the beginning); and they often bring excitement to someone’s boring and lackluster life (at least in the beginning). But once a sociopath gets control, once a person becomes dependent upon him, the story line changes: truths become lies, charm becomes tyranny; bills add up, and bank accounts are suddenly empty. In the end, the victim is likely to feel used, deceived, exploited, frustrated, and degraded. Not pretty. There are forums and chat rooms filled with people sharing their stories of how they were charmed, and ultimately victimized, by these social predators. As I sometimes say, “I’ve never met a sociopath I didn’t like—so long as I was able to keep my distance.” But, unfortunately, it’s not always possible to keep your distance.

A Lack of Conscience

    "Socialization contributes to the formation of what most people call their conscience, the pesky inner voice that helps us to resist temptation and to feel guilty when we don’t. Together, this inner voice and the internalized norms and rules of society act as an “inner policeman,” regulating our behavior even in the absence of the many external controls. … However, for a psychopath the social experiences that normally build a conscience never take hold. Such people don’t have an inner voice to guide them; they know the rules but follow only those they choose to follow, no matter what the repercussions for others. They have little resistance to temptation, and their transgressions elicit no guilt."
(Hare, Without Conscience, p. 75-76)

    A sociopath has no conscience, no “internal policeman,” nothing to bind him to societal norms or agreements. This lack of conscience (along with severe emotional poverty) can be seen as defining traits of the sociopath, the very root of his pathology.
     This lack of a conscience, a self-governing morality, does not prevent the sociopath from getting things done in the world. Sociopaths often make for great salesmen; and they excel in the field of selling people things that have no value or things they do not need (such as private-label mortgage-backed securities). A sociopath, driven by the need for power and control, will often end up as a high-powered lawyer, a ruthless businessman, a brutal policeman, or the president country—or more likely, a dictator. But this is never enough; this never brings him satisfaction. In essence, the sociopath is still a five-year-old; he still lives in a world that solely revolves around himself, where he is the absolute ruler, where everyone exists to serve his needs.

    "In a very important sense, in the sense of realistic evaluation, the psychopath lacks insight [i.e., self-reflection]. He has absolutely no capacity to see himself as others see him. It is perhaps more accurate to say that he has no ability to know how others feel when they see him or to experience subjectively anything comparable about the situation." (Cleckley, The Mask of Sanity, p. 400)

Power / Control

    @realDonaldTrump 20 Jan 2017   January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. … What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.

    What people? Whenever a sociopath uses the term “the people” what he really means is “me.” And when a sociopath-president says “the people” he is referring to his people, the people who supported him, the “movement” fans; all the rest are “enemies of the people”— to be quashed, put in their place, or simply destroyed. In the end, what “truly matters” is that he be in control: “What truly matters is not which party controls the government but that my government is controlled by me.”
    Despite what he may say or do a sociopath-president (or a sociopath-dictator) has no interest in unifying the country, or helping the people, or giving control back to the people. His only motivation is to rule over the country, to use “the people” for his own benefit. In helping himself he might, incidentally, help others; or he might help others as a way to help himself, but first and foremost his aim is to help himself—that is the bottom line, the only line for a sociopath.

    @realDonaldTrump 16 Dec 2016 Well, we all did it, together! I hope the “MOVEMENT” fans will go to D.C. on Jan 20th for the swearing in. Let’s set the all time record!

‏    @realDonaldTrump 6 Feb 2017 I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!

    It’s important to understand this thing about control and power: if you want to know what motivates a sociopath just follow the power. His whole world is based upon power—on gaining power (and control), on wielding power, on defending against anyone who might have power over him. When someone or something exhibits power over a sociopath (or beats him in any way) it feels like death. The smallest threat of powerlessness, the smallest hint of defeat will be seen as a major threat and defended against at all cost. The flip side is that when a sociopath is able to exhibit power over others it feels to him like a burst of life, a win, a vindication. So, in all situations the sociopath will try to put himself in a position where he is exhibiting power over others and where no one has power over him. And to keep this gravy-train running, to allow for this constant assertion of power, this endless winning, there must be people to overpower and adversaries—real or imagined—to defeat. Peace is not high on his list; unifying the country or helping “the people” is not on his list at all. The only thing that matters is domination and control—in a word, power.

    "Psychopaths aren’t just after control over others. By controlling others, they aspire to a sense of omnipotence. This attitude is the result of the combination of their traits: low impulse control; the intent to harm others (predatory nature); and absolute narcissism (a pervasive sense of superiority to all other human beings and of being above all the rules and laws that govern the rest of humanity). The combination of these qualities, it turns out, is greater than the sum of the parts. What you get is a human being who believes he has the right to deceive, manipulate, use, abuse and discard others solely for the pleasure and power such control gives him." ~Claudia Moscovici

    One of the preferred ways that a sociopath dominates and overpowers others is through the skillful use of the court system. You will always find a sociopath quick to sue you, or threaten to sue you, or always coming back with a counter-suit should you be suing him. And, if he doesn’t have the money to sue you, don’t worry—he’s an expert at getting lawyers to take on his case pro bono. And if he does have the money—look out—he’ll sue you and your mother and your brother as well.

    @realDonaldTrump 19 Nov 2016 The ONLY bad thing about winning the Presidency is that I did not have the time to go through a long but winning trial on Trump U. Too bad!

Pathological Lying

There’s an elephant in the room that no one is talking about. The press is supposed to report on the truth—the messy truth—but they have to see it before they can report on it, no? And what is this messy truth? It’s the truth that there’s something pathologically wrong with Donald Trump; and this is evidenced by everything he does and says, especially his confounding inability to tell the truth. Said another way, Donald Trump is a pathological liar. Period. What the press has not yet grasped and, therefore, is not able to report on, is that the president is a full-blown sociopath; he has no conscience, he could look you in the eye and tell one lie after another without compunction or remorse. And, perhaps even more disturbing than this, he may not even know he’s lying.
Some people still hang onto the glimmer of hope that Trump will, one day, become presidential and stop his lying. Not gonna happen. One thing most experts in the field agree on is that sociopaths are immune to change and cannot be “cured.” And this is because they believe that nothing is wrong with them, that they are the best that ever was—so why would they ever want to change? Thus, despite every life experience, every potential lesson, and every bit of advice, sociopaths do not change. No counsel reaches them. Being president will not change Donald Trump’s modus operandi one bit. So, if you want to know what the future will bring just look to the past; all you’re going to get is more of the same—yet worse.

   "How do psychopaths lie? They lie as Trump does, with a staggering, shameless audacity. They lie, as Trump does, in jaw-dropping ways, evoking reactions of incredulity. Trump’s tweeting history itself, by now, constitutes a voluminous, textbook illustration of psychopathic audacity and dishonesty. Lying psychopaths will look you in the face and, with eerie composure, stubbornly maintain a preposterous lie that’s been inarguably exposed. With protean agility, they can deny, retract, reverse what they say (or have said), shift courses or positions in irreconcilable contradiction to the historical record because, just as they lack loyalty to (and can easily abandon) others who cease serving their purposes, they equally lack fidelity to their history of statements and positions the moment the latter prove inconvenient to maintain. For this reason, psychopathic liars can disown statements and positions as disposably as they can people they deem presently to be useless or, worse, liabilities in their lives. Unfortunately, this is not a testament to their flexibility, as some want to see in Mr. Trump, but to their emotional shallowness and Machiavellianism.
   Now I cannot stress enough: Normal, non-psychopathic liars lack the shameless audacity, contempt and pathological grandiosity to sustain such a bald-faced, incendiary, false and slanderous claim, but not psychopathic liars like Trump."
    ~ Steve Becker, author, The Inner World of the Psychopath

   So, is Donald Trump a sociopath? Does he know the difference between a falsehood and a lie? Does he truly have the interest of the people at heart? Is he able to discharge the powers and duties of the presidency? The answers are patently clear; however, if you’re still not convinced, if you need more, read on. …