[FRIAM] Reasons why we elect narcissists

[uǝlƃ ☣]

Although I'm sympathetic with characterizing him (and most other attention-seeking people) as a narcissist, it seems inadequate. I really liked this characterization, though:

https://www.salon.com/2017/04/06/psychologist-philip-zimbardo-of-the-stanford-prison-experiment-donald-trump-is-an-unconstrained-unbridled-present-hedonist/

as a "present hedonist". I tried to poke around and see if Zimbardo's "time perspectives" model was well justified, but failed. All I found were pop-sci references. But maybe that's because it has such intuitive appeal. I recently had an offline discussion with Steve Smith about Galen Strawson's episodic vs. diachronic personalities. And I definitely identify as episodic. But I could easily re-identify as a "present something", instead. I doubt I'm that much of a present *hedonist*, though. In any case, it makes more sense to think of the Crybaby-In-Chief as a present hedonist than a narcissist because I know so many people I actually *like* who are narcissists and, though they are deeply insecure, they don't wear their insecurity on their sleeve like Trump does.

Also, I think this report makes a good case regardless of any or the particular diagnosis:

https://dangerouscase.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Report-on-the-Mueller-Report1.pdf

"The Special Counsel’s report provides an uncommon wealth of information regarding the President’s mental capacity, begging for a mental health interpretation.  Pursuant to our ongoing, primary professional responsibility to society to protect public health and wellbeing, and to warn against potential dangers to the public’s safety and security, we have embarked upon this report. Mental capacity refers to the mental soundness that is necessary to fulfill a task and is a fundamental and necessary component for fitness for duty.It is a functional, not a diagnostic, examination, focused less on the President’s personal mental health than on his capacity to fulfill the duties of his office as observed by co-workers and close associates.  The information in the Special Counsel’s report, deriving from multiple sources under sworn testimony, yields an assessment of high confidence."

On 5/8/19 9:51 AM, Jochen Fromm wrote:
> IMO the 45th president is a unique example of NPD. The following "Psychology Today" article says that "severe narcissists were likely emotionally injured at a crucial time in their development". For Donald this might have been the time when his parents sent him as a young kid to a private school. 
> https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/insight-is-2020/201807/what-makes-some-narcissists-mean-competitive-and-jealous
> 
> Propaganda on Fox News and Facebook might be a one major reason for the success at his base. We don't get Fox News here in Europe, but I've heard it is quite different from ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN. We can watch CNN, though
> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house


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