On March 18, former president Donald
Trump said he believes that he will likely be arrested on charges relating to
hush money paid to a porn star.
He is already
calling on his supporters to protest his arrest, and while that is not exactly surprising, it is something we should be deeply concerned about. Trump embodies the qualities of a textbook narcissist, and when narcissists feel threatened, they frequently experience what is called
narcissistic rage, and become aggressive and obsessed with revenge. Given the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol, which Trump helped incite, we should be vigilant to ensure that history does not repeat itself.
It is no secret that Trump has a narcissistic personality. I doubt the man himself would deny his narcissism — if he were speaking honestly and in private.
In a
Vanity Fair article published before Trump became president, developmental psychologist Howard Gardner of Harvard University called Trump “remarkably narcissistic,” and clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis called Trump a classic case of “textbook narcissistic personality disorder.” The article cites more than a few mental health professionals who believe Trump fits all the criteria for having pathological narcissism, and over the years many similar articles would follow, such as this
2016 article in
The Atlantic by Northwestern psychology professor Dan McAdams, and this
New York Times article by Jennifer Senior, titled “We Are All at the Mercy of the Narcissist-in-Chief.”
Even some Republicans have come out and attested to Trump’s narcissism. For example, this CNN article claims that “
Paul Ryan was convinced Donald Trump has narcissistic personality disorder,” and Ty Cobb, a lawyer who was a member of the Trump administration legal team, described the ex-president as a “
deeply wounded narcissist.”
We are all familiar with narcissism — a term derived from Greek mythological figure Narcissus, who fell in love with himself after he saw his own image as reflected in a pool of water. Most of us have known a narcissist at some point in our lives. But what characteristics does a narcissist have exactly? Dan McAdams writes:
“People with strong narcissistic needs want to love themselves, and they desperately want others to love them too — or at least admire them, see them as brilliant and powerful and beautiful, even just see them, period. The fundamental life goal is to promote the greatness of the self, for all to see.”