By Dr David Laing Dawson
I have listened to far more Trump speak than is good for my mental health. And now, when I hear pundits and political commentators explaining what he might mean by what he says, while applying an assumption that Donald J. Trump is a thoughtful empathic rational human being, I find myself shouting at the television.
It would be far more enlightening to convene a panel of linguists, semanticists, historians, and psychiatrists after every broadcast of a Trump speak. Here are some of the things they might notice:
- Within the first three phrases he boasts about some victory, related to the subject at hand or not, true or not. “I received a call from the pilots in Missouri, which I won three times….”
- When he first learns something, or hears a word not in his usual lexicon, he assumes no one else has known this something, or used this word. “Groceries, an old word.”
- And when he first learns something, or figures something out, his assumption is that no one else knew this, and therefore he is very smart. “Who knew….?”
- He must always state something about the “failures” or inadequacies of his predecessors or opponents, no matter how irrelevant or untrue.
- This is often done in the manner of sibling rivalry. “It was worse under Biden.”
- When asked about another country he immediately mentions the leader of that country and what a good relationship he has with that leader. (The sphere of his consciousness is limited to others only in relation to his own presence and transactional self-worth. For example, the reality of North Korea and the lives of its citizens does not reach his consciousness.)
- The frequent use of grandiose catch phrases that convey some God-like qualities upon himself. “Like nobody’s seen before. The likes of which has never…”
- He always claims and boasts about his responsibility for some success. This “success” may have had absolutely nothing to do with him, or be only peripherally related to him, or complete fiction. (The ceasefire between Pakistan and India.)
- Nouns are used as verbs. Adjectives are used as nouns.
- This is one of the ways his statements, which could rationally and logically lead to complex nuanced thoughts if completed, become, instead, meaningless, but emotionally charged.
- He denigrates others in both a school yard fashion (nicknames and alterations of names), and a fascist dehumanizing of human groups. “Scum, animals, killers, low I Q individual, evil, bad person.”
These are all hallmarks of severe narcissism of course, but they also reveal a consequence of narcissism:
We go through life carrying in our heads a sphere of consciousness, which can be limited or expansive, which can include only our immediate physical and social environment, or extend far beyond that.
The parents of my generation would tell us to “Finish your supper. Eat your vegetables. There are starving children in India.”
As a ten year old I might think, “What has that got to do with me?” But maybe as an adult, suffering children on far away continents might float into my consciousness and contribute to some of my decisions. Then maybe I would think twice about cutting USAID, or supporting Netanyahu’s continuing destruction of Gaza.
It never floats into the consciousness of a malignant narcissist. His sphere of consciousness does not extend beyond his own presence, his own pre-eminence, and how any others (met, imagined, mentioned) may impact this.
And from a POTUS, this, I’m afraid, is contagious. Or, put another way, it gives licence to the worst instincts of his followers.
I apologize for the above on Canada Day. But American decline, as embodied by its leadership, is providing Canada a chance to spread its wings, to assume some moral leadership in this troubled world. We are now a country of 40 million people, up from 13 million in my childhood, diverse, inclusive, resource rich, educated, mostly sensibly governed, and genuinely respected around the world. Oh Canada.
