CommentsTHE VIEW FROM HERE - The nation faces an unrecognized dilemma. Who is more dangerous to America – Donald Trump who is definitely a narcissistic histrionic or Nancy Pelosi who is probably a narcissistic psychopath?
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is society’s attempt to classify harmful behavior patterns. Since the beginning of time, societies have had to cope with deranged individuals. From the evil judges who ruled Sodom and Gomorrah, to Oedipus Rex, to Caligula, etc, the list is endless. The DSM is a significant advance over the idea of demonic possession, even though millions of Americans still view mental illness through religious lenses. The DSM focuses on disorders since people behaving badly are a threat to themselves and to others. The next step in classifying human behavior will admit that every person has a characteristic modus operandi. Abraham Maslow made a premature stab at identifying self-actualizing personalities in his 1954 book, Motivation and Personality. He was ahead of his time since almost everyone is too preoccupied with the disruptive people to develop a wider classification of human behaviors.
The DSM’s Cluster B Personality Disorders describe both Trump and Pelosi. The disorders include: Antisocial Personality Disorder (DSM 301.7 Psychopaths), Borderline Personality (Disorder (DSM 301.8), Histrionic Personality Disorder (DSM 301.50), Narcissistic Personality Disorder (DSM 301-81). There is a significant overlap in the behavior patterns of these personality disorders, which is why they are termed Cluster B.
The Fallacy of the Goldwater Rule
The Goldwater Rule says that one may not diagnose someone without a personal interview and/or psychological testing. While the rule may generally be valid, there are times when it’s absurd. October 9, 2017, Trump’s Cognitive Deficit? Time for Americans to Read up on the DSM-5 and June 27, 2022, Salon, Donald Trump Is like a Serial Killer Who Remains a Great Danger to Society, by Chauncey Devega, Salon Donald Trump does not fall under the Goldwater Rule because his public behavior displays enough of his diagnostic features that virtually every psychiatrist and clinical psychologist knows that Trump suffers from very serious personality disorders.
Why Trump is a “Narcissistic Histrionic With Paranoid Features”
This layman’s diagnosis shows that his controlling disorder is Histrionic but that he is also suffers from Narcissistic PD. 6.2% of the population are Narcissistic PD, while in contrast less than 1.84% are Histrionics. Thus, when the matter is discussed, people gravitate to the more well known Narcissistic PD. A Histrionic, however, is far more dangerous. The distinguishing feature of Narcissist is a grandiose sense of importance, while Histrionic is extremely suggestible, catering to whoever gives the more praise or cheers the loudest. The histrionic’s need to be the center of attention and his impulsivity (acts without foresight or comprehension of risks) make intellectual analysis beyond a Histrionic’s capacity. The concept of paranoia is sprinkled throughout the DSM and Trump clearly has paranoid features of systematic delusions of persecution and/or grandeur, but he is not a Paranoid Schizophrenic nor does he has a Cluster A Paranoid Personality Disorder (DSM 301.0).
Why Is Trump Not a Psychopath?
Antisocial Personality Disorder (DSM 301.7) used to be called psychopaths and/or sociopaths, but the story goes that some clinicians thought those terms were too pejorative. The name should conjure up horrible images since people with this disorder are terrible people. Hence, the term psychopath is sticking to a DSM 301.7 diagnosis. The aspects of Antisocial PD which indicate that Trump is not a psychopath is that they are generally far more calculating, assess risks more astutely and are not influenced by flattery. Like a narcissist, they lack empathy.
Nancy Pelosi and the Goldwater Rule
The Goldwater Rule does apply to Pelosi since her public persona does not reveal enough of her real personality. The extreme harm which she has done to the nation over the decades and which continues to this day require that we assess her modus operandi. For the reasons stated above that Trump is not a psychopath, Nancy Pelosi most likely is. Better diagnostic criteria of psychopathy are in The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) The DSM fails to account for cunning success of psychopaths. Psychopaths Achieve More Professional Success According to Science.
For decades, Pelosi, who started in House of Representatives in June 1987, has attacked the Republic and denigrated the nation’s founding values, i.e., individual inalienable rights and the rule of law. In a republic, even the majority of voters may not deprive a person of inalienable rights or confer greater rights on any group of people. Rather, she promotes Group Rights where the will of the voters is the supreme law. In her pursuit of providing faux help to minorities, her Identity Politics has focused on the evil of Whites.
Law enforcement advised Pelosi that the far right wing, many of whom were White Supremacists, were a tiny, tiny minority but they were highly violent, e.g. Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph. They were a law enforcement matter and not a political problem. Pelosi’s Identity Politics, however, made the Alt Right into a realistic national security threat. The more right wing violence, the money Pelosi could raise and dole out the Dem candidates.
Pelosi and her cohorts of Wokers were not content to focus on right wring extremists, but rather set forth a political doctrine that all white people are responsible for the ills of the minorities by virtue having white skin hue. Pelosi et alia went to the extreme length of actually trying to implement the Great Replacement Theory, set forth in the 2011 book Le Grand Remplacement, by Renaud Camus. Applied to America, Pelosi promised that as soon as the minorities were the majority of the voters, they would seek revenge and reparations from Whites who have enjoyed White Privilege far too long. October 29, 2018, New York Times, We Can Replacement Them, by Michelle Goldberg Not surprisingly, the GOP struck back with regressive Voting Rights measures. Since minorities will not be the majority until well after 2040, her timing was over two decades off.
For example, after Dem vice-mayor of Charlottesville, Wes Bellamy, was successful in his two year effort to have the Alt Right descend upon Charlottesville to protest the re-purposing of the Robert E Lee statue, the nation witnessed Nazis marching in their Tiki Torch parade shouting “Jews shall not replace us” and the murder of Heather Heyer the next day. The Dems denounced the Nazis, etc. while suppressing the role Wes Bellamy played in creating the Unite the Right Rally.
Law enforcement proved that it was correct that the Alt Right was a law enforcement matter. The prosecutions of the Alt Righters like the crying Nazi, Christopher Cantwell, have been devastating to these lunatic groups, or so we thought.
Since psychopaths are calculating, good at risk assessment, and politically astute, psychopaths are quite hard to diagnose from a distance. As has been laboriously explained previously and as the Dems choose to ignore, Pelosi sabotaged both Senate Trials of Trump’s impeachment. November 8, 2021, CityWatch, Nancy Pelosi is the Most Dangerous Person on the Planet Why? Her power rests on fund raising and Trump, a certifiable madman, was great for her fundraising. By intentionally preventing the evidence from being put in the record, she made it politically untenable for the GOP to vote to convict Trump. On the other hand, the GOP leadership could have said, “Screw the lack of evidence. We know Trump is a lunatic and a threat to the nation” and convicted. The fact that Pelosi may be a psychopath does not make Sen. Mitch O’Connell into a good guy.
While the Alt Right was a law enforcement matter, Trump’s behavior was not. The Constitution foresaw such danger which is the reason it created a republic and not a democracy and created the impeachment process. The House merely brings the indictment, but has no power to convict or remove the President. That rest with the Senate. As we learned with Richard Nixon, the ire of the voters may cause a legitimate impeachment to falter; hence, Nixonization. When the President poses a clear and present danger, the leadership of both parties visit the President and explain the reasons he needs to resign. With Pelosi, however, there would be no Dem cooperation as she wanted the GOP to be stuck with a madman. Let’s remember that Pelosi has always opposed Trump’s impeachment and removal, and she was forced to allow the first impeachment hearing starting in September 2019.
Group Rights is the Underlying National Security Threat
With all the current hoopla, we should not forget what has brought us to this horrid place: Dem Identity Politics’ proposal to replace whites and the violent reaction of the Alt Right. As has been warned for years, Pelosi’s group rights agenda is leading us to a violent civil war. June 21, 2018, CityWatch, The Dangers of Dichotomy: The Saved vs. The Damned.
The likelihood that Trump did not engage in criminal behavior is slim to none. His narcissistic grandiose sense of importance means that he makes the rules, as he asserted when saying that if he takes top secret documents that by itself declassifies them. What is more astounding is that people accept that insane claim as if it has merit. No! Such a claim is the product of a mentally deranged mind. The Dems, the GOP and national media have to stop covering up for him. The civil war has already arrived while American politicos fiddle like Nero while rearranging the deck chairs of a sinking ship.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected]. The opinions expressed by Mr. Abrams are solely his and not necessarily those of CityWatch.)