A Sick and Damaged Executive

 

 

 Donald has narcissistic and sociopathic personality disorder characteristics as previously stated. As a narcissist, his television appearances, tweets, and policies are transparent. With that being said, there is more to this troubled person. This essay delineates Donald’s paranoid reactions.

Lack of trust and the inability to place faith in someone else is associated with a paranoid personality. For him, the world is not safe, stable, friendly or dependable, it’s full of danger with too many enemies.  It’s no surprise that this individual ran his casinos and real estate activities, as a one-man show. He was the ring leader and had a few minor players. He didn’t delegate major responsibilities. He was king and everybody knew it. For the autocrat, it was his way or the highway.

Donald had a TV show in which he was the master in charge. He was known for “you’re fired.” Likewise, as the Executive Order in-Chief (Donald holds the record}, he operates the same way. He has eliminated a number of Chief of Staff’s who have been unsuccessful in attempting to change him. He has scripted speeches but doesn’t stay on task. When deviating from the script, his just repeats his verbiage. Demanding complete control and difficulty delegating defines his mistrust. It’s been said that he relies on his guts, which means he doesn’t trust others. It also suggests, that when he’s around others, he’s sensitive to hostility. It is also clear, that his lack of trust is a major factor, and as an executive, it interferes with his interactions and weakens his managerial responsibilities. A lack of a well-rounded plan or strategies or team to protect the health of our country is an example. However, when not threatened, he appears friendly and likable. He knows how and is effective at schmoozing when to his advantage.

Also associated with a paranoid personality, is a man who can be pleasurable and interact with others, but often seems tense and angry. We see him with a mean or angry look, unless he’s at a rally. Generally, having a smile on his face is not typical for him. Donald is prone, with the expectation of an attack especially when asked questions. He whines about being badly treated or deceived by the press. As a result, he is prepared and ready to transmit some cruel, aggressive counterattack to get back at them and put them in their place.  This persecutor role or style suggests he has a low frustration tolerance level. He also seems to be hypersensitive and ready for a fight, in his mind, because it’s as if he’s surrounded by sharks. Psychologically, with anxiety and a lack of inner security, he unconsciously projects his inner turmoil, his anger, his sadistic hatefulness, his racist threats, his misrepresentations, his cheating, and his amoral tendencies on to others. This is a replacement of a real danger, of within, to a factious one. In other words, projection is a defense for this angry person who is overwhelmed by tension, anxiety, impulses of rage and hostility who feels surrounded by hostility.  Moreover, this low self-esteem individual holds grudges, plots against others, never forgets a slight or narcissistic injury, and likely takes it for granted that others know how he feels about them and why. Thus, he is ready and on guard for sadistic attacking and accusing others like the press. However, projection as a defense never brings peace and security but only more turmoil.

Paranoid reactions seem to be a bridge between normal, common sense and delusional thinking. Within this dynamic, the employment of Denial is a major defense mechanism which serves as a protective device. Denial “is used to resolve emotional conflict and allay anxiety by disavowing thoughts, feelings, wishes, needs or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable.” With denial, Donald also disowns the truth. To say that the virus is under control, it is going to go away, our numbers are good compared to the worlds, kids are practically immune from the disease and should return to school, Pres. Obama was not born in United States are examples of sheer hateful nonsense with conclusions that seem to be fixed, adamant, inflexible, and untouched by contrary evidence. Recently, in an interview, Donald maintained his ridiculous Covid- 19 stance and even had a chart to make his point. Within this delusional framework there are some truths, some assumptions, and some probabilities that could be or might be true. He accepts his “delusions”, he sees nothing wrong or peculiar about them and believes in the reality of what he projects. He also has no difficulty spreading nonsense. There is so much distrust in information, one has to pick and choose, often on incomplete data, as there is so much that is not actually known. For example, yes, at some future point the virus will more than likely be contained by a valid vaccine or vaccines? Yes, our numbers are good when comparing them to the worlds.  We have 5% of the world’s population. Yes, children without pre-existing illnesses are not as vulnerable as older people with pre-existing illnesses .But, children are not immune. Barack Obama’s father was a Kenyan .That does not mean he was born in Africa.  That birther nonsense remark was racist.

 Per Norman Cameron’s “Personality Development and Psychopathology A Dynamic Approach, “ “A delusion is a fixed belief which persists even though social reality contradicts it.” Furthermore, we are talking about the knowledge and expertise of the medical-scientific community and not about the political, biased beliefs by politicians, media, laypeople or other consensus found on social networks. Don’t forget, so many of the population hold many irrational beliefs and it doesn’t matter if they do not have supporting evidence or even evidence to the contrary.  Epicurus said, “Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Within this paranoid personality style, unfortunately others especially the Democrats, Dr. Fauci, Black Lives Matter and the press, are seen as bad, hostile and attacking. His relationship, other than those he perceives as loyal, are subjected to a sadistic, obstinate, persistent and hateful responses. Unfortunately for Donald, we’re talking about the House of Representatives, a major part of the government and the Free Press as in article one of the Constitution. This autocrat does not want to share power with anyone. He also has to deny responsibility for his failures. He does not have a large enough moat around the White House for protection. He has the secret service, the military and other federal agents including a fence but the threat comes from inside him. It’s not a surprise that he misunderstands, distrusts, questions, and harbors resentments. This results with internal tension, anxiety and projection as a defense which means there is no protection or safety for him. He is unaware that it is his hostile attitude that he accuses others of having. In essence, he believes he is innocent and it’s all the bad guys that’s the problem.

It’s obvious that the insecure bigot Donald is doing his best to steal the November election. He covets the power. It’s also obvious that Donald is a pathological liar. Mail-in voting is fraudulent and not safe?  Is he lying or employing denial regarding mail in voting? A lie is an intentional statement meant to deceive. In other words, a lie is conscious contrasted with denial the defense mechanism which is unconscious. One way to differentiate between a lie and denial, is the subsequent verbal or behavioral response when challenged regarding fact or fiction. With a greater verbal attack, it’s more likely an unconscious denial. In essence, his lies, denials and deceptive verbiage, describe this amoral individual. His ignorance and use of lies and denial are extremely noticeable at press conferences and with interviews other than on Fox news. He just does not have a wide range of information or knowledge about so much in our world. Not knowing, for him, results in his attempt at deception. However, his intellectual weakness is so obvious for those that know the truth.

Donald, in his powerful position, and along with his tweets is like a piñata for all to see.  Every word, on or off camera, reveals his character. He is an open book and thus is placed in a vulnerable position. His racist, lack of empathy and sadistic behaviors result in much criticism. Not only that, but he has difficulty being rational, precise, practical, and appropriate. Therefore, low self-esteem Donald faces an emotional crisis and expresses insatiable hostility inward and/or outward on a daily basis. His narcissism, sociopathic and paranoid tendencies get in the way and actually work against him. His personality impairments of narcissism, sociopathy, and paranoia interfere with solid Executive action and thus he is a perfect example of the Peter Principle. Lawrence J. Peter suggested that individuals often reach the level of incompetence in their world of work. Donald’s mistake was that even though he didn’t expect to win the presidency, he did. Wishing for what you want or desire is not always a good thing.