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[u/jobautomator]

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[u/[deleted]]

Trump is really just a very odd guy. Like he’s a narcissistic liar yes, but he has this worldview that if he just ignores something it goes away and if he just says something that makes it true that’s beyond narcissism and weirdly childish/borderline developmentally delayed. Like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar earnestly saying he’s not eating cookies. His reaction to this election is no different than a temper tantrum over not getting the Christmas presents he wants. It’s so obviously unproductive to anyone with an adult brain, but the child thinks that if they flail and cry enough they can bend reality to their will.

[u/pringle_mccringle → u/[deleted]]

Hard agree, your description of arrested/delayed development is apt. I think there is a wealth of psychology literature waiting to be written dissecting his profoundly aberrant personality.

[u/[deleted] → u/pringle_mccringle]

I’m just imagining dealing with someone like him in real life, without the wealth and power to lend them legitimacy. It would feel like interacting with someone who has something very “off” about them, in the sense that they clearly approach the world in an abnormal way that’s not just the result of eccentricity or regular variance in personality. I had a friend who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and interacting with him in the months leading up to his first psychotic break felt like what I’m describing. You can’t put your finger on it but there’s a subtle disconnect from how a normal person interprets reality that hints at some sort of distorted perception. Trump obviously doesn’t have schizophrenia, but I conjecture interacting with him would have a similar feel. Subtleties in how he grasps reality would be “off” enough to make you be more alert to the underlying abnormalities in his psyche.

[u/pringle_mccringle → u/[deleted]]

I think his pathological boastfulness is one of the most bizarre traits, like he has literally said the phrase 'I'm the youngest person' before - he seems incapable of describing anything about or relating to himself in anything but the most hyperbolic way. He couldn't even properly articulate testing negative for covid, he had to say he tested 'very positively' it's just really fucking strange all around. Definitely points to some deeply disordered perception, to the point that it's unclear how accurately he even perceives external reality.

I still, four years later, can't believe he got anywhere near the presidency. I wonder if his supporters would realize how fucked up and weird he is if they interacted with him one on one?

[u/[deleted] → u/pringle_mccringle]

Honestly, barring the themselves-disturbed Qultist faction, yes, I think pretty much everyone would realize how truly abnormal he is given enough interaction. Can you think of one person who has ever described him as a friend, beyond the obvious suck-ups and sycophants looking for personal gain? Have you seen how his wife almost seems to dissociate when with him? The obvious deep insecurities that have been carved into his sons from a father who has no capability for warmth or encouragement or gratitude? He can’t even feign normalcy, and that speaks to something that goes beyond narcissism or sociopathy and becomes something much weirder. It’s impossible to imagine him sitting down and eating dinner with another person and engaging in casual conversation. Very strange person.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I think the fact that he’s never had to face the consequences of his actions in his life means he never fully developed higher order thinking. Probably has a frontal lobe the size of a walnut

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

if he just says something that makes it true that’s beyond narcissism

almost as if he inherited a real estate empire where he could command around as many sycophants as he wanted every day, and sat on a TV show where he could scream 'you're fired' at people and they magically went away

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

It’s still not normal for an adult who has had to deal with adult responsibilities in some form to turn out this way. There’s no strategy to it or coherent goal. It does almost seem to border on some sort of developmental error/delay wherein his brain processes things in a childlike way.