Paul Shen 568235227@qq.com OUTGOING U.S. President Donald Trump fits in perfectly with the narcissist model. A narcissist is a person who suffers from narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is the leading U.S. reference for establishing accurate diagnoses of mental health syndromes, NPD is characterized by a fantasy of grandiosity, a need for excessive admiration and exploitation of others to achieve their goals, and a lack of empathy. Trump’s fantasy of grandiosity is well-documented. He sees himself parallel to Abraham Lincoln, the man rated as the greatest U.S. president. In a June 3 tweet Trump said he’s “done much more for our Black population” than “any President in U.S. history, with the possible exception” of Lincoln. As early as Jan. 19, 2019, Trump declared in a tweet “there has been no president who has accomplished more in his first two years in office” than “your favorite President, me.” And it’s not the first time Trump named himself “your favorite President.” According to Yahoo News, Trump first made his “favorite President” boast on Twitter on Nov. 27, 2017, when he had only been in office for 10 months. Further, Trump elevated himself in a tweet to be “your all time favorite President” when he hiked tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Even in the midst of raging protests caused by the brutal death of George Floyd, Trump did not hesitate to brag. In a June 3 tweet he said: “Overwhelming force. Domination. Thank you President Trump!” Fed by the fantasy of grandiosity, narcissists can’t tolerate any failure. They tend to shift blame to others when it occurs, which is a tendency Trump has clearly displayed in his handling of the ravaging pandemic by accusing anyone else but himself, including China, WHO, the Democrats and Obama. In his mind he never fails; he always succeeds. His refusal to concede the election is just additional proof. The need for admiration is a higher level human need. But narcissists have an excessive craving for admiration. They pursue admiration from others by attempting to manipulate the impressions they create in others. They make self-promoting and self-aggrandizing statements and attempt to solicit compliments from those around them. Trump’s excessive need of compliments is as substantially evidenced as is his sense of grandiosity. It’s known to all that Trump enjoys tweeting. According to a New York Times report in November 2019, Trump had posted more than 10,000 tweets since he came to power, in more than 2,000 of which he bragged about his achievements. The reason Trump is a prolific tweeter is that Twitter definitely serves as the best platform allowing Trump to showcase himself without being restrained by any traditional media. That is, Twitter serves Trump as the best way to seek attention and admiration. Take his obsession with the ratings of his briefings for example. In a series of tweets March 30, Trump purportedly quoted The New York Times about the 12.2 million people watching his daily pandemic press briefings on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, yet said nothing about the ongoing suffering and lives lost. Lack of empathy and amorality is an outstanding quality of a narcissist. Trump’s quotation on his briefing ratings is a classic example of his lack of empathy, amorality and an excessive need for admiration. While doctors and nurses across the country battle the pandemic to the point of exhaustion, while thousands of families grieve for lost loved ones, and while tens of thousands more struggle through illness, the president of the United States is looking into a mirror, asking it to assure him that he is the fairest of them all. Yes, Trump has in his mind the belief that people are watching the briefings because of him. Trump’s amorality could be arguable, as he is the first sitting U.S. president to visit North Korea and had a historic summit with Kim Jong Un, which is widely recognized as his diplomatic feat. But his historic feat, in my view, is more a result of his excessive need for admiration than his endeavor to contribute to world peace. Personality theory has it that narcissists are more likely to respond aggressively when they feel threatened and derogate those who they believe are threatening them. So when he was pressed for his comment at the news briefings on his delayed response to the pandemic, Trump replied, “I would say you’re a poor reporter,” “You are FAKE News.” Alan J. Lipman, a professor at Georgetown University, published an opinion story titled “The narcissism of Donald Trump’s candidacy” on CNN on Oct. 28, 2016. “Trump, throughout his career, has been noted for his inability to tolerate disagreement, erupting into uncontrolled rages in the face of any slight. He is guided by impulse, the search for praise and vengeance, and the wish for personal grandiosity. In his search for satisfaction through conflict, deception, and self-glorification, Donald Trump is utterly blind to the actual needs of the others,” said Lipman. (The author is the executive deputy editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily.) | 