usmbguest5318
Gold Member
May 2016
31-Jan-2017
27-Jan-2017 -- Temperament Tantrum: Some say President Donald Trump's personality isn't just flawed, it's dangerous.
I don't particularly care for Pence in that I don't think I'd agree with a lot of his policies, but I can tell he isn't mentally ill. In fact, I think overall I probably like Trump's proposed policies better than those I suspect Pence would pursue. Even so, I'd sooner Pence be running the country than Trump. Hell, I'd trust the country to a parakeet, or even, notwithstanding how messed up I think they are, that Bannon dude or David Duke would be better than Trump. Trump as President isn't good for him or for anyone else.
31-Jan-2017
27-Jan-2017 -- Temperament Tantrum: Some say President Donald Trump's personality isn't just flawed, it's dangerous.
John D. Gartner, a practicing psychotherapist who taught psychiatric residents at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, minces as few words as the president in his professional assessment of Trump.
"Donald Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president," says Gartner, author of "In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography." Trump, Gartner says, has "malignant narcissism," which is different from narcissistic personality disorder and which is incurable.
Gartner acknowledges that he has not personally examined Trump, but says it's obvious from Trump's behavior that he meets the diagnostic criteria for the disorder, which include anti-social behavior, sadism, aggressiveness, paranoia and grandiosity. Trump's personality disorder (which includes hypomania) is also displayed through a lack of impulse control and empathy, and "a feeling that people ... don't recognize their greatness.
"We've seen enough public behavior by Donald Trump now that we can make this diagnosis indisputably," says Gartner. His comments run afoul of the so-called Goldwater Rule, the informal term for part of the ethics code of the American Psychiatric Association saying it is wrong to provide a professional opinion of a public figure without examining that person and gaining consent to discuss the evaluation. But Gartner says the Trump case warrants breaking that ethical code.
A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month, for example, showed that Trump's popularity had dropped, unusually, during the transition, with the president losing ground on matters such as his perceived intelligence, honesty and leadership. In November, 57 percent said Trump is not "level-headed;" the poll by the Connecticut school in January had the not-level-headed number at 62 percent. Further, by a two-to-one margin, Americans said Trump needs to close his Twitter account, which has served as the president's primary way of rallying his base.
"It worked to his advantage but when people are saying they're fed up with it, maybe it's starting to be a minus," says Tim Malloy, assistant director of the poll.
Some of the hypomanic characteristics Gartner says Trump also possesses are also, paradoxically, the very qualities that "made America great," the psychotherapist says. The creativity, confidence and out-of-the-box thinking, is what has driven the nation's most successful entrepreneurs, says Gartner, who has also authored the book "The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America."
Narcissism, dementia, I don't know. What I know is that the man does not seem in sound mental health. I don't think that's a matter of politics. I think it's an objective matter of his health. "Donald Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president," says Gartner, author of "In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography." Trump, Gartner says, has "malignant narcissism," which is different from narcissistic personality disorder and which is incurable.
Gartner acknowledges that he has not personally examined Trump, but says it's obvious from Trump's behavior that he meets the diagnostic criteria for the disorder, which include anti-social behavior, sadism, aggressiveness, paranoia and grandiosity. Trump's personality disorder (which includes hypomania) is also displayed through a lack of impulse control and empathy, and "a feeling that people ... don't recognize their greatness.
"We've seen enough public behavior by Donald Trump now that we can make this diagnosis indisputably," says Gartner. His comments run afoul of the so-called Goldwater Rule, the informal term for part of the ethics code of the American Psychiatric Association saying it is wrong to provide a professional opinion of a public figure without examining that person and gaining consent to discuss the evaluation. But Gartner says the Trump case warrants breaking that ethical code.
A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month, for example, showed that Trump's popularity had dropped, unusually, during the transition, with the president losing ground on matters such as his perceived intelligence, honesty and leadership. In November, 57 percent said Trump is not "level-headed;" the poll by the Connecticut school in January had the not-level-headed number at 62 percent. Further, by a two-to-one margin, Americans said Trump needs to close his Twitter account, which has served as the president's primary way of rallying his base.
"It worked to his advantage but when people are saying they're fed up with it, maybe it's starting to be a minus," says Tim Malloy, assistant director of the poll.
Some of the hypomanic characteristics Gartner says Trump also possesses are also, paradoxically, the very qualities that "made America great," the psychotherapist says. The creativity, confidence and out-of-the-box thinking, is what has driven the nation's most successful entrepreneurs, says Gartner, who has also authored the book "The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America."
I don't particularly care for Pence in that I don't think I'd agree with a lot of his policies, but I can tell he isn't mentally ill. In fact, I think overall I probably like Trump's proposed policies better than those I suspect Pence would pursue. Even so, I'd sooner Pence be running the country than Trump. Hell, I'd trust the country to a parakeet, or even, notwithstanding how messed up I think they are, that Bannon dude or David Duke would be better than Trump. Trump as President isn't good for him or for anyone else.
