A psychopath slipped into the White House . . .

On May 12, 2016, I published the post, “Will our next President be a psychopath?” I suggest you read the post.

My post included the Robert Hare Checklist of Psychopathy Symptoms. It consists of 20 symptoms which are rated 0 to 2. Zero means “does not apply,” one ‘applies somewhat’ and two ‘applies fully’.  Subjects score between 0 and 40.

Normal individuals typically score less than five and many non-psychopathic criminals (who do actually have symptoms of antisocial personality disorder) may score 20 to 22.

A score over 30 on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised is used to diagnose the presence of psychopathy.

Here is the same list, but with expanded explanations, links and references to President Donald Trump, together with Trump’s scores:

1. GLIB AND SUPERFICIAL CHARM — the tendency to be smooth, engaging, charming, slick, and verbally facile. Psychopathic charm is not in the least shy, self-conscious, or afraid to say anything.

A psychopath never gets tongue-tied.

(“Trump said one thing for the cameras and the door shuts and then it’s like kumbaya,” said one person who was briefed on a meeting between Trump and a group of CEOs. “He likes to be seen as engaging and buddy-buddy with other big important business leaders.”)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

2. GRANDIOSE SELF-WORTH — a grossly inflated view of one’s abilities and self-worth, self-assured, opinionated, cocky, a braggart.

Psychopaths are arrogant people who believe they are superior human beings.

(Donald Trump called himself the “smartest person” in America in a Tweet goading Howard Schultz, former Starbucks CEO.) (He repeatedly refers to himself as a “stable genius.”)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

3. NEED FOR STIMULATION or PRONENESS TO BOREDOM — an excessive need for novel, thrilling, and exciting stimulation; taking chances and doing things that are risky.

Psychopaths often have a low self-discipline in carrying tasks through to completion because they get bored easily.

They fail to work at the same job for any length of time, for example, or to finish tasks that they consider dull or routine.

(“Except for an occasional passing look of queasiness, or anger, when someone came into his Trump Tower office and whispered the daily win/loss numbers at his Atlantic City casinos, he seemed to be bored out of his mind.”)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

4. PATHOLOGICAL LYING — can be moderate or high; in moderate form, they will be shrewd, crafty, cunning, sly, and clever; in extreme form, they will be deceptive, deceitful, underhanded, unscrupulous, manipulative and dishonest.

(He tweeted that “an extremely credible source” had called his office to inform him that Obama’s birth certificate was “a fraud.”)(He has told more than 18,000 documented lies during his term of office.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

5. CONNING AND MANIPULATIVENESS — the use of deceit and deception to cheat, con, or defraud others for personal gain; distinguished from Item #4 in the degree to which exploitation and callous ruthlessness is present, as reflected in a lack of concern for the feelings and suffering of one’s victims.

(“I actually thought that people were very happy at [Trump University]” he said. “I was very surprised [by the criticism] That’s why I didn’t settle this case, which I could have settled very easily a long time ago.”) —Donald Trump Agrees to Pay $25 Million in Trump University Settlement

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

6. LACK OF REMORSE OR GUILT — a lack of feelings or concern for the losses, pain, and suffering of victims; a tendency to be unconcerned, dispassionate, coldhearted and unempathetic.

This item is usually demonstrated by a disdain for one’s victims.

(Trump ramps up rhetoric on undocumented immigrants: ‘These aren’t people. These are animals.‘)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

7. SHALLOW AFFECT — emotional poverty or a limited range or depth of feelings; interpersonal coldness in spite of signs of open gregariousness and superficial warmth.

(Trump’s heartless decision [re. DACA])

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

8. CALLOUSNESS and LACK OF EMPATHY — a lack of feelings toward people in general; cold, contemptuous, inconsiderate, and tactless.

(In his usual coarse, tactless fashion before his meeting with PM May, Trump gave an interview where he praised her hard-Brexit supporting Party rival, the flamboyant and egregious Boris Johnson.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

9. PARASITIC LIFESTYLE — an intentional, manipulative, selfis, and exploitative financial dependence on others as reflected in a lack of motivation, low self-discipline and the inability to carry through one’s responsibilities.

(Fred Trump pulled his son’s bacon out of the fire with a series of personal loans totaling $7.5 million and another $1 million from one of the Trump family companies. That doesn’t count the “small loan of a million dollars” Trump has previously talked about. Newsweek concludes that Trump “is a self-made disaster who only avoided personal bankruptcy thanks to his father being there to clean up his mess.”)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

10. POOR BEHAVIORAL CONTROLS —  expressions of irritability, annoyance, impatience, threats, aggression and verbal abuse; inadequate control of anger and temper; acting hastily.

(Tali Liben Yarmush described the shame that Trump evokes when he calls women fat, or when he described Rosie O’Donnell as a “pig.” “It is not meaningless to me that a man who is running for president thinks it is okay to tell a woman he disagrees with that she is a ‘fat pig.’”)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

11. PROMISCUOUS SEXUAL BEHAVIOR —  a variety of brief, superficial relations, numerous affairs, and an indiscriminate selection of sexual partners; the maintenance of numerous, multiple relationships at the same time; a history of attempts to sexually coerce others into sexual activity (rape) or taking great pride at discussing sexual exploits and conquests.

(“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” he said in the 2005 conversation. “Grab ’em by the pussy.”)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

12. EARLY BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS — a variety of behaviors prior to age 13, including lying, theft, cheating, vandalism, bullying, sexual activity, fire-setting, glue-sniffing, alcohol use and running away from home.

([Trump] was a 13-year-old with a history of trouble at school, and his father, Fred Trump, a prominent New York real estate developer, sent him to the academy to be straightened out.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

13. LACK OF REALISTIC, LONG-TERM GOALS — an inability or persistent failure to develop and execute long-term plans and goals; a nomadic existence, aimless, lacking direction in life.

(The White House has no long-term plans to deal with the situation in Syria beyond the airstrike President Donald Trump ordered.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

14. IMPULSIVITY — the occurrence of behaviors that are unpremeditated and lack reflection or planning; inability to resist temptation, frustrations and momentary urges; a lack of deliberation without considering the consequences; foolhardy, rash, unpredictable, erratic and reckless.

(“Donald just has no interest in information,” Wayne Barrett told Jennifer Gonnerman, shortly after the election. “He has no genuine interest in policy. He operates by impulse.”)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

15. IRRESPONSIBILITY — repeated failure to fulfill or honor obligations and commitments; such as not paying bills, defaulting on loans, performing sloppy work, being absent or late to work, failing to honor contractual agreements.

(This [tax loophole for Trump] was available only to taxpayers who defaulted on loans or had certain kinds of investments in companies that defaulted on loans.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

 

16. FAILURE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR OWN ACTIONS —  a failure to accept responsibility for one’s actions reflected in low conscientiousness, an absence of dutifulness, antagonistic manipulation, denial of responsibility, and an effort to manipulate others through this denial.

(After doing everything within his power to make the midterm elections even more of a referendum on his presidency that it already was, Donald Trump is now shrugging off any responsibility for a possible defeat.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

17. MANY SHORT-TERM RELATIONSHIPS — a lack of commitment to a long-term relationship reflected in inconsistent, undependable, and unreliable commitments in life, including in marital and familial bonds.

(The [high] turnover rate in the Trump administration has been noted by various publications. Several Trump appointees, including Michael Flynn, Reince Priebus, Anthony Scaramucci, and Tom Price, have among the shortest service tenures in the history of their respective offices.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

18. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY — behavior problems between the ages of 13-18; mostly behaviors that are crimes or clearly involve aspects of antagonism, exploitation, aggression, manipulation, or a callous, ruthless tough-mindedness.

(“In the second grade I actually gave a teacher a black eye — I punched my music teacher because I didn’t think he knew anything about music and I almost got expelled,” Trump says.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

19. REVOCATION OF CONDITION RELEASE — a revocation of probation or other conditional releases due to technical violations, such as carelessness, low deliberation or failing to appear.

(So far, Donald Trump has not been arrested, although his close associations with many convicted and accused criminals,  eventually may change that after he no longer enjoys Presidential immunity.

Robert Mueller provided 10 instances of Trump interfering with Russian election interference,  but felt prosecution was not an available option so long as Trump was President.

Alexander Hamilton seemed to feel that way: “The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.“

That means you can’t indict and try a sitting president. He has to be removed first.)

Trump gets a “1” on this symptom.

20. CRIMINAL VERSATILITY — a diversity of types of criminal offenses, regardless if the person has been arrested or convicted for them; taking great pride at getting away with crimes or wrongdoings.g

(Trump’s criminal history should be front and center: What gets lost is his record of criminal activity and alleged criminal activity. It is as if the media and public assume that Trump cannot be both an outrageous buffoon and a criminal. Here is a summary of the most notable allegations against Donald Trump, conveniently all in one place.)

Trump gets a “2” on this symptom.

TRUMP’S TOTAL SCORE: 39 OUT OF A POSSIBLE 40.

Presumably, the people who still back Trump do not mind that he exhibits a remarkable 19 out of 20 Symptoms of Psychopathy, scoring an incredible 39 out of 40 possible points on the scoring.

Are you concerned that our great nation — the “leader of the free world,” a nation with the world’s most powerful military, capable of destroying our children’s futures and all life as we know it — is being led by a psychopath?

It concerns me. Only a fool would not be concerned.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
Twitter: @rodgermitchell
Search #monetarysovereigntyFacebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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The most important problems in economics involve the excessive income/wealth/power Gaps between the richer and the poorer.

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics.

Implementation of The Ten Steps To Prosperity can narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts a, b & d, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Provide a monthly economic bonus to every man, woman and child in America (similar to social security for all)

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and you.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY