"An exaggerated sense of self-importance. An unwarranted belief in your own superiority. A preoccupation with fantasies of your own success, power and brilliance. An unreasoning fury at people you perceive as thwarting your wishes or desires. A tendency to act on impulse…
A need to always be right. An inability to tolerate criticism or critics... A compulsion to conform your ever–shifting sense of “reality” to satisfy your inner requirements... A tendency to lie so frequently and routinely that objective truth loses all meaning.”
Our Narcissist In Chief
Now more than ever, the president’s psychological unfitness must be at the heart of our political conversation.
This past week, with “Fire and Fury,” Michael Wolff provoked a media tsunami by depicting a dangerously ignorant and volatile president. But, however intriguing, his anecdotes told us nothing new – except how late we were to confront the klieg-lit symptoms of instability radiating from Donald Trump.
They were always there ― Trump’s party and the media simply averted their eyes. Over 19 months ago, in these pages, I courted considerable controversy ― and journalistic opprobrium ― by warning that Donald Trump was ”too sick to lead.”
Why? By then Trump’s trajectory as America’s would-be president seemed too obvious to ignore.
“One can forecast,” I wrote in early June 2016, “the inevitable day-to-day damage to our country – the lashings out, the abuses of power, the mercurial and confidence-destroying lies and changes of mind, the havoc his distorted lens would wreak upon our institutions and our spirit. But most dangerous of all is the collision between a volatile world, a leader unable to perceive external reality, and the often unbearable pressures of the presidency. That Trump’s judgment would crack time and again is certain – the only question is how dangerous the moment.”
This was not augury. The behaviors, and the dangers they foreordained, were there for all to see. A lifetime of public statements and actions – and a year of campaigning for president – had painted an indelible portrait of a pathological narcissist whose inner landscape would never change.
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