As a
psychologist, it is difficult to resist exploring the Trump phenomenon. There
are two aspects to what is happening in probably the most bizarre presidential
race that I have seen in my lifetime. The first is the man himself and the second,
probably more important factor is the support that has gathered around him.
Most psychological
profiling is undertaken using a mixture of interviews and sophisticated
personality testing tools. For me, the well constructed interview is the most
effective means to understanding people, if you know what you are looking for
and have the right interviewing technique. To construct a profile of someone from
just watching them from afar is fraught with risk. You probably wouldn’t do
this with most politicians, who show very little of themselves. In the case of
Donald Trump, we have a gift that keeps on giving in terms of the showing of
himself. Furthermore, there is a consistency to what you see, as well as a
fairly well documented history of the man himself. So, I’ll have a go.
Trump is
extremely narcissistic. As well as an inflated sense of his own importance,
that is at odds with reality, he is quick to anger when criticised. We have
seen his angry retorts towards his critics, as well as his tendency towards
litigation in his many business failures in which he quickly blames others.
It is pretty
clear he lacks empathy and is extremely impulsive. This combination is
unfortunate because he fails to understand the behaviour of others, is not
concerned about their feelings and does not think before he acts or speaks. Added
to this is an obvious, ‘Do what it takes’ attitude to getting what he wants. Ordinary
people lost lots of money investing in his ventures that he, without a second
thought, abandoned. He sees these people as ‘losers’. Trump just doesn’t care
much about people and, gives the impression that he is a bully both at work and
elsewhere.
What does
Trump believe in? I suspect that he doesn’t much believe in anything, given his
about-face on so many issues and his business antics. He has probably never had
any long term goals-in fact he may not be able to set any. Trump has never run
for any kind of political office before, has never trained himself. He was
trained in the family real estate business but his ventures since then have
been impulsive and, mostly ill-conceived. Apart from 4 bankruptcies, that he
has been able to personally avoid, he has a string of huge business failures.
On the face
of it, Trump is very confident and seems to lack anxiety. While there may be
many insecurities in his deep unconscious driving this behaviour (I’ll leave it
to Jung to sort this out), we see someone who believes in himself and believes
that he is right. This lack of fear along with his impulsivity and inability to
plan makes for an interesting combination.
I saw
somewhere in the media the question of what is happening in Trump’s mind. I
suspect that it is chaotic in there. He is an extreme extrovert, he thinks out
loud and has a low attention to detail. There is a lot spinning around in his
head and it just has to come out, verbally. Many people in public life are
extraverts but Trump is completely off the scale. He just has to process
information by speaking. Again this is linked to an inability to plan and to
foresee consequences. I think he is probably cognitively intelligent (although
I’m not totally convinced of this) but very low on social/emotional
intelligence.
The support
Trump has gathered is significant. Many commentators have pointed to the fear
that the republican machine has gradually built up since the inauguration of
Obama. He inherited an economy in a mess, two wars, social systems in chaos,
high unemployment and so on, but this was sheeted home to him and his party by
a cleverly orchestrated fear campaign. It is also clear that there are a lot of
people suffering in the USA from a variety of causes but which can be
attributed to long term middle class policy failure and the darker side of
capitalism. In short, capitalism has not delivered on its promises. Trump
inherited an environment of fear and has used it to his advantage.
When
people, and more so groups of people, become fearful they look around for
someone to blame. In Germany in the 1930s it was the Jews and many governments
around the world, including the Vatican, turned a blind eye to the systematic
abuse of a whole ‘nation’. In the US of A at the moment it is vilification Muslims,
Mexicans, African Americans, the ‘soft’ government, drug abusers, women, Bernie
Sanders and all other democrats, and so on-you’ve heard it all. But this time
nations, thanks to social media, are taking notice.
So, we
should not be surprised, given it has happened before, that someone like Trump
is able to gather people around him. He
has been able to appeal to the darker side of human nature-stereotyping,
bigotry, racism, misogyny, narrow mindfulness, hatred, and the need to express discontent
through violence. If it were France in the late 18th century we
would hear the tumbrils clattering along the cobbled streets heading for Madame
Guillotine.
Human
irrationality is a fascinating phenomenon and we are seeing it in spades in the
US of A right now. But, irrationality is around us all the time in everyday
life and often has very unfortunate consequences. Perhaps the civilisation of
the human species is a fantasy given the current state of our evolution.
