Is Trump a Psychopath?
In psychiatry, a psychopath is defined as someone with antisocial personality disorder. ASPD describes an individual who shows patterns of manipulation and violation to others and someone who goes against society, rules, and other behaviours that are more commonplace.
According to the Hare psychopathy checklist, a psychopath can be identified with 20 characteristics:
• glib and superficial charm
• grandiose (exaggeratedly high) estimation of self
• need for stimulation
• pathological lying
• cunning and manipulativeness
• lack of remorse or guilt
• shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness)
• callousness and lack of empathy
• parasitic lifestyle
• poor behavioral controls
• sexual promiscuity
• early behavior problems
• lack of realistic long-term goals
• impulsivity
• irresponsibility
• failure to accept responsibility for own actions
• many short-term marital relationships
• juvenile delinquency
• revocation of conditional release
• criminal versatility
In the test, a clinician interviews a potential sociopath and scores them on 20 criteria. On each criterion, the subject is ranked on a 3-point scale: (0 = item does not apply, 1 = item applies somewhat, 2 = item definitely applies). The scores are summed to create a rank of zero to 40. Anyone who scores 30 and above is probably a psycho. The test was created in the 70’s and has been fine tuned since then.
The test is supposed to be done by a professional psychologist and the results of the test do not necessarily indicate the person is a psychopath. But it is certainly cause for concern if the subject scores high.
Reading the checklist I couldn’t help but think of our current president. From my perspective Trump’s actions and history line up with the checklist, which in my opinion is, well, troubling.
There were others who were also curious about Trump’s score. Dr. Kevin Dutton from Oxford University explored this test and ranked historical figures with it. The results “clearly show Donald Trump to be higher scoring than rivals, achieving a total score on a par with Hitler and Idi Amin. Of particular interest, Trump outscored the other candidates in ‘fearless dominance’, the area associated with successful presidencies, and in ‘self-centred impulsivity’, the set of traits considered negative.”
Psychopaths can be anywhere. If you’re suddenly hyper aware and wondering if you could possibly be one yourself (like I was), that’s actually a strong indicator that you’re not. Because a psychopath would never identify or think of themselves as a psychopath.
For politicians and CEO’s, having some psychopathic characteristics is not necessarily bad. It can help them achieve their goals and become successful in their field (as long as their actions don’t harm others). Ultimately it’s up to you if you think the checklist proves Trump is a psychopath. With the election coming up, are you willing to vote for a man whose personality lines up in a seemingly scary way? Because I don’t think I am.
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