What's going on with Donald Trump? Psychologist explains the president's lies, reversals

[Demovictory9]

Trump's 'audience control' problem
Trump is not mentally ill, and I doubt that he is even “living in his own reality,” as so many have claimed. He is simply fairly unique in a way that is hard for the public to understand. In a nutshell, Trump is highly vulnerable to what can reasonably be called “sympathetic audience control.”



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All normal people are subject to “audience control” to one degree or another. That means simply that they regulate what they say and do based on who’s around them. They are respectful sitting in a church pew, a bit more daring sitting in a classroom, and somewhat wild sitting in the bleachers. Near a police officer, most people are cautious and deferential; near a best friend, people feel comfortable and speak freely.




No principles, just gusts of wind
Sympathetic audience control and a small time window produce most of the odd cognitive glitches we see in our president. Moment to moment, he either sees a foe and shoots, or he sees a friend and is influenced. In that kind of perceptual world, Trump inevitably — and without shame or even awareness — shifts his views frequently, sometimes multiple times a day.

Not only do his views shift, he also has no trouble denying, entirely without guile, in my view, what he said yesterday. All that’s shiny and real to him is what friends or foes are saying inside those small time windows. Everything else is fuzzy, and that’s why he can so easily tell so many lies. From his perspective, lying has no meaning. Only reacting has meaning. Trump reacts.

The small time window and sympathetic audience control also explain why Trump always seems to be creating foreign policy on the fly, why his meetings with world leaders rarely produce tangible results, why he can’t get congressional deals, and why he is almost certainly incapable of negotiating those famous bilateral agreements that were supposed to replace the multinational treaties he has swept aside.

If I’m right, and I’m pretty sure I am, Trump is capable of only a minimal level of analytical or critical thinking. Perhaps more alarming, our president — the putative leader of the free world — doesn’t believe in anything and he rarely, if ever, means anything he says. The impulsive tweets, the conservative court appointments, the unfunded tax cuts, the obsession with a wall, the swipes at immigrants — all are byproducts (dross, if you will) of sympathetic audience control operating in small time windows. There are no principles operating here, just gusts of wind.

And if I’m right, Trump will continue to function this way — blindly, erratically and reactively, without principle or direction — for the rest of his life.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/07/30/trump-lies-reversals-rudderless-unprincipled-leader-psychologist-column/848728002/

[unblock]

1. In what way is this "not mentally ill"?

[enough]

2. That is the question. NT

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. He's not psychotic, in the sense of having hallucinations or the sort of delusions

you see in schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses. I think that's what the writer means by mentally ill - but he's sure as hell not normal, either.

[unblock]

10. that's just saying he doesn't have one of these particular types of mental illnesses.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. "Mental illness" seems to have broad but nebulous definitions, depending

on whom you talk to. I think Trump is nuts, but that's an even broader definition.

[unblock]

12. here's one definition, from the mayo clinic:

Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors.

Many people have mental health concerns from time to time. But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function.

A mental illness can make you miserable and can cause problems in your daily life, such as at school or work or in relationships. In most cases, symptoms can be managed with a combination of medications and talk therapy (psychotherapy).

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/symptoms-causes/syc-20374968



"mental illness" doesn't necessarily mean something as severe as psychosis, delusions, etc.
any mental process that impairs your ability to function, or harms yourself or relationships, is a mental illness.

i think whatever donnie's got certainly falls in this category.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. He isn't normal, that's for damn sure.

Or, as some would say, "That boy ain't right."

[unblock]

14. insane in the membrane

[dhol82]

4. Perhaps he means mentally challenged?

[marylandblue]

5. No, it's Narcissistic Personality Disorder

It's all based on gaining narcissistic supply. Feed his ego and he will give you what you want. Challenge him and he will tear you down. His lies always are in service of gaining adulation and avoiding blame. That's why he polls better than Lincoln and Mueller is hunting witches.

[leftstreet]

8. +1

And like all narcissists, he is horrible at reading social cues

In order to do that you have to be present, listen, and process what others are doing and saying. He can't do that. He hears and see only himself, or the reflection he sees of himself in others.

Ugh

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. That's not at all inconsistent with what this psychologist describes - maybe it's an aspect

of NPD. You might say that it's his narcissism that makes him so extremely susceptible to sympathetic audience control. As long as his ego is being fed (narcissistic supply) he will respond positively to whoever is feeding it at that moment. If he's being opposed or criticized he will lash out furiously. But he will turn on a dime if criticism turns to praise, or vice versa:

When Trump is in the presence of someone he dislikes or distrusts, he attacks and will continue to lash out for a while, but not necessarily forever. When someone he perceives as a threat becomes deferential (Rocket Man, for example), Trump not only stops attacking, he also becomes highly vulnerable to influence.

So, as soon as "Rocket Man" wanted to meet with Trump and responded to him positively, Kim went from being Public Enemy #1 to being a fine, upstanding, reasonable fellow. Because Trump's black hole of narcissistic need is infinite, as soon as you praise him he'll forget that you said something negative about him yesterday, or an hour ago. Seems to me that abnormal susceptibility to sympathetic audience control is really just the way Trump's style of narcissism works.

[marylandblue]

15. He's not quite that much of a black hole

He remembers past slights for decades. Graydon Carter called him "a short fingered vulgarian" and Trump sent him pictures of his hands for the next 30 years. No matter what else people say he always returns to certain themes - the wall, tariffs, Putin-love. He goes off on tangents in inappropriate situations even when nobody in the audience wants to hear it. And he knows on some level he is lying at least sometimes - he lied about the Russian meeting and continues to lie. He knows he is guilty and continues to cover up because he knows what he did.

Also I think NPD is in fact a mental illness.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. By "black hole" I meant that he's an emotional black hole.

He can never get enough praise or admiration to satisfy his need for ego strokes. He's one of those people with no internal resources that enable them to feel comfortable just as themselves - he has to have praise all the time. He does remember slights, especially stupid ones. The single insult "short fingered vulgarian," wouldn't have had legs if Trump hadn't obsessed about it, which, naturally, turned it into a meme. Cartoonists have been drawing him with tiny hands because they know it bugs him and the more it bugs him the more he has to talk about it, which makes more cartoonists draw him with tiny hands! And of course he lies about Russia and knows he's lying about it. It's not that he forgets facts; it's that he forgets his previous emotional responses to people - they might have insulted him yesterday but if they're fawning over them today he forgets about the insult because the praise is so much more important to him.

He really is a hot mess.

[marylandblue]

18. I agree with you, but the article doesn't say that

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. No, but I did. However, I'm not a psychologist, nor do I play one on TV.

Just my observations.

[marylandblue]

20. I play a psychologist on DU

I also like to pretend to be a Jedi Knight.

[milestogo]

21. The weird thing is, many narcissists are actually talented and intelligent

despite being narcissists. We've certainly had other presidents in my lifetime who were narcissists, and some of them were both likable and effective.

Trumps narcissism is blatant and constant. The endless bragging, the lying, the deflection. Its just amazing that he is so incredibly unsuccessful at everything except conning people.

[marylandblue]

23. Being a politician requires a bit of narcissism

But Narcissistic Personality Disorder is quite different and I don't think any other modern president qualifies. I once worked with someone who had NPD and it wasn't that he had no abilities, it's that he was so goddamn lazy that he preferred manipulating people to actually working. He did this even for very easy tasks, some that were so easy, it took more effort to avoid the task than to do it.

For most narcissists, they at least have to make it through school or their early careers before they can slack off. Trump never even had to do that, his father's money bought him everything so he never had to try at all.

[lindysalsagal]

6. Maybe the gop was counting on this chaos and manipulation. Buyer's remorse, or what?

[mshasta]

7. and thats why he has mental issues

hes mind is here, there, everywhere except in one stable idea, he should be taking medication

[marylandblue]

16. Medication won't help this ailment.

[pansypoo53219]

22. or he is a fucking moron.

w/ launch codes. WEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee.