The Taste of Blood

[Warpy]

87. I see him as more of a malgnant narcissist than a sociopath

but there is so much overlap, it's often difficult to tell them apart unless you're stuck with trying to treat them.

The tell is that he just couldn't wait to boast about ordering "something big in Iraq" to the overpaid riffraff he was lording it over at Mar a Lago. If he's not getting enough attention to convince himself that he exists, he will act out. In this case, he violated every facet of OPSEC while neglecting to inform his own government. He has sorted us into "people" and "enemies" and that is what will not change.

A sociopath will always act out negatively and usually try not to get caught, proving themselves smarter than everybody else. A narcissist, even a malignant one, will always prefer to have people think he's some sort of godlike eminence because he has no sense of self that isn't supplied by other people. Fail to do this, you become an enemy and he will try to destroy his enemies because they're trying to destroy the only positive sense of self he has. He will do it right out in the open because it is justified (to him) and no one could possibly fault him for it. That's really what his "shoot somebody on 5th Avenue" line was about.

Malignant narcissists will say whatever they think will get them positive attention, contradicting themselves within seconds. If you think he thinks he's still on a reality TV show, well, that's probably the peak experience for any malignant narcissist and of course he wants to make his presidency conform to that.

The sad part is that I think we'd be safer with a sociopath than with this guy.