Presidential Psychopath or Sociopath?

I grew up when the black and white television show, The Untouchables, was popular.  We seem to have a fascination with gangsters as evidenced by their popularity as an entertainment topic.  Recently, I’ve been watching reruns of The Sopranos with its lead character, Tony Soprano.  Tony’s analyst called him a psychopath and a narcissist, just not to his face.  Tony was described by another as someone who had never been able to accept not getting what he wanted.  Tony played by a twisted rule book designed by the original old-school gangsters of the 30s.  This code of conduct had nothing to do with morality, the rules merely provided structure for the criminal organization that allowed it to function.

Cast of Sopranos 

Tony also treated women like Kleenex, useful for a bit of relief, but disposable.  He claimed to be religious and he used that religion to provide some additional structure to his life.  He had no use for the Ten Commandments and in fact, he had broken them all, some many times.  Those religious rules were for the rest of his family, just not him.

Tony never met a carbohydrate that he didn’t like.  In fact, much of the conversation in the show revolves around food.  Pass the ziti, hand me a cannoli, I’ll have a gabagool (capicola) sandwich with peppers, were all part of the dialogue.  The main characters seemed to fall into two body types normal and morbidly obese with a preponderance of the latter.  James Gandolfini who played Tony Soprano was 6’-1” tall and weighed 275.  In the show, his only exercise was sex and walking down his driveway to pick up the morning paper.

Gabagool (capicola)

While Tony Soprano was a fictional character, he has counterparts in real life.  Some of these counterparts are certainly members of what we would call organized crime, then there are others that we all see regularly in the news.  We call them politicians and their corruption is just as evil as the gangsters’.  I won’t use his name, but if you read this far, I’m sure you have seen the parallels between Tony Soprano and a certain past occupant of the White House.

A narcissistic sociopath who must get whatever he wants, who treats women like objects for his own amusement, and whose moral compass has no needle.  A man who is blatantly corrupt and sees his corruption as a strong point of his personality and finds others without his warped ideals to be losers and suckers.  Does anyone come to mind who seems to share the personality traits and even the physical stature of Tony Soprano?  Well, in the White House since the 70s, we’ve had Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and old what’s his name.  Anyone come to mind?

Yes, it would seem that Tony Soprano has a doppelganger.  Just as it has been with mobsters throughout the years, there is the thin façade of respectability that attempts to hide the corrupt intent.  Al Capone, Pablo Escobar, John Dillinger, Bonnie Parker, and Clyde Barrow, Whitey Bulger, Jessie James, and more recently, John Gotti, all enjoyed certain popularity with those who weren’t their victims. 

We have now seen a new type of mobster make it into the White House to occupy the most important position in the land.  We have seen him use the power of that office in furtherance of his own aggrandizement and criminal enterprise.  This was a man who, in business, saw corruption as a necessary tool to be used to gather wealth.  Lying and grifting were second nature.  We saw him openly try to claim that when the G7 summit was to be held in the United States, his Doral resort was the only suitable venue in the nation.  He was actually surprised by the backlash of disbelief.  We saw him use his (actually our) Justice Department to investigate his rivals in Congress and the press.

We saw him openly hand out top administration jobs to obvious grifters like himself.  We saw these appointees regularly engineer policy to help other businesses that could provide money or other things of value to promote Job One for all politicians, getting reelected.

Those who might take umbrage with the tagging of our 45th president a psychopath need to thoroughly understand his qualifications for this dubious honor.  There is a fine line between a sociopath and a psychopath but both are subsets of another general classification of APD or antisocial personality disorder.  The difference between the two might be subtle and I will grant you that the individual in question could fall into either camp.  The chart below describes the two classifications and you can draw your own conclusions.

I wouldn't fault you for either choice and I will provide you with another illustration to guide you in your decision process.

Most mental health professionals will agree that both groups have some trait similarities.  A common disregard for the rights of others, abhorrence for social convention, a lack of guilt and empathy, they take no responsibility for their actions, they are deceitful and manipulative, and they are highly impulsive.  However we label 45, it is safe to say this is not what we want as a role model or representative for our nation on the world stage.  We wouldn't want our children to grow up like him, we wouldn't want our daughters to marry someone like him, we wouldn't want him as a friend.  

The mere fact that we are still discussing him six months into his successor's term in office, tells you how dangerous I think he still happens to be.  He is a powerful force with a following.  He is still widely supported within his party by serving members of Congress.  He is still out there claiming to be the legitimate president of the United States.  He still claims he will be reinstated next August after he successfully "wins" the election through audits being conducted by his handpicked "auditors."  That is a scary delusion held by a sick mind and condoned by members of his party and millions of supporters.  Psychopath or sociopath may be debatable, but this individual needs to be called out every time he opens his mouth.  We can't watch another Adolf Hitler lull a nation into lethargy and provide for its demise.

I will leave you with one final thought.  About 1% of Americans are psychopaths, although such people tend to be concentrated in some areas: as many as 12% of major corporate CEOs are believed to be psychopaths as well as 15% of our prison population.  I think the main subject here belongs in that latter group.

Democracy, Death By A Thousand Cuts

Our democracy won’t be overturned in a coup like the one of January 6, 2021.  Our democratic way of life will die a death of a thousand cuts.  None of these cuts will be fatal in and of themselves but our beloved American experiment will still hemorrhage until it is no longer viable.  The attempted coup of January 6^th was but a single cut.  They drew blood and people died and with that our democracy was again weakened.

The Death of Democracy

In the place of our democracy will arise an autocracy, perhaps not wholly unlike the one in Russia except for state-controlled enterprise.  In Russia, there are currently over half a million state-run companies.  I believe that American autocrats will still want to retain control of their own destinies.  Our future in this regard is guided in part by our tax code that has shifted the burden away from wealthy corporations and wealthy individuals and has placed that burden on what was once our expansive middle class.  Autocrats' greatest victory has been convincing those in the lower classes that their way of life is better with the wealthy in control of their destinies.

“a little bit of larceny.”

This shift in financing our democracy was made possible by corruption and our gradual acceptance of “a little bit of larceny.”  Supporters of Donald Trump were willing to accept his treachery in exchange for something they wanted.  It might have been his support of their racist or xenophobic beliefs.  It might have been his lip service supporting everything the religious right believed, even though he has no interest in any religion.  The closest thing he has to worship is an adoration of money and power.  This is not to say that Donald Trump drew first blood, he was just the sharpest knife that could be wielded without remorse at a time when our country was vulnerable.  We had just emerged from an eight-year period of presidential governance by an African American and I believe Donald Trump was the beneficiary of the resultant racist backlash.  Democrats became complacent and Republicans were enraged.

Political corruption is not the exclusive domain of either Republicans or Democrats, there is plenty of blame to go around.  What may have started out as a sincere belief in what was right for this country was corrupted by its structure and partially supported by the freedoms we demand.  It is when those freedoms get twisted to support some other agenda that we run into trouble.  Our current political structure, our method of financing political campaigns, and the blatant corruption made possible by spending large sums of cash in furtherance of gaining more wealth, make the political machine churn.

In a recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, there were 55 American corporations in 2020 with a combined income of over $40 billion in pretax income, who paid no taxes.  Between 2016 and 2020, those corporations spent $450 million on lobbying and campaign donations.  These corporations support 526 lobbyists whose job it is to influence members of our federal government to make favorable decisions to benefit their businesses.  Of the top 25 politicians who received money from these non-tax-paying companies, 20 were Republican.  Four of the top ten of these political spenders received enough in federal government rebates in 2020 that their leftover rebate money could finance their political spending for the next 50 years.

Top 25 Political Spending Companies

Wealthy individuals and wealthy corporations gain more wealth by wielding their financial power to control how they are taxed, or in many cases, not taxed.  A secretary may end up paying a larger percentage of his/her income than does the executive for whom they work.  Yes, Jeff Bezos and his Amazon corporation pays some taxes of some type somewhere along the line.  Real estate taxes, sales taxes, fuel taxes, etc., are paid but will be expensed out to avoid other taxation.  For them to not be taxed even one dime on their massive profits due to tax loopholes and their ability to maintain an army of accountants and CPAs is an outrage.  The uber-wealthy in the form of corporations or individuals are the lifeblood of politicians.

Politicians stay in power catering to the wealthy.  The wealthy expand their wealth by paying the politicians.  It is all made possible by convincing enough voters that they are going to receive some benefit from all of this that the cycle continues.  It is that carrot on a string that is out in front of the voters dangling, just out of reach, that promises something they want.  As they chase the carrot and ignore the obvious political corruption, the hemorrhaging continues, democracy weakens, and eventually, our democratic way of life will be but a fond memory in a history book destined to be burned and replaced by some “new history.”

"The foxes are guarding the henhouse and are not likely to become vegetarians."

American Ideals Shredded on January 6, 2021

As Americans, we are proud of our country and the democracy upon which it was founded.  While most of us can trace our heritage to other countries, we all identify as Americans.  Some of us came as explorers, others were escaping religious persecution, some fled starvation, and all sought new opportunities in a new land.  Some people were brought here against their will as slaves, and others were indentured servants who owed someone a debt for their travel.  All would eventually be free to live in a land destined to be governed by the people, all the people.

Americans have fought and died to protect the freedoms we now enjoy.  We recently celebrated Memorial Day honoring those who died to protect our freedoms.  We also just remembered D-Day as a turning point in our last World War.  Next month we will celebrate our nation’s independence from the tyranny of the ruling king.  The documents written by our early patriots outlined the goals of this great experiment in democracy.  The ideals expressed in our Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence provided the structure by which we have sworn to live with these precious freedoms.  These are freedoms that are to be shared by all of our citizens.

We are a representative democracy wherein we elect individuals to support our interests.  Our form of government recognizes a two-party system where either of the two parties has a realistic chance of attaining a majority.  Each party forms alliances around common goals.  While each party may pull in one direction or the other for things like universal versus private healthcare, limited or more expansive government, union representation, a living minimum wage, affordable college tuitions, lower taxes, etc., both will claim they fully support our democracy and the ideals for which it stands.

With all that said, I find it appalling that our current Republican Party has seemingly abandoned its belief in our democratic principles.  While they will emphatically deny that they no longer support our democratic way of life, they don’t have a leg to stand on after the events of January 6, 2021, and their subsequent complacency with this atrocity.  Those were not patriots exercising their right to free speech in support of some deep-held belief, they were anarchists who were trying to overthrow our elected government.

Not one shred of evidence has been given in support of their claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.  Their representatives brought their grievances (40+ cases) regarding the election before our judicial system and all cases were found to be without merit.  In 2020, the election just didn’t go their way.  Just as 9-11 was an attack on our democracy, so was the insurrection of January 6, 2021, “a date which will live in infamy.” (credit FDR, Dec. 7, 1941)

Not one Republican deserves to call themselves a patriot if they cannot express outrage at the atrocities committed against our democratic way of life by a mob inspired by a disgruntled former president because he/they didn’t get their way in a fair election.  This is not grammar school, not everyone wins a trophy.  Don’t even begin to say the election wasn’t fair until you can prove such fraud in a court of law.  Smoke and mirrors and innuendo will no longer be tolerated.  This is a democracy and if you don’t believe in the rule of law, our judicial system, and the goals outlined in our Constitution, you must relinquish the right to call yourself a patriotic American.

Waiving our flag doesn’t make you a patriot.  Claiming support for our military doesn’t make you a patriot.  It will be your actions regarding this failed coup that will be forever written in the history books. That is what will decide your claim as a patriot.  We understand why you don’t want to investigate the events surrounding this infamous day of insurrection.  You already know what most Americans know.  You just don’t want to relive the shame of a failed president who would be our first authoritarian leader if given half a chance.  You already have too much riding on the political spin that wants to blur the facts and memories of this fateful day.  No, an investigation would only bring to light facts that are already too clear to be denied.  There is nothing in it for you but your morality and sense of decency.  If investigating and finding truth harms you politically, perhaps you haven't been doing the job you were elected to do.

Disclaimer, ostriches don't bury their heads in the sand,
only modern-day Republicans do this.

If investigating and finding truth harms you politically, perhaps you haven't been doing the job you were elected to do.

Donald Trump was not elected to be our president in the election of 2020.  He was voted out of office.  It is clear, the emperor has no clothes.  He lost the popular vote 74 million to 81 million.  He lost the electoral college 232 to Biden’s 306.  He lost all of the judicial challenges protesting the election results.  The attempted coup of January 6, 2021, was just that, a failed coup.  This was a serious attack on our democracy and it deserves to be thoroughly investigated and those who broke our laws need to be held accountable.  Republicans, it is time to do the right thing and reclaim your right to be called a patriot.  Until you admit that this was a serious attack on our democratic way of life, you need to hang your heads in shame.  It should be a comfortable position for you as you have, up to now, kept your heads buried in the sand and have ignored the facts.