Who Are You, Mr. Trump?

Author: Grete Mautner

Column: Society

Region: USA in the World

We are often struck by the eloquence and wit of various political figures and political scientists. It’s hardly a secret that those figures often receive nicknames that may be in one way or another connected with their behavior or habits. Many times, these figures bestow these names upon each other. 

For instance, there can be no doubt that that the head of the UK Liberal Democratic Party leader, Timothy James Farron, has hit the mark by referring to the British Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson, as ‘Washington Poodle.’

According to data released by WikiLeaks, American diplomats usually call Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ‘Alpha Dog’ in their internal discussions. It seems that he got this nickname for the tight political grip he’s widely known for.

In turn, a Former US President George W. Bush, depending on the situation in Western countries, was called a ‘Cowboy’ or a ‘Donut’.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, according to the papers released by the WikiLeaks, was referred to as a ‘Naked King’ by Western diplomats, although among the French themselves, they would call their former leader ‘Sarko Zizi’ for his weakness for women.

However, the recent attempt to compare Syria’s President Assad with Hitler made by the White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, resulted in a political disaster, with the latter being forced to apologize for this misstep in front of the international community.

For sure, one’s behavior and their manner of communicating with people defines one’s successes and failures, especially in the world of big politics. After all, Jean-Jacques Rousseau defined “politics” as a process of negotiations between a leader and his subjects.

It is therefore not surprising that the political behavior of Donald Trump in various areas attracted the attention of various experts and analysts who publish their assessments in a variety of media sources in a bid to pinpoint various aspects of the “particular nature of the US president.”

For instance, the respected Austrian expert of facial expressions and gestures, Stefan Verra, has recently shared his discoveries with the German tabloid Bild. After analyzing the body language of the new American president, he would note that Trump is a very curious object for observation in terms of body language, since he’s shown both gestures of aggression and gestures that are typical for women.

Verra draws attention to the chin that dominates Trump’s facial features. He argues that during puberty, men develop lower jaws and eyebrows in accordance with their testosterone hormone levels. The more testosterone a body produces, the stronger these features are, making a man more masculine. Yet, Trump tries to enhance the impression his facial features produce by pushing his chin forward and emphasizing his forehead. At the same time he often keeps his elbows very close to the top his torso, which women usually do… Yet another of Trump’s womanly features is his habit of sticking out his little fingers.

Yet another curious feature regarding Trump that Stefan Verra observed is the way he curves his mouth as if he was a naughty child. In particular, according to this expert, Trump has repeatedly done it throughout his election campaign.”

Neurologist and psychiatrist Karl-Joachim Zander has noted in an interview with the German magazine, Focus, that it’s about time to start a special program of psychological assistance for the White House. In the history of the US, he notes, there were presidents who suffered from mental illnesses, yet were deemed capable of carrying out their functions. For instance, Lincoln suffered from severe depression, while Theodore Roosevelt was most likely to have a bipolar disorder.

Professor Zander is convinced that Donald Trump may have mental deviations in the form of a tendency towards narcissism. However, the position he occupies may turn his deviation into something more dangerous, since the sitting US president is convinced that he can manage the US as if it were a business, but it’s unlikely that he would be able to pull it off.

Trump, the psychiatrist continues, is an extremely irritable figure, since narcissism quickly turns his regular mood into a state of aggression, which is usually followed by a desire to sue everyone. Today Trump verbally assaults judges and media figures, whereas back in his business days he would file over 3,500 lawsuits. When a person is prone to narcissism, he has a tendency toward hysteria, and at moments, Trump’s mental problems manifest themselves in absurd statements and outright lies. Trump’s personality has already developed psychopathic traits – he thinks everyone around him suffers from subpar intelligence. The perfect image of himself that the sitting US president has in his head becomes a source of irritation, since he will never be able to fully realize it, so he’s doomed to constant failure. Thus, Karl-Joachim Zander is convinced that Trump won’t be able to sustain four years of presidency with all the challenges that this presents.

According to Carl-Joachim Zander, the fact that Trump still runs the country via Twitter also shows his predilection towards narcissism, since he believes he is not bound to control his words and actions. He is also convinced of his sexuality – indeed, the professor argues, many women consider his manner of behavior to be very erotic.

Professor Zander is convinced that Trump needs to seek professional help urgently, otherwise his behavior can trigger potentially disastrous processes within the US.

The fact that a number of American psychologists are convinced that US President Donald Trump is suffering from personality disorders that manifests themselves in the form of narcissism has been noted by the Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger with a special reference to the Independent. According to the publication, which cited the Campbell’s Psychiatric Dictionary, malignant narcissism is an extreme mix of narcissism, antisocial personality disorder, aggression, and sadism. As it’s been stated by the author of this publication, John D. Gartner, Donald Trump is suffering from a dangerous mental illness and, therefore, is not capable of occupying the presidential post. As it’s been stated by Gartner in one of his interviews, malignant narcissism differs from ordinary narcissism and is also incurable.

However, according to medical experts, the diagnosis itself is not the problem, what is more alarming is the impact it may have on Trump’s behavior. For example, Dr. Julie Futrell has told the American newspaper The New York Daily News that narcissism is going to seriously affect Trump’s ability to perceive reality, therefore it would be impossible to convince Trump of using common logic.

So who are you, Mr. Trump?

Grete Mautner is an indepenent researcher and journalist from Germany, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.” 

http://journal-neo.org/2017/04/18/who-are-you-mr-trump/