When I refer to President Trump as a sociopath that gives us some idea how he may govern and, eventually, un-govern. A narcissist like Trump will not handle defeat lightly, bigly unlightly. Trump’s response to his own immanent failure will likely be catastrophic. Some key psych peeps out there disagree with me on this one. What?! This farcissistic spoofy-o-path won’t tolerate dissent! George W. Bush was just incompetent, but Trump represents a diagnostical and diabolical downgrade (DDD). I didn’t think even our right-leaning friends could miss all the clues associated with this guy’s unhingedness. Kidding, each news cycle they miss more clues than Inspector Clouseau on a fentanyl drip. If you remain a 21st century Republican, you have to ask yourself the age old Zano question: do I just come to the wrong conclusion about every issue on Earth on my own, or have I had help? You need to understand, your party has become an anti-intellectual, delusional movement that mimics a form of mental illness. As a collective you are only slighly healthier than your president. I’ve been discussing the personality disorder aspect inherent in the modern GOP for well over a decade now. From an emotional perspective you’re only slightly healthier than those Kool-Aid drinking Jim Jonesers, or those folks who tried to board that passing comet in the 90s. Hale-GOPP? Kidding, those peeps were at least savvy enough to leave Earth, pre-Donald.

More and more we see our Axis-II friends (sociopaths, anti-personality, narcissistic) shifting into positions of power, so beware the encroaching sociopathy …which also happens to be my favorite Lovecraft novel. We all have a smattering in us, a pinch is required to lead, but this guy has enough Axis-II traits to stuff his entire comb-over. Trump’s psyche resides somewhere between full-blown narcissism and half-assed sociopathy. The following list covers that whole happy family …which also happens to be my favorite order at the Jade Dragon.

Here’s the Diagnostic Statistical Manuel (DSM-V) breakdown:

1. Failure to obey laws and norms by engaging in behavior which results in criminal arrest, or would warrant criminal arrest. “Release my taxes? Separate from my businesses? Press core right up my ass?  Sorry, I got to grab me some pussy! I can get away with it because I’m yuge, above the law YUUUGE!”
2. Lying, deception, and manipulation, for profit or self-amusement. “Alternative facts are facts, well, if they benefit me. Please refer to everything that has ever come out of my mouth.”
3. Impulsive behavior. Sing it with me: “I can’t stop this tweeting anymore, I’ve forgotten what I started tweeting for.”
4. Irritability and aggression, manifested as frequently assaults others, or engages in fighting. See: John McCain, disabled reporters, journalists in general, women, minorities, liberals in general, and people not named Donald Trump. Not to mention the next senseless and unprovoked war.
5. Blatantly disregards safety of self and others. “Yes, I’ve tweeted the nuclear codes in hashtag form #12345BOOM!, but don’t worry, shortly after I launched that tweet my family and I were whisked safely away to that bunker under the White House.Make America Irradiated Again?”
6. A pattern of irresponsibility. Fast forward to the next four years. Kidding, he’ll be impeached before then. Kidding, we’ll all be dead before then.
7. Lack of remorse for actions.  His tendency to double down on every inappropriate comment and never admit to any fault, despite a gross lack of obvious merits.

The Trumpster hits every mark and should be diagnosed accordingly (jokes or no jokes). Also, there’s a straight line between our prez’s emotional instablity and his political party. Oh sorry, not a straight line, more of a closeted/repressive line.

Irony Alert: Due to a common qualifying diagnosis, Republicans are all eligible for the Medicaid Expansion that they are now gutting.

I can’t help quoting myself at least once during an article about narcissism. It’s kind of a rule:

“I am not immune to selfishness, but my self-absorption is focused on certain establishments and a collection of baristas and bartenders. Barcissism? As I’ve said, we all have a little in us, unless we’re true Bodhisattvas. The Ghetto Shaman asserts that he is a Bootysttva—a practice neither endorsed by Buddhism or the American Psychological Association.”
—Zano

Speaking of the APA, some of those folks disagree with my diagnosis. One article from Psychology Today defends Trump’s fragile psyche as a kind of  “normal crazy”, here. Worse still, an author of the DSM-5 itself, Dr. Allen Frances, pointed out how a psychological disorder is contingent upon whether or not the individual finds the symptoms distressing. Far be it from me to disagree with the author of the psych-Bible, but WRONG! Here’s the thing, the personality disorders are very different than most other types of emotional issues. Sociopaths are essentially conscienceless individuals, they’re not going to be bothered by stuff pertaining to other mere mortals, period. If Jeffrey Dahmer wasn’t caught I don’t believe his “symptoms” would have been all that distressing to him, or:

“Dear Clarice, I have followed with enthusiasm the course of your disgrace and public shaming. My own never bothered me, except for the inconvenience of being incarcerated.”

You probably guessed that’s not a Trump quote; it comes courtesy of a fictional sociopath with an IQ. Most common folk would go to jail for assaulting people, but Trump remains above the law. So how is being filthy rich and sociopathic going to become distressing to him? By the time that happens someone might want to check Mr. Trump’s freezer for body parts. We might want to do that anyway. Sadly, our Republican friends cannot identify a moron when they see one, or a sociopathic one. Thus the recent coronation of President Ass-Clown Hitler. At 70, and with his psychological presentation, Trump is likely to remain wholly unchangeable, despite facts on the ground. Narcissism is an engrained personality flaw. You can’t teach an old GOP new tricks, or, in his case, any. The GOP is irreparably damaged at this point. If what is true for the individual holds true for the collective, they will prove rather difficult to reel in. I have always said it’s a race between the GOP’s extinction or the world’s. The world lost. I understand the implications of those last statements, which is why it’s been my clarion call for over a decade now—well, that and the unsettling prevalence of sports bars. Sorry, folks, the GOP is bigly broken! Yuuuge broken! Buffalo Wildwings broken. Don’t get me started on that place. That’s a discussion for another day …if we have any more of those.

*My related feature on sociopaths here as well as my full Republican diagnosis, here.