The Real Psychology of the Trump Presidency

This chapter discusses the issues associated with psychological analyses of a president “at a distance.” It takes up the issues of narratives as major explanatory vehicles, including conspiracy theories, and how they differ from real efforts at theory building based on considering a range of evidence. The nature and range of that evidence, including “events data,” is considered, as well as how it differs from the more ordinary varieties of anti-Trump analysis. It asks: is making use of more comprehensive consideration of information tantamount to “defending Trump”? The answer to that is: that is not the purpose of the analysis. The chapter ends by laying out the book’s strategy of analysis.

This chapter focuses on several key Trump psychological traits, all related to the dominant narrative and related memes of Trump’s narcissism and its political consequences. Simply assigning a name to a behavior without an understanding of the term used or fairly presenting the range of evidence needed to support claims associated with such analyses, reflects a lapse of professional ethics and personal integrity. It is also a recipe for substantively shallow analysis. The chapter then turns to a consideration of the difference between impatience and impulsiveness, and their relationship to Trump’s psychology and leadership style. We then examine the real nature of Trump’s narcissism, not only what that term really means, but its real role in Trump’s psychology. The chapter concludes with a detailed analysis of Trump’s motivation to seek the presidency, including several that have never before been examined.

Chapter 7 directly takes up the question of Trump’s supposed psychological and political “unfitness” for office noting the diverse ways Trump critics have used it. The chapter then examines efforts to bypass the Goldwater Rule prohibitions against armchair psychiatric diagnosis by focusing on Trump’s supposed “dangerousness” rather than his “mental illness.” In terms of conceptual reliability and validity a focus on “dangerousness” is no improvement. Analyzing the fiasco that gave rise to Goldwater Rule makes it clear that the ethical and conceptual dangers of unprofessional and substantively unanchored psychological characterizations remain a clear and present danger for virulent anti-Trump speculations.

This chapter begins with an examination of the relevance of Trump’s CEO experience to his presidency. His was not a typical business career and that unorthodox experience helped shape an equally unorthodox presidency. Trump’s success at building a business empire is instructive for his efforts to build its political equivalent. There are similarities—ambition, a can-do spirit, vision, courage, determination, flexibility, an astute sense of timing, and discipline. There are also lessons to be carried into this presidency regarding resilience and successfully coming back from an almost catastrophic business failure. These experiences are likely to be helpful as he navigates the national consequences connected with the Coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath. However, Trump did have to learn how to be a possibly successful president and move on from the many sobering surprises about the office that he found on assuming it, and for which he was not prepared by his CEO experience. The chapter concludes by examining the large range of Trump’s presidential interests, his presidential work patterns, and his approach to the core function of any presidency—his decision making style and judgment.

This chapter examines several basic elements of the Trump presidency and leadership. They include: the nature of the president’s supporters, including their supposed “racial resentment” and the nature and reality of their powerful emotional connections of respect and standing linking them with Trump. We then turn to TrumpThink—a magical mystery tour reflecting how Trump understands his world, full of unexpected associative detours, logical lane changing, and surprisingly clear reconnection to his original train of thought. TrumpTalk shares those qualities. It is often meandering, frequently exaggerated, regularly provocative, and honestly heartfelt if rarely fact-check level “correct.” We then take up the issue of TrumpTruth—how he uses facts and tweets—the president’s serial imprecise relationship with “the Truth,” including “larger Truths”; and promise keeping as a strategy for his reelection.

This chapter takes up two questions: Does the Trump presidency have a future? And if so, what kind? Much depends on whether Trump wins reelection and if he does, the distribution of power in the House and Senate Trump has bet his presidency on his efforts to change the dominant narratives associated with the eight policy pillars that define his Politics of American Restoration. One question is whether he will succeed. An equally important question, given Trump’s goals, is how do entrenched political paradigms and narratives change? As the election nears, two personal questions face Trump. Does he have the psychological and emotional capacities and reserves for leading and governing this divided country and bringing the country back from the ravages of the Coronavirus pandemic and the political divisions that threaten it? Second, will he be able to do so in the face of continuing unremitting personal and political attacks on his policies, supporters, officials, and family? If Trump wins reelection, whatever the distribution of power in Congress, successfully realizing his Restoration ambitions will be equivalent to scaling Mt. Annapurna. It will take skill, experience, determination, courage, resilience, and a dedicated, competent, and effective group of support allies. Many imagine that climb. Few attempt it. Fewer succeed. The risks are high; the chances of success low; but it would be unwise to place a large bet against President Trump.