As his presidential campaign trundles forward, millions of sane Americans are wondering: What exactly is wrong with this strange individual? Now, we have an answer.
© Photo-Illustration by Ben Park; By Noam Galai/WireImage/Getty Image.
For mental-health professionals, Donald Trump is at once easily diagnosed but slightly confounding. "Remarkably narcissistic," said developmental psychologist Howard Gardner
, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education. "Textbook narcissistic personality disorder," echoed clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis.
"He's so classic that I'm archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there's no better example of his characteristics," said clinical psychologist George Simon, who conducts lectures and seminars on manipulative behavior.
"Otherwise, I would have had to hire actors and write vignettes. He's like a dream come true."
That mental-health professionals are even willing to talk about Trump in the first place may attest to their deep concern about a
Trump presidency. As Dr. Robert Klitzman, a professor of psychiatry and the director of the master's of bioethics program at Columbia University, pointed out, the American Psychiatric Association declares it unethical for psychiatrists to comment on an individual's mental state without examining him personally and having the patient's consent to make such comments. This so-called Goldwater rule arose after the publication of a 1964
Fact magazine article in which psychiatrists were polled about Senator Barry Goldwater's fitness to be president. Senator Goldwater brought a $2 million suit against the magazine and its publisher; the Supreme Court awarded him $1 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages.
Comment: Honda is the same guy whose Responsible Body Armor Possession Act was to prohibit the sale, purchase, use or possession of military-grade body armor by anyone other than law enforcement, active duty military or other authorized users. He based the legislation on false media information: the gunman was not wearing body armor as he stated, and, instead of the demise of two law enforcement officials, it was in fact two civilians - an 86-year-old grandmother and her 58-year-old son-in law. "Never mind the details!"
Honda: "How many times must we bury our loved ones from senseless acts of gun violence before we pass commonsense legislation to understand the problem our society is facing?" Legislation has never been a societal enlightener. Perhaps Honda should look elsewhere for his solutions, such as the deeper and broader contexts within the decay of government, covert population manipulation and to those who profit from it. He apparently doesn't understand the multi-faceted ploy he is facilitating.