DID YOU VOTE FOR A PSYCHOPATH?

WE have all heard that hundreds of mental health professionals believe Donald Trump is mentally ill. But many people laugh that off as liberal propaganda. Or, they say “what the heck to shrinks know anyway?”

Why not make your own evaluation of Donald Trump’s personality using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist? It is a reliable diagnostic tool that has been widely used for fifty years, especially in legal and criminal matters. You can use just what you know and have directly seen of Donald Trump himself—not listening to any hearsay. And use that chart to see how you think he would be evaluated in a courtroom or psychiatric hospital.

In the following list of twenty character traits, enter a zero if an item doesn’t apply, enter a 1 if it partly applies, and enter a 2 if it definitely applies. Add up the numbers.

· glibness/superficial charm
· grandiose sense of self-worth
· need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
· pathological lying
· conning/manipulative
· lack of remorse or guilt
· shallow affect (i.e., reduced emotional responses)
· callous/lack of empathy
· parasitic lifestyle
· poor behavioral controls
· promiscuous sexual behavior
· early behavioral problems
· lack of realistic, long-term goals
· impulsivity
· irresponsibility
· failure to accept responsibility for one's own actions
· many short-term marital relationships
· juvenile delinquency
· revocation of conditional release (from prison)
· criminal versatility (i.e., commits diverse types of crimes)

No matter how much you love or hate Mr. Trump, you might quickly learn that his score is 30 or above, which qualifies for a diagnosis of psychopathy, a serious mental illness. Of course, your score is totally unofficial and only for your own personal evaluation.

A mental health professional might spend at least several hours of in-person examination to make a competent evaluation. But keep in mind: A clever person can put on a good act for a few hours and totally deceive a trained psychologist. But since you’ve seen many of Trump's behaviors in a variety of situations, you might have an even better evaluation than a shrink.

Trump’s specific type of mental illness is known as narcissistic psychopathy, which has been apparent in numerous political dictators in recent history. For example Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, and others.

One common thing about each and every one of these dictators is their rule ended with disastrous political upheaval, total destruction of many cities, widespread bloodshed, and thousands of deaths. There is good reason to believe that any future Trump rule will be headed in that same direction.

[cbc.ca]