To understand Donald Trump and his behavior, I have felt the need to go back to my graduate school training in psychology and human growth and development. To build that understanding, I am going back to the work of Kohlberg, Erikson, and Piaget, the three greatest figures in different aspects of human growth and development.

Erikson’s second lowest stage of personality , which he calls the “toddler” stage, is marked by compulsive behavior. This is a dominant aspect of Trump’s behavior. Add to that Kohlberg’s second lowest stage of moral behavior, that of a typical 2-year old – that of near total self-interest. A person frozen at this stage of development, would always be asking’ “What is in it for me” without ever considering the needs, rights, or dignity of others. In fact, a person frozen at this stage would be incapable of ever showing real empathy or concern for others.

Add to those behaviors a third dimension, that of cognitive (intellectual) development. A person at the pre-operational stage is normally at the sage of from 2 to 6. His or her thought is almost totally egocentric. There is crude development of concepts, but the intellectual functioning shows little focus or integration. The sense of reality is not firm, allowing for ideas of “alternative truth” and conspiracy theories. Judgment is often questionable, as immediate perceptions dominate over fact-based judgments.
Add these together and you have the image of a person who is totally egocentric and does not give a damn about others. He or she readily uses and abuses others without any regard for them or their rights. It is also the image of a person driven by a compulsive personality. Blend in very crude concept formation, low ability to maintain cognitive focus or to link information and thoughts, poor judgment driven by immediate perception – not hard facts.

This is the image of Donald Trump. He is a man frozen at a young child’s level of personality, cognitive, and moral development. It makes him an egomaniacal sociopath unable to understand anything of substance and unable to construct any viable plan of action for any complex goal or purpose. Given this profile, he is totally unfit for any position of trust. It is inevitable that he will have committed many illegal acts over time and will have abused and mis-used many, many people over the course of his life.