A few years ago, I read a couple
of books about psychopaths/sociopaths. The first was Confessions of a
Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight, by M. E. Thomas, a pseudonym,
although interested online sleuths claim they have identified who she is. The
reason I wanted to read the book by “Thomas” is that she self-identifies as an
active Latter-day Saint and even worked for a time as a law professor at BYU.
Her account of how a person with no moral feelings could navigate a religion
like Mormonism was both fascinating and disturbing. The second book was The
Psychopath Test: A Journey through the Madness Industry, by journalist Jon
Ronson. Ronson, as the subtitle suggests, explored the psychiatric institutions
that deal with psychopathy. He visited prisons and mental hospitals and
universities and CEO suites, interviewing people who were psychopaths as well
as those who diagnose and study them.
The two books, while coming at the
topic from vastly different directions—one
a confessional, the other an investigation—overlap in significant ways. Ronson’s title comes
from Canadian psychologist Bob Hare, who came up with a checklist of 20
characteristics that describe psychopaths. In a previous post, I superimposed
that checklist on Donald Trump and found that it fit almost perfectly. The only
exception was that Trump had never been locked away in a behavioral health
facility and so could not have had his conditional release revoked.
The reason these two books came to
mind again this week is Trump’s ongoing lethal attacks on boats in both the Caribbean
and the Pacific that he claims (without evidence) have been carrying drug
smugglers. These murders (for that is what they are) reminded me of Trump’s
famous claim during his first campaign that he could shoot someone on Fifth
Avenue in New York City and not lose any voters. This was probably hyperbole,
but I see a through line connecting this statement with Trump’s recent orders
for the military to blast boats out of the water.
Trump’s 2016 statement was not
just braggadocio, I believe, but a confession that he had considered the idea
of murder. The only thing that probably kept him from committing one was the
certainty that if he, as a regular citizen, had gunned down someone on Fifth
Avenue, he would have been put on trial and convicted. Of course, this fear
didn’t stop him from committing fraud and other crimes, but in those cases, he
always felt he could beat the system. Murder, however, is another matter
altogether . . . unless you cannot be put on trial and held accountable. And
that is the immunity the Supreme Court has granted Trump during his second
term.
So here we are, watching the
president of the United States commit multiple murders, on the flimsiest of
pretexts, and the legal system can do nothing about it. He can commit murder
without consequence, and so he does.
What, then, does this have to do
with psychopathy/sociopathy? While the two terms are often used
interchangeably, there are subtle technical differences. According to Google
and AI, psychopaths are typically more calculating and manipulative, with a
higher propensity for violence, while sociopaths are more impulsive and
reactive, with a greater likelihood of engaging in reckless criminal behavior.
Psychopaths may be able to maintain superficial relationships and appear charming,
but often lack genuine connections, while sociopaths have difficulty forming
stable relationships and exhibit more erratic social behavior. Significantly,
neither condition is an official diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the bible for mental illnesses. The closest
official diagnosis is Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), which includes
traits from both psychopaths and sociopaths.
“M. E. Thomas” considers herself a
sociopath, but her self-description also includes elements of psychopathy, such
as being calculating and manipulative, as well as maintaining relationships and
appearing charming to others. Both Ronson and “Thomas” agree that quite often
psychopaths/sociopaths are highly functional and very successful, even suggesting
that this “disorder” can lead to success, primarily because these individuals lack
the restraints that a conscience represents, allowing them to engage in unethical
behaviors that an “ordinary” person would shun. This also explains why psychopaths
or sociopaths often wind up as CEOs.
One of the books (I can’t remember
which, and I no longer have either in my possession) claims that about 10
percent of the population exhibits this mental disorder. I don’t know how anyone
would come up with this number, but it is certainly conceivable. It is also obvious
that Donald Trump fits the description (19 of 20 characteristics, according to the
Hare test), especially number 1 (grandiose sense of self-worth), number 4 (pathological
lying), number 6 (lack of remorse or guilt), number 8 (lack of empathy), number
11 (promiscuous sexual behavior), number 14 (impulsivity), number 16 (failure to
accept responsibility for his own actions), and number 20 (criminal
versatility).
Trump’s criminal versatility has
vastly expanded with his second term in office and the Supreme Court’s declaration
that a president is pretty much immune from criminal prosecution for acts
committed while in office. And so Trump is now free, he believes, to murder at
will, as long as it pertains in some way to his duties as president, even
though his orders to bomb boats not in U.S. territorial waters are obviously in
violation of both international and U.S. law.
“M. E. Thomas” discusses what it
is like to live life with no conscience. I found her self-examination both
fascinating and frightening, as well as doctrinally disruptive for Latter-day
Saints. In our scriptures and prophetic teachings, we learn that the “spirit of
Christ” or the “light of Christ” (they seem to be used interchangeably by
Mormon in Moroni 7:16–19)
“is given to every man [and woman, we assume], that he [or she] may know good
from evil. . . . Wherefore, I beseech of you . . . that ye should search diligently
in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil.” We generally consider
the light of Christ to be our conscience. But according to “Thomas” and experts
who deal with psychopaths/sociopaths, there are many people who are simply born
without a conscience. So this “light of Christ” is apparently totally dark for
some people. “Thomas” claims that belonging to a highly structured religion
with strict rules and guidelines helps her navigate the world without a
conscience so that she stays out of legal trouble. Being a law professor and
understanding civil and criminal legal standards likely helps also.
Whether Donald Trump was born this
way or was simply brought up by his father, Fred, to ignore rules and laws, is
unknown and probably unknowable, but his mental disorder is certainly having a devastating
effect on the Republican Party, the country, and, indeed, the entire world.
Whatever the cause of his lack of a moral compass, the supine Supreme Court has
opened the door for him to, in effect, shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not
only not lose voters but also avoid paying a criminal penalty for his crimes.
We used to say in America that no one is above the law, but the current Supreme
Court has blown that notion completely out of the water.
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