Margaret Atwood famously said: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” Herein lies the power of Step 14 from the blueprint to take down a dictator: mock awards.
As is the case of the psychological profile of many dictators, Trump’s narcissism, while dangerous, is also a point of weakness. The US Government has been conducting psychological profiles of the world’s dictators for 75 years or more, and Trump has been a point of interest for psychologists since before he was elected to the office of President.
In 1943, the CIA’s World War II-era predecessor, commissioned Henry A. Murray of the Harvard Psychological Clinic to evaluate Hitler’s personality based on remote observations. In an unsparing 240-page assessment, Murray and his colleagues concluded that Adolph Hitler was an “insecure, impotent, masochistic, and suicidal neurotic narcissist.”
Nikita Khrushchev: “Immoderately sensitive to slights.”
Fidel Castro: “So highly neurotic and unstable a personality as to be quite vulnerable to certain kinds of psychological pressure. The outstanding neurotic elements in his personality are his hunger for power and his need for the recognition and adulation of the masses…”
Joseph Stalin: narcissism and paranoia
Kim Jong-il: a North Korean psychologist who had “advanced psychological research training and intimate and established knowledge of Kim Jong-il (and wished to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons) believed that the dictator possessed all of the “the big six” personality disorders:
- Paranoid
- Antisocial
- Narcissistic
- Sadistic
- Schizoid
- Schizotypal
Saddam Hussein: paranoid, antisocial, narcissistic, and sadistic. Like Hitler, the Hussein study revealed probable schizophrenic symptoms as well. (source: “The Scientific American”)
And Trump?
For psychologists, it is almost impossible to talk about Donald Trump without using the word narcissism. Asked to sum up Trump’s personality for an article in Vanity Fair, Howard Gardner, a psychologist at Harvard, responded, “Remarkably narcissistic.” George Simon, a clinical psychologist who conducts seminars on manipulative behavior, says Trump is “so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there’s no better example” of narcissism. “Otherwise I would have had to hire actors and write vignettes. He’s like a dream come true.” – The Atlantic, June 2016 Issue
Truly “vulnerable,” or more “neurotic” narcissistic types have relatively fragile egos and are both anxious and hypersensitive when it comes to their social image. They tend to be constantly comparing themselves to others and “have something to prove” about themselves. It’s hard for them to experience joy in someone else’s success, especially if they think it makes them look bad or inferior by comparison ( Dr. George Simon).
Which is why Gene Sharp’s research shows that mock awards are ranked #14 on the list of effective nonviolent actions. When dictators are shown to be vulnerable, the resulting effect is a continued weakening of power in the eyes of those who continue to keep them in power. (Yes you, GOP.)
Trump is infamous for mocking his opponents, so “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” put together a list of bogus titles that Trump has given himself over the last few years. “The least racist person you have ever interviewed” is, of course, among them.
Your Turn
I polled friends to see what awards they’d give Trump – find their comments on Instagram, and feel free to add your own.
LEIGH HOPKINS 