American Sociopath

[sheshe2]

By Propane Jane


Jerk. Liar. Bully. Thug. Con artist. Scumbag. Asshole.
In the four months since the inauguration of Donald Trump, these terms have regrettably become aptly descriptive staples of our political lexicon. We’ve officially arrived at a dystopian moment in our nation's history when our elected officials don’t earn respect because they don't give it. If it isn’t a flippant remark from a Republican “representative” to his outraged constituents at a health care town hall, it’s Trump shoving another world leader to get to the front of the line, a Republican sailing to victory after publicly assaulting a journalist, or an entire Republican Congress looking the other way as allegations of treason engulf the Trump administration in seemingly never ending scandal. It feels as though everywhere we turn we are inundated with not just unbridled arrogance and entitlement, but a refusal by the “powers that be” to hold any of the bad actors accountable.


In fact, it's as though acting badly has now become a virtue in Trump’s America, and those who behave the worst are being rewarded rather than punished for their misdeeds. Or to quote Donald Trump explicitly, “when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” So we watch in horror and disgust as the man who bragged about getting away with serial sexual molestation not only fires the very people tasked with leading the investigation into his campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia, but boasts about his efforts to obstruct justice. By day he makes the mundane rounds required of the office, but by night he’s a keyboard commando, hurling defensive accusations and insults at his detractors online in response to the latest breaking corruption allegations.


He has become the social media equivalent of Christian Bale’s portrayal of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, prowling the Twitter streets wielding his cellphone as a makeshift chainsaw. He inhabits the fantasy world of his own self-serving mind, in which nothing he does is wrong or unjustifiable, and his actions are rendered legitimate and lawful simply by virtue of the fact that he took them. He and his underlings spare no expense in defending the indefensible.  


In this vein, Trump has much in common with the garden-variety sociopath, who as most seasoned prison wardens will tell you is “innocent” of every crime that led to his conviction.

snip//

Beware of not only the American Sociopath, but the society that enables, coddles, and glorifies him, too.

“When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same, the temperament is not that different.” - Donald Trump

Much More:http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/6/4/1667887/-American-Sociopath

JC...you really need to read it all.

[kimbutgar]

1. Vulgar is the word I use a lot to describe the sociopath

[lunasun]

2. He can not do it alone. Beware of not only the American Sociopath, but the society that enables,

coddles, and glorifies him, too.

[sheshe2]

6. Yes, that line is frighteningly true.

[livetohike]

8. That's the troubling thing. When he is gone as President,

all those people will still be here .

[brer cat]

9. and reproducing.

[sheshe2]

15. Now that is a nightmare!

[lunasun]

19. and indoctrinating their youth( and other's kids if people do not teach their children well)

From the 1920s onwards, the Nazi Party targeted German youth as a special audience for its propaganda messages.

These messages emphasized that the Party was a movement of youth: dynamic, resilient, forward-looking, and hopeful.

Millions of German young people were won over to Nazism in the classroom and through extracurricular activities.

In January 1933, the Hitler Youth had only 50,000 members, but by the end of the year this figure had increased to more than 2 million.
By 1936 membership in the Hitler Youth increased to 5.4 million before it became mandatory in 1939.
The German authorities then prohibited or dissolved competing youth organizations.

[Dustlawyer]

28. As long as we allow the wealthy the ability to legally bribe our politicians

we will get more of the same. Some people here don' t like to talk about the fact that no Wall Streeters were even investigated, much less indicted and convicted for the 2008 financial meltdown, caused in large part by Wall Street's greed and willingness to commit fraud on a massive scale. That was under a Democratic administration. Wall Street has multiple scams going on all of the time, they do this because it is highly profitable and they know they do not face any risk of prison.

Our political system is 100% in the tank for big money. Sure we have some great politicians who fight for us, but not enough to make a difference. The people in Washington right now are awash in money, but it comes with strings, a quid pro quo. No one is investigating the illegal quid pro quo's being done every day at our expense.

I wonder if we will ever see the forest through the trees. We fight the symptoms such as the forces opposed to doing anything about Climate Change. We fight for social justice, education, equal rights for women... when all of these things are blocked by politicians paying back their Donors.

When will we fight to cut off the damn money!

[jaysunb]

17. +1000 n/t

[cwydro]

3. K and r.

Thanks for posting this.

[mnhtnbb]

4. This is an excellent read, including the comments.

And still, at the end of the day, the question is WHAT DO WE DO to remove him from office
when the checks and balances built in to our system are not working?!?

He must be removed from office. Period. He has to go.

And once he is gone, we must rectify the process that allowed him to gain the office of POTUS.

[sheshe2]

12. Congress...

They are complicit and every last one of them are traitors if they do not act. They are all going to have blood on their hands. He needs to go NOW!

Thanks, mnhtnbb an excellent read yet frightening.

[yallerdawg]

5. He fits the profile.

[sheshe2]

7. Dear Goddess!

How the hell did I miss that vile quote?! He should have been locked away in an asylum as a child.


>B) There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years.<

[politicat]

10. ... the only one of his siblings to be sent to military boarding school.

Rich people don't institutionalize their children. They outsource them.

[sheshe2]

16. Yes...

Lucky us, we got him.

[defacto7]

11. It seems the definitions are mixed up.

Sociopath has been pretty much illiminated as a term in psychology and replaced with a mix of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Psychopath. Psychopath also doesn’t specifically mean what has been portrayed in the media and movies. It could... if the psychopath was abused, but 2% of the population would test as psychopaths and are functioning citizens; you just wouldn't want to trust them to empathize with you. Psychotic is what most call psychopath and that's not correct.
There's a lot on the Internet that's old or just incorrect. If you're. interested look at more recent journals of psychology for definitions.
For an interesting read:
www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath-180947814/

[kerry-is-my-prez]

20. No there is Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Sociopathic Personality Disorder. I believe that

At one point, the term psychopath was used instead of sociopath. I'm not sure if that was strictly laymen using these terms. I was a psych major in undergrad in the 70's and that is when the term psychopath was being used. I don't know if they even used a DSM back then - which is basically the "bible" currently used by professionals in the field. Since we are now on the DSM 5 now, they might have had a DSM 1 way back but I don't recall us clueless freshmen psych majors using it. Or, maybe it was too much pot smoking on my part back then - lol!

[defacto7]

33. The definition has been bantered about

by professionals for years, but more recent publications even within the last year show the sociopathic term being unable to cover for new studies based on brain scans and clinical professional discussion. You know, every time new studies come out the game board changes. Maybe next year psychopath will mean a fungal infection of the foot. As for now, I think the scans of sociopaths don't match in a predictable way but show activity more closely resembling that of NPD and Borderline Psychopathic Personality Disorder. At least that's how I understand it.

[BigmanPigman]

13. There are many more adjectives (as well as expletives) that I use to describe him.

When I was at the March For Truth protest yesterday I learned a few more. Everyone had a clever and thoughtful idea of what they would like to see happen to him and the others who enable and support him. I felt comforted and glad to be around similarly passionate citizens.

[volstork]

14. As usual,

a great read from Propane Jane.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

18. There is a thin line between sociopaths and narcissists. Sometimes hard to tell the difference.

Narcissists have more of a need to be admired.

[defacto7]

34. Hey, I'll butt into this conversation one more time..

The old school sociopath (last 10 years) and the narcissist are definitely similar. It's dificult to distinguish without a professional. But I understand that the major difference lies in the basis for the symptoms. They both exibit major lack of empathy, but for the narcissist it's based of self loathing that can only be filled by bringing others down to a level they feel comfortable with but can never achieve. The sociopath's lack of empathy is the opposite, pure self and only self matters, a true lack of empathy and that's why it doubles for psychopathy. It's easier for a sociopath/psychopath to learn social skills that allow them to be productive in society where the person with NPD rarely can; they are afraid of being discovered because they'll lose their false ego therefore never seek advice. The PPD is glad to seek help if confronted; they know they can't be persuaded or the clinician is wrong.
Now I'll butt out. I'm just interested in this subject.

[BigBearJohn]

21. Is this the title of Donald's new hit series after he resigns?

[sheshe2]

22. Nope....

Unless he can do a reality show from prison.

[mcar]

23. I am embarrassed for my country, she

[sheshe2]

24. Me to, mcar.

I am also terribly frightened for us all.

[SHRED]

25. RPOFM

Rancid
Pile
Of
Fecal
Matter

[sheshe2]

26. That sums him up perfectly.

RPOFM

[wiggs]

27. sociopath is a label that sticks. Not only is it true wrt Trump, it reinforces memes for

the party and for corporations that support them.

[stuffmatters]

29. He's so sick he referenced his thoughts as fact:"I said to myself this Trump/Russia is a made up..."

Another dire stage 10 alert of this narcissistic, sociopathic, demented, solopsistic, hermetic system called Trump's brain.
Has any other American President ever referenced his thoughts as fact, argued by footnoting himself?

Perhaps even more frightening, Trump thinks that Americans are so stupid that they will believe his reference to his own delusions, accept his lies as fact just because he says them.


Just that one moment, where Trump thinks he's cunningly manipulating American news and the public with "I said to myself..." that was so nuts, so beyond anything I've ever seen in any interview with any politician ever...beyond the daily twitter dumps of lies,hate and paranoia, this showed Trump's brain in flat out orbit.

And yes, the entire GOP is complicit in aiding and abetting this scourge upon our collective intelligence and our democracy.

[bluestarone]

31. why is the entire GOP complicit?

the bastards do this all in the name of a supreme court judge!!!!!!!!!! ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION all they can think about!!!!!!!! GOD DAM I HATE THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Scurrilous]

30. K&R

[lovemydogs]

32. I agree but, the republicans have been behaving badly

before Trump and getting applauded for it.

"you lie" Wilson raised alot of money after that insult in the chamber to our new President Obama.

The one who could disrespect and insult Obama the worse was the hero in many eyes.

We've been going down this road a long time and Trump is the outcome of a party that stopped being a governing party and instead became a cult bent on power and greed.