Trump's a malignant narcissist. DeSantis is a vindictive sadist. But then there's this guy...

[Caliman73]

7. The difference

The terms are used interchangeably now. There used to be a difference within the field of psychology with sociopath being used to describe someone with anti-social traits, similar to psychopathy, but with concurrent emotional dysregulation. Basically sociopaths are people who lack empathy are manipulative, have a disregard for rules and laws, etc... They tend to lack impulse control and emotion management, and have a difficult time delaying gratification.

If you are looking for examples, I would posit that Donald Trump would fit the older description of a sociopath. You see the anti-social traits, the manipulation, etc... and the lack of ability to control his emotions. Sociopaths (with exceptions) are typically not as successful as people who meet the description of a psychopath, mainly because of the lack of ability to control their emotions and impulses, and delay gratification. I say this about Trump a lot, if he had not been born into wealth, he would likely have been in prison or dead already because of his irrational approach to people. He is a petty thug who just happened to inherit hundreds of millions of dollars. You can see by how many utter failures in his life, that he cannot manage his emotions. His family's money has saved him time and time again.

BTK or Dennis Rader is an example of someone who would be considered a psychopath. He spent decades as a "law abiding citizen", father, scout leader, etc... while also binding, torturing, and killing victims away from any scrutiny. He was meticulous in planning and was able to manage or separate the emotions involved in his sadism from his day to day persona.