So let it be asked, so let it be answered.
It’s safe to say that Donald Trump has been on a tear for the last several months, the likes of which we didn’t see throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, or during his presidency.
First, Ron “DeSanctimonious” lives rent-free in Trump’s head, 24-7, and now, the former president is in full-metal-jacket attack mode against his “enemies,” of whom he said during a Monday rant: “They are all sick.”
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to take a trip back, four months, just prior to Trump’s November announcement that he would seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan asked clinical psychologist and public intellectual Dr. Jordan Peterson to offer his professional assessment of Trump’s mental health, which some in America view as narcissistic, sociopathic, or worse, while others view Trump as simply a victim and who’s perfectly sane. (No word on whether the latter view Trump, in the former president’s words, as a “very stable genius.”)
On a November edition of “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” the often-snippy host flat-out asked Peterson:
Donald Trump: what is he? Is he a narcissist, a sociopath, a psychopath? All of those things? None of them?
The longer Dr. Peterson’s analysis of the state of Trump’s mental health continued, the more (fill in the blank, as you see fit) shocked, flabbergasted, disappointed, or snitty, the look on Morgan’s face.
I don’t think that he’s a psychopath because he’s been successful in repeated enterprises over long periods of time, and he has a variety of people who remain intensely loyal to him. It’s very easy to demonize someone that you don’t approve of.
And certainly Trump has been subjected, I would say, to more demonization than any political leader in the West that I can remember in my entire lifetime, including Richard Nixon.
And so that’s also set him back on his heels and made him somewhat embattled and defensive, which I don’t think did any great things for his personality in some real sense.
Whatever we want to call Morgan’s reaction, he was definitely shocked by Peterson’s analysis. So Morgan being Morgan, he then asked Peterson whether he believed Trump should run again.
Would you like [Trump] to run again? Would it be good for America, do you think?
Great “gotcha” question.
While many former Trump supporters believe Trump did a good job during his presidency, they don’t want him to win the 2024 nomination, with a growing number simply over his constant faux drama and attacks on other Republicans. (That is a fact; check out multiple polls.)
Peterson responded:
That’s a difficult question because it might be that it would be good for America to have whether or not Donald Trump should be president sorted out in the public sphere, debated intensely, and subject to an election. So it might be very interesting to see him put himself forward on the Republican ticket.
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” shared the clip of Peterson giving Morgan his bottom-line thoughts about Trump’s state. In the video at the end of the article, Peterson also shared his thoughts on a DeSantis run in 2024.
If I had my druthers, and I say this I hope with due care, I’d rather see someone like DeSantis step forward who shares some that forthright strength, let’s say, that characterizes Trump at his best, but seems to be a more cautious administrator and a less divisive figure. I think that would be better.
Jordan Peterson is a wise, clear-thinking man indeed.
The Bottom Line
Unlike Jordan Peterson, I do believe Donald Trump is a narcissist, by definition.
Trump exhibits all or most of the symptoms. His sense of self-importance is off the charts; his preoccupation with power is legendary; he’s interpersonally exploitive for his own gain; his arrogance reigns supreme; and the desperation of his need for admiration and total loyalty (which means never criticizing anything he does, says, or writes, in my not-so-humble opinion, is clear as a bell).
Even if Trump is none of the above, to deny that he’s his own worst enemy is to deny the reality we’ve seen for seven years.
To be fair, Trump’s been treated far worse by the Democrat Party and liberal media than Richard Nixon, as Peterson pointed out, and Ronald Reagan, who the media belittled as nothing more than a Hollywood “B” actor. While Reagan often responded to media attacks with grace and humor, Trump simply cannot stop himself from taking the bait.
The difference between Reagan and Trump is simple: Reagan refused to wrestle with the media pigs in the mud, wisely understanding the old adage: you both get muddy and the pig loves it.
Put simply, Donald Trump is incapable of letting even the slightest of slights go. Call it what you want, but that’s not the mark of a confident man — let alone a president of the United States.
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