Columnist George Will diagnoses Trump with “Social Autism”

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My understanding is that The Art of The Deal was almost totally ghost written.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/p ... wartz.html

/\ It may have been written by somebody else (I've heard that, too), but it was taken directly from what Mr. Trump "dictated" (and his notes and stuff - what I've heard / read, and believe [again, because of the detail, I believe this]).

He seems to fit a lot of these to a 't':


The most current iteration of the DSM classifies narcissistic personality disorder as: "A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts." A diagnosis would also require five or more of the following traits:

1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., "Nobody builds walls better than me"; "There's nobody that respects women more than I do"; "There's nobody who's done so much for equality as I have").


2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love ("I alone can fix it"; "It's very hard for them to attack me on looks, because I'm so good-looking").

3. Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions ("Part of the beauty of me is that I'm very rich").

4. Requires excessive admiration ("They said it was the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl").


5. Has a sense of entitlement ("When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****").

6. Is interpersonally exploitative (see above).


7. Lacks empathy, is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings
and needs of others ("He's not a war hero . . . he was captured. I like people that weren't captured").


8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her ("I'm the president, and you're not").


9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes ("I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters").

[5 traits from the above are required to meet a diagnosis. Trump has 9/9.]

/\ As I've already said, I AGREE that he's a narcissist----but, I don't feel that one HAS TO be ONLY one OR the other, and that one can be both, IMO.

Trump may have a co morbid though it seems unlikely to me to be AS.

He seems to intuitively understand how to manipulate social/public/political situations to his own advantage - not a trait of ASD, we tend to be the exact opposite.

I also argue that Trump knows what is and isn't socially acceptable. He will say one thing at a campaign rally and another thing in a meeting with a foreign leader. He adjusts his language to say what he thinks his audience wants to hear. The AS people I know don't do this.

Many people with Asperger's tend to be honest to a fault. While Donald Trump claims to "tell it like it is," he does not appear to value honesty. He speaks in a calculating way, like the dogwhistles to the far right, to get himself what he wants. He is conniving with what he says, and that isn't as AS trait. AS people tend to be straight forward - what they say is what they truly think.

Some AS people do lack empathy but we rarely attack others because very few are cruel-natured and most have no desire to hurt others. Trump revels in making cruel and hurtful statements. Many of us tend to be averse to a lot of social interaction and/or are introverted. Quite a few are classic nerd or geek type, the decent socially-clumsy kid who loves computers but is clueless with girls. Trump doesn't fit into any of the major subgroups we see on WP all the time.

As a businessman, he was highly unprincipled. He lies and exaggerates constantly. There is no sign of the classic Aspie unusual speech patterns, advanced Aspergers vocabulary, or a lack of facial expression. In most regards, he’s the very antithesis of an Aspie.

I think from a psychological perspective he’s best described as a narcissist and a Cluster B sociopath.

AS people in the main have their own ways of showing empathy, not NT ways generally. But Donald Trump does not act on empathy in any way. He seems to consider it a loser quality. He is a bully and has been from childhood. He still is.

A core feature of AS is communication disorder, really. Donald Trump communicates just fine, it just so happens that what he has to say is often mendacious.

If you truly want to diagnose him with something, I recommend you research narcissism. Seriously.

As we know from WP, AS people with issues readily seek psychiatric or psychological help. Trump would never do this. Happy to apologise for that if the future proves me wrong, however, though extreme narcissists almost never do go near mental health professionals, and if they do, it's usually court ordered.

What Donald Trump shows is a lack of even a shred of genuine compassion, something associated more with a sociopathic personality disorder or even psychopathy.

When Aspies/Auties do deliberately lie, they tend to be really bad at it, clumsy in trying, whereas Trump clearly has no difficulty at all, he is a super-glib liar even when the evidence to disprove him is already in the public sphere. He has no shame, whereas ASD people seem to have a capacity for shame that is often extreme.

Rules matter to most aspies a lot, fair play and so on. Trump throws tantrums when the rules don't personally serve his narcissistic ends. He doesn't care about rules that don't.

But you are entitled to your opinion and there’s nothing wrong with wondering. Personally I don't think Trump is even near BAP territory let alone in the aspie ballpark.

He also has a very demonstrated contempt for facts (real facts). That is extremely un-Aspie.

Having given my reasons (some of them anyway) for why I think he is nowhere near the AS ballpark, I would wonder if he is approaching the Alzheimer's territory, though if so it seems to be in the early stages.

Trump's memory seems way off. Contrast his previous comments about David Duke here, said to have been made first in 1990, and quoted in 2000 and his more recent 2016 inability to recall that he knew anything about Duke at all:

1) "So the Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep".
Donald Trump quote from "QUOTATION OF THE DAY". The New York Times. 14 February 2000.

2) "I don't know anything about David Duke."
Donald Trump on Sunday, February 28th 2016

Trump, who claims to have the "world’s greatest memory," failed to recall Duke (more than) these 3 times in 2016:

-"Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke. okay? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don't know.

-"I don't know, did he endorse me or what's going on, because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about. …

-"I don't know any -- honestly, I don't know David Duke. I don't believe I have ever met him. I'm pretty sure I didn't meet him. And I just don't know anything about him."

Brain issues? His small vocabulary and repetitive use of the same words could also be stemming from early onset dementia. It is a possibility.

^
He has his own unique kind of amnesia! He only looses memories that are inconvenient for him!

Certainly he has a profound leaning to mendacity. However the mendacious can also develop dementia, so I wonder.


Both are dangerous in a president. If they are occurring together, then I hope and pray they have given him false codes for the nuclear activation, I really really do. God Help You All if he can access the real ones.

I wish people wouldn't confuse narcissism and autism, but I can understand why.

My husband's got NPD (not diagnosed but it's clear as day) and he and I both have issues with empathy. (It's probably what attracted us to each other!)

The difference is, I try really hard to work around it and understand other people, because I don't want to be an annoyance to them. Hubby really doesn't care how annoying he is, unless it lands him in trouble.

And while I have self-esteem issues, hubby has this crazy self-confidence which lets him talk himself into whatever job he fancies. It amazes me that people fall for his self-agrandising spiel, but they do.

He tends not to last long in the job, though. About six months is typical, before they realise their mistake and boot him out.

I understand. It can be very exasperating here, on WP too, when some people with illwill who know nothing about ASD join WP to tell us all that we are narcs. We know where they come from (a hate site) and we despatch them back there.

I'm not defending Trump---please understand that. I wish he would just go away and burrow in a hole somewhere.

David Duke was sort of a negative "hip person" (perhaps known as a "cause celebre?") around 1990. He was running for the governorship of Louisiana, I believe, at that time. There was notoriety because he was considered to be an "ex" Klansman, and he, publicly, removed himself from the Klan, disavowed it.

I, myself, hadn't heard much about him since the 1990s. if one would bother to Google his name, it would be associated with "white nationalism."

I can see where it's possible Trump forgot about him; he seems to be the type that latches on to fads, and lets go after the fad becomes "old news." He really doesn't seem to have a sense of "history," and is only oriented towards "present circumstances."

I think there are times when Trump has a "selective memory," and times when he truly forgets. The task, for us observers, is to find out which applies within any context.

The possible dire consequences of Trump's behavioural exceptionalism is worrying the whole world at the moment. so discussion on its cause is to be expected.

However, NurseAngela, an exceptional event happened to me in August 2017: I found myself in total agreement with something that Steve Bannon said:

"There's no military solution (to North Korea's nuclear threats), forget it," Bannon says. "Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don't die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don't know what you're talking about, there's no military solution.."