By Monica Pizzo  

On Jan. 29,  Mullally followed up with two more tweets:

This claim might appear to be farfetched, but perhaps it isn’t quite as out of the blue as it seems. Here is a compilation of some of the most prominent aspects of sociopathy in relation to Trump’s recent and past actions.

“Lack of empathy – Inability to feel sympathy for others or to understand the emotional consequences of their actions.”

Recently, President Trump signed an executive order meant to prohibit immigration from seven majority Muslim countries he deemed produced “bad” people.

However, because of this ban on immigration, a 5-year-old boy with an Iranian mother was handcuffed and detained in a D.C. airport because he was a “security risk.” Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary, failed to admit detaining the child was improper.

“Grandiose self image – They might see themselves as someone who is superior to others and sometimes even experiences delusions. A sociopath might see themselves as a fitting ruler of a country or even the world, but might also have delusional beliefs such as seeing themselves as a God or having super powers.”

Trump has always seen himself as superior to others, but his most recent outburst of self-image is his inflation of attendees to his inauguration. Trump claimed 1.5 million came to his inauguration, contrary to the actual attendance of between 300,000 and 600,000 people, only a fraction of what Trump stated.

“Charming – While the sociopath is unable to fully understand the emotions of others, they are capable but rather highly adept at mimicking them and might appear to be charming and normal at first.”

Trump managed to win the presidential election, despite his numerous insults toward minorities, women, the mentally-disabled and so on. Here is a compiled list of the people, places and things Trump has insulted on Twitter alone.

“Sexually deviant – The lack of remorse, guilt or emotional attachments means that the sociopath is happy to have affairs and to engage in questionable sexual activity without questioning their desires.”

Multiple women came forward prior to the election accusing Trump of sexually assaulting them. Although none of these cases were continued, their existence (and that of the women who accuse him) shows how he is characteristically sexually deviant.

“Sensitive to criticism – That said, like all narcissists, the sociopath will desire the approval of others and will be highly sensitive to criticisms. They often feel they deserve adulation and admiration of the world and might feel victimized.”

Trump has accused the media of defamation and fake news. He has repeatedly yelled at the media and refused to answer questions because the news organization was “failing.” If one thing were even slightly disparaging (or simply factual) in an article or broadcast, Trump would immediately pounce and disparage the media as a whole. He even rallied his audience to chant, “CNN sucks!”

“Paranoid – Often their lack of understanding of emotion along with their incongruous self view means that they feel a lack of trust and paranoia.”

Trump has built part of his campaign on the fear of terrorist attacks brought in by refugees and immigrants. He has inflated the probability of terrorist activity due to the immigration of refugees and stated that it is an imminent threat, despite the statistics that say otherwise.

“Despotic/Authoritarian – Often the sociopath will see themselves as a necessary authority and will be in favor or totalitarian rule.”

In his short few days as president, Trump has managed to sign an alarming amount of executive orders that range from minimizing the Affordable Care Act to banning immigration from Muslim-majority countries.

“Lawfulness – Despite popular belief, a sociopath is not likely to be a problem to the law in later life, but rather will seek to find loopholes, to rise to a position of power, or to move to another area so that their behavior is tolerated.”

Trump fits this profile as well, considering his supporters managed to lift him into power despite his insults, sexual assault allegations, and blatant disregard for political correctness and respect.

“Compulsive lying – As part of their facade, and as a means to an end, sociopaths are compulsive liars and will rarely speak truthfully making them hard to pin down.”

Trump has stated inaccurate statistics and fabricated happenings from the beginning of his campaign, including his supposed sighting of thousands of people in New Jersey cheering as the Twin Towers collapsed.

These characteristics, although they were brought up in the context of comedy, bring to light some of President Trump’s questionable practices. Although we are not accusing him of being an actual sociopath, we are merely trying to outline some of Trump’s dissatisfactory actions.

It is important, in this time of political change and uncertainty, we understand that our president does not have the capability to dismantle democracy as we know it. We can see this from the numerous, nationwide protests that express the American citizens’ dissatisfaction with President Trump’s decisions. That is the demonstration of democracy, something we cannot lose as long as we keep fighting.

Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of Michael Vadon’s Flickr account.

Monica Pizzo is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at mpizzo@terpmail.umd.edu.