The two most dangerous narcissists in the world... Trump and Barr...

[targetpractice]

I've spent my life dealing malignant narcissists, and I have theories about these two...

1) Trump is out to save his reputation and brand at ALL COSTS. He doesn't care about anything but himself;

2) Barr fancies himself as the smartest and only person to save the Republican party from the disaster of Trump... He thinks he will go down in history as a savior. He's not in it for himself, but he's determined to do everything possible to keep Republican power... And then get recognition for that.

However, I've seen this a bunch of times... Exposed narcissists always think they are in control even when they are not. They rely totally on their perceived ability to "set the story straight" with everyone. They can't distinguish from their ability to control the narrative during a family holiday dust-up, a lawsuit against them, or a national scandal. They think if they say it, people will be convinced, because they simply can't imagine anyone exists who doesn't believe what they say.

Barr is more dangerous, because he is competent. But, he is older and he's not playing the same media game as he did during Iran-Contra... I am reminded of this every time I see him photographed outside with his giant leather briefcase FULL OF PAPER. He has no clue what's going on in social media, etc.

Both will fail, but they will undertake a scorched Earth strategy to try to get what they want.

[Faux pas]

1. Kickin'

[Hortensis]

2. For decades sophisticated people, NYers especially, have known there was

something seriously wrong with Trump. He was repaid with the attention he craves when he displayed it, so he did.

I don't have your personal experience, but I do know that very real personality disorders are diagnosed every day across this nation, but virtually never actually or effectively treated because they're so intransigent.

But I'm wondering what you see in Barr to make narcissism obvious to you. Barr doesn't seem to have that history, was accepted as normal. Btw, it'd take very little evidence to make me believe he's likely yet another of the sociopaths the Republican Party's been assisting to power for some time.

[targetpractice]

3. Re: Barr...

Narcissists seem normal to outsiders, until they percolate to the top of a situation...

The fact the had the audacity to write an unsolicited memo about his opinion regarding the Mueller probe when no one asked for it. That exhibits some grandiose and inflated self importance right there...

Then throughout the hearings he would say cringe-worthy (triggering to me), ego-centric things like "The report is now my baby. It was written for me." and "I'm gonna land this plane" and "Yes, *I* think there was spying." And, when asked for his notes from the call with Mueller about his post report memo... "No I won't give them to you, why should I?"

He's on a mission, willing to burn his friendship with Mueller.. He won't stop.

I worry that he'll now selectively de-classify intelligence soon to get ahead of any of the current investigations and court cases... He wants to say the the investigation was invalid from the beginning... That's what he stated in his original memo... And, narcissists very rarely backtrack on their original opinions... It's all about saving face.

[Hortensis]

4. Could all be manifestations of traits of narcissism.

However, these could also all be recognized fascistic tactics to take and control power. Of course, it's entirely possible to be both a fascist and/or a sociopath, with or without being a narcissist.

Appreciate someone pointing out that personality disorders are very real, and I'll be watching.

Btw, I just found and decided to re-read John Dean's Conservatives Without Conscience, which examines authoritarians and other people with personality disorders, including malignant sociopaths, in the Bush II administration. Many of those are still around.

[targetpractice]

6. Wasn't aware of that book, Hortensis, thanks!

Yes... I think fascism is a sociopathic ideology... You're asking good questions and challenging my thinking today... Thanks, for that. I believe that personality disorders are a probable root cause for evil ideologies whenever enough disordered individuals are able coalesce into a movement. Today this problem is super-accelerated due to technology...

I encourage you to read this Twitter thread from one of my heroes in the field of User Experience... Alan Cooper, who wrote a seminal book "The Inmates are Running the Asylum."... And, he just posted this Twitter thread today that summarizes my thinking about how technology has moved beyond democratizing for good and is becoming a tool for evil...

[Upon edit: There are 15 posts in this thread.. You may need to look into @MrAlanCooper account to read them all in order. Twitter threading is frustrating sometimes.]

Link to tweet

[shockey80]

5. Good post, I have known we are in great danger from day one.

What Barr is doing is extremely arrogant, narcissist. He thinks he is smarter than everyone. He is very dangerous. He is what Trump has been looking for.