When examining Cheeto's Narcissistic Personality Disorder, we need to clarify that it's compensatory

[MrScorpio]

http://www.ptypes.com/compensatory-narpd.html

Basically, he employs it as a defense against his own lack of self-esteem.

He's probably going to match much, if not all, of this list:

The Disease Perspective

PTypes personality types proposes Compensatory Narcissistic Personality Disorder as a pervasive pattern of unstable, "overtly narcissistic behaviors [that] derive from an underlying sense of insecurity and weakness rather than from genuine feelings of self-confidence and high self-esteem" (Millon), beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by ten (or more) of the following:

seeks to create an illusion of superiority and to build up an image of high self-worth (Millon);

has disturbances in the capacity for empathy (Forman);

strives for recognition and prestige to compensate for the lack of a feeling of self-worth;

may acquire a deprecatory attitude in which the achievements of others are ridiculed and degraded (Millon);

has persistent aspirations for glory and status (Millon);

has a tendency to exaggerate and boast (Millon);

is sensitive to how others react to him or her, watches and listens carefully for critical judgment, and feels slighted by disapproval (Millon);

is prone to feel shamed and humiliated and especially hyper-anxious and vulnerable to the judgments of others (Millon);

covers up a sense of inadequacy and deficiency with pseudo-arrogance and pseudo-grandiosity (Millon);

has a tendency to periodic hypochondria (Forman);

alternates between feelings of emptiness and deadness and states of excitement and excess energy (Forman);

entertains fantasies of greatness, constantly striving for perfection, genius, or stardom (Forman);

has a history of searching for an idealized partner and has an intense need for affirmation and confirmation in relationships (Forman);

frequently entertains a wishful, exaggerated, and unrealistic concept of himself or herself which he or she can't possibly measure up to (Reich);

produces (too quickly) work not up to the level of his or her abilities because of an overwhelmingly strong need for the immediate gratification of success (Reich);

is touchy, quick to take offense at the slightest provocation, continually anticipating attack and danger, reacting with anger and fantasies of revenge when he or she feels frustrated in his or her need for constant admiration (Reich);

is self-conscious, due to a dependence on approval from others (Reich);

suffers regularly from repetitive oscillations of self-esteem (Reich);

seeks to undo feelings of inadequacy by forcing everyone's attention and admiration upon himself or herself (Reich);

may react with self-contempt and depression to the lack of fulfillment of his or her grandiose expectations (Riso).

http://www.ptypes.com/compensatory-narpd.html

Let's not disregard the likelihood that Putin has recognized all of this about Trump and has pandered to his need for approval by some larger-than-life authoritarian figure (and you can't gate any larger-than-life than Putin), strictly as a means to his own ends of consolidating his power base in Russia.

Also, we should always remember that Trump values loyalty to himself above everything else. In spite of the power struggle at the top of his inner circle, it's clear that those people have reached that status by serving Trump and his needs first and foremost. Whatever they do, they're doing it in his behalf and at his behest.

It's perfectly reasonable to investigate the extent to which Trump and his sycophants have served the interests of a foreign government, especially if that government has the motive and means to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, namely the US and its allies.

We're dealing with someone in the White House who doesn't deal with facts, or respects our national institutions or interests and has a clear record of malfeasance and incompetence. He doesn't live in the real world.

It's incumbent on the Press, the Congress, the Federal Judiciary, the Civil Service and the American people to hold him in check and accountable for his own actions. By not doing what it takes to do that, it represents an existential threat to all of us.

FDT.

[lagomorph777]

1. He demonstrates his insecurity so plainly it's cringe-worthy.

Perfect example is is non-sequitur response to the anti-semitism question. For those who missed it, an Israeli reporter asked why the US has suddenly broken out in anti-semitism. Trump's response was that he won the electoral college bigly, more biglier than anybody expected. Tremendous.

It looked like a psychotic break. It seems all he can think about is how illegitimate he is.

[2naSalit]

2. K&R