Duty to Warn — Impeach Donald Trump

Sociopathic Personality Disorder

The mental condition that Donald Trump suffers from is most likely sociopathic personality disorder. A hallmark of the sociopathic personality disorder is a delusion of grandiosity. In other words, the person thinks very highly of themselves and they have created a delusional world that centers around them.

A sociopathic person might think they have a special connection with God. Or they’re on some secret government mission. Or the whole balance of the universe rests on what they do next. Or they just might think they’re the best at everything they do.

The problems arise when a sociopathic person is challenged on these delusions. They routinely surround themselves with individuals who buy into their delusions. But they can turn very quickly on people who challenge them. While not all sociopaths turn into serial killers, a high percentage of serial killers are sociopaths.

How this Applies to Donald Trump

Donald Trump has exhibited grandiosity and a delusion worldview on many occasions. He routinely believes things that aren’t true like Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Or, Mexicans crossing the border are rapists and criminals. Or a border wall will stop the flow of drugs into our country. Whenever someone he hires in his cabinet challenges him on his delusions, he turns on them and fires them quickly.

A sociopathic person doesn’t have a sense of right or wrong or the ability to recognize truth from a lie. A sociopathic person routinely tells lies that serves their purpose or upholds their beliefs about themselves and the delusional world that they’ve created. What’s dangerous is that it doesn’t matter to them if those lies harm other people. They don’t have the capacity to feel remorse.

Donald Trump lies consistently. The fact checkers routinely site numerous lies and exaggerations in his speeches. When someone confronts him with information dispelling those lies, he calls it fake news.

Duty to Warn

Dr. John Garner and the 60,000 other psychologists that have joined Duty to Warn are worried that Donald Trump may do something drastic to protect his delusions. Presidents have the power to declare war without the approval of Congress. Donald Trump could start a war to make himself look better. And he wouldn’t feel bad about it.

Anyone with a sociopathic personality disorder is not qualified to be president.

Blowback to A Duty to Warn

There has been some blowback to Dr. John Gardner. Some of his colleagues sight the Goldwater rule states that it’s not ethical to diagnose someone without first seeing them.

However, in my opinion, it’s not possible for the 60,000 psychologist to have sessions with Donald Trump. Even if he wasn’t the president, sociopathic people are very unlikely to go to therapy. So, how does Dr. John Gartner, or any other psychologist, warn the general public about someone they see as dangerous?

Donald Trump’s life is well-documented as President. I feel that there’s more than enough information out there for them to be able to make this diagnosis. I applaud Dr. John Gartner for taking this risk.

As a psychologist, I have seen many of the same concerning behavioral traits in Donald Trump. I, too, believe that he is not qualified to be president. Also, it disturbs me to the core that he still has such high support amongst Republicans and Christians in particular.

It seems that the label Republican and Christian carry more weight than the character of the man wearing those labels.

You can read more about A Duty to Warn at: http://www.adutytowarn.org