I have no idea whether this story is true, and the author of the book it quotes from, Michael Wolff, evidently has a history of being less than truthful.
But if it is true, I have to reconsider whether Donald Trump is a sociopath.
I've said in the past that he's a narcissistic personality with ADHD. I generally agree with him politically, but can't deny that he's boorish, boastful, thin-skinned, easily distracted, and not particularly articulate. Of course, none of that spells sociopathy.
And no matter how hard the MSM tried to put a negative spin on all of Trump's words and actions, I just couldn't see any sociopathy in him.
But if he actually talked to his friends and tried to draw them out about their sex lives while he had their wives secretly listening on a speakerphone, then that's a level of perfidy could only be reached by a sociopath.
Again, I'd emphasize, it's not necessarily true. (If it's not true, it's a new low even for the MSM.)
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28 comments:
The constant attacks against Trump and his family get old. The man is flawed, but I doubt he's a sociopath. As far as the author of the tell-all, who knows if he's telling the whole truth.
- Susan
Susan D --
Agreed, the media spin has gotten awfully old; but the good news is, at this point only the terminally naive take them at their word. as far as this story goes, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out, if any witnesses actually come forward.
Do four bankruptcies suggest that he is a sociopath? I think you have to look at how he handled his business dealings. The counter argument may be that he is a bad businessman but I don't think Trump will make that argument. Frankly, I think you have a bit of a double standard regarding Trump and Bill Clinton. Now, as far as the phone calls go, I can't help but think the calls would turn off the husband and the wife. I do hope so form of Trumpism survives Trump.
Mark --
The four bankruptcies are just business as usual for a businessman who tries a lot of different things in hopes that some of them succeed. It doesn't speak highly of him as a businessman that he had companies fail, but it doesn't mean sociopathy.
I understand what you're saying: because I support Trump politically, and am generally conservative, that I'm cutting Trump a break I wouldn't cut Bill Clinton. But read that post again on Clinton, from August 2010, and I think you'll agree that he's unquestionably a sociopath. I don't like Trump personally, and have made fun of him on this blog numerous times, comparing him to el Chapo and Goldfinger in different posts. And I've said he's a narcissistic buffoon any number of times too; but until I heard this story, I hadn't heard anything that said sociopath to me.
You make a good point, I have hard time believing that any woman would bed Trump after he pulled a stunt like that. Which is, when you think about it, one indication that the story might be untrue.
I gave up on Trump after he backed Roy Moore after a short delay when the teenage girl molestation stories came out. I generally agree with Trump's politics, but have found his personal failings too much to bear. Now I know how Bill Clinton supporters in the 1990's must have felt.
When I started speaking up about supporting Trump the general response of other people was "you do know what you're signing on to, don't you?" (before they stopped speaking to me at all). Now I have to admit they were right, I was naive.
Anon --
I understand, and sympathize. But bear in mind, the alternative was Hillary, and she was an obvious sociopath, as I wrote about here this past September:
https://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2016/09/sociopath-alert-hillary-clinton.html
The Left talks nonstop about what a jerk Trump is, but won't admit anything was wrong with their gal. And that IS what the choice was. If the story I cited above turns out to be true, then I'll admit Trump is a sociopath. If it's not true, I'll stick with him being a narcissistic buffoon with ADHD who's inarticulate. That's still better than Hillary, who was utterly corrupt, was constantly having screaming fits in front of her minions, and was a pathological liar to boot. At least with Trump, a fair number of his former employees ended up liking him; that seemed to have never bene the case with Hillary.
The globalists are using every means possible to derail Trump's presidency. They are ruthless and relentless. Many commenters on another website that I go to for news (the Daily Mail) are tired of the constant Trump bashing. The majority are thankful that HRC lost the election, realizing that she is bad news.
- Susan
John - Having dealt with sociopaths, I concur with your assessment of Trump as a narcissistic buffoon. And an anonymous friend in a tell all book is a great convenience when trying to create a frame that misrepresents someone. I note the "Clinton had a respectable front." as the happy ending of the story in the NY Post. So what is going on? Is an author doing a tell all story going to well...be honest? Or just cook stuff up that panders to the confirmation bias of the crowd that will put his book on the NYT bestseller and talk show/interview circuit?
John Craig -
I am with you 100% on that, HRC was a real life Lady Macbeth. She was godawful. Your blog helped me understand just how bad she was and has given me ammunition to use in debates with friends who are Democrats (the ones who are still willing to talk to me). I hope you keep up blogging.
-WW
Susan --
That's exactly how I feel. Even if the above story is true, I still far prefer Trump to HRC.
Shaun F. --
I'm definitely not taking Wolff at his word; but there's a possibility he's telling the truth here, we have to consider that. Above, Mark made a good point: that this particular strategy could backfire. I can't imagine being a wife listening in on one of these conversations and thinking, aha, this really makes me want to sleep with Donald Trump. The only way it would work is if it were a revenge fuck, but I'd think Trump's ego was too big to just want to be someone's revenge fuck. But, who knows. If no one comes forward to ascertain this, it'll certainly seem less likely.
WW --
Are you the 4:37 commenter?
Thank you, and thank you for reading.
We're thinking along the same lines. As I said this past November 9th regarding HRC:
She's been compared to Lady MacBeth, Nurse Ratched, Medusa, and the Wicked Witch of the West. But none of those characters fully captured her unrelenting hypocrisy, nastiness, corruption, dishonesty, and shamelessness. (In fairness to the authors who created them, it would be impossible to do that in the space of one work of fiction.)
Having an affair and seducing a married woman is not the same as being a rapist. It's shitty, but not the same thing as drugging a woman or holding her down and having your way like Bill would do. Also it's possible alcohol was involved, we can all turn into temporary sociopaths if we are using substances.
On another note:
I have been a little dissappointed with Trump on how slow things have gone. If he promised free ice cream every 27th of March and followed through, I would be glad just because something did happen. But I feel the USA, and the world, is still as it was years ago.
You think the world is a powder keg waiting to explode, and maybe it is and all our energy, everyone has been spending too much time trying to prevent disaster or things from getting worse faster that they cannot bring in anything new.
I say, maybe we need to be able to be uncomfortable, and get it over with. I may say this behind a laptop on a cozy bed, but I wonder...do we need a depression and war? Get all of it out of the world's system. Like a case of smallpox, try to survive through it instead of managing it:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/figures/r010a1f2.gif
My father knew a man who was addicted to Heroin. You see many addicts, they are in and out of clinics never making progress, relapsing, and they go nowhere. But this guy booked a trip on a large boat, and had himself chained inside a room, I imagine he had some books with him and they would deliver food to him. He spent an entire week screaming in agony. You see, Heroin is one of the few drugs you can quit cold turkey and survive (you can die from seizures if you try to do that with alcohol or benzos), but it's hell.
As for Hong Kong, we have little choice. Our policies are decided by the mainland. Our politicians are chosen by China. And the people who choose or indirectly support those very politicians are the Chinese. They vote for us. If it were just a dictatorship, that's one thing, but imagine if Canadians elected the US president. Like that.
There is no bubble here, and if there is, it won't burst, they know how to keep the cycle going. Meanwhile people in mainland China are experiencing rapid income increase. Each year some people receives raises of 10-20%, even low level jobs. Their income is going up while prices are not. It's the reverse in Hong Kong. Since we are being squeezed dry by the artificially high rent, they bring in many tourists to make up for it. The elites allied with the Communist Party who own our corporations know that they are starving their own population with the rent, so the bring in people from the mainland to buy their other products...
I wish Trump would comment on Hong Kong. But why would anyone care about some insignificant city? What use is Hong Kong to the world? It could be wiped off the map with little effect.
-Ga
Ga --
The story Michael Wolff describes may not be rape, but it involves a level of treachery, and with his "friends," too, that rises to the level of sociopathy. a non-sociopath simply wouldn't do such a thing. I'm not talking about legalities here, but a severe lack of morality.
We should have very little confidence in the media and even people who claim to be "insiders". People who get left out tend to make up stories for personal gain. With that said Trump is Trump. It's just second nature to be bigger and grander than everyone else so he brags what he could do without doing it. He has to be the center of attention and he boasts that he is the best. Trump really does seem to love his family especially his first 3. No matter what anyone thinks about Trump they can't say he doesn't love Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
Trump may have a big ego, be boastful, be immature, be foolish but at the end of the day he is better than anyone on the most serious issue facing the country: illegal immigration. For all his antics he is right about trade, illegal and legal immigration, taxes, jobs and regulations. Sessions is wrong on the war on drugs and civil asset forfeiture but one thing at a time.
Jackson Roberts --
That's a great summation of what Trump is. Even if he does turn out to be a sociopath (which I still question, mainly for the reason you state, that people make stuff up and we have an untrustworthy media), he's right on the larger issues facing the country.
What a compliment, he really does love his family, particularly the first three kids. I think he has five. Anyway, John I appreciate your blog but disagree. Someone who took a job at Trump Casino, had a realistic expectation that the business would not be going through bankruptcy. The customers go through bankruptcy not the casino. It is alleged that he also sat on small contractors and wouldn't pay up for services rendered. At least one contractor compared this action unfavorably to all the other casinos he worked for. It also poisons the water for future business dealings when you have to take on debt. Saying Trump is boorish and crude is almost certainly true but diminishes the seriousness of his ethical lapses. Having typed that, Trump seems too transparent to be a truly sinister fellow and I do enjoy the theater of it all. Bring Wolff back for a sequel book!
Mark --
I think Jackson Brown's point was that if you love anybody, truly love them, it means you're not a sociopath. (Then again, I've seen sociopaths who are loyal to their children in a Texas Cheerleader Mom sort of way, and I've also seen parents who go through the motions of showing parental affection without necessarily *feeling" that affection.) And it's always hard to tell exactly how much of a demonstrated emotion is feigned.
I agree that if you're a billionaire who sits on the small contractors -- I've heard that story too -- it doesn't reflect well on you. But if you have a business that fails, what else can you do but declare bankruptcy? I know of no gazillionaire businessman who's used his own money to pay off his company's debts.
It just came out today that Trump has called himself "a very stable genius." Yikes. Once again, we see the almost childish grandiosity that a real sociopath would make more of an effort to hide.
We wouldn’t be implying that Trump is a sociopath had he not won the election. He was well liked by and continually socialized with all the people who are now screeching how intolerable and toxic he is. Example: Joe Scarborough and Mika Bryzinski, who are now totally allergic to him, spent their honeymoon socializing with him at Mar-A-Lago. The Clintons were guests at his wedding to Melania.
For me, the test is how he treats the “little people”. No, not dwarves, but the people who are employed by him in more menial capacities, and those from whom he cannot personally benefit. Almost universally his employees liked working for him. I should point out that in the 1980’s he hired the first woman project manager for a major construction project.
Hillary Clinton was downright nasty to the service staff at the White House, and showed contempt for the Secret Service people and Marines assigned to guard them. Trump, from the day of his acceptance speech, made a point of thanking the police, Secret Service, and others assigned to his detail. You can see it on YouTube if you don’t recall.
He is definitely guilty of bad taste, over the top egotism, and a lot of other personal failings, but he has been remarkably consistent in his respect for those who have served in the military and law enforcement. Vulgar, yes, vut it seems to me his heart has always been in the right place.
LBD --
No question, he wouldn't be under nearly as much scrutiny if he weren't President, and especially if he weren't a populist President. And you're right, a lot of former "friends" have turned against him.
And agreed, you can tell a lot more about a man from how he treats the waiter --- or his subordinates -- than you can from how he treats someone he has something to gain from. And Trump seems to be popular with most of his ex-employees.
i wrote fairly extensively about how HRC treated her protectors in that sociopath alert I posted about her.
Anyway, the reasons you cite are among those I considered to come to the conclusion that he's not a sociopath. But the story about phoning his friends' wives, putting them on speakerphone, and quizzing his friends about their sexual habits, if true, would be damning: nobody but a sociopath would do that. That said, the more I think about it, the more I think the story isn't true; it would just be too much out of character (I hope).
Well, he has always been what guys call a “p” hound, and he behaved very badly to his first wife. Ivana said it was because he treated the divorce like a business deal, and he just had to “win”; we know he’s very competitive, and he made a category error in that case. I have always thought that he would much have preferred to remain married to Ivana but Marla Maples pushed the issue beyond repair when she confronted Ivana on the slopes at Aspen. He was justly served when Marla cheated on him with the personal trainer. If Marla hadn’t confronted Ivana the affair probably would have blown over. Lots of damage done,Trump reaped the whirlwind.
That said, all his children are mentally and physically healthy, productive people. None of them smoke cigarettes, they aren’t big drinkers (although Eric owns a winery) and all have chosen decent spouses (boyfriend in Tiffany’s case, and Barron is only twelve).
Also, even though Ivana despises Marla to this day, she has always treated Tiffany kindly and sought to include her in family events. The older kids don’t take it out on their half sister either, although her mom wrecked their childhood home. Lots of decency going on in that clan despite the dad’s egocentrism.
LBD --
I don't think Trump treated any of his wives all that well, he's even reportedly said to friends that Melania is a trophy wife; but with a billionaire, I think the dynamics shift a bit. They are materially provided for far beyond what any of them could have expected otherwise, so that sort of evens the equation a little. I also don't think that any of them, beside Ivana, went into it completely blind.
And true, it doesn't seem to be a dysfunctional family, even as the kids do seem a little spoiled.
Spoiled? Despite the family wealth they have all worked full time throughout their adult lives. Not trustafarians by any means. No drugs, no rowdy behavior, no extended adolescense. Opposite of spoiled by my reckoning.
LBD --
I don't mean spoiled in the sense that they're club kids, or wastrels, but spoiled in the sense that they had it easy because they were the boss's kid. After college, Donald Trump Jr. spent one year bartending in Aspen before joining the Trump Organization. Ivanka spent one year at Forest City Enterprises before joining the Trump Organization. And Eric actually joined it while he was in high school. When you're the boss's son -- or daughter -- your career is going to be different. Not only do you not have to be concerned about being fired -- a constant, lurking threat for most people -- but other people kiss your ass for no other reason than who your father is. And with that comes a certain sense of entitlement. Trust me, I've known people like this, and their experience of life is far different than yours or mine. They never had to kiss ass, never had to worry about their job, in fact never had to worry about being promoted. In my book, that's spoiled. Maybe not spoiled rotten, but spoiled.
John - I found this about about the author's previous work - Burn Rate.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120718061524/http://www.brillscontent.com/burn.shtml
Shaun F. --
Thank you very much for that. I'd heard that Wolff was somewhat of a fabulist; I sure hope the story I cited in this post isn't true. Right now I'm leaning toward it not being. (Who would ever say he was in that situation? Trump certainly wouldn't want it out; and the wives, if they went to bed with him while still married, wouldn't want that out either. That leaves the husbands, and I can see one of them being angry enough to tell the story, even if it makes him look like a sap, as well as a loudmouth sap (talking about his wife that way). But Wolff playing fast and loose with the facts in other books certainly lessens his credibility.
John - You're welcome. Wolff also works(ed) for the Hollywood Reporter. A place where he might acquire a certain level of pertinent writing expertise.
Shaun F --
Ha!
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