EC Ophthalmology

The media and mental health experts have scrutinized former President Donald Trump’s personality characteristics even before the 2016 presidential election. Laypersons, psychological experts, and some politicians ascribe a narcissistic personality disorder to Mr. Trump. The present analysis opines that Mr. Trump’s pattern of observed behavior in the public arena is consistent with extreme narcissism if not a narcissistic personality disorder. Psychology and psychoanalytic literature discuss Trump's ascension and the dynamics of a mutually reinforcing relationship with his supporters through the lens of large-group regression. Large-group regression can occur when a large group responds to threats, conflicts, or crises affecting its identity by regressing to primitive modes of expression. Group identification with exploitative, narcissistic leadership may supplant individual identity. This article posits that a large segment of American society, particularly those who identify as liberal/progressive/Democrat, has demonstrated countervailing forces or expressions of large-group regression. These manifestations include affective, cognitive, and behavioral features such as fear, anxiety, loathing of Trump and his supporters, splitting and projection, and uncivil behavior toward his supporters. It is contended that an increasingly polarized political environment associated with a pathologically narcissistic former president who is seeking re-election, a divisive and dishonest pattern of behavior by the current president, which has primarily been shielded or minimized by the media and overlooked by the mental health field, may be associated with an intensified large-group regression by those on both the political right and the political left with a potential outcome of increased schism and violence. This paper expands on these issues, recommends further research on large-group regression in democratic societies, and concludes that American society needs more temperate, unifying national leaders that can help to moderate the highly polarized views and intense emotions so that a more stable, tolerant, and democratic society may be maintained.

 Keywords: Malignant Narcissism; US Presidents; Large-Group Regression; Political Personality; Fabrication

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