Kevin Lamarque; REUTERS Since he claimed that Barack Obama was not an American citizen, we have known that Trump is a liar. I wondered whether Trump lies to manipulate others or because he is delusional. In either case, I underestimated just how much of a liar Donald Trump, is. I think we all did. But a November 28 story in the Washington Post (20 Days of Fantasy ad Failure: Inside Trump's Quest to Overturn the Election) clarified how Trump's lies serve his mental disorder. Sequestered in the White House and brooding out of public view after his election defeat, rageful and at times hysterical in a torrent of private conversations, Trump was, in the telling of one close adviser, like 'mad King George' muttering "' I won. I won. I won."' Trump, haunting the White House and claiming to have won an election he lost, does not manipulate an audience. Trump has a mental disorder – delusional psychosis (DSM-V, 297.1, [F22]). It is a disorder that causes him to believe with absolute certainty that he is a superior human being, always destined to be a winner. He persists in these beliefs despite the accumulation of a massive amount of evidence to the contrary. And the persistence of these beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence is a symptom of his delusional psychosis. Besides the inability to change provably false beliefs, his other symptoms include (1) the number of lies he tells to support his delusional beliefs, (2) his view of every event and circumstance in terms of its impact on him his sense of universal persecution.
Trump's delusional psychosis renders him mentally incapable of acquiring or fully understanding information or advice. Trump's inability to acquire information is shown by how he filters his sources of information. When Trump was considering whether to fire the FBI director, James Comey, he consulted several people in his administration. Except for one advisor, they recommended that Trump should not fire Comey. The one advisor who recommended firing Comey was his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Compared to the other advisors, Kushner knew the least about government and the possible consequences of firing Comey. Trump took Kushner's advice. And the result was the appointment of a Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, and a two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump fails to see how his actions led to the troubles that eventually confronted him.
Trump's delusional psychosis renders him mentally incapable of acquiring or fully understanding information or advice. Trump's inability to acquire information is shown by how he filters his sources of information. When Trump was considering whether to fire the FBI director, James Comey, he consulted several people in his administration. Except for one advisor, they recommended that Trump should not fire Comey. The one advisor who recommended firing Comey was his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Compared to the other advisors, Kushner knew the least about government and the possible consequences of firing Comey. Trump took Kushner's advice. And the result was the appointment of a Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, and a two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump fails to see how his actions led to the troubles that eventually confronted him.