How would losing the Presidency impact Trump's psychology?

[dutch508]

Star Member Quixote1818 (23,796 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213429228

So for extreme narcissistic people who always get their way. How would losing the Presidency impact Trump's psychology? He already looks shaky and unsure of himself. This is someone who has used his money, lies and power to get whatever he wants his entire life. What happens when that comes crashing down on an epic level? Hopefully his brain will just completely short out and he will have a mental breakdown of epic proportions.

Any psychologists here than have some understanding of his something like this impacts someone with Trump's psychological make up?

Hm... lets ask the narcissistic POC that almost became president...

In Hillary Clinton's new book "What Happened" she details the experience of her 2016 campaign, and tries to answer the question posed by the title: what happened that caused her to lose the election?

In the book, and in news appearances, Clinton has pinned her loss on several different factors, such as how journalists covered the election, former FBI Director James Comey, and the questions asked at debates.

Here are the 16 reasons Hillary says she lost:

Herself: In her book, Hillary blames her "damn emails," her remarks about putting coal miners out of business, and calling Trump's supporters "deplorable."

Russia: "What Putin wanted to do was...influence our election, and he's not exactly fond of strong women, so you add that together and that's pretty much what it means."

The DNC: "I'm now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party. It was bankrupt...I had to inject money into it - the DNC - to keep it going."

Sexism and misogyny: "Sexism and misogyny played a role in the 2016 presidential election. Exhibit A is that the flagrantly sexist candidate won."

A Democratic predecessor: "It's really difficult to succeed a president of your own party who has served two terms. That is a historical fact."

Bernie Sanders: "His attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' campaign."

Wikileaks: "The comey letter, aided to great measure by the Russian WikiLeaks, raised...doubts again. And so even though I won the popular vote, enough people in a few states...were just raising all these questions."

Her "traditional" campaign: "I was running a traditional presidential campaign...while Trump was running a reality TV show that expertly and relentlessly stoked Americans' anger and resentment."

The debate questions, not being asked "how the candidates planned to create jobs": "I was waiting for the moment when one of the people asking the questions would have said, 'Well, so, exactly how are you going to create more jobs?'"

Political journalists: "[Journalists] can't bear to face their own role in helping elect Trump, from providing him free airtime to giving my emails three times more coverage than all the issues affecting people's lives combined."

Campaign financing: "You had Citizens United come to its full fruition. So unaccountable money flowing in against me, against other Democrats, in a way that we hadn't seen and then attached to this weaponized information war."

President Obama: "I do wonder sometimes about what would have happened if President Obama had made a televised address to the nation...warning that our democracy was under attack. Maybe more Americans would have woken up to the threat in time."

TV coverage of the campaign: "When you have a presidential campaign and the total number of minutes on TV news...was 32 minutes, I don't blame voters. Voters are going to hear what they hear...and if they don't get a broad base of information to make judgements on."

Low-information voters: "You put yourself in the position of a low-information voter, and all of a sudden your Facebook feed, your Twitter account is saying, 'Oh my gosh, Hillary Clinton is running a child trafficking operation in Washington with John Podesta.'"

Women under pressure from men: "They will be under tremendous pressure from fathers and husbands and boyfriends and male employers not to vote for 'the girl.'"

James Comey: "The determining factor was the intervention by Comey on October 28...but for that intervention, I would have won."

Igel (30,765 posts)

1. He'd say that the election was stolen. n/t

 

SoonerPride (5,984 posts)

2. not a psychologist, but I have unfortunate experience with NPD

He will never accept reality.

He will whine, blame others, dissemble, lie, and do everything he can to soothe his ego.

It won't be his fault, you can rest assured, that is certain.

He will be especially dangerous around the election and should he lose, the time between November and inauguration. A very dangerous madman.

 

Thomas Hurt (6,067 posts)

3. I am not a psychologist, but I think he will have to be forced out if he loses.

Once out, I believe he will go on the road and keep giving his rallies for his cultists. Blaming everyone and probably egging the odd nutter cultist into some act of terrorism. I fully expect a few shootings by the freaks. Keep your fingers crossed that there is no new McVeigh out there.

 

Star Member Harker (4,267 posts)

5. He might, in Hitlerian fashion, say that the country

doesn't deserve him... and that the greatest president in history was abused and betrayed.

First Speaker (3,451 posts)

8. I have always believed that he would commit suicide if reality pushed at him too hard...

...or at the very least, fled the country if he lacked the guts to kill himself. He's one of these ego/narcissists who, if their world and self-image collapsed, would collapse completely...

 

WhiskeyWulf (417 posts)

11. Narcissistic defenses are surprisingly durable.

I'm not a psychologist, but I have some academic & professional background in mental health. And I grew up with a narcissistic father who loves the shit outta Trump.

If Trump loses, he will enter a semi- or completely psychotic state in which he is the victim. He will never accept the slightest bit of blame for his loss or his failures as a president. It will be a plot against him, or the ingratitude of the American people, or some other excuse. But he is not capable of seeing himself as inadequate.

If his narcissistic defenses actually failed, his whole psyche would crumble, and he would (possibly) commit suicide to escape the shame of knowing what he really is. But that doesn't happen often with narcissists, at least in my observation. I do think it is possible he would resign the presidency to save face IF there was an extreme threat of public humiliation, but it takes a lot to get a narcissist to that point. A normal person who had failed at a job so badly would already be far past that point. He is pretty well protected from a sense of humiliation by his psychopathology.

Just my rambling thoughts.

 

Star Member lastlib (14,629 posts)

15. I suspect when the returns come in, he won't just go ballistic---

He'll go full orbital. The screaming and bellowing and rage-tweeting to incite his cultists to rise up and overthrow the election will be off the charts! I truly expect full-scale riots from his beer-belly brownshirts-in-camo, and won't be surprised to see blood shed on a level this country hasn't seen since 1865. Not to be alarmist, but we need to be prepared for this scenario.

And on January 20, 2021, I will be in DC to help drag that fat carcass out of the White House and pave the way for Joe and Jill. I may have to wear a flak jacket, but he's coming out--peacefully, I hope, but in irons and strait-jacket if necessary.

 

demigoddess (5,280 posts)

28. I think he will take a very long 'vacation' after losing. He will say

it is a hoax and I am going home to Maralago to help my business start up again and be bigly successful.