Caring for others rather than harming them is a fundamental quality not only of human beings but also of many mammals.

Normal people and normal wolves, dolphins, elephants, and horses seem to grasp when another of their species is in pain or danger and, unless fighting over territory or sexual partners, react to protect one another.

This caring and cooperation are critical to the survival of humans and animals. Humans want to help others.

Sociopaths don’t, according to Dr. Lance Dodes, a Training Supervisor and Supervising Analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Insitute and former Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University.

Dodes is one of the authors of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, a book authored by 37 of the most respected and experienced psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts in the country.

The book was the result of a conference at Yale University called to diagnose the state of President Trump’s mental health and warn the country about him. 

The chapter Dr. Dodes wrote in the book is called Sociopathy, about which he is one of the medical world’s foremost experts.

President Trump’s sociopathic characteristics, he wrote, “are undeniable. They create a profound danger to America’s democracy and safety.”

That was a difficult passage for me to read.

I am mindful of keeping off of the Trump Crazy Train, but sometimes, it comes and finds me. This very clinical and plainly chapter wasn’t really a surprise to me, but it shocked me nonetheless.

This post is not fun to write. But it is important for this genie to come out of the closet. The media has been dancing around it for years now.

Over time, Dr. Dodes predicts, “these characteristics will only become worse, either because Mr. Trump will succeed in gaining more power and more grandiosity with less grasp on reality, or because he will engender more criticism producing more paranoia, more lies, and more enraged destruction.”

That prediction has already come true.

Sociopathy (also known as psychopathy) is also called “antisocial personality disorder.) The term refers to a disturbance in an individual’s entire emotional makeup.

A sociopath is considered to possess three or more of the following traits:

1.Failure to conform to social norms and lawful behaviors.

2.Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying…

3.Impulsive behavior or failure to plan.

4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated conflicts, insults, and assaults.

5. The reckless disregard for the safety of self or others.

6. Consistent failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations.

7. Lack of remorse or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

8.Evidence of repeated impulsive, aggressive, callous, or deceitful behavior is not deterred by threats or punishment.

Essential sociopathic diagnostic terms are sadistic, unempathetic, cruel, devaluing, Immoral, primitive, callous, predatory, bullying, dehumanizing.

In humans, the ability to sense one another’s feelings, care about one another, and try to avoid hurting each other is called empathy. It’s a characteristic of all people, no matter what individual emotional conflicts and issues they have.

Unless they are sociopaths.

The failure of this normal empathy is central to understanding sociopathy, which is marked by the absence of guilt, intentional manipulation, and controlling or even sadistically harming other people for personal power or political gain..

People often say of President Trump that he attributes to others’ emotions and feelings that belong to him. That, says Dr. Dodes, is “projective identification,” as when Trump calls people “losers” or “fake” or “nasty.”

“Commonly,” he says, “these are aggressive and dangerous feelings which are managed by being propelled onto others, who are then blamed for them and are condemned as aggressive and dangerous.

Dr. Dodes has identified another trait of the sociopath, which helps us to understand why some – not all – of his followers attach themselves to him with such intensity.

I know many Trump supporters who accept the fact that he lost the election and have already moved on with their lives.

But many of his followers can’t accept Joe Biden as the president and are obsessed with the idea that the election has been stolen. He’s been working on this for many months.

This idea came first and continuously from Trump himself; to date, there is no other evidence to support it.

The psychological mechanism of sociopathy contributes to a loss of reality, rage outbursts, and continuous attacks on others.

The sociopath may treat people as if they are great friends, charmingly complimenting them on how wonderful they are, and then abruptly turn on them as the enemy.

Loyalty is demanded and prized by sociopaths because it serves their personal ends, but there is no real or genuine relationship or caring.

Dividing the world between good and bad and loyal and disloyal by sociopaths is called “splitting.” President Trump splits the world in two: those who are totally loyal, and everyone else who is dangerous and disloyal, 0r worse.

There is absolutely no one in the middle.

The sociopathic leader feels he must always project himself as protecting his followers from the many enemies that he will create if they aren’t already there. Only he can save them.

Although sociopathy always means a lack of empathy, there is one way in which severe sociopaths have a certain and frightening type of empathy.

It is, says Dr. Dodes, “the empathy of the predator.”

A tiger stalking his prey must have an ability to sense the prey’s fear, or at least to be aware of the small signs of that fear. The tiger is “empathetic” with its prey but not sympathetic or caring.

Successful sociopaths are like that. They are closely attuned to their victim’s emotional state.

Is the victim loyal? Does he believe what he hears and is being told? Does he need false reassurance, a compliment on his intelligence or loyalty or appearance, a false promise, or a friendly gesture  – like a campaign rally – to appear honorable?

The successful sociopath’s predatory “empathy” shows a definite gift for perception, making him a genius at manipulation. When this works, especially on a large scale, it produces a disastrous trust in the victim or victims.

But, like the tiger, he is not interested in the welfare of his target.

In President Trump, I see this acted out most dramatically in his lack of concern or caring for his own supporters or the citizens he is sworn to protect during the pandemic.

He puts his guards, aides, and supporters at risk of the coronavirus every day by permitting them to gather in large clusters at the White House and his rallies.

His inability to even fake empathy for any of the victims of the virus – “it’s not important,” he told one rally, “it doesn’t matter” – only makes sense in terms of sociopathic behavior.

Even though scientists and doctors cry out that his refusal to co-operate with a transition program for President-elect Biden could put many lives at risk from the virus – including many of his own supporters — he refuses to move past the election and consider how many lives might be saved from the pandemic, which is growing worse every day.

Every day he risks the lives of Secret Service agents, top aides, even family members to preen, rage,  fume about the election and dig in with his false claims of voter fraud.

Trump’s relationship with his followers always seemed unhealthy to me, but the disinformation and faux rage over the election is getting extreme, it’s a new realm of disconnection and alienation.

Social media and far-right talk radio and cable and websites have become a volcanic and destructive mix of lies and hatred, and it’s getting worse by the day.

To me, the movement to undermine a legal election borders on sedition – the incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority –  and has become a genuine threat to democracy. Sedition is the absolute opposite of patriotism.

The narrative of unity and communications is changing.

It is impossible to negotiate in good faith with a sociopath, nor is there any real dialogue possible with many of one’s loyal supporters. Unity is the last thing many Trump supporters seek.

It seems logical that Trump has connected with millions of people using the predator’s empathic tools, producing a disastrous trust for him and the rest of the country.

Joe Biden is doing a good job of pretending not to mind about the growing movement to block his legal election. At this point, it seems extremely unlikely that the election can be blocked.

It has been suggested that his campaign needs to finds a way to respond more forcefully to Trump and his many lawsuits. I lean towards thinking they know what they are doing.

They say it is a mistake to take Trump’s bait, but when the bait is the destruction of our democracy, it might justify some response.

Biden will have to govern in a country where tens of millions of people have been persuaded by a pretty obvious sociopath that the election was stolen.

Trump has been working on this all year,  a lot more closely than he has ever worked on Covid-19. It is his biggest lie. The more we understand about it, the easier it may be to keep it from happening again.

For the record, I strongly believe that this election will hold up and that Biden is our next President. I think it’s pretty clear that Trump is setting the stage for his next big media adventure – lots of followers line up already – not for blowing up the country or the world.

But it’s also clear that it’s not about unity any longer; that is not possible for now, or for years. And the Republican Party seems no more interested in unity than the President himself.

This isn’t the time for panic, but for comprehension and awareness. I want to know what happened, and why.

I am not afraid of Donald Trump, I don’t think he could sell popsicles by himself, or even with an army. It is about a country broken in two, a chasm so deep and real that we are just beginning to clearly see its dimensions.

Cable news stations are licensed by the federal government, media entities that seek to undermine the lawful activities of government can have their licenses suspended or pulled. Tech companies are being held more and more accountable for the lies and distortions they enable.

This isn’t about doing to war, but about going to war against lies and the people who spread them. That is a battle I want to be in.

One way or the other, red or blue (it can certainly happen to them), that battle will have to come.