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It's good we're talking about how Trump's malignant narcissism causes him to crave adulation, blame others, and show little concern for the 230k American deaths from COVID-19. However NPD alone does not explain Trump blocking health officials from saving lives...
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Since DJT craves adulation, he would receive a lot more from effectively addressing COVID-19, so why didn't he? In fact, some originally expected COVID-19 to boost DJT's popularity as he could let the public health officials do their work, then take credit for the outcome.
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After all Americans have a history of giving high approvals to the president in times of crises of non-economic origin such as Reagan in 1981 (for getting shot), Bush Sr in 1991 (Gulf War), and Bush Jr in 2001 (9/11). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_%27round_the_flag_effect and https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
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But DJT couldn't do that, and again NPD isn't sufficient to explain it. Rather there was a second necessary factor: DJT's lack of technical understanding and ability. And here I'm not trying to be disrespectful of the president, just pointing out an obvious truth.
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DJT first wanted to be seen as in charge of an effective response with his daily COVID conferences, and indeed the polls did show an approval bump to 45% in late March, the highest in 3 years. But then it became obvious that progress was not happening.
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DJT assigned the important task of national testing to someone with no experience (Kushner, see below) then didn't even carry out that plan, believed people with poor credentials (Navarro and two youtube quacks) on CQ/HCQ over Fauci's objections...
6/n https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/how-jared-kushners-secret-testing-plan-went-poof-into-thin-air
6/n https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/how-jared-kushners-secret-testing-plan-went-poof-into-thin-air
failed to direct the production of masks (despite being warned early by Bright and with manufacturers volunteering, see below), refused backup for the CDC's failed tests despite South Korea offering to share theirs...
7/n https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/14/politics/bowen-mask-maker-ignored-bright-hearing/index.html
7/n https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/14/politics/bowen-mask-maker-ignored-bright-hearing/index.html
and not coordinating nationwide clinical testing, when we have the most cases, and many patients would happily participate for the chance of getting an active agent. Even doctors in hard-hit hospitals were not offered experimental vaccines or treatments. https://zeynep.substack.com/p/on-randomized-trials-and-medicine
These are just the most obvious initial failures, each one an outrage. But then Trump pushed for reopening without test & trace in place, and most egregiously, actively worked against mask wearing and promoted the already discredited idea that herd immunity was imminent.
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So why? Why did Trump so actively work against effective measures against COVID when he could have just agreed to policy recommendations and take credit for them? For example if he had told supporters that masks were patriotic by protecting fellow Americans,
9/n
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that masks stood for freedom by allowing people to work and shop, his supporters would certainly have followed it enthusiastically, and he would look like the hero for getting the epidemic under control. But DJT could not do it. Why not?
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My take is narcissism plus poor knowledge and analytical abilities combined into a stubbornly toxic mix in DJT. He either undermined effective policies because accepting them would mean admitting internally that others knew more, even if he could play the expert in public,
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or DJT had no idea that effective policies in testing, contact tracing, clinical testing, or mask wearing could be helpful, because he had never analyzed any scientific or medical issue at depth, and simply had no conception that effective policies were possible.
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So then choosing actions that looked good for his image (opening up prematuring, holding rallies) while going against medical/scientific advice would seem to DJT to be a no-loss decision, because he assigned 0 value to the science and could not imagine it could help him.
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Regardless of whether it is reason 1 or 2, it's not just DJT's NPD that has hurt us, but a tragic mix of NPD and inability. After all there are competent narcissists who executed well, before their selfish rule-breaking became a liability to the team.
https://hbr.org/2004/01/narcissistic-leaders-the-incredible-pros-the-inevitable-cons
14/n
https://hbr.org/2004/01/narcissistic-leaders-the-incredible-pros-the-inevitable-cons
14/n
Fortunately the next WH looks to be more capable, but the experience of the past 4 years should be taken as a lesson in the importance of removing incompetent narcissists from influential positions. This seems to have become a big problem recently, and not just in politics.
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Adam Neumann, Elizabeth Holmes, and Trevor Milton are arguably examples of narcissists who lacked the training and knowledge to do what they claimed they could do, and they were punished with... millions of dollars in stock and salary. Arguably these are liberal darlings, so
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the problem of not recognizing and blocking incompetence is a bipartisan one. I think the underlying issue is that it's difficult for non-experts to assess whether promises are based on reality or hot air, and most of us are non-experts on any given issue.
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Thus there's always someone with deep pockets (or many with shallow pockets) willing to support a well presented pitch. Also we tend to think there's no way someone would make big promises with nothing to back it up, because we can't imagine ourselves lying so shamelessly
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But that's because most people don't realize narcissists exist among us and feel no restraint in lying, not just once but repeatedly. The problem then in the end is that our business and political systems lack strong checks to stop incompetent narcissists from doing damage.
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But our political and business systems are open to raising votes/funds by design, and this has arguably helped us stay more dynamic than some other nations. So unless we want to change that, it means consumers of sales (voters/investors) will continue to be the judges.
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So we're going to have to figure out how to immunize ourselves against incompetent narcissists. At the margins, the Trump experience might teach some to appreciate expertise again, but his die-hard supporters probably don't see the need.
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So it's a difficult question but I hope being burned will light a fire under some reforms. It's beyond my expertise, but better education of critical thinking (which requires extensive fact-gathering) and some standards for accuracy in political ads might be part of the solution.
And the bigger issue is, we now care about narcissism but even more dangerous than narcissism is scientific stupidity. We have to somehow make the ability to understand science a political asset again.
