The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump

Book excerpt: "The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump provides a coherent and nuanced psychological portrait of the 45th president of the United States. Drawing on biographical events in Trump's life and on contemporary research and theory in personality, social, and developmental psychology, the book explores the personality traits and psychological dynamics that have shaped Trump's life, with an emphasis on the strangeness of the case - how Trump again and again defies psychological expectations regarding what it means to be a human being. The book's central thesis is that Donald Trump is the episodic man. He lives in the moment, outside of time, without an internal story to connect the discrete scenes in his life. As such, Trump perceives himself to be more like a superhero or a primal force, supernatural and timeless, rather than a flesh-and-blood human being with an inner life, a remembered past, and an imagined future. Trump's psychological status as the episodic man helps us understand both Trump's appeal (in the minds of millions) and his failings. The book's interpretation of Trump sheds new light on Trump's charisma, his deal making, his volatile temperament, his approach to personal relationships, his narcissism, and his emergence as a new kind of authoritarian leader in American history."--