Description
What is Donald Trump’s personality? Is he mentally ill? What in American culture and history enabled him to become president? How does his personality shape his policies and leadership?
In this fascinating and highly relevant new book, these questions are answered by a selection of expert contributors, including psychoanalysts, historians, and a sociologist. Narcissism is defined and applied to Donald Trump, his personal history and style of leadership, and the relationship between Trump and his base is explored as a symptom of his needs and the needs of his followers. U.S. culture and U.S. politics are put under the lens, as chapters draw on contemporary academic and journalistic analysis, continuing discussions around gaslighting, demagoguery, and fascism in terms of their validity in application to Trump.
Psychoanalytic and Historical Perspectives on the Leadership of Donald Trump refutes many of the mental health experts who label Trump as suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder and makes the case that Trump’s personality combines a marketing and narcissistic orientation that determines his behavior and policies. The authors also assert that to understand Trump’s rise and his followers, it is valuable to combine psychoanalytic, historical, and sociological perspectives. This book will therefore be of great interest to academics in those fields and all those with an interest in contemporary American politics.
Table of Contents
Introduction (by Michael Maccoby and Ken Fuchsman)
Part I: Who is Donald Trump and Why Do People Follow Him?
Ch 1 Trump's Marketing Narcissistic Leadership in an Age of Anxiety (by Michael Maccoby)
Ch 2 The Anatomy of Narcissistic Leadership, Interview with Otto Kernberg
(by Ken Fuchsman and Molly Castelloe)
Ch 3 The Allure of Trump's Narcissism (by Elizabeth Lunbeck)
Part II: How Trump Leads
Ch 4 Probing Trump’s Disruptive Narcissistic Personality (by Paul H. Elovitz)
Ch 5 Is Donald Trump Competent and Fit to be President? (by Ken Fuchsman)
Ch 6 Gaslighting and Beyond (by Robin Stern and Judith Logue)
Ch 7 Trump the Demagogue (by Michael Signer)
Ch 8 Is Trump a Fascist? (Gottfried)
Part III: Social and Historical Factors in the Rise of Trump
Ch 9 American Exceptionalism on Steroids (by David Lotto)
Ch 10 What in Our Politics, History, Economy, and Culture Enabled Trump's Rise (by Ken Fuchsman)
Ch 11 A Sociologist's View of the Trump Phenomenon (by Charles Heckscher)
Part IV: Presidential Personality and Performance
Ch 12 How Trump’s Personality Influences His Policies (by Michael Maccoby)
Ch 13 The President We Need (by Michael Maccoby)
Ch 14 Conclusion (by Ken Fuchsman)
