Narcissistic Collapse

 Trump has had quite the few weeks, hasn't he? The second E. Jean Carroll verdict and now the hammer dropped in the New York fraud case. This hurts Trump where his narcissism lives: his perception of his wealth. There has long been the argument that Trump isn't worth near what he claims to be worth. In fact, that's partly at the heart of his fraud case. There is no way he can pay off these fines easily. Even on appeal he has to pony up major assets.

We've known Trump is a malignant narcissist for decades. If we didn't know, it became apparent in 2015 and onwards. Now, let's take a look at "narcissistic collapse":

A narcissistic collapse happens when a narcissist believes that someone (or something) is threatening their ability to maintain their superficial inflated ego. People with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) often look down on others to maintain the positive images they hold about themselves. If their behavior is called out or challenged, their fragile self-esteem is damaged, resulting in intense reactions and abuse toward others.

Narcissistic collapse isn’t an official psychiatric term and hasn’t been extensively studied. However, some researchers and psychologists argue that collapse essentially disarms the false self associated with narcissism. Because narcissists are so insecure, they often feel empty and hollow–they need admiration from others to feel validated.

For example, if a spouse leaves them or a boss fires them, it disrupts the narcissist’s entire status quo. Instead of reflecting on what happened or trying to address the conflict appropriately, they can become hysterical, volatile, or rageful toward themselves or those around them.

Trump has always been dangerous. In fact, he exhibits many of the signs of narcissistic collapse since 2020 at least, if not longer. However, being crushed financially is going to be an order of magnitude more traumatic for him and he will likely act even more wildly vengeful and conspiratorial in his rhetoric and his cultists will eat it up.

Or maybe he gets so worked up, his coronary arteries do our country a favor.

Anyway, Joe Biden is old and stuff.