Maureen Dowd, "Trump Does It His Way": Narcissism Gone Wild

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What a world! I am still astounded by Donald Trump's interview with The Washington Post's editorial board two weeks ago:

"Post publisher Fred Ryan asked Trump if he would consider using a tactical nuclear strike against the forces of the Islamic State, were he president. Trump responded that he didn't want to 'start the process of nuclear,' then reminding the editors that he was 'a counter-puncher.'

'Remember, one thing that everybody has said, I’m a counter-puncher,' Trump said. 'Rubio hit me. Bush hit me. When I said low energy, he’s a low-energy individual, he hit me first. He spent, by the way -- he spent 18 million dollars’ worth of negative ads on me. That’s putting...'

Ryan jumped in. 'This is about ISIS,' he reminded Trump. 'You would not use a tactical nuclear weapon against ISIS?'

'I’ll tell you one thing,' Trump replied. 'This is a very good looking group of people here. Could I just go around so I know who the hell I’m talking to?'

. . . . The editors introduced themselves, and the topic was dropped. (For good measure, on his way out of the meeting, Trump called digital editor Karen Attiah 'beautiful.')"

This is the man who could well be the Republican presidential candidate? Lord help us. But Trump's obsession with physical appearances should be the least of our concerns. In a fascinating New England Psychologist article entitled "Families of narcissists suffer most, psychologist says" by Catherine Robertson Souter, Dr. Richard Grossman (a distant relative?), who is a clinical psychologist who writes extensively on narcissistic personality disorders, informs us:

"In my experience, narcissists will rarely change in therapy because most are unable to accept or acknowledge that the problem is inside of them.

. . . .

[W]e have a presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who appears to be a textbook case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

. . . .

A person who has a finger over the button of a nuclear weapon as a narcissist is a huge danger. We see it in terms of the North Korean leader, who is clearly a Narcissistic Personality Disorder and who is threatening nuclear attacks.

Absolutely, people who have no empathy, no sense of other human beings’ worth, are a huge danger to the general population."

Today, in a New York Times op-ed entitled "Trump Does It His Way," Maureen Dowd tells us of her latest conversation with Trump. She asked the Donald if a woman with whom he had sexual relations ever had an abortion, but he refused to answer. God bless her soul, Dowd didn't let up:

"I pressed, how he could possibly win with 73 percent of women in this country turned off by him?

He chose another poll, murmuring, 'It was 68 percent, actually.'

Trump doesn’t have a plan to turn it around with women, except to use Ivanka as a character witness and to chant that 'nobody respects women more than I do.'

'I’m just going to be myself,' he said. 'That’s all I can do.'"

Indeed, that's all he can do - be his misogynist self. As observed by Dr. Grossman, narcissists are rarely capable of change. So who is to blame? The answer is obvious: Republicans who have foisted this national embarrassment upon a once great America.