Mathematics of Caligula: Malignant Narcissism Has No Limit
Trump’s pathologies have a deterministic trajectory. He will try to take us down with him.
Infinite Narcissism
We are all born as infinite narcissists. A newborn only knows itself, its own feelings, sensations, and needs. The baby’s sense of being the only thing in the universe is modified through interacting with the world—and other people—during early and childhood development. But the narcissistic core remains in all of us, to different extents, for our whole lives. This is not a bad thing; our individual needs must be met or we don’t survive. Most of us have enough benign narcissism to take care of ourselves.
Some people, however, barely leave their newborn shell and never recognize the difference between their internal experience and the objective world—especially when it comes to other people. They never develop the proper balance between their needs and the needs of others. They see people as objects to control, to dominate, and to manipulate—as a function of their own existence. And they feel entitled to do whatever it takes because they are special.
We call these people narcissists. But not all narcissists are the same.
Criteria
From the DSM-5, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is diagnosed with the following criteria:
We all know these people. They are the 1-2% of the population who cannot see the needs of others as anything more than a nuisance. They have a perpetual need to be seen as the best, and to take the spotlight on every stage. They brag, exaggerate, and lie about themselves to get ahead—and have no shame about it.
But NPD has a far more dangerous form called malignant narcissism which is not an official diagnosis, but is widely recognized by psychiatrists and psychologists as a combination of NPD and another serious condition, Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD).
ASPD is commonly called sociopathy. It shares characteristics with psychopathy but is not the same, occurring in about 2-3% of the population. It is an aggressive disorder highly prone to producing criminal and violent behavior.
But when you combine ASPD with NPD, you may get what renowned psychologist Erich Fromm coined in 1964 a malignant narcissist—a different creature altogether. This is a narcissist who is also sadistic, paranoid, and sociopathic. It is a person who is compelled, through the dynamics of their own psychology to increase their power forever—and to change the world around them to match their internal reality.
Fromm wrote:
A particular instance of narcissism which lies on the borderline between sanity and insanity can be found in some men who have reached an extraordinary degree of power. The Egyptian Pharaohs, the Roman Caesars, the Borgias, Hitler, Stalin, Trujillo—they all show certain similar features… It is a madness that tends to grow in the lifetime of the afflicted person. The more he tries to be god, the more he isolates himself from the human race; this isolation makes him more frightened, everybody becomes his enemy, and in order to stand the resulting fright he has to increase his power, his ruthlessness, and his narcissism. This Caesarian madness would be nothing but plain insanity were it not for one factor: by his power Caesar has bent reality to his narcissistic fantasies.
The nature of the malignant narcissist is that they have no limits. Because they assign their inflated self-worth to immutable characteristics—status, race, gender, etc.—they see their supremacy as absolute.
In the case of malignant narcissism, the object of narcissism is not anything the person does or produces, but something he has; for instance, his body, his looks, his health, his wealth, etc. The malignant nature of this type of narcissism lies in the fact that it lacks the corrective element that we find in the benign form… Malignant narcissism, thus, is not self-limiting, and in consequence it is crudely solipsistic as well as xenophobic. —Erich Fromm
The lack of self-regulation and limits of their disorder means the malignant narcissist will do anything to win, even if it means destroying themselves in the process. For them, the cliché “winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing” is quite literally true.
…when his narcissism is wounded, he feels threatened in his whole existence… only the destruction of the critic—or oneself—can save one from the threat to one’s narcissistic security. —Erich Fromm
Ultimately, every malignant narcissist wants to take the world with him when he dies. But very few have the power to do it.
Mathematics of Caligula
When his grandmother Antonia gave him some advice, [Caligula] was not satisfied merely to listen but replied: "Remember that I have the right to do anything to anybody."
—Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, The Life of Caligula
While it’s always a risky business to diagnose someone two millennia after their death, it’s a safe bet to say that Caligula was a quintessential malignant narcissist. His narcissism was legendary, as was his sadism, paranoia, sociopathy—and fundamental weakness.
I think I may fairly attribute to mental weakness the existence of two exactly opposite faults in the same person, extreme assurance and, on the other hand, excessive timorousness. For this man, who so utterly despised the gods, was wont at the slightest thunder and lightning to shut his eyes, to muffle up his head, and if they increased, to leap from his bed and hide under it. —Suetonius
The grandiosity, projection, and paranoia of the malignant narcissist is really a reflection of the core engine of their pathology: fear of failure; fear of shame; fear of annihilation.
The most excessive parts of Caligula’s reign came towards the end when his mayhem became the stuff of horror films—but his disorders were clear from the beginning.
And he came near assuming a crown at once and changing the semblance of a principate into the form of a monarchy. But on being reminded that he had risen above the elevation both of princes and kings, he began from that time on to lay claim to divine majesty; for after giving orders that such statues of the gods as were especially famous for their sanctity or their artistic merit, including that of Jupiter of Olympia should be brought from Greece, in order to remove their heads and put his own in their place. —Suetonius
Whenever someone with this set of pathologies attains power, they always see it as a new way to get even more power. There can never be peaceful coexistence or a fair contest for a malignant narcissist because they see conflict, deception, and violence as the most efficient ways to do the most important thing: protect their own self-image of dominance.
In short, there was no one of such low condition or such abject fortune that [Caligula] did not envy him such advantages as he possessed. —Suetonius
Seven Minutes
On Wednesday, Donald Trump had a Cabinet meeting in which he bragged about a non-existent negotiation with Sharpie for four minutes, and uncorked one of the most incomprehensible screeds ever heard in the White House—an epic, winding journey through the mind of a malignant narcissist who has lost his ability to regulate his behavior.
In the middle of a war, with his entire Cabinet around him, including the “War Secretary” and the Secretary of State, Trump desperately tried to burnish his self-image in the eyes of his sycophants and followers by exhibiting his dominance in the areas of property management, building materials, and lawsuits.
Trump boasted endlessly about his ballroom, Jerome Powell, the renovation of the Fed, and whatever else slipped into his stream of… consciousness, for seven straight minutes while his Cabinet tried to figure out when he wanted them to laugh.
As someone who has watched Trump closely for years, his internal reality has become fully detached from the objective world. He swims in a pool of propaganda curated by his own fantasies. The people around him just mirror him, reflexively.
During the usual round-robin North Korean glazing ceremony, Trump barely acknowledged his war. The reason for that, according to a senior White House official: “Trump is getting a little bored with Iran.”
After a reported 4,600 dead in five weeks from the war, almost all in Iran—with two Marine Expeditionary Units, the 82nd Airborne, and another 10,000 troops on the way to take over “the pipes” at Kharg Island—Trump has already lost interest. Instead, he wants to put his signature on our money, micromanage his demolishing of the Kennedy Center, and put his face on a commemorative coin.
Egosyntonicity
Malignant narcissism never gets better on its own. It is not self-limiting because it is what’s referred to in psychoanalysis as ego-syntonic. This means the behavior does not seem like a problem to the subject. It is in harmony with the goals of the ego, so the idea that there might be something wrong is always met with rejection and fury.
While professional help can be useful to a malignant narcissist early in his life, before the worst traits have been fully baked into the personality, there is never going to be a less malignant, less narcissistic, or less demented Donald Trump.
Caligula never got better. Nor did Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Amin, or Hussein. They all had a similar trajectory.
There are very few, if any, historical examples of malignant narcissists who gained significant geopolitical power and peacefully gave it back—or died quietly of old age. Instead they always try to keep what they have, even in death, or take the world down with them.
The story of America, unfortunately, will pivot based on our ability to prevent Donald Trump from continuing his inevitable, mathematical trajectory.
“So much for Caligula as emperor; we must now tell of his career as a monster.”
—Suetonius
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That "cabinet meeting" was, as Lawrence O'Donnell reminds us, watched and heard by the Iranians.
My biggest worry is he will take us all down with him. And of course that ties in nicely to the End Times scenario that Christian Nationalists like Hegseth broadcast.