The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump

"This is a book of essays, mostly by psychiatrists. The majority of books about Trump focus on his actions. This is a book about why he does what he does. It presents a range of interpretations about what Trump’s underlying personality disorder is, but there is consensus that he suffers from one. There’s a little bit of self-interest in this choice, because I wrote one of the book’s essays based on my own experience with Trump. My own belief is that the person Trump became is deeply attributable to having a brutal father and a neglectful mother. The characteristics that define a sociopath are callousness, hostility, impulsivity. Is there any reasonable person who would say that doesn’t define Donald Trump? Trump isn’t a vampire; he can’t live forever. The silver stake for Trumpism is changing our culture. We need a developmental leap. We need a renewed focus on human development, not just child development but also adult development. That’s what I spent the last thirty years of my life doing—figuring out how to motivate people to take a more embracing view of the world—less selfish and more empathic. What Really Matters was my response to—and my first attempt to do penance for—writing The Art of the Deal . My experience with Trump had left me feeling that the world he represented and the way he lived was the opposite of the way I wanted to live. I set out to learn from people who were more focused on wiser ways of living. What Really Matters is the story of my own search, and that search continues to this day."