Biden's Narcissistic Rage

I may be missing something; too much has been going on elsewhere—but I cannot see the case for Trump’s impeachment. What wrong has he done?

What I have heard is that he tried to force a foreign government to influence a US election by threatening to withhold aid.

Based on the released transcript, if it is accurate, this charge is plainly false. Perhaps some other evidence will emerge, but it seems obviously wrong to launch an impeachment investigation with no initial evidence that anything wrong has occurred.

All Trump did was ask the Ukraine to investigate a possible crime. If potential political opponents are immune from investigation, this presents an opportunity for any criminal: simply declare your intent to run for office, and you cannot be investigated, let alone prosecuted.

And isn’t that a great way to ensure that all our politicians are honest?

By this same standard, Pelosi and the House Democrats automatically deserve to be impeached as a body if they launch an impeachment investigation against Trump.

One could not imagine a more perfect example of hypocrisy.

It also, in the absence of decent evidence, looks like harassment—and probably Trump would have a case against the Democrats in civil court for damages were he an ordinary citizen.

Joe Biden, on the other hand….

People all over the spectrum have fixed on the idea that Trump is a narcissist. This shows our perilous ignorance about narcissism. Trump is boastful; people think that is what narcissism is. That’s true only in cartoons and on TV. Which is perhaps where Trump learned his shtick.

But whether or not Trump is a narcissist, Joe Biden is. And his reaction to the current events is illustrative of how narcissists operate.

He begins his latest press conference by ruling out the subject of his own misdeeds as a topic for discussion. Self-evidently, it is a fair topic for discussion, and should be the main topic, since Biden is standing here, not Trump.

But this is the typical narcissist tactic. Dysfunctional families always have “elephants in the room,” as Adult Children of Alcoholics call them: large areas of discourse that must be avoided. Nobody must mention the parent’s drinking problem, or the things they do when drunk, or their business failures, or the family abortion, or whatever else reflects badly on the narcissist.

Why? Because the narcissist is the prime consideration, to which all, and all else, must submit: nothing must make the narcissist look bad.

This alone demonstrates that Trump is not a narcissist: he has no problem with making himself look bad in the eyes of many. And he’ll talk about anything.

Step two, having been accused of corruption, Biden leads by accusing Trump of corruption. This is the standard narcissistic tactic of “deflection” or scapegoating. It is not complex: narcissists are not deep. It is the ancient schoolyard taunt, “I know you are, but what am I?”

In the last few days, Rudy Giuliani has called Biden “the most corrupt vice president in modern times.” Biden actually takes this accusation word-for-word and hurls it at Trump: “the most corrupt president in modern times.” He acts like an automaton. Tellingly, “corrupt” is not the apt word in referring to Trump the politician, even were the current charges against him true. “Corrupt” is generally used to refer to improperly amassing money—as Biden and his son are accused of doing. We see Goering as corrupt: he pilfered paintings and lived the high life. We do not see Hitler as “corrupt.” Nobody is accusing Trump of trying to shake down the Ukraine for money; if money were his object, he would have stayed in the private sector. He was surely making more money there.

Biden then makes a show of finger-thrusting anger; the next inevitable narcissistic response when challenged. It is like a childhood tantrum. It is, in fact, a childhood tantrum, by a child who never grew up. And then, inevitably, he deflects this on to Trump as well, describing him as acting emotional and irrational. Just as Biden is acting while saying so.

Considering what he is being forced to deal with, Trump is demonstrating surprising calm, surprising level-headedness. He fights back, and no holds barred; but if one pays attention, always in a measured way, never in anger. For him, it seems to be purely business. His great talent is that he seems to take nothing personally.

A rare talent for a “narcissist.”

The next inevitable narcissistic tactic on display in Biden’s press conference is the naked lie. M. Scott Peck called narcissists “people of the lie.” Confronted with obvious proof that he had lied about never discussing Ukrainian affairs with his son—photos of him and Hunter playing golf with two executives from the Ukrainian oil company—he simply ignores the evidence as though it does not exist, saying “I stand by my statement.”

The typical narcissist, Biden lies even though his audience has to know he is lying, and he has to know that they know.

Biden of course deflects as well, insisting that Trump is a great liar. Here, of course, he has a case. That is his good luck.

Notice that narcissists do very well as second bananas. Biden was a near-perfect vice president, from Obama’s point of view: the obsequious servant, publicly praising and faithfully echoing the official line. This is something rarely understood, although it is plain in the original Greek legend of narcissus. Narcissists are naturally dependent personalities; they are not leaders. They are actually leaning for emotional support on those they try to dominate: they must be fed by their “supply.” They therefore easily segue into the Echo or “co-dependent” role: being fed from above.

It looks as though, whatever else it may do, this current Ukrainian furor will finish Biden’s chances to be Democratic presidential candidate. That seems almost providential, in terms of the good of the American nation.

It might also hurt Trump. It is as likely to help him. Even kill him, politically: you are left with Mike Pence.

It seems, therefore, that the entire Democratic Party is throwing a narcissistic tantrum.

But that perhaps is a subject for another column.