Ok so, how did they do that?

I think “single for a reason” is what all that attachment theory shit is trying to help contextualize. It specifically sets the context as “single for a fixable reason” if you have the courage and humility to do the work.

Thanks for pointing that out, it was a very clever piece of manipulation.

It’s interesting that you keep putting words in my mouth and moving the goalpost back to where it actually started in this thread. I did not say “According to the DSM”, nor did I say anything about NPD or “cluster B”. I said he’s a textbook narcissist, which is true in layman’s terms.

You’re characterizing things as “slurs” and “weaponizing”, which is a textbook disinformation and confusion tactic, so good day to you doctor.

I don’t know how you concluded that I was using “narcissist” as an insult, because I wasn’t.

From the linked article, written 7 years ago, only a handful of months into his presidency when there was still a swell of mental health professionals maintaining that they should remain impartial:

Trump is an undisputed poster boy for narcissism. He demonstrates in pure form every single symptom described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM) criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, which I wrote in 1978. But lots of successful people are extremely narcissistic without being mentally ill — think most celebrities, many politicians, and a fair percentage of writers, artists, lawyers, doctors, and professors. To qualify for narcissistic personality disorder, an individual’s selfish, unempathetic preening must be accompanied by significant distress or impairment. Trump certainly causes severe distress and impairment in others, but his narcissism doesn’t seem to affect him that way.

In the 7 years since this article was written we’ve had plenty of people testify under oath about his severe distress and impairment, if that’s the criteria that was unmet at that point in time.

Yes, these are the textbook symptoms of a textbook narcissist. Incapable of empathy. Basically an unfillable hole that will pull in and destroy anyone around them.

Really, you don’t think the USSR invading Afghanistan before that plays any role?