Does Donald Trump Have OCD?

I think Donald Trump has OCD.

I'm not kidding. I'm absolutely serious. I think the leading Republican candidate for President of the United States, has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

I have a friend, whom I've known for many years, who I am convinced, although he has never told me this personally, has OCD. I see the same conversational "tics" in Donald Trump.

My friend tells me the same things over and over again. He has told me that he can't control his conversational habits.

It first dawned on me that Mr. Trump might be afflicted in this way when I became aware of his obsessive need to explain what had already been explained, over and over, specifically, why he did not get 50% of the vote in the early Republican primaries.

I'm no psychologist. I'm a typical example of someone who gets a little bit of knowledge on line on the internet and runs with it. A clinical psychologist could make a monkey out of me in no time, but my (limited) understanding is that OCD is an anxiety driven mental disorder.

For some reason Mr. Trump wants to make sure that people know that it was not his fault that he did not get 50% of the Republican vote in the early primaries, because nobody, in a field of 16 or 17 candidates could have done it.

That bit of minutiae, this late in the campaign, is important to Donald Trump.

I started reading the transcript of Mr. Trump's interview with the Washington Post's editorial board. Read it:

www.washingtonpost.com...

It is like a therapy session. It's a conversation without substance, in which the Post's editorial board struggles to get a straight specific answer out of Mr. Trump.

As I read it, I thought to myself, "He's nuts."

I think this is a serious problem. I would like to see it addressed by professional commentators qualified to assess Mr. Trump's behavior and mental state.

Here is a link for members of the press. Ask yourself, "Do the observations and suggestions made on this page seem relevant to the personality and behavior of Donald Trump?"

www.helpguide.org...

Not sure, but salesmen repeat the same stuff over and over again, because that's a good way to pass the message, same with publicity.

www.youtube.com...

Question: "Do we all worship the same God, Christian and Muslim?"
George W. Bush: "I think we do. We have different routes of getting to the Almighty."

Question: "Do Christians and non-Christians and Muslims go to heaven in your mind?"
George W. Bush: "Yes they do. We have different routes of getting there."

That kind of insanity makes OCD look like child's play. I've believed that Americans don't care if their leaders are crazy for a long time.

originally posted by: Substracto
Not sure, but salesmen repeat the same stuff over and over again, because that's a good way to pass the message, same with publicity.

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” ― George W. Bush


www.youtube.com...

a reply to: Substracto

That's a good point. He has repeated a lot of stuff that is campaign related. I heard him repeat, "I am going to build a wall on the border with Mexico." over and over, but I didn't connect that or any of his other sales pitch type repetitions with OCD.

The 50% one seemed odd, more revelatory of a more personal and, to me, somewhat irrational preoccupation.

a reply to: Profusion

That's another good point. I think one could make a case that the American "national character", itself, is, to a marked degree, "obsessive compulsive".

This really became apparent to me during the aftermath of 9/11, when I realized that no matter what could be shown, evidentially, America was, in it's own eyes, blameless, to the point where America would rather kill a million Iraqis overseas than deal with a problem at home in Washington.

a reply to: ipsedixit

I think it has been proven with studies that people in positions of power might suffer from personality disorders above average, which is damn scary!

HE CAN'T STOP WINNIG!

As long as it's not whatever this is.

Having OCD is no bar to success. Howard Stern has OCD, and so does Howie Mandell and so do other people in show business. I'm far from being an expert in anything except my own life experience, so I don't pretend to know the outer perimeter of what qualifies as obsessive compulsive behavior, clinically. Is germ phobia OCD? I don't know.

Excessive hand washing is, I believe.

Is a person with OCD manipulable, on the basis of predictable OCD style behavior patterns? Can an OCD sufferer's buttons be pushed more easily?

There was an interesting article recently in the Manchester Guardian that canvassed some of the international reactions in government and diplomatic circles to the advent of Donald Trump as a serious presidential candidate. The reaction was almost universally negative or at the least, apprehensive.

www.theguardian.com...

The notable exception was Vladimir Putin. Webster Tarpley believes that Putin must have been given bad advice on Trump, and not realize that Trump is a fascist. I'm not so sure about that. I think Putin knows exactly what Trump is. I think Putin believes that Trump will be useful to Russia.

Central and eastern European leaders may be particularly wary after Trump declared Nato was “obsolete”. Judy Dempsey, senior associate at Carnegie Europe, said: “What Trump has said about Nato is music to the Kremlin’s ears. If that is what an American thinks of Nato, the bedrock about the transatlantic alliance, which Russia is always trying to divide and split and weaken, well, Trump is handing them a silver platter.”

Last December Putin called Trump “a very colourful and talented man” and “the absolute leader” in the US presidential race, and since then Russia has remained just about the only place on the planet outside the US where the idea of a Trump presidency is viewed positively. In a YouGov poll of all G20 countries, Russia was the only one where a majority of people backed Trump over Clinton.

I think Trump has a hyper sensitivity to criticism, which might be reflective of some anxiety related disorder. People have speculated that Mr. Trump's parents were too self centered to give him the attention he needed to develope a balanced personality as a child. He has said that he was a "handful" to his parents, so they sent him to "military school", where he "did very well".

This is almost a classic paradigm.

Mr. Trump responded very well to being praised by Mr. Putin. He purred like a cat.

a reply to: ipsedixit

He has to repeat his message in every interview and rally. How can he assume that if he says things once or twice that everyone will get the message? You and I might watch news more often than some people. Some people might only watch occasionally, and he knows that. If they only watch one interview all election season, he needs for his message to get through.

That is not OCD. If anything, he has a maximum type A personality. Most very successful people are type A.

These people are high-achievers. They are great at multi-tasking unrelated duties and jobs. They usually perform beyond par.
They are constantly in a race to achieve higher goals. When goals are attained, they set much loftier aspirations. They can’t rest on their laurels.
They find it difficult to accept failure. It is never one of their realities. For them, others fail, they don’t.
They feel like time is an opponent that they have to beat every day. They will work their butts off to exhaustion.
This severe sense of urgency makes them edgy. Relaxation is difficult for them.
They need to compete. If there is no obvious competition, they create one.
They are driven people, usually self-driven. Their stress levels are generally high.

examinedexistence.com...


ETA: Also, note that ALL of the candidates repeat their messages in every rally and interview. For the above mentioned reasons. Although I don't believe that all candidates are Type A. Clinton is probably type A. I'm not sure what Cruz's "type" is. I don't think Cruz's insecurities put him in the A category.

a reply to: BlueAjah

I take your point, but I think there is more going on with Trump. Did you read his interview with the Washington Post editorial board? The Post has called his foreign policy, "inconsistent, incoherent, incomprehensible". I don't think he knows what he is talking about in a number of areas, not just foreign policy.

Is it possible that a Type A person might strive into the situation described by the "Peter Principle", that is, of promotion beyond one's level of competence? In fact it happens all the time, but I think that phenomenon and the phenomenon of the Type A personality, itself, confuse the issue. They make it hard to diagnose Mr. Trump as having OCD, but I strongly suspect that he does.

Is it important to know that? I think so.

When your campaign manager has to intervene for you and answer a question in an interview with the editorial board of an important national newspaper, there is a problem.

a reply to: ipsedixit

That was their opinion. There have been many positive responses to his foreign policy speech by people who know things. (See the thread on that subject.) You have to consider the agendas of the sources of criticism.

I see no sign that Trump is OCD. He feels strongly about his message and has a passion that drives him to get that message across.

a reply to: BlueAjah

The issue is settled for you but it is not for me. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this. I do appreciate your civility, though.

a reply to: Konduit

Bush is the best, all his foolishness was just part of his ninja skills...





We got fooled again

originally posted by: ipsedixit
Having OCD is no bar to success.

Sometimes it can be an asset in your job.



I don't know why, but I have to play that video 10 times whenever I watch it.

I dont think hes got OCD.
look at how many times obama said 911 !

I do think he may have a hart or blood pressure problems.
look at how red his face is. he may just drink to much.
thats not good for his health too.

Donald Trump is a master at NLP and he knows how to target the right demographic that are easily influenced by his rhetoric.

Most people can see thru his BS; that's why I'm concerned for his supporters.

There is an inherent danger in the cult of personality that Trump has created.

I still wear my black shirt with a giant "W" on it with "The President" written below..

George W. Bush is a good man...period....

-Christosterone

He's a dealmaker/salesman/marketer extraordinaire.

Ever see an ad for Coca Cola? All the time, right? Do you think there's a person in any developed area on the planet that doesn't know what Coca Cola is, or what you do with it? Marketing. Repetition repetition repetition.

That's what the political process has become more and more. And no one running knows more about marketing than Trump. That's what's gotten him past 17 other Republicans, all experienced campaigners for the most part.

He knows what his base wants to hear, and he says it.

It's political campaigning 101 in national politics that you run to the fringe to get a nomination, then run back to the center to win the general election. If I know that, I'm sure Trump's probably heard it somewhere. And that's exactly what will happen. Because he's marketing the ultimate product - himself. And he knows it's a numbers game. You aren't going to get 100%, all you need is enough to win. And the votes of 10 idiots are worth 10 times the vote of a single wise person.

a reply to: Christosterone

There are dozens of us that think that way, dozens!


I do think the way he spoke during his presidency was an act to apeal the public, he is quite eloquent in some interviews after