[bheadmaster]

I think that if you're a public figure, people making fun of your physical traits is inevitable. There's a whole industry based on throwing cheap shots at celebrities, the yellow press. Ignoring them is the only rational response, because they feed off controversy - they're the journalist version of internet trolls.

The fact that a public figure would put so much effort into proving that they don't have small hands shows a comically non-proportional response to something they perceive as harmful to their public image. Such sensitivity could most plausibly be explained as a narcissistic injury - and considering Trump's general behavior (always talking how he's the best, the smartest, the most loved, etc.), it fits with the rest of the data.

Again, note that I'm European and my only interest in US politics is strictly one of entertainment. I actually like Trump, for reasons I won't explain here, as it's beyond the point. But I still think he's a narcissist.

[MrOwnPut]

I believe the "joke" is used far more than the few times he's addressed it. If anything, it's the people constantly saying it who are obsessed with Trump, not the other way around.

The media will stir up controversy anyway, you may as well reply and get your side in, otherwise they are dictating the conversation and truth.

And we're all narcissists... that's nature. It's such a pointless and empty statement.

[bheadmaster]

> And we're all narcissists... that's nature. It's such a pointless and empty statement.

I strongly disagree. Narcissistic personality disorder is very much real - I have diagnosed family members, and the way their mind works is completely different from one of a "normal" person. I can't quite explain it, but if you experienced it, I believe you'd know the difference.

You believing that makes me think that you either haven't had to deal with a real narcissist in your life, or are a narcissist yourself. The former is more likely, but I don't know you, so I can't speak with certainty.

[MrOwnPut]

There may be people with a bad case of it, I assume it's on a spectrum like many personality traits, but the term is heavily overused.

I see it mainly used when someone doesn't agree with the other person's line of reasoning.

Just right now, my denial of it nearly had you diagnosing me with it.

Might as well just go back to calling people heretics.

[bheadmaster]

> There may be people with a bad case of it, I assume it's on a spectrum like many personality traits, but the term is heavily overused.

> I see it mainly used when someone doesn't agree with the other person's line of reasoning.

I agree, but that's not what you said. What you said was "And we're all narcissists... that's nature. It's such a pointless and empty statement", declaring that narcissism, as a category, doesn't exist.

> Just right now, my denial of it nearly had you diagnosing me with it.

I did not "diagnose" you with it because you disagree with me. The reason I said it's a possibility is because you said that narcissism doesn't exist and that everybody's a narcissist. Depressed people think everyone is depressed, paranoid people think their paranoia is just normal skepticism. Our human mind projects a lot of our own qualities onto others. From your denial of existence of narcissism, I could only conclude that you either don't have a precise representation of narcissism in your mind, or that you do have a precise representation of narcissism but project it onto others as a self-defense mechanism. If my assessment is not true, please tell me what could the third reason be - why else would someone deny existence of narcissism?

But, we see now that you don't think that narcissism isn't real, only that Trump is just a little bit narcissistic, so this whole comment is pointless.

[MrOwnPut]

Yes I believe most people are a "little bit narcissistic" if you have to term it like that.

Do you believe it's binary or a spectrum?

At what point do you think people "cross over" to meet a threshold of being a "narcissist"?

[bheadmaster]

Rarely anything about human condition is binary. Narcissism, like all other mental illnesses, is a spectrum, indeed.

> At what point do you think people "cross over" to meet a threshold of being a "narcissist"?

I am not a psychiatrist so this is just my opinion, but as a rough approximation, a person is a "narcissist" if their insistence on having superior status to others starts impacting both them and people around them - a person who constantly has to state how superior they are to others, as if they're trying to remind others of how good they are and not letting them keep it out of their mind, is who I would suspect to be a narcissist. Also a person who can't handle any criticism without immediately pointing out how good they are despite the criticism, or getting angry and putting down the person who gave them that criticism. I could come up with more examples, but I hope you see the pattern.

The main marker of narcissism is the inability to not be praised. It actually stems from deep insecurity - deep down, narcissists actually believe that they're inferior in some fundamental way, so the narcissism is actually a self-defense mechanism that helps them not be miserable. It's basically a compulsion, and compulsion cause irrational behavior. That's why the small hands incident made me think of that.

There isn't a threshold, because as you said, it's a spectrum, and defining a threshold would make it binary. But Trump, from my perspective, is deep in the narcissistic territory, far above any regular people I know in my life. As a performer, it helps him a lot - narcissists are usually very charismatic and sure of themselves, making them excellent performers. But that doesn't make him less of a narcissist.