A Malignant Narcissist in a Debate

A Psychological After-Action Report

Famous last words to X-wing pilots attacking the Death Star.

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How strange and surreal it is that unlike almost all the major media institutions in America today, only us smaller players actually seem to want to solve, resolve and answer the mysteries, conflicts and questions that persist in America and the world, to the benefit of every decent person.

Frankly, it is stunning to come to the realization in 2024 that most U.S. media is now completely useless and it is up to us small players to help keep democracy’s flame alive by getting citizens the information they need to know what is really going on, and to be able to act accordingly.

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In the next four months, we will be battling for the reality and freedoms we all cherish against malignant narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths who would gladly destroy everything we hold dear to serve themselves, so we can use any help and support we can get in the battle against their toxic psychological warfare being used against us.

Like all of our readers of good intention, we want to truly understand what is going on in our lives, communities, countries and world, and work together to demystify our particular areas of expertise and show how they can play their part in solving our current problems and containing this global crisis to manageable levels.

This is why before we move on to new psychological subjects, an after-action report is required for our Triggering the Narcissist debate prep and analysis CNI had for President Biden. We can hopefully gain some deeper psychological insight into what really mattered regarding the first “debate,” and better understand the peril the institution of the Presidency and thus the country are facing. Please note that while it is easy to dismiss these warnings as hyperbolic, I assure everyone that they are not, and are all at or near DEFCON 1.

Political vs. Psychological Lens

As is usually the case, when a situation is viewed from a psychological lens instead of political ones, what is seen as important and what sets off red flags are often two very different things. Certainly we have had mountains of political analysis about the debate, while obviously from a CNI perspective, more psychological analysis is needed to help inform us how the debate was such a media fail no matter how Biden seemed, and that failure was outside of anything he did or did not do.

The Political lens

The only thing the world should have seen was a 77-year old, orange-sprayed, muskrat on his head, compulsively lying, pseudo-christofascist maga Republican hard-selling the GOP party platform of narcissism, alternate realities and their pathological agenda known as Mein Kampf 2025, oops I mean Project 2025.

Unfortunately, all corporate media wanted to talk about after was Joe Biden presented as a decent, honorable and honest 81-year-old, who is physically limited and perhaps a bit cognitively aged, and/or was just having a bad night, which should come as no surprise to anyone. The Presidency is well known to rapidly age everyone who takes it seriously and works hard at doing right by as many Americans and global citizens as possible.

Given the many restraints and de-evolution of the Republican Party since its inception, what Dark Brandon has accomplished as President has been impressive for a person of any age. Are there some in the administration I want gone or things done I can’t stand? Absolutely, but compared to the pure evil that trump and billionaire narcissists compulsively want to do to us and our country, it makes the choice in 2024 far more clear than it was in 2020.

The choice in 2024 is between the Democrats and the nazis who now call themselves Republicans.

Psychology also tells us trump was not the cause but an inevitable result.

I am certain like many of us, part of Biden’s struggle was in the disbelief of how a demented, delusional, lifelong con man, convicted felon, rapist and Russian useful idiot could be on a Presidential debate stage with him.

All Biden has done is work day and night with wisdom, experience and experts to do the best he can to fix all the damage trump did to America and the world. trump on the other hand constantly lied to and betrayed all the “suckers and losers” who voted for him. Clearly, he has been able to trick millions into believing he puts America First, when like all fascists, authoritarians and narcissists, trump puts himself first, last and always.

America First is literally a fascist slogan. Dr. Seuss knew it in the 1930s

Oh look, the fascist and racist far-right “Christian” Ku Klux Klan knew it too.

Another epic “media” fail

The next part of the political lens leading us into the psychological lens is told by yet more epic media fails that are marching us down the road to fascism and nazism. How else would one explain them ignoring the realities of the maga gop, the illegitimate christofascist Supreme Court and the hitler fanboy trump all mimicking the nazi playbook.

Of course, this epic fail seems more like purposeful incompetence now that the majority of our media has been captured by narcissistic white supremacists and/or authoritarians.

In hindsight, one thing I did not account for or fully understand in CNI’s pre-debate analysis was CNN’s choice to do zero fact-checking. This essentially gave trump’s estimated hundreds of lies the illusion of equal credibility with Biden’s words of speaking softly yet carrying a big truth stick.

Considering the New York Times in April got in trouble for badly attacking Biden for his age, it was no surprise that they jumped all over him and declared he should withdraw right after his debate performance. Additionally, what a surprise all the media owned by trump allies, which is most of it, distracted from trump’s relentless lies, by making it seem as if Biden’s physical issues matter more than trump being psychologically incapable of telling the truth.

I know, how shocking it is that Biden is old and his body is failing him a bit, because that has been the case with almost every wise elder throughout history. trump’s mind on the other hand failed long ago when it was too fragile to handle reality. He proudly claimed in Art of the Deal that he punched a second-grade music teacher and gave them a black eye, because he didn't think he knew anything about music,’ proving signs of trump’s toxic bullying and know-it-all narcissism were groomed early, there from birth, or both.

Seriously, anyone in the media who questions Biden’s fitness while not even mentioning trump’s massively disqualifying unfitness as a “pathological liar” and obvious malignant narcissist should be forced to immediately turn in their journalist card, because they are only reporting on the least important half of what is going on in the Presidential race regarding fitness, and thus is not a real journalist.

On one side, we have a decent, kind and experienced elderly man with some health concerns, but a solid and proven team around him vs. an elderly lifelong malignant narcissist and con man who is psychologically incapable of “public service,” and a rogues gallery of billionaire swamp creatures, authoritarians, christofascists and other kinds of nazis around him who want to destroy our rights and freedoms so they can steal and control everyone and everything in the country.

Make no mistake potential trump voters, that is what you are supporting, asking for, and will receive if this traitor becomes “Dear Leader,” like his dictator buddies Kim Jong-Il or wannabe Czar Vlad the Terrible. Orwell saw it all coming, he just didn’t have the empirical narcissist psychology research to help him break down the mentally disordered “why” of it all available to him at the time.

Debating a malignant narcissist

Almost every form of pathological narcissist is about image and illusion such as sounding good and looking good too trick the “suckers and losers” into giving to them or surrendering to them what they want in terms of money, sex, praise, attention, power, control, domination, or anything else their psychological disorder causes them to compulsively crave.

In other words, trump like just about every malignant narcissist who ever debates anyone, had a very simple and superficial plan. It was to look good, sound good, appear strong and make the other guy look weak. In this regard, trump’s debate presentation should be such a clear example in terms of how the malignant narcissist, sociopath and psychopath’s false charm and charisma works on and tricks so many in society.

Indeed those who read CNI rightly see no real charm and charisma in trump, but that is mostly because unlike trump supporters, we know the type well, see beneath the surface and facade, or both.

On the other hand, those of lower mental capacity, the Dunning-Krugers, low information voters and/or groomed follower narcissists only see the illusion of a normal human, and believe him when he plays the victim.

These would be people who don’t have the capacity, knowledge or skills to see beyond the superficial, or have been groomed, conditioned and/or propagandized from childhood via community, media, religion and/or politics with mind-controlling and cult-like narcissistic alternate realities. It is this kind of grooming and conditioning that makes them easy for trump to manipulate with superficialities that fit the narrative they have been sold or told they should believe.

It also defies belief that any serious journalist, presidential political advisor or debate coach who pays attention to trump does not know by now that he relentlessly lies to himself, about himself, and to and about everyone else.

To be fair, narcissists become naturals at believing whatever truth they need to believe in a moment, because they have learned or been conditioned to know that false yet believable sincerity works best in fooling people. In the narcissist’s self-serving mind, “it’s just business,” “nothing personal” and the “suckers and losers” who fall for it deserve to be taken.

Galbraith could have been talking about the behavioral patterns of pathological narcissists.

It is pretty simple, if malignant narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths are not allowed to dominate everyone else and get everything they want, they play the victim and portray those who stop them as being the “nasty,” “mean” and “selfish” ones, until they get their way and have everything.

However, even after they get everything they want, they will never stop because they are never satisfied and thus always need and want more, in the attempt to fill the hole inside themselves. By definition, those who are pathological can’t stop unless there is a firm barrier like prison to stop them.

Indeed it appears as if almost all narcissists feel mostly empty inside and this is why they rarely can be happy or satisfied and almost all seem incapable of ever understanding that true “happiness comes from within.” Instead, they compulsively try to fill their emptiness with material things and keep score in life that way, and yet never understand why happiness never lasts beyond a few fleeting moments.

Therefore, as poor of a performance as Biden put on, I challenge anyone to stand next to an entitled, never held fully accountable, TV trained, malignant narcissist and maintain coherence in a debate for an hour and a half. It is a lot easier said than done when nearly every single word that comes out of a poop throwing monkeys’ mouth is a gaslighting lie about you, themselves, your record, their record, your country, the world and reality itself.

By not fact-checking a pathological liar, CNN protected the poop throwing monkey.

As Dalton says in Roadhouse, “nobody ever wins a fight” and that is a million times truer when debating a malignant narcissist type, because they will continue to double down until you submit or stop them. Winning and losing are the only two options in their black and white minds. They can’t even grasp win-win situations unless they are incentivized to do so, and why you can almost never reach a fair deal with one. They truly believe they deserve everything and everyone else deserves nothing, and should be honored to let them have it all. It’s ridiculous but it’s how many think.

Additionally, trump voters have been groomed and conditioned with narcissism to see the criminal as a martyr, so his trials and convictions have no effect on them. Until Dems better understand and can articulate GOP narcissist psychology to the voters, they are fighting the pathological MAGA GOP with subconsciouses tied behind their backs.

It’s all various forms of unhealthy and disordered narcissism, and there are clear paths to defeating it, but first Biden’s team must acknowledge that the problem is at least as much psychological as it is political, and act accordingly by adding narcissism experts who can explain to them what they are up against, and how to defeat it from both the psychological vectors in conjunction with the political ones.

Obviously, loading Biden up with facts looked good on paper but let him down visually, orally, tactically and energetically. Hopefully it is clear now to them that triggering the narcissist should be given primary focus, because truth, facts and reality have no effect on trump in a debate, but his triggers sure will.

However, the more I think about it, the more I blame CNN management for shirking their responsibility to fact-check during the debate. If only they had highly experienced and informed journalists like Dana Bash or Jake Tapper as the moderators (oh, they did), or had a fact checker extraordinaire like Daniel Dale (of CNN) who recorded the 30k lies trump told when he was president. Oh wait!

Being a decent guy and speaking the truth in a debate takes no great effort if you are that person, but the fact is almost nobody is prepared to debate a malignant narcissist who is allowed to keep telling nothing but lies the entire time, because someone made the foolish or nefariously clownish and illogical decision that there will be no fact-checking of a pathological liar in a debate. In hindsight, that was clearly a recipe for making an unwatchable toxic soup of lies, poison and gaslighting garbage, regardless of how Biden looked, sounded or performed.

Just to prove what a disingenuous and/or ignorant clown show CNN now is, they defended their decision to not do any fact-checking with, “It is up to the candidates to challenge one another.’ As if anyone but a moderator can fact-check a malignant narcissist who tells nothing but lies for 40 minutes straight. Indeed yet another example of corporate media having no idea who and what they are dealing with, or pretending they don’t just to tip the scales in the narcissist’s favor.