Triggering the Narcissist

CNI debate prep and analysis.

My brother-in-arms on Team Democracy, D. Earl Stephens just put out a piece called “How Joe Biden Wins the Debate” - “And why the lawless (donald trump) has our broken media to thank for getting within a mile of this forum…”

Of course I knew his piece would be tough, fair and on point fire so I reposted it before I read it with the somewhat obvious comment, “If CNI was asked for a debate strategy, the focus would be on things that trigger narcissists.”

Within a few minutes of my first coffee, I quickly realized I needed to push aside an urgent almost finished Supreme Court piece and quickly review the even more urgently needed understanding, insights and psychological strategies Counter-Narcissist Intelligence could provide the President in his debate with a narcissist.

Biden Campaign Status

To be clear, it is my most sincere hope that the following potential strategies for triggering a narcissist like trump are just redundancies that Team Biden already has covered, because it would be extreme political malpractice of the highest order that could cost humanity democracy if the President’s debate team does not have a group of narcissist psychology experts specifically advising them on how to deal with and trigger trump.

Dear Team Biden, if you need more help calculating the trump psychological attack vectors, CNI will be honored to answer the call in defense of democracy. Ironically, even if you tell a narcissist like trump how you are going to trigger them, it won’t matter if you hit it just right, but you never want to show too many cards to a bunch of cheaters.

Like most people, before Biden’s Rope-a-dope knockout of trump and conservative media’s fake news projection narrative that was meant to transfer trump’s dementia to Biden, I had serious doubts that Team Biden had more than a cursory understanding of how to use psychology to defeat trump, or take the next step of deprogramming the maga with the capacity to escape the narcissistic delusion, division and cultism they have been groomed with, and to return themselves to reality, humanity and democracy, aka “the American way.”

I still have many of those same doubts but frankly after the State of the Union, if that tough, forceful and presidential Biden shows up at the debate, everything will be fine. If not, all bets are off.

CNI Strategies

I want to make it clear that while CNI is a heat-seeking missile for finding, deciphering and exposing dangerous forms of narcissists playing the game of global domination with our lives, I have never explored tactics or strategies for how anyone would go about triggering someone before, so others will certainly be way ahead in knowing how to set off trump’s triggers. The question is, are they sharing this knowledge or hiding it?

Frankly, a major tell in the difference between a narcissist and us normies is unlike narcissists, we don’t feel big or get off on triggering people, so don’t go looking for it, and thus have no need to hone this kind of antisocial dark art.

Over the years and with the clarifying guidance of CNI philosophy, I did develop a finely honed skill at triggering or baiting narcissists who tried and failed to trigger or bait me with their tweets, but it was almost always an in the moment reactionary test of the troll’s psychology, so I want to make clear that most of us are exploring how Biden and Dems can systematically trigger trump in strategic ways for the first time together. I did hear George Conway rattle off several ways to trigger trump on a podcast this past week and I do recall a few interesting bits, so he is one of those who is somewhat ahead.

However, in the spirit of Team Democracy, all clever and/or funny ideas to trigger trump in a debate are most welcome in the comment section. Who knows, it might get passed on to the Biden campaign if it is good enough. Indeed the “wisdom of the crowd” can be very fruitful in coming up with devastating new ideas or more precise triggers to use on trump at a debate, or in self-defense from another narcissist in the present or future, when it is called for, and safe to use.

Recognize “wisdom of the crowd” is another area where we are playing to our strengths and to narcissists’ weaknesses. Most narcissists are like trump. They are stupid, dumb and a horrible strategists because they arrogantly believe they know everything and are the best at everything, including strategy, so only keep their own consul.

“Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power.” - Nancy Pelosi

All they are really good at is being heat-seeking missiles for their own self-serving compulsions and to have little to no conscience to get in the way of acquiring whatever, wherever or whomever they target for narcissistic supply.

The truth is trump is impulsive and an easily triggered reactionary like just about every other grandiose and malignant narcissist, because his fragile ego cannot handle anything other than he is a “stable genius” “winner” and his genius answer to every question is “what helps trump win or save his own skin.” Literally nothing else matters to him.

If the Biden people were to ask for a CNI version of a debate strategy when facing an obvious grandiose egomaniac like trump, of course it would need to be customized to each specific pathology and circumstance, but the general recommended focus for all could easily have the tagline, “hammer on things that trigger narcissists on offense and stay calm, cool, collected and above it all on defense. Essentially, you want to trigger them and not let them trigger you, once you have chosen your battlefield and your best opportunity to reveal the devastating truth about them.

Defense

Let’s start with the much simpler to outline, harder to follow defensive need to stay calm, cool and collected. The primary reason for this is the narcissist’s default is to project all their tells, bad behaviors and negative symptoms onto their opponent, regardless of whether it is in a global debate or one on one. If you let their insane accusations trigger you, they will be able to convincingly say to outside observers, “See, they are the crazy one, not me.”

This kind of big projected lie works for them far more often than most conceive, because their complete and utter shamelessness allows them to sell the lie with complete conviction, and it is this narcissist conviction when telling a lie that can fool almost anyone.

The Rules: Advantage Biden

…for being a decent human being, having experience, knowledge, empathy and not being a malignant narcissist. i.e. The foundational traits, baseline skills, emotional intelligence and mental heath requirements of every good President.

As for the rules of the debate, as our regular readers know, CNI continuously preaches that the only things that stop a narcissist from bad behavior and doing whatever they want are firm barriers, therefore ideologically speaking, having microphones muted when time is up, is a firm barrier that shuts trump up. If you suffered through the 2020 debates, you will remember trump repeatedly interrupted and heckled Biden, now he can’t do that, so a win for Biden in the CNI book.

While I completely agree that some trump insanities will be missed when his mic is off, he may look even more unhinged flailing about with no sound or audience. Additionally, from a CNI perspective, the firm barrier of forcing him to shut up when it is not his turn and him not being able to interrupt Biden against his will is more psychologically solid in helping to provide Dems and reality with favorable results.

If CNN was really about public service, they would have in the rules that the mics remain hot even when muted for anything that is newsworthy, but with CNN’s shift right after a new pro-trump billionaire bought his way onto their board, it would be pleasantly surprising if they were to reveal any of trump’s megalomaniacal and delusional perceptions of reality via muted mic.

Cheat Codes: Always remember, there are few things that bother a narcissist more than a firm boundary, because they think they should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. That is why firm boundaries hit them so hard, not that they will ever admit it, unless caught and want to brag about how clever they are.

This is how they rescue their damaged egos from narcissistic collapse. They justify how getting caught was a win for them. Ironically, most want everyone else to be forced via punishment to follow the rules and laws while they believe they are above the law. Logic, fairness and justice are never included in their one-way dictatorship view of the law. Must be another coincidence that trump’s perception of rules, laws and punishments are exactly the same as clinical-level narcissists.

Again, also always remember that clinical-level narcissists normally cannot distinguish between their fantasy world and reality, so as crazy as it seems, as long as they are winning in their own minds, everyone else is a loser who has no idea what geniuses they are (in their minds).

Narcissist psychology also highly indicates no audience is greatly to Biden’s advantage as well, because grandiose narcissists want to perform for a crowd, and there are few things they crave more than attention and reaction from a crowd.

trump’s energy level will be telling. If forced to predict, I would guess he will come out guns blazing hopped up on the amphetamines he and his minions project onto Biden, and then fade out a bit in the end, but then again trump is no doubt supplied with the best drugs in the world so they may stay strong throughout. Of course all this drug talk is speculation but it is something that some former insiders have reported, and hard to dismiss with trump’s often erratic and addled behaviors.

No notes also seems to be a big winner for Biden because he is a highly experienced, practiced and most importantly extremely knowledgeable lifelong technocrat, while trump is a highly experienced, practiced and most importantly lifelong delusional narcissist, ignoramus and used car salesman, con man who will likely miss his notes. Certainly at Biden’s age, not being rudely interrupted will help him maintain his train of thought. However, I have no doubt that if the trump people could sneak an earpiece past everyone, they would. I suspected it at least once in a 2016 debate.

The debate predicted not to happen

“Well, it looks like we’re going to get the presidential debate Thursday that too many of the so-called experts on the Left said would never happen.

According to them, and their relentless drum-beating on social media and elsewhere, the clownish Donald Trump was going to chicken out because he clearly doesn’t have command of even the most rudimentary subject matter it takes to argue literally anything with a modicum of competency.

While they’re right about this, of course, it would have been best if they approached the whole thing by just keeping their mouths shut, or better yet cleverly building expectations for Trump. Instead, all their braggadocio has had the undesired effect of lowering the bar so much, that any 300-lb., orange buffoon could clear it, all while frantically waving his fat, little hands and spitting up gooey adjectives all over himself.

This was a huge tactical mistake, and one I’m guessing Joe Biden and his campaign are not real happy about.”

From D. Earl’s assessment, I had missed “experts on the Left” and “relentless drum-beating” saying trump would never debate. I had no idea that many were predicting he “was going to chicken out because he clearly doesn’t have command of even the most rudimentary subject matter it takes to argue literally anything with a modicum of competency.”

Don’t get me wrong, I understand why they thought he would chicken out and I recognize I have said similar things here about him lacking a “rudimentary” “competency” and worse, but I completely agree that if “experts on the Left” were raising expectations for Biden and lowering trump’s to baby-level, it is yet another example of “the Left” self-sabotaging by failing to understand how the most basic political and psychological concepts like “expectations” work.

From the recent “Reading trump’s Mind”, here is the CNI prediction for trump doing or not doing the debate. It is easy to assume that after Biden’s quick uptick in the polls after trump became a convicted felon tipped any doubting scales, as if there was ever any doubt that grandiose narcissist trump would allow his people to force him to give up the kind of attention he craves.

“It’s simple. If trump is convinced he doesn’t need the debate he likely won’t do it, but if he subconsciously knows his polls are slipping, he probably will. The key to the latter part of this question is how functional he really is, because with the constant gibberish that comes out of his mouth, sometimes the answer is not at all.

However, it will also be almost impossible for the grandiose narcissist to give up so much attention and not be totally certain he will win, because of his arrogance. In fact, it is a step too far to think any doubt of his imagined debating greatness would creep into his conscious mind for more than a millisecond. Remember, a narcissist must always be winning in their own mind, or it may trigger a psychological collapse.” - “Reading trump’s Mind” - June 12, 2024

Offense

Obviously there is a fine line between saying and doing things to trigger a narcissist and getting into the mud with a pig or a poop throwing contest with a monkey. This is why your mudslinging and poop throwing in contrast to how a reactionary narcissist does it, needs to be strictly strategic. Always remember, the point is to trigger the narcissist, not to get down with them into the mountains of mud or poop they call home.

Perhaps the greatest way to defeat a narcissist and not coincidentally cult leaders is to get them to reveal themselves in public. The best part is, if they are truly the pathological narcissist you think they are, even if they know it is coming, it is highly unlikely they will be able to contain their rage if you keep hitting them at their weaknesses. Of course, fishing for weaknesses is exactly what they try to do to everyone they meet, to see who they can or cannot control and manipulate. Therefore there is certainly nothing wrong with fishing for their weaknesses when the future of humanity is at stake.

Again, I have never tried to hone triggering narcissists skills but just off the top of my head, some of the most seemingly obvious things to trigger trump with would be saying things such as:

• He lost the election (still can’t publicly admit it)

• He is a bad businessman and a cheat (how many bankruptcies, failed businesses and stiffed vendors again?)

• He is a loser (keep hitting him on losing in 2020 since he cannot admit it publicly)

• He is an unstable idiot (inject bleach to cure covid. “C’mon man”)

• He cheats at golf (loser can’t stand to lose and can’t even be honest about the square footage of his NY apartment)

• He is not a billionaire (the clown determines his own worth)

• He is putin’s puppet ( every single thing he did regarding Russia was off of Putin’s wishlist. Not suspicious at all!

• He is a convicted felon (Stormy says to ask him if his tiny, limp, shriveled mushroom fell off yet)

• He is an adjudicated rapist who owes E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for his sexual abuse

Carroll really gets under trump’s skin so Biden should claim he is doing trump a favor by cutting off his mic.

“Honestly donald, I’m doing you a favor by not letting the audience at home hear what an unstable moron and unhinged lunatic you are. You know, the trump who cost himself an extra $78 million to E. Jean Carroll, because he couldn’t keep his big mouth shut. Seriously, you should be thanking me for saving your sorry orange ass again.”

OK, probably never going to happen because it is not very presidential but a boy can dream, because it would be so epic and wizard if Biden really did say it. In truth, just mentioning E. Jean Carroll a few times should trigger him up a notch or two, or possibly take him over the edge, if Biden keeps hitting that or a similar button.

Remember, the ultimate goal is to trigger trump’s long overdue complete and total frothing at the mouth public meltdown, where large men in white coats must take him away in a straightjacket, or at least trigger several small meltdowns that make clear to even Republicans that this orange shitgibbon is a demented narcissist of biblical proportion.

If Biden keeps hitting enough of trump’s triggers over and over, as trump will attempt to do to him, one or more of them are bound to set him off, cause him to lose it, and/or reveal some of the demented narcissist he is for all to see.

Again, the goal is to trigger a full-blown narcissistic meltdown and collapse on live TV, and for the ignorant of how narcissistic disorders work, to see the non-stable non-genius for who he really is, an irreparably damaged baby-man who has no business being dog-catcher (It’s telling he was the first President in 100 years without a dog), let alone President of the United States. Really Republicans in name only?

Hillary was on the right track when she said in their debate that trump is a man “who can be baited with a tweet.” The hindsight mistake she and her team made was they didn’t keep hammering that point and continuing to empty every triggering arrow in her quiver again and again, until he melted down. That is not sinking to his level. That is using his disqualifying narcissist psychology against him.

Conclusions

“Don’t get me wrong, under normal circumstances I think debates can be incredibly helpful and have a real affect on a race. They can showcase a candidate’s ability to think on his or her feet, remain cool under pressure, and present a cogent vision for America under their stewardship.” - D. Earl

From a CNI perspective, if Biden can show he can “think on his feet, remain cool under pressure, and present a cogent vision for America,” that is a solid win. If he can trigger a few obvious “not ready for prime time” glitches in trump’s disordered operating system, that is a strong win. If all the right psychological buttons are pushed right, he could trigger a full-blown meltdown/narcissistic collapse and then it is game over, but that of course is far too much to hope for.

However it turns out, the most likely behaviors we will see is Biden being a bit senior but hopefully as solid as he was for the State of the Union, and trump will be the “bull in a China shop” he thinks makes him look strong. The truth is this behavior is his narcissist pathology and as CNI’s most popular piece has established, the trump playbook is an illusion.

trump has been an global disaster, yet media is so broken many believe opposite.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to make taking down a narcissist like trump sound any easier than it is, so please keep in mind that this is just an off the top of my head, brainstorming, stream of consciousness session on how to trigger narcissists like trump and simultaneously beat them in a public debate, the fate of humanity is resting on. No pressure.

In other words, this is far from the precision that is recommended and usually needed to take down a narcissist in public, let alone one trying to steal our country out from under us, but hammering on things that trigger narcissists on offense and staying calm, cool, collected and above it all on defense seems Biden’s next chess move.

However, if we can help Biden and the Dems figure out how to trigger trump and the Republicans without letting them trigger us, it is a “wisdom of the crowd” problem/solution puzzle all of us want solved. Therefore, we all must participate in the defense of our liberties, rights, freedoms and democracy that trump and his right-wing billionaire oligarch owners will take away from us if we don’t stop them.

Dear freedom-loving Boomers, Xs Ys and Zs, right now we are the generations we are waiting for, because if we don’t save ourselves now, no one else will be able to save us from a new Dark Age of narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths who will either rule us, enslave us or kill us all in the process. It is our turn to stop the barbarians at the gate. “Let’s roll.”

The debate follow-up: