Social Darwinism gives some individuals the opportunity to justify their pathological narcissism. This was precisely the case with Hitler and many other individuals who unleashed their destructive desires on others, hiding behind baseless theoretical concepts. The results showed the psychological profile of social Darwinists as clearly dysfunctional in terms of personal life quality. They express characteristics like admiration for power and desire to dominate, pursue one’s goals at all costs, exploitative attitude towards people, and hostility. The supreme idea that only those who do not sympathize with others and are ready to use them can be successful and survive is far from the principles of liberal democracy. Power and money are more important than honesty and reciprocity. Cool, cynical manipulation is accepted as an effective way of achieving one’s own goals. These beliefs reflect the supreme principle of naive social Darwinism – only the strongest, best adapted to life in the ’competitive social jungle’ can survive.
People who strongly believe that the social world is a competitive jungle appear anti-social, expressing aversive, antagonistic, and selfish attitudes. This general personality feature typically contains Machiavellianism, narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy. The essence of narcissism is self-absorption, high self-esteem, feeling of uniqueness and being better, arrogance, and an instrumental attitude towards people used to maintain an unrealistic self-image. Narcissists believe they are unique or “special” and can only be understood by other special people. What’s more, they are too good for anything average or ordinary. They only want to associate and be associated with other high-status people, places, and things. As noticed by Leary and colleagues, social Darwinists’ self-esteem is a reaction to social disapproval and lack of recognition. This conclusion is probably in line with the observed elevated level of hostility if we assume that hostility of narcissist persons usually draws from the sense of being depreciated.
The narcissism and manipulation of powerful rulers is legendary. Examples of excessive preoccupation with building shrines to themselves range from the Egyptian Pharaohs to Louis XIV of France. One is their characteristics is dishonesty. They are quite willing to distort the truth so as to make themselves appear more impressive, more successful, better, and smarter than everyone else. Conversely, they protect themselves from unwelcome news by surrounding themselves with yes men and yes women. Bearers of bad news are severely sanctioned, or banished from the inner circle whether it is the court of King Louis IV, or the cabinet of Donald Trump. Consider Trump’s statement: “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not happening.” It makes victims question their reality, becoming even more dependent on the gaslighter as the only source of true information. Will Trump, the narcissist and ultimate media manipulator, finally pay the price for his tactics?
Studies conclude that higher social class is associated with increased entitlement and narcissism. Paul Piff from the University of California, Berkeley Psychology Department says that wealth gives rise to a sense of entitlement, a sense that one deserves more good things in life than others, which in turn gives rise to an increased or inflated sense of self-importance, vanity, grandiosity, and omnipotence (narcissism). Piff is a specialist in the area of wealth and personality, as well as its effects on behavior. He has found that upper-class individuals are more likely to lie and cheat when gambling, cut people off when driving, and endorse unethical behavior in the workplace. Social narcissism represents the dark side of intelligence and communication skills. As humans become more intelligent, as we improve our ability to communicate with others, our prospect for understanding reality increases, but our prospect for massive self-deception increases to the same degree.
“Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise,” observes Sigmund Freud. Lying allows a person to establish perceived control over a situation by manipulating it. It’s a defense mechanism that (seemingly) prevents them from being vulnerable, that is, to not open up and reveal their true self to another person. A narcissistic liar is a person who lies to get what they want. They are often charming and persuasive. But their primary goal is always self-promotion. They want to present themselves in a certain light and believe they can get away with it. Lies can be used to get others to form false beliefs and garner their support. It is well known that false information can influence people’s thinking even after they come to realize the information is false. The cure for the present epidemic of narcissism is for us to stop lying to ourselves about what we think we know.
Narcissists tend to communicate differently than other people. Their words are often used as tools or weapons. Their language often disguises their true intent. In addition to hoarding conversation time, narcissistic communicators also tend to control and direct conversation topics. They focus on what they want to talk about, the way they want to talk about it, with little or no consideration for alternate views. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four doublespeak: use of euphemisms, jargon, vagueness, intentional omission, misdirection, and idioms in order to obscure the truth and engage in Machiavellian behavior. Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. When a narcissist is criticized, their inflated sense of self is damaged. Any perceived negative feedback, even if offered in gentle or productive ways, can easily result in outbursts of narcissistic rage. A narcissist cannot tolerate threats to their massive egos and grandiose self-image.
Autocrats tend to have a blend of narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder traits such as a lack of empathy, grandiosity, thirst for power and control, lying and deceit, indifference to conventional laws or rules or morality, many also associated with narcissistic personality disorder. Enablers may support the narcissist’s behavior out of fear, love, or a misguided sense of loyalty. Autocrats surround themselves with their political cronies and lackies rather than competent people – have no way of eliciting, recognizing or assessing useful criticism. They are unwilling to hear anything negative – that leads to very bad decisions. There’s no doubt that Donald Trump was the instigator of the 2020 insurrection. But the former president’s schemes never would have gotten far (or even off the ground) without the participation of right-wing media executives, lawyers and pliant state officials. Without holding these enablers accountable, democracy and the rule of law will remain at risk.
Democracies rest on the ability of the general public to hold their elected officials accountable. But what happens when a large segment of voters knows very little about today’s policy debates or even the basic workings of American government? If voters do not understand the programs of rival candidates or their likely consequences, they cannot rationally exercise control over government. An ignorant electorate cannot achieve true democratic control over public policy. The immense size and scope of modern government makes it virtually impossible for voters to acquire sufficient knowledge to exercise such control. The problem is exacerbated by voters’ strong incentive to be “rationally ignorant” of politics. Widespread voter ignorance also incentivizes another common type of political deception: lying about the nature of your policies in order to overstate benefits and conceal possible downsides.
No one equivocates or dis-informs with greater conviction than the narcissist-politician, whose blatant disregard for facts can at times be mind-boggling. Trump’s opponents learned explaining and defending against the narcissist leaves you open to more abuse. When you address the content of what is being said and explain and defend your position, you endorse Trump’s right to judge, approve, or abuse you. Your reaction sends this message: “You have power over my self-esteem. You have the right to approve or disapprove of me. You’re entitled to be my judge.” People must appreciate how important emotions are in making decisions that impact on making a better world. People tend to overestimate their emotional intelligence – the ability to read, understand and respond to emotions in ourselves and others. Voters need to focus on the roll backs of previous progressive legislation, and not be overwhelmed by the manipulative rhetoric of the various front men for the economic elite.
Resentment as a cultural response to economic struggle has political consequences. More than half of US workers are unhappy with their jobs. The frustration you experience by not living the life you imagined is created by the resentment that the outcome of an event is less than you imagined it would be. Donald Trump, himself is a cauldron of resentment, has deeply internalized a life-time of deep resentments, and thus is able to tap into, articulate, and mobilize the resentments of his followers, in a way that Democrats and other professional politicians are able. Trump appeals to resentment that ultimately rests on economic failure: working-class whites have been left behind by soaring inequality (but they mistakenly blame emigrants taking their jobs). Donald Trump – figured out how to harness their disillusionment and growing anger – is superior to the others in exploiting the narcissism of small differences to recruit from the Republican base.
The historian Jennifer Burns has this wonderful insight when she describes Ayn Rand as ‘the ultimate gateway drug to life on the right’ – justifying a certain picture of the world is learned at a very early age, that leads them down the path to narcissism. Because the current culture gives them just enough to behave in ways that the neoliberals describe as being the ideal entrepreneur of the self, confusing freedom with imaginary lack of constraint, and so on and so forth. Republicans have captured the ideal of American individualism, and taken it to narcissistic extreme. Donald Trump’s federal indictments on the former president’s seizure of more than 300 classified documents, and his efforts to overturn 2020 election, means the American constitutional system faces a significant stress test sparked by a failed autocrat’s narcissism. Prosecutor Jack Smith can inform the jury that narcissism is a not uncommon personality feature associated with traitors and manipulators brought before American justice system.1
Social Darwinism offered a moral justification for the wild inequities and social cruelties of the late 19th century. The twentieth century America rejects social Darwinism. Thus creating the large middle class that became the core of the economy and democracy. Safety nets were built to catch Americans who fell downward through no fault of their own. Regulations were designed to protect against the inevitable excesses of free-market greed. The rich were taxed, and investments made in public goods – public schools, public universities, public transportation, public parks, public health – that made all better off. Donald Trump is running for president again, and voters are going to hear a lot about the 2017 tax cuts he signed into law. There’s also the curious fact that the tax cuts for businesses were permanent, but the tax cuts for individuals were temporary. If Trump and Republicans take over the House or Senate, or both, social Darwinism is back.
1https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/04/narcissists-who-endanger-america/673723/