@ Mattias - I see you've no doubt had run ins with hard core Trumpies or Trump Junkies? but I'm not one of them. I'm not really beholden to any side and am continually fascinated with the ongoing partisan wars. I'd probably be considered more Left leaning if it came down to it but I try to stay away from the gang mentality of the Liberal/Conservative wars.
So for the first five:
Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognised as superior without commensurate achievements).
Maybe this is a matter of semantics and definitions but the chosen words here, to me, imply someone who is out of touch with reality. He's amassed a fortune in personal wealth and won the presidency when he arguably did not deserve it, and arguably had no business even running for office. Those are all real achievements. I've never heard him talk much at all about how he built his personal wealth. Now, I'm not making excuses for his bombastic and often tactless rhetoric during the election campaign, but I see much of his over the top behavior was fueled by circumstance. He was certainly not the same person we saw on numerous TV appearances in the past (Letterman, Oprah). He appeared pretty low key and not a braggart during those appearances. In fact, if you will go to you tube and watch the very first Letterman appearance from back in 1997 you will see man who actually doesn't seem to really know who the hell he is. Letterman asks him (around 2:54) how he would describe himself - which already tells you that his public image is somewhat obscure. Trump hesitates and sort of hops on Letterman's suggestion saying that he's primarily in the real estate and casino business. Not exactly the answer and mannerisms of someone who thinks he's King of the World and wants everybody to know it. My guess is that he couldn't say "I'm a real estate mogul" with any pride and firmness because that's what his father was and he is apparently trying to carve out his own identity. Becoming POTUS would seem to qualify. . . . .
Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
IMO you missed it on this by one word - "Fantasies". To have said "preoccupied with unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, ideal love" would have been pretty much on point. But fantasy implies the never never land of a dreamer and regardless of his numerous other shortcomings Trump is clearly much more of a "Doer" than a "Dreamer". He's attained plenty of power and material success (spiritual . . hmm).
On the terms "beauty" and "ideal love" . . . . . . well, he did
buy several beauty pageants but I won't hazard a guess as to what he may have been fantasizing about. They did earn him a lot of money. "Ideal Love" has me stumped. His view towards women seems to border on the stone age but that's another topic. Some couples like the old fashioned arrangements of whose place is where.
Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).
I'm curious as to how you are evaluating this point. It rings true to the type of descriptions given to those who have clinical diagnosis of things like NPD, FPD, or things associated with having delusions of grandeur. I don't think those are the same as being on the pompous, arrogant and haughty side of things. And even those terms like arrogant imply a person who is covering up for some other lack (back to dreamers vs doers). Again, the definition alludes to a condition of mental illness and the distinguishing factor there seems to be whether those beliefs have any basis in reality. If I keep telling you that I'm going to be the next POTUS when clearly I'm not then you've got a case for the "special" and "exaggerations" etc. I did think of him boycotting one of the debates where he decided to stage his own. So the question becomes did he think he was too special to do it like everyone else ? Or was it an intentional strategy aimed at a demographic he already knew
wanted to be special themselves? Probably a mix of both which brings up the question of where we draw the line on what's acceptable and what isn't.
Requires excessive admiration.
Agreed. But, this one point does not a valid case make. One thing often true of those with NPD and BPD is they leave a trail of total destruction in their personal relationships, and it is their partner who usually receives the brunt of it. Relatively speaking he seems to have a pretty stable and living family. NPD and BPD people generally do not from what I've read. They are characterized by a marked inability to have healthy relationships. His need for the admiration seems to be driven more by insecurity, but he does not IMO, have the destructive tendencies seen in NPD and BPD type conditions.
Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favourable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations.
Just like the previous point, I'm curious of the examples you based this point on. One thing that came to mind when reading this point was of an incident during the campaign where the audio feed for his mic fizzed out and got irate about it. He made sure the sound guy got beheaded in front of everybody. He was on the rude side and very blunt and not showing great tact. Was he justified in being pissed? I'd say so. Did that make him someone with unreasonable expectations to pitch a fuss like that? I'm not defending him or denying him when I say that I understood the basis of his anger in terms of paying the audio people "good money" to do a job and then have them botch it at such a critical time. I think a lot of people in that situation would at least have been thinking "well, I'm not paying you full price for that screw up!" So on that point I didn't think it was unreasonable to expect the audio should have functioned right.
ps - as audio guys we know the rest of the non audio world is clueless as to the technical difficulties of producing 100% flawless audio 24/7 . He would've been my worst FOH nightmare. And I probably would have thought him and anyone else who would have complained an entitled idiot for not understanding, but that's only true in the realm of audio folks.
#6 and #9 I would agree with. #6 is the classic 'psychopathic businessman.' #9 is similar to some of the above. He's certainly combative and sometimes cocky but again, I don't think that one point is sufficient. And there's also the lack of negative destruction in his personal relationships (meaning mostly his family) which I think is the overall hallmark of these clinical disorders like NPD and others.
Have his decisions in office so far been a partisan nightmare? Biggest "yes" I can muster. But notice i did say "partisan nightmare" just as Obama, Bernie and Hillary were partisan nightmares. The further we divide the further POTUS polarity will swing. Somewhere in the middle of all that smoke and gunfire sits objectivity. Is Trump objective in many of his views? Nope. Back to that question of whether he truly believes them or still just conservatively sticking to the formula that got him in office -which is a deliberate strategy of playing to a sector of the public that wants to believe they are special - as in they think he's doing it all for them and only them. It's strange and kind of disturbing at times.
But we are also a country that is facing a dilemma of what's acceptable and what isn't. It's become a popular thing to hang pop psych labels on celebrities and CEOs and we walk a fine line sometimes on praising some for it and condemning others (our loveable psychopaths and super divas). IMO the APA designations deal largely with persons whose behaviors are destructive in such manner as to cause themselves and others in their lives (who are often victims) a similar level of destruction such that it impedes their growth and creates significant dysfunction. If Trump were that type of Disorder Case I would expect to see it reflected in his family - and he likely wouldn't even have a functional one if he was.(look at Charlie Sheen) His daughters seem pretty healthy (mentally) and have been extremely successful. His wife seems fine and not the type of woman who would put up with the type of manipulations and other destructive behavior you see in BPD/NPD and other similar disorders. Maybe its a matter of degree, I don't know. Trump has issues, I just don't think it's at the level intended for these APA designations.