Is somebody doesn't put this out there now, Hillary will this Fall.

I do not post this lightly. If the media were doing their job, I wouldn't have to post it at all. I do so because I think it raises reasonable questions, not because I suggest any particular conclusions- at least as regards the psychiatric end of things.

I'm not a psychologist, and I don't play one on TV. But some folks are.  And when enough of them say the same thing, I think it's time to pay attention.

Read this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

There are plenty more. Just do a Google search on the words Donald Trump and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Once more, I'm not a psychologist, and I'm not qualified to diagnose Donald Trump. I've never even met Donald Trump. But when so many people who are qualified write that a man who is the presidential front-runner of one of the major parties exhibits behaviors typical of someone suffering from a mental disorder which can be extremely dangerous in someone who holds political power, the matter merits careful consideration.

Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Joseph Mengele, Idi Amin, Ted Bundy, Saddam Hussein, Lee Harvey Oswald, O.J. Simpson, and Marilyn Manson are thought by some to have suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The same is true of fascist poet Ezra Pound, Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot.

Now, in fairness, behaviors typical of NPD have also been ascribed to relatively benign personalities like Madonna, Opera Winfrey, Jenny McCarthy, Suzanne Sommers, Justin Bieber, Tom Cruise, and the Kardashians. Also, Charlie Chaplain (!), Christiaan Barnard (!), Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, William Shatner, Ryan O'Neal, Alec Baldwin, Sharon Stone, Elvis Presley, Joan Crawford, Pablo Picasso, Ike Turner, Kayne West, Eva Peron, Simon Cowell, and Liberace.

And Donald Trump.

Now,  not all narcissists have a personality disorder. Not all narcissists are dangerous. Gene Wilder believes that you have to be something of a narcissist in order to be an actor; politicians and even clergy  choose  professions in which they're the center of attention, and which probably contain more than their share of narcissists.  Having been a minister, it would appear that I must have a touch of narcissism in me; I have to admit that I do enjoy being the center of attention! Only a professional is qualified to diagnose actual NPD. And it should be emphasized that even the professionals cited above have never had Donald Trump as a patient, and thus are not in a position to make a formal diagnosis.

But the stakes are high. The risks of having a person with NPD as President of the United States are enormous. A lack of empathy for others is dangerous in a president. So is a tendency to make bold and impulsive decisions regardless of the consequences for other people. So is a refusal to be accountable. So is finding defeat and even criticism not only distasteful but intolerable. Above all, so is lacking  the healthy self-doubt which causes most of us to at least consider the possibility that we could be wrong.

Here is an interesting consideration of the relationship between narcissism and related personality characteristics and tyranny. And here is an interesting page which provides some background on the subject of narcissism.

I do not claim that Donald Trump has NPD.  I mean to imply nothing other than that, given his personality, a reasonable degree of caution is in order. I have my own opinion of The Donald's fitness for the presidency, which is emphatically not based on medical criteria, but on my observations of his character and his behavior with reference to history, and especially to one particular historical figure.

And I am not the only person who sees a parallel between Donald Trump's personality and that of one particular historical figure from Italy.

I commend this article to you. The author reaches pretty much the same conclusions I have, and for pretty similar reasons.

I personally don't want Donald Trump's finger anywhere near the nuclear button.