Appearing on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House on Wednesday afternoon, liberal pundit and advertising executive Donny Deutsch decided to play amateur psychiatrist for a day as he attempted to diagnose President Trump as a “sociopath” by reading the psychological definition of the term.
Host Nicolle Wallace was eager to give him free reign to level the incendiary charge: “Alright, Donny, you did some homework, let’s start with you.” Deutsch began: “...you try to analyze....And it dawned on me, you can’t analyze this anymore. And I did some homework and there’s nothing glib about this, I need about 40 seconds. ‘How to Determine if Someone is a Sociopath.’”
He then proceeded to read from the document uninterrupted:
A person – a sociopath is a condition that prohibits people from adopting to ethical and behavioral standards of a community. Sociopaths are usually extremely charming and charismatic. Sociopaths often time feel entitled to certain positions, people, and things. They believe their own beliefs and opinions are the absolute authority and disregard others. They’re rarely shy or insecure or at a loss for words, they have trouble suppressing emotional responses like anger, impatience or annoyance. They do bizarre, risky, and outrageous things without assessing repercussions. They’re professional liars. They fabricate stories and make outlandish, untruthful statements and they get comfort with their lying. They get bored easily and require constant stimulation....Sociopath’s are incapable of experiencing guilt or shame for their actions. They’re manipulative. They may try and influence and dominate people to gain positions of leadership. They have a hard time dealing with criticism.
After finishing his recitation, Deutsch again assured Wallace: “I’m not being glib here. Because we’re trying to analyze this intelligently or rationally or the left brain, and there is none....but what is wrong with this man?” He concluded: “And it’s interesting so many of the traits of a sociopath that this man is displaying.”
Showing up on Thursday’s Morning Joe, Duetsch again attempted to label Trump a sociopath but was quickly shot down by host Joe Scarborough, who warned his guest not to engage in “pop psychiatry”:
DONNY DEUTSCH: I watched the speech the other night, and we’ve been at this for two years now and we all try as intellectuals to analyze him and get our arms around it, and I – I happened to stumble across the symptoms, the definition of a sociopath. And I’m not at all, I’m not trying to –
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, Donny. Donny, no, come on....We don’t need the pop psychiatry here.
Deutsch’s nasty analysis on Wednesday was brought to viewers by Golden Corral, Lending Tree, and Mitsubishi.
Here is a full transcript of his August 23 commentary:
4:24 PM ET
(...)
NICOLLE WALLACE: Alright, Donny, you did some homework, let’s start with you.
DONNY DEUTSCH: I didn’t know where your show was going today, but I watched last night and I was – you try to analyze. You try – and I’m listening to Heidi, [Przybla] smart people like yourself, you went to Berkeley, John [Heilemann] you went to college with John Belushi. And it dawned on me, you can’t analyze this anymore.
And I did some homework and there’s nothing glib about this, I need about 40 seconds. “How to Determine if Someone is a Sociopath.” A person – a sociopath is a condition that prohibits people from adopting to ethical and behavioral standards of a community. Sociopaths are usually extremely charming and charismatic. Sociopaths often time feel entitled to certain positions, people, and things. They believe their own beliefs and opinions are the absolute authority and disregard others. They’re rarely shy or insecure or at a loss for words, they have trouble suppressing emotional responses like anger, impatience or annoyance. They do bizarre, risky, and outrageous things without assessing repercussions. They’re professional liars. They fabricate stories and make outlandish, untruthful statements and they get comfort with their lying. They get bored easily and require constant stimulation.JOHN HEILEMANN: Sounds like me.
[LAUGHTER]
DEUTSCH: Sociopath’s are incapable of experiencing guilt or shame for their actions. They’re manipulative. They may try and influence and dominate people to gain positions of leadership. They have a hard time dealing with criticism.
HEILEMANN: And now we have to go to break.
DEUTSCH: No, I mean, you start – and I’m not being glib here.
WALLACE: I know you’re not.
DEUTSCH: Because we’re trying to analyze this intelligently or rationally or the left brain, and there is none. And then you start to say, coming off of [James] Clapper, coming off of [Bob] Corker, what is – and I’m not being glib – but what is wrong with this man?
WALLACE: Yeah.
DEUTSCH: And it’s interesting so many of the traits of a sociopath that this man is displaying.
(...)
