Who or what is (Dr.) Bandy Lee talking about?

THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2023

As we all know, our favorites won't listen: In the wake of CNN's "town hall" with Donald J. Trump, Maureen Dowd offered the following comments:

DOWD (5/14/23): Trump is spiraling into even more of a self-deluded narcissist, if that’s possible. And he’s even more obsessed with numbers—if that’s possible. When he was asked by the terrific Kaitlan Collins if he regretted his actions on Jan. 6, he began rhapsodizing about, and exaggerating, the size of the crowd that day.

“I have never spoken to a crowd as large as this,” he said, adding: “They were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable—and it was a beautiful day.”

He called one of the most heinous days in American history “a beautiful day.” He called the Black Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt, who was trying to break into the House chamber, a “thug.”

New Hampshire voters in the audience were cheering on Trump, and many even laughed when he crudely re-defamed E. Jean Carroll.

The town hall was enlightening—and frightening. But we needed that reminder to be on full alert, because Trump is not just an unhinged and dangerous extremist; he is also a cunning and dominating insurgent.

At the start of that passage, Dowd uses a technical term from psychiatry, but she will likely be seen to be using the term in its colloquial sense. 

But the end of that passage, she refers to Trump as "unhinged" and as a "dangerous extremist." But what if he's something more or worse than that?

In her new essay at Medium, Bandy X. Lee seems to be speaking of Trump in explicitly clinical terms. That said, Lee is a psychiatrist with a long clinical career and a great deal of clinical experience.

She doesn't mention Trump by name in this new essay. As she starts, she does say this:

LEE (5/14/23): Having specialized in evaluating and treating violent offenders my entire career, I am considered an expert on psychopathy, and certainly sociopathy, which are dangerous personality disorders that best predict violence. These diagnoses are made cautiously and sparingly, since they can stigmatize persons, but we must counterbalance this with the need to warn potential victims and the public, so that they might better protect themselves. Above all, society needs to be better informed more generally, so that it does not fall easy prey to well-disguised, dangerous personalities who increasingly inhabit our midst.

Langston Hughes' protagonist had known rivers. Dr. Lee has known "dangerous personality disorders " of the kind which pose dangers to our society.

She says our society needs to be better informed in this general area. With that, she continues as shown:

LEE (continuing directly): At the onset of my quarter-century career, I encountered sociopaths and psychopaths mostly in jails and prisons, my main settings for clinical work. Very disturbingly, over time, I found them increasingly in leadership positions, as chief executive officers, legal professionals, or political leaders—and less in correctional settings. This means that society is not doing a good job at containing them, and they are escaping detection more and more. Just about all of them crave power, so that they can exploit the trust and privileges accorded them to bolster their fantasies of unlimited domination and their drive to harm others. Distinguishing them from true aspirants with real capabilities is crucial: they may masterfully disguise themselves as ideal candidates for a job, for example, but once given the task, they will only destroy whatever they are put in charge of—be it a family, a company, or a nation.

The kinds of people she's talking about will destroy whatever they touch. Increasingly, Lee has been seeing them in leadership positions—even, perhaps, in charge of an unnamed nation! 

At this point, Lee goes on to discuss two semi-technical terms:

LEE (continuing directly): What is psychopathy? Briefly, it can be defined as a personality disorder characterized by an absence of compassion or conscience, constant engagement in emotional manipulation as a way of navigating the world, and a propensity for destructiveness and cruelty. Sometimes called “outsiders to love,” individuals with this affliction are impaired in almost every human emotion, except envy of other human beings, rage, and revenge. It is arguably the most debilitating disorder known to humankind, for there is no cure—and the masterful guise of sympathy, humanity, and competence is all deception intended for predatory purposes. It is certainly the most dangerous disorder known to psychiatry, as it wreaks more havoc on individuals and society than all other psychiatric disorders combined.

What is sociopathy? Briefly, I call this a “societal disorder” rather than an individual one, since society is the cause for this affliction. It is a disorder characterized by a disregard for and violation of others’ rights since age fifteen, and can be diagnosed through observation of the following behavior[s]...

For ourselves, we don't understand what Lee means when she describes sociopathy as a "societal disorder." That said, Lee has had a long and distinguished career, and it would be interesting to see her interviewed by intelligent journalists, whether in broadcast form or for major print publications.

As everyone knows, no such thing is ever going to happen. Trump's manifest strangeness at last week's "town hall" inspired a lot of instant reaction. Lee may have decided to publish this essay in reaction to that latest bout of weird behavior—weird behavior Dowd briefly described in her column.

It's also natural to think that nothing will come of Trump's continued disordered behavior—to think that he'll never get elected again, and that he can't really produce societal harm unless he does get elected.

At any rate, you won't see Lee on broadcast TV or on "cable news." Nor will you see her interviewed by major print publications. Journalists will continue to use their colloquial words when they speak of Trump's disordered mental state. The sense of alarm which re-emerged last week has already largely faded.

Lee has long spoken of the psychiatrist's "duty to warn." We will speak again today of the citizen's "duty to notice reality."

The people we love on cable TV aren't going to rise to that challenge. They will continue to obey the rules of their corporations, in which they aren't allowed to mention the obvious possibility that Donald J. Trump—perhaps among others—may be afflicted with one of the serious clinical disorders Lee mentioned in the passages posted above.

We've long said that Trump deserves our pity, though of course he must be stripped of the power to do harm. That said, the people we love on cable TV will continue to speak with their "favorite reporters and friends" in the ways they plainly enjoy, and they'll speak with nobody else.

Borrowing again from Hughes, they'll continue to keep it simple. They'll continue to play by the rules, to cash their checks, and to tell us the stories we like.

We're coming to loathe these cable stars, though we don't believe in loathing. Also, we don't believe in horrible people, but we'd say that they're cutting it close.

As we noted on Tuesday—as Dr. Lee notes in her essay—something like 6 percent of adult males can be diagnosed with sociopathy. Lee says that she's increasingly seeing these people in leadership posts.

Our favorites won't ever discuss such claims. Dearest darlings, use your heads! It simply isn't done!