Understanding Trump's psychology

To understand leaders, we must know their ideology. In President Donald Trump's case, experts say, we must understand his psychology. But it is above most people’s pay grade to fathom the psychology of an erratic, complex, boastful potentate, who has neither filters nor fetters in using his executive power to upend the world order, crush his opponents, unnerve his allies, ignore genocide, fill his family coffers, hike H-1B visa fee by ‘6,566 per cent’ overnight, browbeat media, comedians, liberals and universities. John Coates, neuroscientist and an expert on risk-taking, says “Trump is a psy ops warrior.”

- ANITA PRATAP

Trump's “psychological operations” have converted the geopolitical into a geopsychological universe. China's foreign minister Wang Yi says he is a “bully toying with the world”. Trump has unleashed a whirlwind of global uncertainty with his slash-and-burn tariffs, sanctions, attacks, raids and invasion threats. Trump's superpower comes from nuclear weapons and B-2 Bombers. But also from “weaponising” uncertainty. Says Coates, Trump “deploys uncertainty to soften up his opponents, make them risk-averse in advance of negotiating deals.”