Psychoanalysis of Donald Trump by Sam Harris

MayCaesar

I have not watched this yet, so cannot comment on the content, but I just want to suggest a correction to the title. Sam Harris is not a Republican; he self-identifies as a liberal and has been a life-long supporter of the Democratic party, disliking only the subgroup of it regularly identified as "far-left" for refusing to take stances against totalitarian ideologies such as Islam, and for disliking free speech.

I did listen to him talking about Trump quite a bit in early 2016, and pretty much everything he said back then with regards to Trump was on point. Trump's speech is overly primitive, and anyone with intelligence, say, above the average will find it lacking in substance and vocabulary.

Happy_Killbot

It's accurate, especially now that we have seen his performance in action.

It is no coincidence that Trump outscores Hitler on the same on the Psychopath traits test.

ZeusAres42

MayCaesar said:

I have not watched this yet, so cannot comment on the content, but I just want to suggest a correction to the title. Sam Harris is not a Republican; he self-identifies as a liberal and has been a life-long supporter of the Democratic party, disliking only the subgroup of it regularly identified as "far-left" for refusing to take stances against totalitarian ideologies such as Islam, and for disliking free speech.

I did listen to him talking about Trump quite a bit in early 2016, and pretty much everything he said back then with regards to Trump was on point. Trump's speech is overly primitive, and anyone with intelligence, say, above the average will find it lacking in substance and vocabulary.

And I would just like to correct you @MayCaesar ; that if you actually watched this video that it is a misconception that Sam Harris is a liberal. In fact, he clearly stated that he has no loyalty and never will have any loyalty to the Democratic party ever.

ZeusAres42

at 5:56 minutes in Sam Harris states "I have no loyalty to the democratic party, and I would never say that about someone like mitt romney" @MayCaesar

MayCaesar

@ZeusAres42

Not having a loyalty to a party does not equal not supporting it. I do not have a loyalty towards the libertarian movement (I am a lone wolf, never swearing loyalty to anyone or anything), but I support its general narrative.

Even if Sam Harris is not really a Democrat, he definitely shares the general ideas with the classical Democrats. And I have never heard him speak in support of the Republican party, and his remark on Mitt Romney is not an exception, when viewed in the context.

One should not assume that the enemy of your enemy is always your friend. Sam Harris criticises what he classifies as "far left", and one should not conclude on this basis alone that he is a Republican.

CYDdharta

It's about what you'd expect from someone with no training in the topic, no access to the subject and a definite political bias.

MayCaesar

Okay, here is my take on Harris' analysis. First, his moral assertions about Trump are inherently subjective; I for one do not see selfishness as necessarily a bad thing. I also am surprised by his naivety with regards to Clinton allegedly not being motivated solely by self-interest; this is politics, and those who are not motivated by self-interest do not make it that far there. Politicians always talk in a way that tries to get people to think they are on their side, but more often than not this is not the case.

As for his analysis of Trump's intellectual capacity, he is pretty much on point. While I do not think Trump's intelligence should be judged purely by his knowledge of politics and economics, it is clear just from the way he speaks that this is not the brightest individual out there. Seriously, many high school kids I have met were better outspoken than Trump. Every time Trump speaks about virtually anything which is not pure entertainment, it sounds like he is a C-student trying to deliver a poorly thought out essay, making stuff up on the way to try to cover for the lack of substance in the essay.
Trump is outstandingly good at feeling the crowd and at marketing in general, but his intellectual abilities are impaired. He used to sound much better until mid-2000s, which makes me think that he may have developed some kind of mental illness, perhaps as a result of substance abuse. Or maybe he just spent so much time in the entertainment industry that he forgot how to speak on serious topics - you see that in other celebrities too sometimes.

I do not see the point denying the obvious: Trump cannot speak properly, and his political and economical knowledge is severely lacking. Whether one supports Trump or not, they have to agree with basic facts. There is no substance to anything he says on his rallies; he just keeps reiterating some primitive jokes and sensationalist accusations, but he can never back his statements with any serious level of argumentation.

I do not know what is up with that guy. Something has gone seriously wrong in his intellectual evolution in the last 15 years. He is not too bad in terms of policies, but more often than not he does not seem to understand what those policies are about.

ZeusAres42

MayCaesar said:

@ZeusAres42

Not having a loyalty to a party does not equal not supporting it. I do not have a loyalty towards the libertarian movement (I am a lone wolf, never swearing loyalty to anyone or anything), but I support its general narrative.

Even if Sam Harris is not really a Democrat, he definitely shares the general ideas with the classical Democrats. And I have never heard him speak in support of the Republican party, and his remark on Mitt Romney is not an exception, when viewed in the context.

One should not assume that the enemy of your enemy is always your friend. Sam Harris criticises what he classifies as "far left", and one should not conclude on this basis alone that he is a Republican.

You're right about Sam Harris having liberal views. So I stand corrected to a certain extent I think.  @MayCaesar

Also, I failed to remember that this wasn't political or at least not entirely political. It was more about a psychological assessment according to Sam Harris's views which if I remember correctly.

Having said that with more than 300 million people I think the majority of people will share a mixture of liberal and conservative views. I mean you don't have half the population completely liberal and the other half completely conservative; that would just be silly. Even Ben Shapiro (and I know for sure that Ben Shapiro is a Republican) has said that he sometimes leans liberal regarding certain things.

The other reason why I might have thought of Sam Harris as a Republican is that he and Ben Shapiro did have a video where they agreed on a lot of stuff regarding political views if memory is serving me correctly especially about the far left. Talking of Ben Shapiro I do know that he too was also very critical about Trump as well as Clinton.

Anyway, as for Trump there is no denying that he was and may still be an astute businessman. However, I guess it can also be said that he did or still does have some whacked political views.

Dee

Here’s a quote by Harris on Trump ...... “There is never a moment where I find Trump persuasive. When I look at him I see a man without any inner life. I see the most superficial person on Earth. This is a guy who has been totally hollowed out by greed and self regard and delusion." -- Sam Harris

Also .....

“Some vast numbers of Americans in polls that range from 30 percent to 45 percent believe the universe is 6,000 years old,” says Sam. “That is not an opinion that any sane or educated person should be able to hold at this moment — and yet they think they’re actually dealing with facts…it’s a starkly delusional way of operating, yet it’s just more and more common.”

Happy_Killbot

CYDdharta said:

It's about what you'd expect from someone with no training in the topic, no access to the subject and a definite political bias.

Why should we accept that your ad hominem fallacy is not based on no training in the topic, no access to the subject and a definite political bias?

This is just the pot calling the kettle black.