1: High-Conflict Politicians
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But which HCPs are attracted to politics? There are five types of HCPs: narcissistic, antisocial, borderline, paranoid, and histrionic. (See my book 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life for more on all five.) But most aren’t interested in being in charge of a community or nation. The two most charming, deceptive, and dangerous leaders are the HCPs with traits of narcissistic and sociopathic personality disorders. Occasionally we see traits of the others as well, but mostly these are the two personalities that seek to be leaders.
Personality Disorders I’m sure you have met some narcissists and sociopaths. They are everywhere. In their extreme form, these are two of the ten personality disorders in the diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association, known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).16 But I will not be determining whether the HCPs we discuss have these disorders. Instead, my goal is to describe the conflict behavior patterns of these personalities so that you can spot them when you are getting ready to make voting decisions. The issue of whether HCPs simply have some traits of these personalities or full-blown personality disorders is less important— either case is a problem when we are choosing leaders. Generally people with narcissistic personalities are self-absorbed, feel entitled to special treatment, have grandiose ideas, have fantasies of unlimited success and power, lack empathy, and are driven to show that they are superior to others. People with sociopathic personalities (also known as antisocial personalities) frequently violate rules and laws, are routinely deceptive (lying and conning), are highly aggressive, lack remorse, and are driven to dominate others. However, not all people with one of these personalities are HCPs, because some don’t focus on Targets of Blame. And many of them have no interest in politics. But the ones who are interested in politics and know how to focus their attention (and the attention of others) on their Targets of Blame are the most dangerous. They are the ones who want to get elected and are driven to be in charge to dominate their targets. Let’s look at each of these types of personality, separately at first, and then let’s see what happens when they are combined into one person.
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