December 15, 2016
TIMES OF SAN DIEGO
By Laura Walcher
Bill Eddy is a lawyer, therapist, mediator and the President of the
High Conflict Institute; also, a Certified Family Law Specialist in California
and the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center in
San Diego.
He developed the "High Conflict Personality" theory
(HCP Theory) and is an international expert on managing disputes involving high
conflict personalities and personality disorders.
Mr. Eddy is the author of
numerous articles and several books, including: “Trump Bubbles: The Dramatic
Rise and Fall of High-Conflict Politicians.” “This won’t be a ‘business as usual’ four years,” he says of
Trump’s upcoming term. “ We will need, “ he says, “to speak up a lot!”
So, we began:
LW: Bill, to begin with, please define what
you mean
by
“bubble.” While your book is
primarily about President-elect Trump, I presume your use of “bubble” may apply
to others?
BE: For years, people have described a
“bubble” in the context of a social condition, such as the housing market bubble
or the stock market bubble, both of which burst in 2008. The term “irrational
exuberance” has been applied to describe the enthusiasm and belief that these
social conditions will only get better and better. I define a “trump bubble” as
“when emotions trump thinking in politics.” I believe that when emotions drive
a politician’s success, it will inevitably lead to their fall when reality sets
in.
LW: According to your definition and
discussion of “High
Conflict
Personality” (HCP) people, Trump is certainly a qualifier! How unique in this
respect is Trump vs. other U. S. presidents - or other leaders? Joseph McCarthy?
Richard Nixon?
BE: High conflict people have four common
characteristics: 1. Pre-occupation with blaming others. 2. All or nothing
thinking. 3. Unmanaged emotions. 4. Extreme negative behavior. When high conflict people gain
political power, they tend to dramatically rise (based primarily on emotions)
and dramatically fall when reality sets in. Examples of such “trump” bubbles
have been Hitler, McCarthy, Johnson, Nixon and others. I explained six of these
historical examples in my book “Trump Bubbles: The Dramatic Rise and Fall of
High Conflict Politicians.” They all follow a predictable arc of rise and fall.
The only question is the timing.
LW. Could this personality be simplified as
“narcissistic” or is narcissism just one element of the character?
BE:
Not all narcissists are high
conflict people. The extreme preoccupation with blaming others characteristic
of HCPs when combined with narcissism and political power create a much larger
problem than with an ordinary narcissist. However, in this case the co-author
of Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal,” says that he is a sociopath. If this is
true, it means that nothing he says can be trusted. It also means that such
personalities will lack a conscience and act recklessly.
LW:: Is there any upside to this personality
– especially for the president of the United States of America?
BE:
Given Trump’s possible character traits, there is no long-term upside. In the
short term a charismatic emotion-based leader often looks wonderful in the
early stage. We are now in the
early stage; he has not yet performed on behalf of the nation. The conflicts he
will create, the failures to follow through, and his inability to manage the
flexibility needed for this job will create many more problems than he may
solve. Yet, he will have some success by bullying people into doing what he wants.
However, he will disappoint his followers much more than he helps them.
LW: Does Trump’s flip-flopping on issues,
opinions, answers –
even
outright lying - throughout the
campaign conform to the personality you describe?
BE:
Yes. Narcissistic HCPs like being unpredictable and beholden to no one. They
hate rules and feel superior to them. So being consistent feels confining and
they generally like to keep everyone else guessing. It’s rule by personality,
not by logic or law. Sociopathic HCPs will say (lie) and do whatever is
convenient or appealing at the time, without conscience or consistency. They
like instability because it keeps everyone else off-balance. This especially
can be demonstrated with a lack of loyalty to his associates, discarding them
at will and turning his attention to new shiny objects and people (wives, for
example).
LW: You write that Trump is “..potentially
the most dangerous person in politics since Adolf Hitler.”
Clearly a terrifying opinion – yet we do remember the ardent hordes of
Hitler’s followers! Explain/elaborate?
BE:
There are similarities regarding how he connects with his followers, so that
they become more passionately connected when he and they are criticized. It strengthens their bond.
It’s a major part of my book. In a nutshell, it’s because he uses emotions
instead of logic, and uses repetition on a greater scale than most politicians
since Hitler. He has conditioned his followers to his simple arguments from day
one. Hitler was known for spewing ten times as many words as any other
politician, and he used modern media for voice (daily speeches on the radio) and face (movies of him
speaking at his huge rallies). These
emotional media projecting face and voice are much more powerful on our brains
than printed words.
LW: Evaluating Trump as you do, do you
really believe that, per his leadership,
“sooner or later we will have a war on our hands.”
BE:
Here’s a short statement from the book:
“He tends to inspire
violence and lack of restraint – which leads to lack of physical restraint,
which leads to organized aggressive behavior – which leads inevitably to war.
He will “split” the world into allies and enemies. We will have more chaos than
we do now in the Middle East – and on American soil. Friends and family members
will start hating each other, and school children will become disrespectful and
violent towards people who look different from them.”
LW:: Given your expertise and experience,
what is your prediction for Mr.
Trump’s presidency – and its
consequences for our country?
Should we be - as many of
us are – very scared?
BE:
Yes. Moderate Republicans may
limit his damage and keep him tied up in procedural matters, such as
conservative Republicans have done to Obama. However, the more frustrated he
gets, the wilder he may get and he will potentially motivate his followers to
threaten his opponents (which will especially be directed at protesters).
I
expect that his presidency will look similar to Johnson’s and Nixon’s, with
lots of protests, dirty tricks, violence, and a mix of good and bad policies.
But ultimately his over-reaching and paranoia will cause him to fall, as
Johnson did and Nixon really did. When
and how many will get hurt? I explain the steps of the fall in the book; I just
don’t know the timing.
In
the long run, strong protests of his actions and educating the public on issues
will prevail—as it did with Johnson and Nixon. ###
“Trump Bubbles: The Dramatic
Rise and Fall of High-Conflict Politicians” is available at Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, or the publisher: www.UnhookedBooks.com, available in paperback or as
an e-book.
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