There is a psychological phrase which describes what we are witnessing in the deteriorating behavior of Donald Trump – narcissistic collapse. As the name implies, this is what happens when a narcissist’s world comes crashing down, and it does not end well, although exactly what will happen is not very predictable.
I believe that we have reached the stage where Trump is actively undergoing such a collapse, which will be completed when he (expectedly and hopefully) loses the upcoming election. If not, his final collapse will have to wait awhile, but it will probably happen anyway, even if he is elected again, which would probably be even worse than what would happen after losing another election.

Recent statements by Trump are, to me, indicative of an impending narcissistic collapse. Perhaps the most telling example is his claim that the crowds for Kamala Harris/Tim Walz rallies are actually AI generated. This bizarre claim comes weeks after he apparently gloated that he expected Biden to drop out of the race and face Kamala Harris instead. One would think that he would be ready for Harris, but instead, he seems unable to cope with the change in opponents, and wants to have Biden as his opponent again. In fact, he also made another bizarre claim that he expected Biden to take over the Democratic National Convention and claim his right to be the nominee. In fact, he apparently thinks that Kamala Harris somehow stole the nomination from
Biden, and that Biden is being horribly mistreated, when in fact, Biden passed the torch to Harris willingly for the good of the nation.

This series of bizarre claims, and perhaps Trump’s lack of recent campaign events, perhaps indicates that he feels the walls closing in on him, and the collapse of not only his campaign, but his life and his ego, are imminent. Perhaps he never expected Harris or Walz to be so popular, but that is somewhat beside the point. Trump continues to claim that he has a massive lead in the polls regardless, and continues to hurl absolutely crazy insults at his opponents, Harris and Walz. Even Trump’s allies are telling him to stop the personal insults.

In order to specifically address the issue of what I feel is Trump’s ongoing narcissistic collapse, I found an article which describes what happens when a narcissist fails, in more or less chronological order. This article, by Joe Navarro, published by Psychology Today early this year, lists 14 steps in narcissistic failure, which basically describes a narcissistic collapse (When the Narcissist Fails | Psychology Today). While Navarro does not mention Donald Trump by name, and while Trump was not as far along in the scenario at the time as he is now, it seems evident to me that Navarro had Trump in mind. (He did mention Jim Jones and Charles Manson as examples of narcissistic failure, though.)

Navarro lists the following 14 steps or defensive behaviors of a failing narcissist.

1. Falsely claiming that everything is fine.
2. Attempting to invalidate evidence against the narcissist.
3. Attacking opponents aggressively and vindictively, in spite of the evidence.
4. This step invokes references to factors such as “fake news” or “the deep state” in attempts to invalidate evidence against the narcissist (actually, a clear reference to Trump).
5. In this stage, the narcissist will “trumpet” their “greatness” with even greater vigor than before (another apparent reference to Trump).
6. The narcissist will seek scapegoats who cannot defend themselves in this stage.
7. They will refuse to take any responsibility for what they have done wrong, yet are quick to blame those whom they deem to be “disloyal,” even among those who are on their side;
8. The narcissist will quickly discard anyone who does not serve their egotistical purposes.
9. The narcissist’s lies will increase in number and be repeated exponentially, plus they will expect their supporters to lie for them.
10. Their devaluation of others will increase in order to further their own threatened sense of self-worth.
11. The narcissist is most worried about public shaming, which will initiate further rage and poor behavior by the narcissist;
12. As the narcissist approaches being held to account, the narcissist will attempt to bring down those around them also, with great vindictiveness.
13. A malignant narcissist (which Trump apparently is) will attempt to increase the suffering of others as “malignant payback” for being held to account and brought down.
14. Finally, a failing narcissist will be a “wound collector,” who wallows in self-pity and false claims of victimhood and persecution.

While these 14 characteristics of a failing narcissist do not necessarily occur in an exact chronological order, and in fact, many of these behaviors can occur simultaneously, there is a sort of progression to them.

In regards to Donald Trump, it is clear that all of these characteristics apply to him. He checks all the boxes. Again, he is a textbook case of malignant narcissism, and future psychology textbooks and history books, I expect will record him as such and record his narcissistic collapse. This is part of the history that we are witnessing, in these days of huge historical consequence. Aside from witnessing it and cautioning others against being like Donald Trump, what we can do about it, is to not support him, tell the truth about him to others (which further triggers him), and vote against him. Other than that, Trump’s ultimate failure is his own fault.
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