Trump can't fake empathy

[Proud liberal 80]

Just listening to this impromptu conference and he mentions that we can’t forget about the people who lost their lives, but it had nothing to do with what he was talking about. It’s like he thought to himself, “let me try and look sympathetic”

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Many sociopaths can fake emotions that they don't feel

in order to ingratiate themselves with people they want to take advantage of. Trump isn't even good at that. He's a failure as a sociopath, which is pretty damn pathetic.

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. Great observation. I truly mean it when I say I dont blame him, in full, his brain is not

normal, it is broken and he cant feel sympathy or human emotion other than greed and revenge.

He HAS an excuse, a medical excuse...Is he fit to run the night shift of a 7/11 convenience store? No, not even that, let alone the country or the world.

The problem are the millions of ASSHOLES who support him because he will do their dirty work for them, killing POC and gay folks and liberals.

[pandr32]

4. Made me laugh, but so true.

[Mike 03]

6. Exactly. In order to fake an emotion you have to have actually

felt it at some point in the past.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Or you have at least observed how other people behave

when expressing sympathy or kindness. Trump is such a narcissist that he doesn't pay attention to other people at all, which is why he's not very good at being an effective sociopath.

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Oh so spot on.

Tolerated one for ten years as a teen. Seen it in real time.

[kimbutgar]

2. He never expresses sympathy or give comfort to those who have lost loved ones it's all

About the economy is going To open again, open up business And getting a good 3 and 4th quarter GDP. I heard this on the news in my car yesterday and also got in an accident because I was screaming at the evil I just heard.

[Caliman73]

12. Hopefully you are okay and the damage was not too bad...

I can't listen to him regularly, but especially when I am doing something that requires my attention because I too become upset and distracted.

He is without empathy and actually does not seem to have the ability to display typical human behavior in most situations.

He is just off.

[sunonmars]

5. That's psychopaths for you, honestly, if someone dropped dead in front of him, he'd just step over.

and take their wallet as he went.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. He actually did something pretty close to that once:

In an interview with Howard Stern he described how a man fell and hit his head at a Mierda Loco party:

So, you have all these really rich people, and a man, about 80 years old - very wealthy man, a lot of people didn't like him - he fell off the stage.

So what happens is, this guy falls off right on his face, hits his head, and I thought he died.

And you know what I did? I said, 'Oh my God, that's disgusting,' and I turned away.

I couldn't, you know, he was right in front of me and I turned away. I didn't want to touch him. He's bleeding all over the place, I felt terrible.

You know, beautiful marble floor, didn't look like it. It changed colour. Became very red....

I was saying, 'Get that blood cleaned up! It's disgusting!' The next day, I forgot to call [the man] to say he's OK.

It's just not my thing."

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/culture-news/a44116/donald-trump-elderly-man-dying-howard-stern/

[Mariana]

11. Lots of psychopaths learn how to pretend, more or less convincingly

that they have feelings and care about other people. He hasn't learned that.

[Mariana]

7. Because of his privilege, he never had to learn how to do that. nt.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. It isn't his privilege that made him that way. Many very wealthy, privileged people

are also generous contributors to charities and humanitarian causes and aren't assholes to other people. Trump is a sociopath and a narcissist who would probably be just as evil if he was poor or middle-class.

[Mariana]

14. The OP is about his inability to fake empathy.

It's right in the headline: "Trump can't fake empathy". He never had to learn to fake empathy because of his privilege.

Of course his privilege didn't make him a sociopath/psychopath. His privilege allowed him to behave like a sociopath/psychopath throughout his live, without having to pretend he wasn't one.

[Caliman73]

15. The privilege does factor in.

I agree that it is not the driving force. As you said, the narcissism and lack of empathy are the main reasons he behaves so callously. The privilege however, allowed him not to have to even learn to fake it.

If Trump was poor or middle class, he would likely be in prison or dead by now. The money has allowed him to escape consequences.