Vanity
Vanity
It used to be said of certain people that they are “vain” or “arrogant” or “conceited” or “prideful” or “boastful”. Then it was said that such people are “big-headed” or a “bighead”, possibly “cocky” in some contexts (“He’s a cocky bugger”). Later it became “egotistical” or “egocentric”—a slightly more clinical name for the syndrome, vaguely Freudian in connotation. You might be described as having a “big ego” or an “inflated ego” or a “swollen ego”. Lately people have moved to the word “narcissistic”: this is a misuse of a psychiatric term, given the full meaning of the term. It is pretentious and tendentious. It signals a move to the pathological, as if the vain person is suffering from a mental illness (though I have heard talk of “healthy narcissism”, which sounds quite appealing). This is false and hyperbolic. It is ignorant and self-congratulatory (“I know some psychology”). I deplore it. I prefer the old terms; they contain exactly the right measure of criticism and don’t pathologize the condition (better “trait”). Perhaps a new slang word would be appropriate: a “selfist”, a “swaghead”, a “me-freak”, a “puff-brain”.
“Narcissistic,” however, is appropriately applied to Trump, as a clinical term (though I am not a mental health professional). One might also call Trump egotistical, even though he is the most insecure person I’ve ever known of (and the most unself-aware). Are there egotistical people who have earned their egotism and others, like Trump, who are egotistical in an effort to hide their insecurity from themselves and from others?
Trump has the exaggerated self-regard of the classic narcissist and also the indifference to the welfare of others. Some people are justifiably egotistical in the sense of having high self-esteem. We should not confuse pathological narcissism with high self-esteem.