College of the Holy Spirit

San Sebastian, Tarlac City

School Year 2017-2018

SNAKES IN SUITS:
When Sociopaths Go To
Work.
Submitted by:

CAPIENDO, MICAH ROSS

CELESTINO, JANSEN LEILA ASTRID HO

GRANIL, ANGEL

SUICANO, RGIN

TAGUBA, KATRINA TERESA

Submitted to:

MR. CHARLIE BAUTISTA

Discipline and Ideas in Social Sciences Teacher

Date Submitted:

16 January 2018
ABSTRACT

Sociopath may be a term more often associated with film industry depictions of knife-
wielding killers like Hannibal Lecter and Dexter Morgan, there is evidence that suggests
psychopaths are surprisingly common in the business and political environment, too. These
figures paint a picture of business and political leaders who put ruthless ambition above
everything else and have no qualms about using people for their own advantage. On the other
hand, new research is challenging the idea that psychopaths might not be as well suited to the
boardroom as these earlier studies have suggested. Studies have indicated that, depending where
you look, up to one in five of those filling company boardrooms and senior management
positions are hiding psychopathic tendencies, using certain personality traits to charm and
manipulate their way through the workplace. The two are undeniably intertwined; arguably
business and politics are the two main driving forces and influences on society. These suspected
psychopaths are more likely to gain power through dominance, bullying and intimidation, rather
than respect, however, gaining power is not the same as wielding it effectively.

This critique paper mainly talks about the claims that US President Donald Trump,
Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte are all sociopaths,
together with the assertion that contradicts the first said statement, with that being said leaves
these leaders an avowal of not being a sociopath in a world we knowingly aware that revolves
around the wide universe of politics.
INTRODUCTION

In a world full of fears, perhaps the worst one a human being should have is that to be
afraid of his fellow man. The human that should be most feared is the one that has or in laymen's
terms the sociopath. The sociopath is probably the most deviant mind that exists and treatment is
not very successful because there is no cure or drug to control it. The sociopath is a combination
of other mental illnesses that are incurred in childhood as a result of heredity, trauma and the
lack of emotional development. The lack of moral or emotional development which gives a
sociopath a lack of understanding for other people's feelings which enables them to be deceitful
without feeling bad about whatever they do. The under developed emotional system says that
sociopath is "emotionally retarded".

There's no one thing that makes a psychopath. You want to think of those traits being like
the dials on a studio mixing desk, that you can turn up and down in different situations – if
they're all turned up to maximum, then you're a dysfunctional psychopath. Being a psychopath
isn't black and white; it's a spectrum, like height and weight. So even if you possess qualities
similar to psychopaths, it doesn't necessarily mean you're destined to become a cold-blooded
serial killer. If you're a full-blown psychopath, that's obviously problematic. But if you embody
some of the associated characteristics, research suggests you're naturally suited for leadership.
Leadership requires some psychopathic traits.

Psychopaths have a wide range of personality traits: deceptive charm, the innate ability to
lie, remorselessness, unrealistic goals, a lack of empathy and impulsivity, among others. It feels
somewhat counterintuitive to argue anyone with such attributes could make a good leader. How
can a person lead others when he or she is reckless, apathetic and irrational? Well, as we've
noted, there are shades of grey to being a psychopath. For example, psychopaths on the extreme
end of the spectrum lack one of the most important qualities to strong and effective leadership:
empathy. If you can't relate to others and don't have a high degree of emotional intelligence,
you're not in a good position to guide other people. But if you're on the less extreme end of the
psychopath spectrum, you can still exhibit empathy while also possessing psychopathic qualities
that present an advantage in terms of leadership.
 THESE ARE THE CLAIMS THAT PROVE THAT DONALD TRUMP IS A
SOCIOPATH.

1st claim:

According from the article of Mehdi Hasan, During the GOP primaries, Marco Rubio
suggested he was a “lunatic,” Rand Paul dubbed him a “delusional narcissist,” and Ted Cruz
denounced him as “utterly amoral” and “a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country’s ever
seen.” Mitt Romney opined, “His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader,” and Jeb
Bush declared, “He needs therapy.” In recent months, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has admitted
she is “worried” about the president’s mental health, and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., has warned
that Trump “has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence”
necessary for a successful presidency. Tony Schwartz has called Trump a “sociopath” and has
said “there is an excellent possibility” that the Trump presidency “will lead to the end of
civilization.” One in three Americans say they believe Trump’s mental health is “poor” while
two out of three regularly question his temperament. Four in 10 voters in the swing state of
Michigan — which helped deliver the White House to Trump — say they think the president is
“mentally unstable” while a majority of them are worried that he has access to the nuclear codes.

2nd claim:

According to a psychiatrist, Donald Trump is a psychopath who suffers psychosis and is

an 'enormous present danger'. Donald Trump is suffering from psychopathy and has a mental
state that poses an “enormous present danger”, a clinical psychiatrist has said. The US President
has psychosis and is “a very sick man”, said Dr. Lance Dodes, a former assistant professor of
clinical psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who now works for the Boston Psychoanalytic
Society and Institute. It comes after Mr. Trump provoked fury by retweeting three Islamophobic
videos posted by the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First. Theresa May’s spokesperson
on the other hand says that, "It is wrong for the president to have done this."

3rd claim:

As stated in the new book entitled, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” a group of
27 psychiatrists and mental health experts warn that “anyone as mentally unstable as this man
should not be entrusted with the life-and-death-powers of the presidency.” Seemingly in defiance
of the American Psychiatric Association’s “Goldwater rule,” which states “it is unethical for a
psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion [on a public figure] unless he or she has conducted an
examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement,” the various and
very eminent contributors paint a picture of a president who has “proven himself unfit for duty.”
Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo who is a famous Stanford prison study
suggests the “unbalanced” Trump is a “specific personality type: an unbridled, or extreme,
present hedonist” and “narcissist.” Clinical psychologist John Gartner, a 28-year veteran of Johns
Hopkins University Medical School, argues that Trump is a “malignant narcissist” and “evinces
the most destructive and dangerous collection of psychiatric symptoms possible for a leader.”
For Gartner, the “catastrophe” of a Trump presidency “might have been avoided if we in the
mental health community had told the public the truth, instead of allowing ourselves to be
gagged by the Goldwater rule.”

THESE ARE THE CLAIMS THAT PROVE THAT VLADIMIR PUTIN IS A

SOCIOPATH.

1st claim:

According to Joan Smith, President Putin is a dangerous psychopath - reason is not going
to work with him. A secret war in Ukraine, murder in London, incursions into others' airspace.
His behaviour is getting worse. I think it’s more accurate to say that world leaders got Putin
wrong, treating him as an authoritarian who would nevertheless keep his behaviour within
recognisable boundaries. Remember when George W Bush gave him the affectionate nickname
Pootie-Poot? If history teaches us anything, it is that treating unstable psychopaths as if they are
normal, reasonable people doesn’t work. We should be in no doubt that Russia under Putin is an
unpredictable rogue state.

2nd claim:

From the Bennington Banner entitled “The inconvenient truth about Vladimir Putin”. It
says there that a KGB agent back in the bad old days of the Soviet Union and the Cold War,
Russian President Vladimir Putin increasingly shows himself to be a clever sociopath. He
continues to present the West with bad situations and then undoes a little of his damage or backs
off for a while, appearing to be not such a bad guy after all. In Syria, Mr. Putin has been the
leading supporter of incumbent tyrant Bashar Assad, whom most Western countries still would
like to see deposed. Yet, when the issue of chemical weapons use by Assad on his own people
came to the fore, Putin presented himself as a broker to get Syria to give up these weapons. This
made Putin look good -- but Assad is still in power. When a pro-Western government came to
power amid much turmoil in Ukraine, Putin revealed his true colors, massing troops at the border
and then annexing Crimea. Before the dust settled there, Putin started infiltrating Eastern
Ukraine with Russian soldiers and insurgents.

3rd claim:

From the Atlantic Daily News, it says that among the world’s many politicians to be
regularly called a sociopath, Vladimir Putin may be given the label the most, and with the most
serious intent, especially since the Sochi Olympics and the Russian invasion of Crimea. During a
recent segment on the PBC NewsHour, for example, New York Times columnist David Brooks
stated that U.S. attitudes toward Putin have “hardened to an amazing degree” and the current
administration now views him as a “sociopath autocrat.” Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's
national security adviser, has accused Putin of “sociopath megalomania.” The Financial Times
referred to the Sochi Olympics as “Putin’s sociopath self-tribute.” Photos of the Russian
president scuba-diving, piloting a plane, behind the wheel of a race car, demonstrating his skill in
martial arts, and baring his chest on horseback only contribute to this view and evoke the
predictably derisive response: Putin is a sociopath.

THESE ARE THE CLAIMS THAT PROVE THAT RODRIGO DUTERTE IS A

SOCIOPATH.

1st claim:

According to former justice secretary Leila de Lima, she described President Rodrigo
Duterte as a "sociopathic serial killer" who is unfit to lead the country. In a bid to force the
president out of office, former justice secretary Leila de Lima called on the cabinet to rule him
"mentally incapacitated". She also compared Mr. Duterte to Batman's foe, the Joker - calling him
a "psychotic murderer" who led other villains in committing crimes. Ms. de Lima is currently
facing arrest on drug charges. Rights groups claim the charges have been fabricated to silence
her and warn off other critics. The crackdown - which he has described as "a cleansing" - has
resulted in the police reportedly killing 2,555 drug suspects, with about 4,000 other people
murdered in unexplained circumstances.

2nd claim:

A psychological report on Rodrigo Duterte was commissioned by Dr Natividad Dayan

during the annulment of his marriage to ex-wife Elizabeth Zimmerman in July 1998, when Mr.
Duterte was a mayor of Davao City. According to a psychiatrist, President Rodrigo Duterte has
been diagnosed as having a narcissistic personality disorder. This assessment was a part of the
process of his marriage annulment many years ago. Recently he said to have stopped using
fentanyl, a heavy drug for cancer (pain) patients for his back pains. Perhaps that explains his
sometimes incoherent speech and losing track of the questions at press conferences. The
president of the Philippines is a “highly impulsive individual who has difficulty controlling his
urges and emotions” and suffers from a long-term psychological condition, according to a
rediscovered assessment of his mental health.

3rd claim:

The assessment found Mr. Duterte suffered from “antisocial narcissistic personality
disorder”, a pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by "gross indifference, insensitivity and
self-centeredness" and "grandiose sense of self-entitlement and manipulative behaviors". The
politician was described as having a “pervasive tendency to demean, humiliate others and violate
their rights and feelings”, and was “unable to reflect on the consequences of his actions.” He was
found to readily engage in “unhealthy and destructive behaviors” and had “poor capacity for
objective judgement”, failing to “see things in the light of facts”. During the court case, lawyers
also spoke of Mr. Duterte’s “womanizing” ways and detailed claims of numerous affairs he was
involved in while married to Ms. Zimmerman. Court papers from the trial showed Dr. Dayan
concluded Mr. Duterte was “psychologically incapacitated to handle essential marital
obligations”, due to his “inability for loyalty and commitment” and “lack of capacity for remorse
and guilt".

THESE ARE THE CLAIMS THAT PROVE THAT DONALD TRUMP IS NOT A
SOCIOPATH.

1st claim:

According Allen Frances, M.D., who was also the chair of the Department of Psychiatry
and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University and also chaired the task force responsible for
revising the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, “Trump
is an undisputed poster boy for narcissism.” He demonstrates in pure form every single symptom
described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) criteria for
narcissistic personality disorder, which I wrote in 1978. But lots of successful people are
extremely narcissistic without being mentally ill — think most celebrities, many politicians, and
a fair percentage of writers, artists, lawyers, doctors, and professors. To qualify for narcissistic
personality disorder, an individual’s selfish, un-empathetic preening must be accompanied by
significant distress or impairment. Trump certainly causes severe distress and impairment in
others, but his narcissism doesn’t seem to affect him that way.

2nd claim:

Psychiatrist Lance Dodes sounds the alarm about President Donald Trump’s mental
health, saying how the so-called "Goldwater Rule" is hampering the ability of psychiatrists and
other clinicians to discuss the threat posed by Donald Trump. Donald Trump is not anyone’s
patient, so there is no confidentiality rule. In fact, no other branch of medicine has this rule. If
your favorite linebacker goes down with a tear to his ACL in a football game, the next thing you
will see is an orthopedist on television talking about the prognosis and the injury. Every other
medical specialty feels free — and they should feel free — to speak out about public figures
because it is a public service. In the field of psychiatry, we call this “duty to warn.” When you
gag the people who actually know the best about these things, then you leave the public with
uninformed lay opinions. The best diagnosis for Trump is that he is a malignant narcissist. It
contains the narcissistic part, which is no big deal alone — lots of people are narcissistic — but
the malignant part is the sociopathy dimension.
 3rd claim:

Anthony Scaramucci, Donald Trump’s former communications director, believes the US

president is a "political genius" who used Twitter to win the election. We firmly believe that
President Trump, without the tool of Twitter, likely would have not won. Trump was outspent by
Clinton by 1.7 times, she had 2.4 more personnel than us - it’s not clear to us that the money is as
important as the ideas. We have to accept he’s a political genius. In 19 months, he went from 0 to
POTUS (President of the United States). We can’t say there wasn’t some level of genius in terms
of his judgment.

THESE ARE THE CLAIMS THAT PROVE THAT VLADIMIR PUTIN IS NOT A
SOCIOPATH.

1st claim:

President Vladimir Putin curbed exploitative leaders, fought Communism, and protects
his country’s interests above all others. He disciplined his country’s unaccountable plutocrats,
restored its military strength, and refused, with ever-blunter rhetoric, the subservient role in an
American-run world system that foreign politicians and business leaders had drawn up for
Russia. His voters credit him with having “saved his country.” So do many of his Russian
detractors, although they worry he has stayed in power too long. He is among the more popular
democratically elected leaders in the civilized world and, incidentally, a hero to certain right-
wing rebels against the international order, particularly in Europe. This is awkward for him and
for them, since, unlike Atatürk, Putin has no programmatic ideology.

2nd claim:

“Vladimir Putin: I don't have bad days because I'm not a woman.” claim made in
interview with film-maker Oliver Stone, who was granted rare access to Russian president over
two years. On our perspective, he does not have bad days because he is “not a woman”, and
would rather not shower next to a gay man because he wouldn’t want to “provoke him”. Stone
was granted rare access to the president and conducted several meetings with Putin over two
years. Putin also used the interview to deny there was any persecution of gay people in Russia,
despite a law being passed against the “propaganda of homosexuality among minors” and recent
reports of a “gay purge” in the Russian republic of Chechnya. In short, the President is sensitive
to all life forms and is not a psychopath or someone who is said to be “emotionally retarded”.

3rd claim:

A psychological profile on Donald Trump's is being prepared for Vladimir Putin, it has
been claimed. It comes after a shock report made unconfirmed claims Russia held scandalous
information which they planned to use to blackmail Donald Trump. Former Russian officials
claim the Russian president has asked advisors for a “detailed profile” on the US president over
concerns he could be a weak ally. This just proves that Putin is not a psychopath, rather a good
leader that knows who to team up with. This is a smart move for Russia is understood to growing
increasingly concerned with Trump's battles in Washington – including violent protests across
America and the refusal of one of his executive orders by a federal court.

THESE ARE THE CLAIMS THAT PROVE THAT RODRIGO DUTERTE IS NOT A
SOCIOPATH.

1st claim:

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday expressed his support for same-sex
unions, after previously declaring his opposition to gay marriage, in an about-face that may
displease bishops in the mainly Roman Catholic country. Duterte assured members of the LGBT
community that they would not experience discrimination under his regime. There will be no
oppression and he will recognize their importance in society. He even guaranteed that
everybody, at least during his term, will be protected and nurtured as a human being. Duterte is
willing to appoint members of the LGBT community to his Cabinet, and that makes his EQ on
path – totally not a psychopath.

2nd claim:

Organized faiths promote a set of rules, often found in a book, accompanied by lessons as
to how the faith is to be applied in life. Preachers are the teachers. There is a moral righteousness
attached to the faith which cannot be challenged. To challenge is to disbelieve, to be a heathen. It
is to promote disobedience and chaos and place at risk the community, the purpose and the hope.
And to have a President who claims that faith is not truth - it is confidence and commitment, it
just manifest the heart of a leader in him.

3rd claim:

Duterte on hero’s burial for Marcos: No emotions, just the law article came out about the
President when the known burial of late-President Marcos took place, not letting his feelings
intervene within the situation – all for his duty, not his personal desire. President Rodrigo
Duterte defended anew on Friday his decision, upheld by a 9-5 vote by the Supreme Court, to
allow the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. “It says
that if you are a President (you can be buried there), and does not say you have a record of
dictatorship or whatnot or being a gentle despot, walang sinabi (there is no mention of that). The
law says if you are a soldier you are qualified to be there. And if you are the President, you are
supposed to be there if you want to,” he said.
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