There is a succinct clinical definition for a person who can hurt others without feeling badly himself, who in fact delights in making other people feel badly, with nary a shred of guilt.  That definition is sociopathic. (Please see the excellent book on this subject by Marsha Stout, PhD, The Sociopath Next Door.) It’s a brain wiring issue. While most of us feel badly about eating the last piece of cake in the kitchen, a sociopath gets off on taking advantage of other people, lives to get more than their fair share.

The percentage of sociopathic occurrence in a given population holds steady all over the world. 4 percent — or 4 out of every one hundred people, or 1 in every 25 people — would qualify as sociopathic, no matter where you are on the planet.  Stop and think about that for a minute. It explains a lot.

Unfortunately, we tend to love bad boys here in the USA, so sociopaths tend to get into high places. We actually select for them, as Stout says, while some cultures do a better job of keeping them in check. A mean, foul mouthed, power hungry person just won’t get much traction in Switzerland or Japan. Their laws prohibit that type of behavior, and their cultures frown upon it.

The fact that someone as obviously unhinged as Donald Trump has gotten so far, and can wield so much power in a country as big and powerful as the USA, should wake everyone in the USA the hell up. It should wake everyone in the world the hell up.

Let’s stop pretending that ‘people are all nice and they are all going to play by the rules.’ Let’s get serious about the fact that 4 percent of us don’t give a damn about the other 96 percent. Let’s get to work right away making laws that will prevent sociopaths from gaining traction. As well as laws that will hold sociopaths in check if they do manage to win an election.

Whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, a Progressive or a Libertarian, it should be plain that if our current laws remain so weak and so full of holes that a sitting President does not have to stop doing financial business with foreign powers, or disclose his tax returns, or cooperate with our allies, or even tell the truth, our country is just flat asking for it. This is the road to hell, and it is not paved with good intentions.

Look how far Hitler got. Without the advantage of Twitter, Facebook, or Cambridge Analytica.