'From narcissism to megalomania': Why Trump believes he 'runs the world'

An AI-generated image of President Donald Trump wearing papal attire was posted on his Truth Social and the White House's X accounts over the weekend, just days after Pope Francis' death. This image has drawn criticism from Catholics, even though Trump stated it was not offensive.

In an article published in The Bulwark Monday, neoconservative commentator William Kristol said Trump's second term is "so much more dangerous" than his first.

He mentioned two reasons for his assertion. "The first: Trump is worse than he was eight years ago. The second: Those around him now are worse than those around him then," the analyst wrote.

Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, an anti-Trump political organization had issued a letter, endorsed by over 200 mental health professionals, expressing concern that Trump poses a danger due to “his symptoms of severe, untreatable personality disorder – malignant narcissism." The letter said these "symptoms" render him “grossly unfit for leadership”.

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"Trump has always been a narcissist. But what do you call it when success and power go to a narcissist’s head? Megalomania?" Kristol wrote in his article Monday.

"As Trump said in his recent interview with the Atlantic: 'The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys . . . And the second time, I run the country and the world'," the article notes.

The writer called this behavior an example of narcissism, saying that it is "jarring."

"But Trump’s self-described progression from 'I run the country' to 'I run the country and the world' seems to represent a progression from narcissism to megalomania. Running the world sounds . . . God-like," Kristol added.

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Earlier on Monday, Trump shrugged off concerns regarding the image, which is still up on both accounts, stating he was only trying to be humorous.

"You mean they can't take a joke?" Trump said when asked about Catholics criticizing the image. "You don't mean the Catholics, you mean the fake news media. The Catholics loved it. I had nothing to do with it. Maybe it was AI," the president added.