Donald Trump’s criminal trial continues in Manhattan this week after the prosecution rested its case on Monday. Now Trump's lawyers are taking aim at the credibility of Michael Cohen, the ex-lawyer and fixer who facilitated a $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Cohen has painted a highly unflattering portrait of his former boss as someone who lacks empathy, social bonds and is primarily concerned with looking out for No. 1.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Bill Danielsen of Royal Roads University takes a closer look at Trump’s personal attributes — or lack thereof — and what could explain his lifelong patterns of behaviour.

Danielsen writes that Trump rates high in what are known as the Dark Triad personality traits, which consist of Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathology. People who possess Dark Triad traits pose serious insider threats to the organizations they lead or work for. Strong social bonds, however, can sometimes mitigate their toxic tendencies.

He writes: “As the world awaits the outcome of Trump’s first criminal trial, the question now is whether the former president’s social bonds — if he has any meaningful ones — will save him, and the world, from his apparent Dark Triad instincts.”

Also today:

All the best,

Lee-Anne Goodman

Politics Editor
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