As I understand it, and have experienced it with my father and others, narcissism is a reflexive lifelong response to unbearable childhood trauma. The pain and terror of this humiliating experience mark the child for a life devoted to never again feeling those terrible emotions. In order to avoid this pain, it is necessary to silence any voices that can evoke these emotions. Critics and questioners need to be put to silence by any means necessary.

The demon that torments the narcissist is so terrifying that the narcissist will do virtually anything to avoid that nightmarish feeling of powerlessness and humiliation.

In the case of a malignant narcissist, driven to attain power so that he can use it to punish his countless enemies, the narcissist is capable of literally anything you can imagine, and things worse than you can imagine.

Since we are living in the age of narcissism, and if you need convincing look at Ye, Elon, Don Jr., Caitlyn, Pompeo, Sloppy Steve and countless other public examples, we have a lot to learn about how to survive these motherfuckers. We’d be well-advised to start studying this prevalent disease of our time.