Why it matters

Because it’s necessary to understanding what he does and why he does it.  His psychopathy explains it all.

Again, this is not just name calling.  It is a means of understanding everything this guy does (and hopefully, how to deal with him).

It must be part of the discussion.

Throughout his candidacy and even now, the analysts and pundits (and of course, the citizenry) have been pulling out their hair trying to figure out the method to Trump’s madness.  

But there is no method.  It’s just madness.

It’s natural to assume that a politician has a strategy behind everything he does.  But Trump’s actions can be so stupid, and in particular so self-defeating, that strategy can seem impossible to identify.

It is impossible to identify, because nothing he does is in fact strategic.

Trump’s actions are all explained by his psychopathy.

It boils down to two words:
Empathy.
And Ego.

He has none of the first and nothing but the second.

Everything Trump does, every tweet, every attack, ever claim, every lie, is explained by the fact that he is serving his own ego.  That is all he does.  

And because he is incapable of empathy, there is nothing to counter-balance the ego-driven urges and in fact no way for him to even understand how and why people react negatively to him.

If we just remember that, everything falls into place.

So what to do with that?  Answer:  make it part of the discussion.  Whether you agree with our diagnosis or not, Trump's actions and the risks they pose must be viewed through the lense of mental illness.  Again, it must be part of the discussion.

This isn't about right vs. left.  It is about an existential threat to our country and possibly our existence.  It doesn't matter how far-right someone's politics are.  Everyone (and by that I include Republican politicians) should be motivated to put a stop to this guy.  We leave it to better political strategists than we to figure out how.  But we need a measure of unity on this.  And as long as folks think he can be "handled" or that he'll act rationally, or that at the end of the day he wouldn't really do anything crazy just because he felt insulted, they aren't going to be motivated to take the kind of action that is required.

It must be part of the discussion.