The Despotic Madman “Dark Triad” Scorecard
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History has unfortunately produced many members of the Dark Triad Despot club. Napoleon, Caesar, and Genghis Khan were at least military geniuses, while Hitler was at least a master motivator. Machiavelli was really…well…Machiavellian. Trump excels at lying and bragging, but little else.
Psychologists talk about the “Dark Triad” of personality traits: Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. Since we live in a competitive society, I decided to “score” the various despotic madmen of history (according to their Dark Triad levels), with some consideration for their military abilities and popularity with their subjects (abilities which may draw from diminished Dark Triad, since they imply power sharing and some level of compassion). Sadly, some sinister leaders score high on the Dark Triad scale, as they are thought to be bold and decisive (even though they are sometimes just ruthless).
Apparently, Khan and Napoleon win this dubious competition, mostly due to their unquestioned military skill and seeming ability to motivate, which may indicate that they were willing to delegate which took away from their Narcissism scores. Hitler and Caesar are close behind, losing mostly on Military Skill points.
It should be remembered here that sometimes ruthlessness can masquerade as “military skill”. Since Caesar had the power of the Roman Empire behind him, was he really that skilled as a commander, or did he simply look like one because he massacred and/or enslaved so many Gauls? At the time, this was an unprecedented slaughter, which speaks to Caesar’s ambition and psychopathic tendencies. Similarly, Genghis Khan must have been a skilled military commander, but it’s hard to tell how skilled because we went around killing everyone, so he probably seemed better than he really was. Napoleon on the other hand, is considered the best military commander in history, since he had to play military chess and did not have the advantage of being able to kill everyone. Hitler must have been a “pretty good” military commander, to have even managed his troops, but he notoriously made delegation mistakes (probably due to his oversized ego and psychopathic tendencies). Trump is the ultimate narcissist, and certainly has Machiavellian aspirations, if not abilities. He would love to be a military genius, but sadly he is all puffery and no skill. He does have a middlin’ ability to motivate people (usually the wrong ones) but nowhere near Hitler or Napoleon’s ability. You’d like to think of Caesar as a master motivator, but he was murdered by the other Senators (so he must have led by fear instead of love). Napoleon and Hitler, by contrast, actually seemed to have a high degree of “love”, especially Napoleon. Machiavelli was a middle manager in the Borgia government in the 1500s (more of an observer than a leader), so he really doesn’t belong on this list (except that he is deliciously “Machiavellian” haha).
Interestingly, Trump has gotten a lot of mileage out of simply being a narcissist. If he is a psychopath he may be hiding it (he certainly seems heartless though). If he is Machiavellian in intent (high ambition, willing to run over anyone to get his way), he certainly isn’t Machiavellian in deed (he can’t seem to get out of his own way). Military genius? Oh please, all he’s ever done is fawn over other dictators and berate his own commanders. He only believes in money, so I suppose conquest would only interest him if there was considerable booty involved (not that kind of booty, you lechers out there!). Trump is a paper tiger that often wins over mere sycophants and opportunists, while Khan, Napoleon, and even Hitler had the loyalty of their military commanders and most of their people. Trump has made enemies in his intelligence community, the military, and about 60% of the population. He is a kind of wannabe Dark Triad guy, as he doesn’t have the talent to back up his enormous ambition and ego. This is very fortunate for the rest of us, as a less loutish or more competent Trump would be a real problem for the Nation and the World.
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