A clear and present danger

"Narcissism is epidemic and there is scarcely a domain that is immune. "A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump" brings together bestselling authors, university professors, and practicing clinicians. "Every country has the government it deserves," said Alexis de Toqueville, author of "Democracy in America." Whatever history eventually records about the 2016 presidential election, this frank and thoughtful exploration of narcissism will prove to be a timely and timeless study. Narcissism demands to be mirrored and refuses to be challenged. It demands acclaim, obedience, and accommodation, while disregarding others. Whether narcissism overtakes the home, the workplace, or the national stage, everyone who comes under Narcissus's spell, both the narcissist and their subjects, suffer. Pundits insist that politics has seldom been as polarized as it became during the 2016 election in the USA. But there is a long history of what the religious scholar Mircea Eleade, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Henry Corbin, and C.G. Jung described as "coincidentia oppositorum," the coincidence of opposites. While Donald Trump galvanized a vast number of angry, disaffected voters, Senator Bernie Sanders mobilized enormous crowds of young voters who were intent on changing the status quo. The contributors share a hope that these essays will become a mirror for self-examination. Gaze into the reflecting pool, but beware that you do not become absorbed in your own image and the echo of your own voice. Then let your gaze return to the world around you, to the people who share your life, to the nation and planet you inhabit. And as Dr. Estes reminds us in the closing pages, remember 'We were made for times like these'"--Page 4 of cover.