My understanding, the line between personality and illness is dysfunction. Possible that he was functional w/old job, but not w/this one.

— Jeff Porten (@jeffporten) September 3, 2017

This is a good point. A critical marker of many diagnoses is a functional one, whether it significantly impacts basic life/social function. https://t.co/2asQ5cjtHE

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 3, 2017

I’d say that his personality issues prevented Trump from succeeding in his first career as a builder. He couldn’t tell the difference between what he wanted, and what was possible, so he built THREE ginormous luxury casinos in a place that could barely sustain one.

His second career was marketing himself as the symbol of ostentatious wealth. That, he could do.

His third career was marketing himself to a slice of America that has long wanted to believe things that weren’t true, and he was happy to tell them whatever they wanted to believe, including that he was a successful businessman, a shrewd judge of character, a savvy negotiator, and a real tough guy. He did a great job, selling gullible boobs just that image.

His current career requires him to be smart, a good judge of character, restrained, thoughtful, humble, and to base his decisions on the best data available, whether it aligns with what he wants or not. This is why he fails.

It’s an important lesson, that a significant chunk of the electorate can be fooled into thinking that someone so patently ill-suited for the job is PERFECT for it.