Revisiting the Dark Tetrad. Perhaps we need a new term: "Dark Tetradians" because there seem to be so many who enjoy hurting people.
Sabrina Haake wrote “No, ICE goons are not immune from criminal prosecution under state laws” here today. She wrote about Stephen Miller as follows:
Trump advisor and Neanderthal genetic marker Stephen Miller is on record lusting for the good old days when women were dragged by their hair into the cave. He told CNN during an interview that, “We live in a world, in the real world . . . that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”
This prompted me to make the following comments:
Stephen Miller is in a state of permanent if puny priapism having achieved the wet dream job of Consigliere to God, in large part for having the requisite ruthless rating of A++++ on the sadism scale. Yes, there are real tests, fr example the Comprehensive Assessment of Sadistic Tendencies (CAST). Since he speaks for the God King/Dictator when he says the underling goons and thugs with mere A+ sadism ratings can do anything they damn well fucking please with both legal immunity and total impunity his word goes. (I included this link to a website about this sadistic personality test.)
Then I added the following:
This is for those who aren’t familiar with The Dark Tetrad which is made up of the personality traits of narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism. The term is an expansion of the idea of the better known Dark Triad construct, which does not include sadism. I wrote about this in March. I wrote about Trump and Hegseth fitting into this construct, but easily could have included Miller and everyone now involved in leading and implementing the immigration enforcement.
Psychopathy and sadism stand out because these characteristics are what makes someone with the power over peoples lives evil. These psychopathic sadists could be a ruler of a county, a boss, or someone in a family. If they are in the Dark Tetrad they will inflict great pain. You can be just a Machiavellian or a narcissist and not revel in being cruel to people..
I then put on a link to the Substack which I wrote in March about Trump and Hegseth being in the Dark Tetrad:
I realized that since the brutal and manic enforcement efforts against those thought to be here illegally has escalated it has become appallingly and glaringly apparent that there are a lot mor people who fit into the Dark Tetrad than I previously would let myself realize. Of course, the top people leading this murderous spree like Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, and Gregory Bovino make the news, but now we see that many of their subordinates fit into this classification.
This is why I am revisitng the Dark Tetrad.
Some perfectly normal people have sadistic fantasies about what they’d like to do or see happen to certain people. They may think about these things, they may write about them, they may talk about them to friends. In this poltical climate they may involve having dark thoughts about Donald Trump. They may be fantasies involving torture or may take a Dantesque turn and be about a special level of Hell designed by the quintessential sadist Satan for just that person and his cohorts.
If you are up on your Trump psychopatholgy you not only know what malignant narcissism is, but also know what the Dark Triad is. There have been many articles about Trump and the Dark Triad (here). I’ve written several including, most recently, this one:
Because many people who have traits of The Dark Triad also are sadistic another pesonalality type called The Dark Tetrad was added by experts. You may not know what the Dark Tetrad is.
It is worth understanding what the Dark Tetrad is. Here’s a definition from a Psyhology Today article:
The Dark Tetrad, also known as the Dark Quad, is a set of interrelated negative personality features: narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism. The term is an expansion of the idea of the Dark Triad construct, which does not include sadism. In the last decade, researchers have noted a correlation of sadism with Dark Triad traits, with the result of the Dark Tetrad.
People with Dark Tetrad traits score high on measures of the following:
Narcissism: A belief that one is special, particularly gifted, obsessed with themselves and that they are superior to others.
Machiavellianism: A tendency to see people as a means to achieve one’s own goals.
Psychopathy: A condition characterized by a lack of affective empathy and the willingness to exploit others.
Sadism: The tendency to derive pleasure from the pain or humiliation of others.
It should be obvious that Trump is an example of someone who has all of the traits of The Dark Tetrad. If you want to explore this further, here’s an article by Morgan Sinclair, PhD: Heart of Darkness. Trump isn't just Dark Triad. He's Dark *Tetrad*. You can also look at the words and actions of people like Miller and judge for yourself whether they meet the criteria for being in the Dark Tetrad.
I think Miller, Homan, Noem, and Bovino do for certain. To varying degrees I think some of those attracted to working for ICE or their related agencies also could be called Dark Tetradians.
For the person on the street dealing with them it means that any interaction could cost them their lives. Perhaps there should be warning signs.
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I wrote this on Sabrina's SubStack earlier today.
"Mostly what I'm seeing is a sick man surrounding himself with sick people to enforce his warped ideas. When I say sick of course, I mean mentally sick and likely diagnosable. It seems most...if not all .......these people were either abused or neglected...or both....as children. Hence the fascination with power.....power they were deprived of as children. Many children who were abused when young grow up to be abusers. Doesn't make sense to me but so many psychologists and psychiatrists tell us this is the case. Prison guards and counselors can vouch that the worst of the worst were abused/neglected as children. But yet we put these sick people in positions of power and hire them to police our streets and our children. IMO this is the root cause of so much of America's problems. It doesn't take a majority of people to be 'sick' like this. Just a few in the right places and they will recruit others like themselves so that before we understand what's happening we've lost our country."
Followed by this from Sabrina:
agreed, but how to assess for childhood trauma? my personal experience suggests 95% of children are 'abused' in one way or another.
To which I replied
I don't think there's been enough research or if there has, its not been made readily available. My guess is that it matters to what degree and kind of abuse. It seems the worst of it has to do with how powerless the young child believes he is....and whether there are outlets....e.g. Is it both parents? Is the mother as powerless as the child? How depraved is the abuse? There are many more facets to it. And of course the child grows up ashamed of it as though its their own fault. And of course as an adult this shame will be hidden or make every attempt to.
Ultimately I think it boils down to the lack of power and lack of empathy. Chris Armitage wrote an entire newsletter about his experience as a prison guard. All the abusers ...murderers rapists cheered on Trump. That has to say something right there..... They know a fellow abused child (grown up) when they see one.
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/conservatism-americas-empathy-disorder-258?
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/grand-old-pedophiles?
Might abuse and neglect tie together all the things you list ?
The expansion from Dark Triad to Dark Tetrad by adding sadism is realy crucial for understanding these personalities. Sadism fundamentaly changes the calculus because it's not just about lacking empathy or manipulating for personal gain, it's about actively deriving pleasure from causing harm. I've noticed that discussions about these traits tend to treat them as interchangeable, but that fourth element of enjoying others' suffering adds a whole different dimension to the damage someone can inflict.