The Slatest

Former Obama Campaign Manager: Trump “Meets Clinical Definition” of “Psychopath”

David Plouffe speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2016 at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal on May 10 in New York City.

Noam Galai/Getty Images for TechCrunch

David Plouffe, who was the campaign manager for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and was a senior adviser to the White House for several years, straight up described Donald Trump as “a psychopath” during an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press. While explaining why he had initially thought Trump would be doing more things to appeal to the “middle of the electorate,” Plouffe said, “basically we have a psychopath running for president, I mean he meets the clinical definition.”

NBC’s Chuck Todd seemed a bit taken aback by the use of the word psychopath on air to describe a presidential candidate and proceeded to question Plouffe’s qualifications to make that kind of evaluation. “Let me ask you, wait a minute. Do you really think diagnosing people on air—and I assume you don’t have a degree in psychology,” Todd said. “Is that fair? I mean we’re jumping to conclusions here and I think this is what gets voters a little frustrated.”

Plouffe, who is now a senior vice president at Uber, stood by his statement, giving what is a textbook definition of a psychopath, even as he recognized that yes, Todd was right and he does not have the kind of degree that would be necessary to make a proper diagnosis. “Well, listen, grandiose notion of self-worth, pathological lying, lack of empathy, and remorse,” he said. “I think he does, right I don’t have a degree.” Plouffe went on to say that he thought it was pretty much a lost election for Trump because Hillary Clinton is essentially guaranteed 269 electoral votes. “I think it’s likely going to be a landslide,” he said.