Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for plucky misfits and problem solvers.

I'm your host, Andrew Heaton, a denizen of the Greater Washington, D.C. necroplex, the seat of American political power.

It's something of a running joke that the halls of power attract narcissists and sociopaths,

but is that actually a joke? By which I mean statistically, are there more narcissists in Congress than, say,

Applebee's? If so, why is that? But also, what's the difference between a narcissist and a

garden variety self-absorbed jerk? What's the difference between a thick-skinned campaigner and an actual

sociopath? And pertinent to you and me, when we truly encounter a lizard person, a humanoid

in a necktie with a damaged moral compass or broken emotional regulator, when we encounter them for real, what do we do about it?

That's what we're going to find out about today right here on the political orphanage.

My guest today is Bill Eddy.

He is a therapist, lawyer, and mediator. He's the director of innovation at the High Conflict Institute and the author of over 20 books on high conflict behavior and how to manage it. But for our purposes today, we will be discussing his most pertinent of these works to us, why we elect narcissists and sociopaths and how we can stop.

Hello, Bill Eddie.

Good morning. Thank you, Andrew.

Or good morning, whatever it is, wherever you are.

Okay.

Yeah, no, you nailed it.

I'm on the east coast of the United States.

It's still morning for me.

So how about this?

Before we get into mapping out narcissists and sociopaths within our political class, what is your background regarding narcissists and sociopaths in general?

Because I want to make sure that we're not just pathologizing people we don't like and that you have a august professional background that you're drawing on

rather than just targeting politicians that are unpleasant.

...