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Oh God, What Now?

Is Trump a psychopath? – The cruel psychology of modern power

Oh God, What Now?

Podmasters

News, Politics, Society & Culture

4.62.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Remember Trump’s first term when we talked about “kakistocracy”: rule by the worst of the worst? They’re back and they’re worse than ever – not just Trump and his entourage but his corrupt Mini-Mes around the world. Why is our time so cursed with venal, cruel, nihilistic and apparently mentally damaged leaders? Where do these personalities come from? Are Trump and his entourage true psychopaths in the psychological sense? Ian Hughes, author of Disordered Minds : How Dangerous Personalities Are Destroying Democracy, joins Zoë Grünewald and Jonn Elledge to discuss our age of “malignant normality”, Hitler, Mao, and the psychopathology of cruel rule. As one African proverb says: “The child who does not feel love will burn down the village to feel its warmth.” • Buy Disordered Minds through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ESCAPE ROUTES • Jonn recommends Star Trek: Starfleet Academy  streaming on Paramount+.  • Ian Hughes has been rewatching Carl Sagan’s classic space documentary Cosmos on YouTube.  • Zoë recommends Industry on the BBC iPlayer.  www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow Presented by Zöe Grünewald with Jonn Elledge. Audio and video production by Chris Jones. Art direction: James Parrett. Theme tune by Cornershop. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:39.1

Hello and welcome to Oh God What Now, the podcast that has done the self-work, read the books, but can't help feeling deeply triggered every time it switches on the news.

1:49.1

I'm Zoe Grunibold, and today we're talking about the relationship between psychology and power, and why it feels like those in charge would benefit less from access to nuclear codes and more to a very long course of therapy.

2:01.2

Between the strong men, demagogues and techno-fascists with inferiority complexes,

2:05.9

politics right now feels unwell, not just morally or structurally, but psychologically too.

...

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