Trump's lack of empathy is a threat to democracy

With North Carolina struggling to recover from the effects of a deadly hurricane, and with another monster storm hitting Florida, Donald Trump has decided to capitalize.

His response to these disasters: Blame the Democratic Party and spread misinformation. Trump is lying nonstop about the federal government's emergency response in an effort to stir anger against the Biden Administration. Some of his followers have gone even further, latching on to demented conspiracy theories about Democrats and the weather.

Trump's lies are not surprising. But his decision to exploit this moment of crisis and tragedy for maximum political effect further exposes his key character flaw: a complete lack of empathy.

In the aftermath of a storm that killed more than 200 people in North Carolina, all Trump can think about is himself. He's desperately seeking to score points and pin the blame on Vice President Kamala Harris. He sees the North Carolina disaster, and the impending disaster in Florida, as his last chance to get ahead in the final weeks of the 2024 election.

Vice President Harris called out Trump's empathy deficit during an interview with The View:

He puts himself before the needs of others. I fear that he really lacks empathy on a very basic level to care about the suffering of other people and then understand the role of a leader is not to beat people down, it’s to lift people up especially in a time of crisis.

Harris rightly identifies Trump's core issue as a lack of empathy. His void of empathy is so apparent that it's hard to pick just one example to use – because there are too many examples from which to choose.

Whether he's downplaying the danger of COVID or grinning in a cemetery, Trump does not care about anyone but himself. He is only concerned with how he can profit from any given situation. He lacks the ability to understand how other people feel, and he probably does not understand why the feelings of other people should matter in the first place.

(There are some exceptions. Trump seems to have a good amount of empathy for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Yesterday it was revealed that Trump secretly sent Putin some COVID-19 testing equipment in the early days of the pandemic, at a time when such equipment was in short supply in American hospitals.)

Trump's lack of empathy is his defining trait, and this is one major reason why he poses such a danger to democracy. As Dr. George Lakoff put it:

If you don’t care what happens to other people — if you only care about yourself — why would you care to live in a democracy? Empathy is the central component of a healthy and functioning democracy. That’s because democracy is based on the principle of equal representation. Empathy is necessary to understand and respect the perspectives and experiences of diverse individuals and communities.

Since Trump doesn't care about how people feel, he also doesn't care about whether their votes are respected. He desperately wishes to be president, so he doesn't think it's important that a majority of Americans voted against him in 2020. He would gladly disenfranchise millions of Americans to seize power. The only thing that matters to Trump – and the Republican Party he owns – is whether he gets what he wants.

In the coming weeks, as Trump intensifies his cruel lies and blame games, refuse to take the bait. Instead of rehashing his lies or mocking his conspiracy theories, do something more useful. Talk to your friends and family about the importance of empathy, why it's essential to democracy, and why Trump's stunning lack of empathy makes him dangerously unfit to be president of the United States.

A person without empathy can never truly lead a democracy – because power without empathy is a recipe for dictatorship.

“There's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit.” – President Barack Obama

Our fellow Americans need our help. If you can, click this link to donate to hurricane relief efforts via the Red Cross.

More: Dr. George Lakoff speaks about the importance of empathy (2010):