Mitch McConnell Is A Sociopath by Robert Covington Jr.
Recently, my oldest teenage daughter and I have been watching a lot of Criminal Minds episodes together. Besides the fact that my daughter thinks Shemar Moore (Derek Morgan on the show) and the character Dr. Reid are both “hot” in their own ways, there is nothing like a father and daughter bonding over narcissists, sociopaths, serial killers and psychopaths.
As a mental health professional for the past twenty- five years, I’ve always been intrigued and interested in human behavior-based TV shows and movies. So it should come as no surprise that TV shows like Criminal Minds, movies like Good Will Hunting and A Beautiful Mind are some of my all time favorites. My daughter has not expressed a serious interest in the occupation of mental health, but it’s been fun talking with her about the varying degrees of influence that character, family, environment and experience has on life decisions and relationships with others.
The time spent with her watching Criminal Minds has also provided me with a perfect segue into having discussions with her about sociopaths, psychopaths and narcissists that don’t end up abducting children or going on a murder spree in their hometown. I’ve been able to have candid conversations with her about destructive and dangerous people with anti-personality disorders that we’ll find in other areas of society and how they can have a much bigger impact on the lives of other human beings.
It’s been easy to parlay the conversation into politicians like Donald Trump. She’s totally aware as to how destructive and horrifying Trump’s presidency has been for America and the world. We’ve been able to talk about Trump’s maniacal obsession with self, the lack of conscience, no empathy and sadistic joy that he gets in harming others. My daughter is versed in Trump’s criminal negligence and heartlessness in his handling of the coronavirus that has cost Americans hundreds of thousands of lives. It’s not much of a debate as how evil Trump has been in every area of his presidency.
With Trump no longer being president, I’ve been making sure that I help my daughter understand that there is another politician in power that is a sociopath and very dangerous, and that man is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
I remind her that sociopaths, psychopaths, and narcissists are on a broad spectrum of what they are capable of doing to other people and that the core characteristics to look for in a sociopath are the lack of empathy, lack of conscience (no guilt or shame, incapable of feeling pain or remorse for what is done to others), the ease one lies and manipulate to achieve goals, human disregard of impact on others, calculation and the determination to exert power to get what a person wants, no matter the consequence.
I talked with my daughter about McConnell leading the charge in trying to remove 23 million Americans from lifesaving healthcare. I told her that McConnell enabled Trump to exert his power to inflict so much harm, pain, and suffering on the American people. She is aware that McConnell played a huge role in Trump’s big lie about the election that led up to the January 6th insurrection that humiliated a nation.
My daughter knows that Trump was impeached twice but never convicted in the Senate primarily because of McConnell. I shared with her how McConnell is a racist man that has made it a priority to put racist judges throughout the country that will vote against human rights, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration rights, workers' rights, and the environment.
My daughter is learning more about the constitution in high school, and I’ve been talking with her about how Mitch McConnell has been the biggest culprit in weakening the constitution and destroying norms, rules, and its traditions of deliberating and legislating. I tell her McConnell doesn’t exist in government for the public good, but that he is a cold, calculating, manipulative man that is only interested in power for power’s sake.
My daughter is extremely happy that Joe Biden won the presidency. But she is now aware that Mitch McConnell will do everything possible to destroy his presidency, damage democracy, and hurt Americans on a large scale whenever given the opportunity. She’s aware of McConnell’s ruthlessness and the lack of remorse that guides his decisions on millions of Americans.
As my daughter and I continue to watch Criminal Minds together, I’m happy that she has a better understanding of pathology, human behavior and that by and large, it is societies that create human monsters and sociopaths like Mitch McConnell. That the pen or policy can be far more deadly than a blade. And I hope being armed with this knowledge, she will do her part to make this world a better place.
Follow me on twitter: @robcovingtonjr
