Trump is cozying up to the Russian leader. What does this mean for the world?
By Bill Eddy / Bill Eddy’s Substack / October 22, 2026
Last week President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff spoke with the Russian President and praised him as a “humanitarian” because of releasing a 74-year-old American prisoner who may have been arrested for the purpose of being a bargaining chip. Trump also waived sanctions on the sale of Russian oil, which will produce a windfall for Putin to use in promoting his brutal 4-year war on Ukraine. Trump’s fondness for Putin has led him to withdraw most U. S. support for Ukraine, telling reporters this week in the Oval Office, according to PBS News: “We want Zelenskyy to make a deal. We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. We’ve gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss.”
In reality, Ukraine has been the bulwark—the defensive wall—for democracy in Europe against Putin’s war of choice to expand its territory, just as Britain and the United States were the bulwark for democracy against Hitler’s war of expansion across Europe. But this week Trump became open to the idea of a summit of Trump, Putin, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to resolve the war in Ukraine. This would involve getting Ukraine to concede land to Russia that was taken by force.
To understand the danger of this shift, let’s look at Putin’s personality since this is a column on why personality matters in politics. Specifically, does Putin fit the dynamics of “malignant narcissism,” as many dictators do (including Trump?) and what this means for our future.
A Pattern of Expansionist Behavior
Keep in mind that Putin was a foreign intelligence officer for the Soviet spy agency KGB for 15 years, including six years in East Germany before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. In 2000, he became the Russian president and has essentially been its dictator for the past 26 years. Just before becoming President, he led a brutal crackdown on the Chechnya region of Russia. In 2008, he led an invasion of neighboring country Georgia and still occupies two regions within its borders. In 2014, he led an invasion of Ukraine to suppress a growing rebellion against the Russia-friendly government, which led to the overthrow of its President and the rise of a more democratic government. However, Russia annexed the Crimea region and controlled some eastern regions.
Then, in February 2022, he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. There was no obvious indication that this invasion would benefit the people of Russia or Ukraine. Instead, this gives the appearance of a purely personality-based decision coming from one man, Vladimir Putin.
Malignant Narcissists in History
In his book, The Better Angels of our Nature, psychologist Steven Pinker states that just three men were largely responsible for over one hundred million deaths in the last century, because of their personalities. “As for World War II, the historian F. H. Hinsley wrote, ‘Historians are, rightly, nearly unanimous that . . . the causes of the Second World War were the personality and the aims of Adolf Hitler.’ Historian Keegan agrees: ‘Only one European really wanted war—Adolf Hitler.’” (Pinker, 208)
In the 1930s, Russia and Ukraine suffered over five million deaths from starvation caused by the collectivization of farms ordered by then Russian President Josef Stalin. “There is no doubt that the collectivization drive was ordered by Moscow, imposed ‘from above,’ and that it was Stalin’s personal policy, as first outlined on his trip to Siberia at the end of 1928.” (Pinker, 331)
“As for China, it is inconceivable that the record-setting famine of the Great Leap Forward would have occurred but for Mao’s harebrained schemes…. The principal responsibility for the Cultural Revolution—a movement that affected tens of millions of Chinese—rests with one man. Without Mao, there could not have been a Cultural Revolution.” (Pinker, 343)
Malignant narcissism is considered a combination of four characteristics: narcissistic personality disorder, sociopathy (antisocial personality traits), paranoia (unrealistic fears), and sadism (a pleasure in harming others). (Neuharth, see link below)
Erich Fromm described malignant narcissism in the 1960s in his book The Heart of Man: It’s Genius for Good and Evil. He said it applied to the Egyptian Pharoahs, Julius Caesar, Hitler, Stalin, and others. Unlike most personalities, which stay stable over a lifetime (including most personality disorders), he said malignant narcissism “tends to grow in the lifetime of the afflicted person.” (Fromm, loc. 998 of 2243, Kindle)
Let’s see if these four characteristics fit Putin.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
While I can’t diagnose a personality disorder in someone I have never met, Putin appears to have many of the traits listed in the diagnostic manual (DSM): “grandiose sense of self-importance,” “fantasies of unlimited power,” “requires excessive admiration,” “lacks empathy,” and other traits. (APA, 760) Watch the news and consider whether Putin displays any of these.
He seems to be committed to a vision of himself as heroically re-establishing Greater Russia, which was even bigger than the Soviet Union which dissolved in the 1990s. The fact that he just turned 74 years old suggests that he may be trying to impress himself and his legacy, since there was no groundswell from the citizens of Russia to invade Ukraine.
Sociopathy (Antisocial Personality Traits)
According to the DSM-5, this personality disorder includes traits of “failure to conform to social norms,” “deceitfulness,” “aggressiveness,” “reckless disregard for safety of others,” and “lack of remorse.” (APA, 748) His deceitfulness about invading Ukraine and failure to conform to international standards may appear very obvious, as well as the other traits.
Paranoia
This aspect of malignant narcissism seems to have been occurring more recently after the pandemic. In Moscow, many believed that he was still a rational leader. But many believe that he fundamentally changed amid the pandemic, a shift that may have left him more paranoid, more aggrieved and more reckless. Some suggest that he spent much of Covid walking around in basement rooms of the Kremlin looking at old maps of “Greater Russia,” which included many of the surrounding countries that used to be under Russian dominance.
Sadism
This characteristic of malignant narcissism may be the most disturbing, because it means that the person may actually enjoy other’s pain, rather than simply being impervious to it. The past four years have produced nearly 500,000 million dead Russian soldiers and a larger number of Russians wounded because of his reckless action, yet he appears to have no empathy or remorse.
Land Grab Implications
Throughout history the malignant narcissists that Erich Fromm mentions have always had imperial ambitions—to create an ever-expanding empire. It is clear that Putin has always had such ambitions and that a “deal” to give him more land in Ukraine will only whet his appetite for more. In the current issue of the Atlantic magazine, it describes the fears and defensive planning of three small countries that may be next for Putin’s land grab: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—the Baltic states. About twenty countries are contributing military forces to the Baltics, led by Germany, Canada, and Britain. Even Poland is concerned about being next since Ukraine is the buffer between it and Russia. (Stanley-Becker, 88)
After the midterms, Trump is likely to renew his efforts to annex Canada and Greenland, two ideas he has never let go of. China is eyeing Taiwan and there are indications that Xi’s takeover of it is inevitable. Perhaps Putin, Trump and Xi will meet to divide up the whole world into three regions they will totally control.
Conclusion
Does Putin have malignant narcissism? The reader will have to reach his or her own conclusion. But we appear to be witnessing an historic return to personality-based wars that will benefit no one, not even the malignant narcissists who may delight in starting them. It will take the whole world to put a stop to such leaders and their misadventures, since it is clear that they can’t stop themselves. As Fromm said, they will never be self-limiting; they will only get worse. Their goals are personality-based “fantasies of unlimited power” and “excessive admiration” according to the DSM. When combined with aggressiveness, deceit, paranoia, sadism, and modern instruments of war (including nuclear weapons), the world cannot afford to ignore them. We may be witnessing the last days of democracy in the world.
Vote while you can!
References
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 2022. (DSM)
Fromm, Erich, The Heart of Man: It’s Genius for Good and Evil (Riverdale, NY: American Mental Health Foundation; First published by Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1964).
Neuharth, Dan, “What Exactly is ‘Malignant Narcissism?” PsychologyToday.com, May 25, 2019. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/narcissism-demystified/201905/what-exactly-is-malignant-narcissism
Pinker, Steven, The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (New York: Viking, 2011).
Stanley-Becker, Isaac, “The Next Front: The Baltics are getting ready for a Russian Attack,” The Atlantic, November, 2026, 88.
