I keep hearing our friends on MSNBC saying that Donald Trump lacks the empathy gene. There is mixed scientific evidence that there are genetic factors which lead to people becoming sociopaths. (I said no links so you can look it up or just trust me.)
Saying Trump doesn’t have a gene for empathy is shorthand for saying that he is incapable of empathy, and this is true. Psychotherapists like me don’t usually view empathy as discrete from sympathy. What we may call feeling people experience both empathy and sympathy depending on the circumstances.
I see being able to experience what we understand to be empathy, i.e. being able to truly put yourself in the place of someone feeling emotional pain and having a deep awareness of what they feel, as being on a continuum with empathy at one end and sympathy on the other. Feeling people, a group that includes the vast majority of the population (research shows that only 1% of the population are sociopaths (I said no links so you’ll have to look it up), have both empathy and sympathy. Unfortunately this can and often is selective. We see this among many zealous Trump supporters who have feelings only for members of their reference group.
Empathy doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Even a fleeting moment of empathy can be a profound experience. Those whose career is devoted to helping people under stress, in crisis, and emotional pain learn what is sometimes called controlled emotional involvement. The 50 minute hour for psychotherapy came about not only because therapists need time to write up their notes, but they sometimes needed time to decompress after an emotionally draining session.
Medical personal working with hospitalized Covid-19 victims don't have that luxury. This is why mental health professionals have organized to help them deal with their feelings.
Back to Donald Trump and the empathy gene.
Trump is not capable of experiencing either empathy or sympathy. If he was even inclined to attempt to feel it, which he isn’t, he couldn’t. This is why he can't even fake it. A method acting coach would find it damn near impossible to use the techniques they use with actors. Actors learn to cry what are referred to as “memory-driven tears" where they relive past intense emotional experiences of loss or grief.
It wouldn’t work with Trump because when he experienced meaningful loss in the past it had to do with business and now it is usually about his poll numbers, bad press, and in “refusal” of the virus to comply with his magical thinking and just go away.
Trump reacts to loss and bad news with feelings of anger and by blaming others. He is not only incapable of empathy for others, he is not able to handling experiences where others would feel depression.
As what passes for a human being he is an empty vessel of empathy and a shell which contains nothing but a toxic mixture of grandiosity, sadism, aggression, paranoia, delusions, and denial.
About me: I retired 10 years ago after a 40 year career as a clinical social worker psychotherapist.