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Donald Trump has clinically diagnosable Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and living with NPD is hard. People with NPD aren't walking around saying "I only associate with the best people and have the best things" and viewing every single experience through the singular lens of how it affects them because they want to, but because they have to. It's the only way they know how to cope with the world around them.
People with NPD who aren't born into money like Trump often struggle to maintain employment and relationships. Trump struggles just as much but can throw money and power around to get out of bad situations. Just look at all his failed business ventures and failed relationships. Trump is literally textbook NPD and it's terrifying he has so much power and is influencing such a large segment of society to be like him.
Yeah, it's tragic for anyone in that situation. It also sucks extra hard that he's become our collective tragedy, but the universe is like that sometimes.
If Trump had never existed wouldn't it have been someone else to fill his role though?
I don't know if there was anyone else in the field in 2016 who has the same mix of traits to do the kind of damage he did to the country. I could be wrong about this, but I think a president Cruz would have been slimy and made the country worse but I don't think he would have been as bad.
I understand where you're coming from and it's refreshing seeing someone have the empathy you do for people suffering with NPD. Having any type of mental illness though isn't an excuse or good enough reason to treat people the way he does, or to damage or harm others like a lot of NPDs do. It's unfortunate their mental illness can screw up and damage the lives of so many other people around them. I find it difficult to sympathize with them.
It's definitely no excuse, which is why I said him having such power and influence is terrifying. If anything, it's a terrifying reflection of a subset of society who are completely willing to overlook all the horrible things he does, where even one single uncouth allegation or statement would have brought down previous candidates. It's a huge and upsetting shift in societal norms
"It isn't your fault, but it is your responsibility."
Unfortunately, he was never taught responsibility in a way that took, presuming he's capable of it in a meaningful sense.
Sympathizing with them is not actually compulsory; I intentionally do so as an exercise because I believe that stretching myself that way will lead to better outcomes in situations where I have power over people, but it's not at all a requirement.
This is a perfect example of the Just World Fallacy in action.
Just because you think he ought to be unhappy it doesn't mean he is.
I don't think he ought to be unhappy at all. I have years of experience as a psychotherapist and am relaying my observations among people with NPD. No one deserves to feel and think like this, they just do, based on a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors and decision-making skills