Body Language and Behavior Analysis No. 4758: Getting to the bottom of Trump's Bizarre Water Bottle Behavior at the National Association of Black Journalists conference

Nonverbal and Emotional Intelligence

Perhaps you saw clips from Donald Trump from Wednesday's National Association of Black Journalists conference. If so, you probably were bowled-over with Trump's behavior, particularly but not limited to, his misogyny and his racism.

Among other things, Donald Trump told the audience that Kamala Harris decided to "Turn Black" after she had previously identified as "of Indian heritage". Trump's allegations are readily fact-checkable and demonstrably false. He was lying.

Many people are curious and alarmed at Trump's water bottle behavior. 

About 21 minutes, 26 seconds after he took the stage, Trump reached over, across the table located between their chairs, and grabbed the water bottle placed next to the journalist seated to his left, Rachel Scott of ABC News.

Notably, Ms. Scott had just looked to her left (away from Trump), thus she could not see him take her water bottle. 

Trump had his own water bottle and glass to his right on his own table. By convention, glasses are positioned to the right of the person. In addition, Trump is right handed. 

Trump did not drink from the bottle in this first handling. He tightened the cap while not breaking the seal and placed it back on the table – but much closer to himself than Rachel Scott.

7 minutes, 48 seconds later, Trump once again picked up the water bottle – this time he broke the seal, and drank from it. He then placed the bottle back on the table, even closer to him.

During this second occasion, Ms. Scott was rotated toward Trump. While reading from her notes, she was asking him a question. Ms. Scott did not appear to realize that Trump had drunk from her bottle.

How do we explain Donald Trump's stealing Rachel Scott's water bottle? Is it possible to separate this from his other behaviors during this conference? 

We all know Donald Trump is a bully and routinely violates people's personal and intimate spaces. Who can forget when he stalked Hillary Clinton around the debate stage in 2016?

And how about when he shook Nancy Pelosi's hand on the day of his inauguration? (invading her space, pulling her toward him, pulling her arm upward, twisting her wrist, and squeezing her hand).

And we can never forget how, during the 2017 NATO summit, Trump pushed his way through multiple world leaders, grabbing and pulling Duško Marković, the Montegerian Prime Minister by his upper arm.

Psychologically, Trump is a Dark Tetrad (Sociopathy/Psychopathy [ASPD] + Narcissism + Machiavellianism + Sadism), and with our many years of observing his behavior, it's therefore logical to conclude this was a further manifestation these psychological pathologies — that what Trump was doing when he grabbed Rachel Scott's water bottle was yet another example of his bullying, misogyny, creepy, stalking, attempt-at-dominance, and objectifying behavior.

But what else is going on here?

Not to be ignored, whether real or feigned, is Trump purported germaphobia.

Moreover, it's extremely rare to see Trump eat in public and almost as unusual for him to drink (even water) *publicly* (he's done so only a handful of times since 2015). 

In addition, Trump is paranoid and tends to only drink water publicly when he's in control of the water bottle's source – and he wasn't in control of the source of it on Wednesday. He was a guest. This behavior doesn't square.

Trump's paranoia could possibly lead one to hypothesize that he may believe Rachel Scott's water is not likely to be poisoned, but his water may be (but still, he would ask one of his assistants for water, and not drink water of which he's suspicious).

After all, hasn't Trump seen 'The Princess Bride'?

With these idiosyncrasies in mind, it would be particularly odd and lightyears out-of-context for him to invade another person's personal space in order to eat from their plate or drink from their bottle in order to exert dominance, bullying, or to intimidate.

Outside of childhood and some affectionate relationships, the snatching of food or drink from other people's plates/bottles/cups without their consent is extremely odd behavior. 

Nonconsensual grabbing of food and snatching of drink from another person's plate/glass (by an adult) is a specific clinical sign exhibited in patients with Frontotemporal Dementia – ask any neurologist. 

Numerous clinicians have noted that Trump does exhibit multiple signs of dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia is but one subtype of dementia, however given his act of stealing Rachel Scott's water bottle and then drinking from it, *taken in toto with Trump's numerous other signs*, it's highly suggestive of this specific diagnosis. 

SUMMARY: Donald Trump is a Dark Tetrad. And while it's entirely possible Donald Trump stole and drank from Rachel Scott's water bottle to bully, intimidate, dominate, objectify, and creep-out Rachel Scott — when we take this act in-context and collectively with Trump's other progressive signs, this specific food-stealing/drink-snatching behavior, with high probability, is a manifestation of Frontotemporal Dementia.

Inquiries regarding teaching (one-on-one or groups), keynotes, consulting, and press: Jack@BodyLanguageSuccess.com

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