Why No One Should Be Surprised by Politicians' Scandals

News programming on cable and the major networks now enables the public to view the words and deeds of politicians in a way never before possible. When a politician changes views or says contradictory things, it is recorded for posterity. Statements can be shown side by side or played one after the other for all to see. When a politician engages in unethical behavior, or in apparent contradiction of her/his stated values and persona, the deed is often exposed in relatively short order.

And what is the result of this increased scrutiny? We are increasingly inundated with reports of hypocritical and even blatantly unethical behavior on the part of major politicians.

This behavior seems inexplicable given politicians’ general knowledge that their pronouncements are immediately accessible. Risky behavior is even more inexplicable, typically putting marriages, careers, and even personal freedom at risk.

Equally perplexing, once caught, they seem to make it worse. After opposing the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice in President Obama’s last year, supposedly on principle, Lindsey Graham enthusiastically supported the nomination and confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice in the last months of Trump’s last year. When confronted, he said, in writing: “I am certain if the shoe were on the other foot, you would do the same.”

When caught in scandal, politicians often lie to the public and try to recruit friends and supporters to defend them, even though they lied to them too. They get angry about being caught. They say insensitive things that boggle the mind. John Edwards, when accused of fathering a baby out of wedlock, while his wife was suffering from cancer, first claimed that the baby was not his and tried to have a staffer accept responsibility. When finally caught, he declared, in an interview, that his wife was in remission when he was having the affair, as though that made a difference.

Politicians are accomplished, intelligent, sophisticated, and apparently well-functioning individuals who should know better. So why don’t they? How could highly intelligent, sophisticated, people do and say such things? How could their judgment be so bad? How can they be so uncaring of the feelings of important others in their lives? Of their responsibility to their supporters and to the public? Of their integrity? How could they be so irresponsible? Is this endemic to politicians or just a select few of them? Is it just that politicians have more temptations and opportunities (and get more publicity) than most?

Psychological data indicate that this is not an anomaly unique to a few aberrant politicians. The data also indicate that the potential for this kind of behavior is not equally distributed in the population. There really is something about politicians that predisposes them to scandalous behavior, prevents them from owning up to it, understanding the hypocrisy of contradictory public statements, and caring about the mismatch between their public personae and their private activities.

There are personality features that distinguish such people and keep them from realizing the effect of what they have done to others — narcissism, power motivation, high risk-taking, and a false self. Politicians are more likely than others to display them all.

Narcissism, characterized by a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy, makes people extraordinarily self-centered. Further, their exploitative sense of entitlement, lack of empathy, disregard for others, and constant need for attention adversely affect their interpersonal relationships. Such features exemplify an almost perfect stereotype of a politician. What kind of person can endlessly tell strangers, without self-consciousness, that her/his opponent is completely unworthy whereas s/he belongs in a high-prestige, powerful position?

Power motivation is the desire to have an impact on the world and/or others. People high in power motivation are competitive and want to be in charge. They crave prestige. For many, sexual admiration is a big plus. Power motivation is pretty much a prerequisite for being a politician, since they are all driven to have impact and be in charge.

High risk-taking is the very essence of politics. You either win or lose elections. Olympians get silver and bronze medals. In politics, almost does not count; second place is a loser. It takes a special breed of person to put his or her entire self at risk in this way. Those who take such risks repeatedly do not limit themselves to political risks; they are prone to risk-taking generally. Big risks are in their DNA. Small or moderate ones just won’t get the heart pumping.

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A false self is a requirement for politics. Politicians must constantly guard their words. A casual comment can be damaging politically. Politicians are expert at avoiding questions and parse their words so as not to offend. They build up a public false self to protect themselves politically.

Such people are under tremendous strain. They cannot display spontaneous emotion. The emotion they do display is thought out and part of the role. As a result, they can lose sight of who and what they are. They can become empty inside. As eminent psychiatrist Donald Winnicott explained, the false self can lead to apparently inexplicable self-destructive behavior:“The world may observe success of a high degree, and may find it hard to believe in the very real distress of the individual concerned, who feels ‘phoney’ the more he or she is successful. When such individuals destroy themselves in one way or another, instead of fulfilling promise, this invariably produces a sense of shock in those who have developed high hopes for the individual.”

Put it all together. Begin with a self-centered, insensitive, person, who thinks s/he is special (narcissism). Add a need to be in charge and have a major impact on the world (power motivation). Throw in an attraction to risk, the bigger the better (high risk-taking). This person takes up politics to meet these needs. It’s a perfect fit. In the service of these needs, s/he presents a false front of modesty, caring, and empathy. Every word is weighed in terms of how it will affect her/his goals. After a while, s/he doesn’t know who s/he is anymore. S/he is under tremendous stress. S/he endorses attitudes and behaviors that s/he may or may not actually believe in (false self). S/he may not even know what s/he believes in other than power, prestige, and admiration. And, s/he is entitled to these things.

At the same time, s/he has personal needs s/he also feels entitled to. To satisfy them entails great risk, but s/he is attracted to risk. There is also self-destruction built into the false self. So s/he takes chances and risks destroying all s/he has so painstakingly built.

When caught, s/he does not feel guilt and remorse, s/he feels threatened. S/he does not understand the sense of betrayal others experience; it is about him/her, not them. S/he’ll first try to ride over it through denial, anger, and cover-up. Or s/he will justify the behavior through claiming that others would behave exactly as s/he did. Should that fail, s/he’ll try carefully crafted redemption in line with her/his public persona or false self. That these efforts to fool others are transparently insincere would be lost on him/her.

The result is exactly the kind of behavior and lack of insight that many politicians have evidenced, some more prominently than others. Call it the toxic tetrad of the political personality.