"...Trump is not the man he seems. He was not a great builder, not a great dealmaker, not a billionaire, not a man of strength and decisiveness. But there is one way in which he truly is authentic: He is never able to play-act the generous feelings that he so absolutely lacks."
I've talked to my share of people who know Donald Trump or have dealt with him. I can't think of a single one who ever expressed to me that they believe he is capable of feeling genuine empathy or emotion toward other people. Nearly all describe him as totally self-centered.
We have a president who doesn't appear to be capable of empathy, leading a claque of followers who, quite frankly, connect with his lack of empathy toward undocumented (non-white) immigrants, black NFL players, victims of police brutality and women impregnated against their will.
Trump's lack of empathy is most dangerous because it is shared, and encouraged, both by him and by the media that his base consumes, which encourages hardness and coldness toward other people; a balled up fist to keep those "others" from "taking what's theirs."
And what's "theirs" in that conception, is this country, its resources, its commons (to the extent they still believe in them) and its basic essence. Trump is the external manifestation of a long-existing rage toward change and its human carriers.
And the biggest risk is that this hostility toward the "other", per the data, is increasing the openness of some in this country toward the kind of authoritarianism (corruption and kleptocracy included) that Trump, the resentful narcissist, revels in and desires for himself.
Per the data: nytimes.com/2018/05/24/opi… 
