How the Dark Tetrad Captured America

What it means to have a 4chan government

It is my goal to help people understand the current crisis in America, and consequently around the world, in ways which are underserved or absent in the corporate media. To me, the primary missing information, and conversation, is about the psychology of what’s going on. This is fundamentally a psychological war — a war we may have lost, permanently.

However, giving up is not an option.

So, to defeat a threat of this magnitude, you must be able to predict the enemy’s actions to the best possible extent, in order to have an advantage in strategic planning and tactical execution against it. I believe a core malfunction in society right now is that there is a complete disconnect between the way we still learn about and understand what’s going on — and how it actually works, and why.

As an example, the “trade war” we’re currently experiencing is nothing of the sort, really. And it’s not politics either. Donald Trump doesn’t understand basic economics — like, at all. And politics as we knew it is over. We are dealing with a personality type that has been warned about for years. What’s happening is a symptom. And it’s worth understanding some details — or being reminded of them.

Dark Triad

The Dark Tetrad is a well-used term in psychology, but it was first studied as the Dark Triad — which is the combined personality traits of Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy.

Narcissism consists of dominance motivation, a sense of entitlement, and perceived superiority combined with intolerance to criticism.

Machiavellianism includes facile social charm, deceitful behavior aimed at undermining others, and a reliance on manipulation.

Psychopathy shows itself in low or absent empathy, high impulsivity, heartless social attitudes, and interpersonal hostility. Taken together, the most powerful tendency underlying all three Dark Triad traits is a knack for exploiting others.

Below are the “Dirty Dozen” questions used to determine if someone has a Dark Triad personality type.

Items 1-4 measure Machiavellianism; items 5-8, psychopathy; and items 9-12, narcissism; which are rated on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The higher the score, the higher the Dark Triad tendencies:

1. I tend to manipulate others to get my way.

2. I have used deceit or lied to get my way.

3. I have used flattery to get my way.

4. I tend to exploit others toward my own end.

5. I tend to lack remorse.

6. I tend to be unconcerned with the morality of my actions.

7. I tend to be callous or insensitive.

8. I tend to be cynical.

9. I tend to want others to admire me.

10. I tend to want others to pay attention to me.

11. I tend to seek prestige or status.

12. I tend to expect special favors from others.

Here is a good paper on how these questions “cleanly measure the Dark Triad.”

The Dirty Dozen A Concise Measure Of The Dark Triad

146KB ∙ PDF file

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Recently an NIH study (which I’m sure will not last long in the Trump regime) also used machine learning and brain scans to note physical brain characteristics associated with this disorder.

Sadism

The fourth trait in the Dark Tetrad is Sadism.

Sadism: The tendency to derive pleasure from the pain or humiliation of others.

Ejpa Sd4

408KB ∙ PDF file

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There is a reason that it is a cliché to say about the Trumpist GOP: “The cruelty is the point.” It really is.

D

To further complicate things — and also simplify them — we have D.

The Psychological Core of Unethical, Antisocial People

A team of European psychologists has recently completed a program of research showing that, despite their differences, all of these antisocial traits share a common core, which they called the Dark Factor of Personality, or just D for short. This personality characteristic involves the degree to which people single-mindedly focus on achieving their goals—whatever those might be at the moment—while callously disregarding the fact that their actions hurt other people or even by intentionally hurting other people to get what they want.

In the jargon of psychology, D is the tendency for people to maximize their own desired outcomes at the expense of other people, and to justify their harmful behaviors and the damage they cause through a set of antisocial beliefs. But just think of D as a particularly harmful and malignant form of selfishness. This dark trait may manifest in different ways in different people, but if we dig down deep enough, we find that many unethical, antisocial tendencies share this same basic core.

What is the opposite of selfishness? Charity, Kindness, Empathy. For a long time now, Elon Musk has been promoting the idea of “Suicidal Empathy.” His D is so high he does not understand why other people care for each other. At all.

What is the antidote to selfishness? The Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. This most basic contract in society, and, in its best forms, effectively the basis of both modern religion and government. The justice system is designed, in theory, to enforce The Golden Rule. It is also the core meaning and purpose of the US Constitution.

What’s happening right now in America, in essence, is that the US Federal Government is systematically revoking the Golden Rule.

“Trolls”

Needless to say, this combination of factors in someone is highly undesirable. Obviously in its maximal form you get Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin and Pol Pot. But a Dark Tetrad can also be the Worst Boss You Ever Had, or, as it turns out, all those “trolls” on the internet.

In 2014, a study found that “trolls” were highly correlated with the Dark Tetrad.

Trolls Just Want To Have Fun

Overall, strong positive associations emerged among online commenting frequency, trolling enjoyment, and troll identity, pointing to a common construct underlying the measures. Both studies revealed similar patterns of relations between trolling and the Dark Tetrad of personality: trolling correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, using both enjoyment ratings and identity scores. Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism.

Who do we know that “trolls” on the internet, and seems to derive pleasure from, say, “owning” the “libs”?

Elon Musk is obviously a well-trodden denizen of 4chan — as any casual glance at his social media will tell you. If you’ve ever been there, 4chan and 8chan essentially collect Dark Tetrads and train them to be more effective in their sadism. That’s why so many of the white supremacist mass murderers we’ve seen have referenced these websites in their manifestos, or posted videos of themselves committing atrocities there. It is an attractor and amplifier of psychopathy and the Dark Tetrad.

I’ve written quite a bit about Gamergate, which was, in effect, a Dark Tetrad training ground, which provided a cultural, then a political, and then an ideological target for people who enjoy inflicting psychological pain, or worse. But the strategies, tactics, and people who grew and benefited from this movement are now in charge of the federal government.

As one direct and horrifying example. Pete Hegseth recently invited neo-Nazi Russian agent Jack Posobiec, who was a major promoter of GamerGate, Pizzagate and QAnon, on a trip to negotiate with Ukraine on a “peace deal.”

[Web Archive: Washington Post — Hegseth team invites far-right activist Jack Posobiec on overseas trip]

Posobiec was funded by Peter Thiel and directed by Mike Flynn to interfere with the 2016 election, which is why a gunman showed up to a pizza restaurant on December 5th, 2016. “Pizzagate” was just a bigger version of Gamergate, but with more conspiracy theories — which were created with materials hacked by Russian intelligence. It was directed at one target, Donald Trump’s political opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump has always been the same. A psychopath. A narcissist. A Machiavellian. And a sadist. Here is Donald Trump side by side 38 years apart. He doesn’t care about anyone but his own “optics”. It’s just another con.

Recently, when one of Elon Musk’s neo-Nazi DOGE operatives was caught saying — and this is the mildest part — that all Indian people should be automatically deported. JD Vance said the 25-year-old should be rehired because that was just “youthful trolling,” despite that fact that the racist ethnic cleansing the “troll” proposed would include Vance’s own wife and children.

As I wrote a few years ago, the Big Problem around the world is that we’ve created a system that gives a huge advantage to a small group of people — who happen to be the absolute worst kind.

The Dark Tetrads have declared victory. It’s up to the rest of us to understand the reality, plan for the consequences, and fight against it by any means necessary.

Long Live a Free America. Glory to Ukraine.

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