I thought this article by Dan P. McAdams, Psychology Professor at Northwestern University was a unique take on why Trump lies on a daily basis and seems accurate for what we see.. He called him “the episodic man.”
Article:
The key to Donald Trump’s psychology is that he moves through life as what I call “the episodic man.” For Trump, each day is indeed “a temporary moment of time.” ]Psychological research shows that nearly all adults develop stories in their minds about their own lives. These stories — what psychologists call “narrative identities” — reconstruct the past and imagine the future to give people a sense that lives have meaning and coherence over time. As you make daily decisions, you implicitly remember how you have come to be who you are, and you anticipate where your life may be going. You live within narrative time.
But the episodic man does not live that way. Instead, he immerses himself in the angry, combative moment, striving desperately to win the moment. Like a boxer in the ring, he brings everything he has to the immediate episode, fighting furiously to come out on top. But the episodes do not add up. They do not form a narrative arc. In Trump’s case, it is as if he wakes up each morning nearly oblivious to what happened the day before. What he said and did yesterday, in order to win yesterday, no longer matters to him. And what he will do today, in order to win today, will not matter for tomorrow.
Article:
Op-Ed: The truth behind Trump's need to lie
If you live mainly in the current moment, then the future consequences of your lies will not matter to you. Truth is whatever works to win the moment.
www.latimes.com