Trump's a malignant narcissist. DeSantis is a vindictive sadist. But then there's this guy...

[Tommy Carcetti]

...and for the life of me, I can't seem to put my finger on what his major malfunction is, but goddamn does he ever creep me the hell out.

I'm talking about Christopher Rufo, the brainchild of the nationwide Critical Race Theory scaremongering, who was recently assigned by DeSantis to essentially "fix" Florida's New College, an erstwhile respected honors institution within the Florida state university system.

Everything about the guy just skeeves me out on a visceral level, down to minute details on his Twitter profile. Like the pseudo-sepia colored profile picture that makes you think he belongs somewhere back in the 1860s, to the crossed swords emoji alongside his name that gives you the impression he's some knight in some secret medieval order during the Crusades.

He's fairly young--only 38--and unlike a Cro-Magnon like Trump, speaks in full sentences and multisyllabic words. That gives off the false impression that he's intelligent and well-spoken, thus affording him a false sense of authority among his acolytes.

But I don't know what it is, the way he issues these cold, emotionless fiat-type pronouncements on Twitter makes my skin crawl.

Take for example yesterday, addressing the New College Board meeting where five professors were unceremoniously stripped of their tenure, causing one dissenting board member to walk out.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

On the accompanying video, he's not actually physically present at the board meeting but can be seen virtually projected up on the screen behind the meeting, like some sort of deranged Wizard of Oz. When the meeting ends as Dr. Lepinski (the dissenting board member) walks out, he just casually throws out a goodbye wave.

But the way this guy talks--how he has this cold, detached glee in a desire to dismantle Florida's public university system as it exists now and replace it with some bizarre, bastardized ultra-conservative curriculum in his own vision....it's just unsettling on a very real level.

Maybe he's a psychopath. Maybe he's just a plain old fascist. But he's just so incredibly...icky in his mannerism. Probably the only other person comparable in my mind is Stephen Miller--just someone who gets off with this very brainwashed jackboot authoritarianism and toying with the existing order to satisfy his own selfish ideological desires.

[Ocelot II]

1. Sociopath or psychopath, not sure what the important difference is.

Very creepy.

[Caliman73]

7. The difference

The terms are used interchangeably now. There used to be a difference within the field of psychology with sociopath being used to describe someone with anti-social traits, similar to psychopathy, but with concurrent emotional dysregulation. Basically sociopaths are people who lack empathy are manipulative, have a disregard for rules and laws, etc... They tend to lack impulse control and emotion management, and have a difficult time delaying gratification.

If you are looking for examples, I would posit that Donald Trump would fit the older description of a sociopath. You see the anti-social traits, the manipulation, etc... and the lack of ability to control his emotions. Sociopaths (with exceptions) are typically not as successful as people who meet the description of a psychopath, mainly because of the lack of ability to control their emotions and impulses, and delay gratification. I say this about Trump a lot, if he had not been born into wealth, he would likely have been in prison or dead already because of his irrational approach to people. He is a petty thug who just happened to inherit hundreds of millions of dollars. You can see by how many utter failures in his life, that he cannot manage his emotions. His family's money has saved him time and time again.

BTK or Dennis Rader is an example of someone who would be considered a psychopath. He spent decades as a "law abiding citizen", father, scout leader, etc... while also binding, torturing, and killing victims away from any scrutiny. He was meticulous in planning and was able to manage or separate the emotions involved in his sadism from his day to day persona.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

2. I'm sure he'll "fix" New College...

[cachukis]

3. Classical liberal arts education is a code for white schooling.

Exclusionary, at best.
You must speak WASP to assimilate.
I taught at a High School in Tampa across the street from the projects. My job was to help seniors who had never read a book with a 1.2 GPA pass the FCAT.
The classical liberal arts education had not done them well.
I am a POMF at what's happening in this state.
I am talking to every young person I can about how important it is for their future to be aware and share.
By the way, I didn't use the classical methods espoused by the Gates Foundation protocols. My evaluators gave me poor ratings, but my graduation rate of 75% forced them to keep me.
We cannot go backwards.

[CanonRay]

4. He has dead eyes.

[Timeflyer]

5. Mascot for Rufo's vision for New College, the Hillsdale of the South--

the Burmese python, the invasive non-native snake that ate Florida.

They start out as cute little pets, then grow fast, to 23 ft., 200 lbs, and they consume anything they can get their jaws around--toddlers, pets, alligators, they don't care. Released instead of euthanized, they flourish in Florida's warm, sunny wilds, and have multiplied in Biblical proportions (a nod to Hillsdale College, guiding the takeover). Burmese pythons are decimating the state environment.

Rufo and the League of DeSadist Syncophants are 2-legged reptiles fattening on big, delicious piles of money while they consume the remains of what was a wonderful, diverse, small liberal arts college.

[modrepub]

6. Way Too Early

to be crowing on your success. Whatever this person envisions that he will create at this school will take half a decade or more to bear any fruits. Once he works out what he wants, his results will have to be objectionably compared to the results prior to his changes.

Given folks short attention spans on just about any subject, I wouldn't hold out hope that any good comparative analysis will ever take place let alone be put out there for public analysis.