That power sends men mad, is a rule of politics and of history that goes way way back before Dr Freud. When riding in triumph through Rome, Caesar’s slave stood behind him in the chariot whispering into the Emperor’s ear: “Remember - you are a man.” No one as far as we know, is keeping Donald Trump’s pride in check as he parades through Washington in the back of the Beast. He lives surrounded by sycophants who tell him he is indeed the omnipotent leader he imagines himself to be. Fintan O’Toole’s diagnosis is - that while not mentally ill - Trump is in a broader sense, mad. 

• Guest: Fintan O'Toole, regular contributor to the Irish Times and advising editor to the New York Review of Books.
• Producer: Ali Benton