So was Trump. So, you say Trump is a "christian", but Obama is not? Damned hypocrites.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jan/04/barack-obama-empathy-deficit
"For the researchers, the conclusion was inescapable: the rats were displaying empathy. Announcing the results in Science, the lead researcher, Peggy Mason, explained: "There is nothing in it except whatever feeling they get from helping another individual.
What is the neuroscience behind empathy? When do children develop it? And can it be taught?
Neuroscientists are not the only ones to see empathy – or its absence – everywhere these days. According to Barack Obama, the "empathy deficit" is a more pressing political problem for America than the federal deficit and holds the key to the success of his second term as he seeks to build bridges with Republicans and tackle the wave of horrific shootings that last year disfigured American communities from Colorado to Connecticut. On this side of the Atlantic, meanwhile, George Osborne's enthusiasm for welfare cuts is explained by the coalition cabinet's "lack of empathy" for the poor.
But can the solution to violence, cruelty and the divide between liberals and conservatives really be a matter of promoting a trait that we appear to share with rats? And are scientists and politicians talking about the same thing when they invoke empathy in these different experimental and social contexts?"
http://www.theroot.com/donald-trump-s-empathy-chip-is-missing-and-that-s-a-pr-1790858155
"Just over a year ago, I tuned in to see him in his trademark red power tie, standing in front of a crowd at a rally in South Carolina … doing what appeared to be a crude impersonation of a disabled person. I was stunned. Surely, this couldn’t be—but it was. Donald Trump—not a fifth-grade bully on a playground, but then-presidential candidate of the United States—was on national television, mimicking a disabled reporter by awkwardly flopping around onstage.
As it turned out, that man’s only crime was pointing out that Trump had lied. It was the end of November 2015, shortly after a series of terrorist attacks in Paris. Trump, then full-bore on the campaign trail, had seized the opportunity to recount a completely falsified personal memory of post-9/11 New York, where crowds of Muslims cheered in the streets as the twin towers crumbled. He was trying to pour gasoline on the American Islamophobia fire—but it was a complete fabrication—and Trump made the mistake of citing an article by Serge Kovaleski in the process.
Kovaleski, a professional journalist with the New York Times, immediately set him straight—and Trump, in full bully fashion, went for the cheapest attack that his sophisticated defenses could muster: a public imitation of Kovaleski’s disability. Serge Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a condition that constricts the movements of his joints and particularly affects his right hand and arm, which hang at an acute angle at his side.
This incident hit me squarely in the gut because I, too, have a disability. I have a speech impediment, which means that sometimes when I speak, my voice halts as my words form and they freeze for a moment—or two—or three—before tumbling out. The effect is like a stuck record, or a drumroll, perhaps. As I’ve gotten older and worked through various speech therapies, it has improved and I’ve made peace with the rest.
But getting here was a hard road filled with taunting from bullies who saw me as an easy target for “cool” points from the crowd. Even today, as a college student, I’m not immune to jokes and judgment from colleagues or strangers. And when a person preys on weaknesses like mine for cheap thrills or to reinforce his or her own fragile sense of self, it speaks to the caliber of human being that person is. And Donald Trump is the weakest kind."
