...it is, though.

Empathy isn't the same thing as sympathy. You don't have to feel bad for the population of Puerto Rico but you do have to understand where they're coming from, understand why other people feel bad, and be able to act as if you, too, are moved by the plight of millions of Puerto Ricans without power or running water.

Ethos, Logos, Pathos. You don't win without all three. Politics is the act of turning yourself into the avatar of all those who trust you to act on their behalf. People will vote for psychopaths if they think the psychopath has their best interests at heart... but in order to operate in contested space you need to be able to understand the motivations of your opponent enough to predict their movements.

Sociopaths are high-performers in hierarchal environments such as corporate trees. They are low performers in consensus environments where agency depends on trust. Robert McNamara was a genius. He made a lot of scientific and logistical contributions to the world. He was also distrusted by everyone and despite becoming a household name, the only election he ever won was to Phi Beta Kappa. Kissinger? Appointed to everything he ever did. Compare and contrast: both Rumsfeld and Cheney won congressional seats in their youth. They knew who to appeal to and who to not; they had friends and they had enemies and they played them off each other. Kissinger and McNamara? Responsible for large swathes of history but never once appealed to the public.