But sociopaths are always cocky, even when they have no reason to be. They are huge risk takers, because they have an inordinate amount of self-belief and can't imagine how things could go wrong for them (and if things do go wrong, it wasn't anything they did, it was the fault of someone, anyone, else). The thing is that most people are very swayed by confidence - if someone appears confident we tend to assume on a subconscious level that they are confident because they have reason to be. That's why the best thiefs do it in plain sight with everyone watching - everyone assumes they must be allowed to pick up that painting and walk out with it, because surely they wouldn't dare just steal it like that.

So sociopaths' confidence does often get them places, just because others will buy into their confidence and believe there's a reason for it. But that can all come crashing down once people have figured out that the sociopath is not a good person and becomes wise to their manipulations and deceits. That's when sociopaths get dangerous, because as soon as they start losing control and see that people are turning away from them or being assertive with them, their whole world view and sense of self is punctured and they lash out and go mental.

Right now I think a lot of people have seen them for what they are, and once it's out you can't put it back in. So their confidence is likely unfounded. They are just weird, fucked up people after all, who happened to have been the beneficiaries of the emperors new clothes effect. Their power wasn't really theirs, it was a product of the complexities of individual and group human psychology, an illusion everyone partook in whereby when one complimented the Emperor on his new regal outfit, others followed due to social pressure and the need to conform and fear of looking silly or being wrong, and eventually everyone's really convinced themselves that he's dressed to the nines. But now the illusion is shattered, and there's no getting away from the fact that we've actually been staring into the abyss of the Emperor's hairy ass crack, hypnotised into believing in a better world by the gentle swaying of his scrotum in the breeze. We'll never unsee it, and he can mime putting on his hat and smoothing down his pants as much as he likes, eventually people will start retching at the sight of him, and screaming at him that he has no decency, and the eventually he will have to go home and actually get dressed. Okay maybe I took the analogy too far. But oyu know what I mean.