The Key for Democrats: Expose Trump as Weak, Not Strong

[smilesammich 10,727]

Trump can’t dismiss an attack on his image and return to the mission. His image is the mission.

We all know Trump’s self-image. He can’t help but tell us. He’s rich and smart and generous and strong and a winner with “a tremendous record of victories” and everybody loves him. This image is so important to him that he makes these claims with no concern for facts. After his South Carolina primary victory, he said, “I'm leading in every poll with the Hispanics. They love me.” Gallup, whose daily tracking data at the time showed his favorability rating with Hispanics at 12 percent, noted he had “by far the most negative image among Hispanics of any of the four Republican candidates.”

Trump’s self-description can’t be changed by the facts because it’s not driven by the facts; it’s driven by his emotional needs. It is how he needs to see himself and how he needs you to see him. But no one is as brilliant and triumphant as Trump claims he is. So what happens to the facts that don’t fit his story, the things he leaves out when he’s telling us what a winner he is? They become his shadow—the insulting labels such as “stupid,” “pathetic” and “loser” that he denies in himself and projects onto others.

This is the key to understanding Trump: he is driven by a relentless, belligerent defense of his self-image.

People who have done the hard work of self-awareness can accept their weaknesses. If their self-image collides with reality, they revise their self-image. If Trump’s self-image collides with reality, he revises reality. There is a big gap between who he is and who he wants to be, and when anyone says or does anything that makes him dimly aware of the difference, he hits them with a hot blast of abuse. This is the key to understanding Trump: He is driven by a relentless, belligerent defense of his self-image.

This is why he made racist attacks against Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel for his actions in the lawsuit on Trump University.

That’s why Trump attacked the media over their questions on his charity to Veterans Groups—calling one reporter “a sleaze,” another “a loser” and complaining, “You make me look very bad.”

That’s why when he went to Capitol Hill to build party unity, he couldn’t stop himself from attacking Republican senators who didn’t support him, calling one a loser and telling another he would lose.

That’s why he gets angry with calls to release his tax returns—because (one assumes) they would show he doesn’t make as much money as his self-image demands. (Comedian Anthony Jeselnik, who participated in a roast of Trump in 2011, said Trump told the roasters, “Make fun of my kids, do whatever you want. Just don’t say that I don’t have that much money.”)

Trump’s self-image runs his life. If he becomes president, it will run our country.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-democrats-key-massaging-donald-trump-weak-214103#ixzz4Fd1Iz620

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He’s also said, "If I become president, oh, do they [the New York Times and The Washington Post] have problems. They're going to have such problems. And one of the things I'm going to do … if I win … is I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”

Trump would not, as president, have the power to change libel laws, but this statement shows how eager he is to use the powers of the presidency to strike at his critics. Imagine if he had the tools of the CIA, FBI, IRS, the Justice Department, the U.S. military—and the nuclear codes—to promote his grandiose sense of self. President Trump would be able, almost entirely on his own—because there are no real checks and balances when it comes to pushing the button—order a nuclear strike. That makes his proximity to the presidency a global emergency.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-democrats-key-massaging-donald-trump-weak-214103#ixzz4Fd21dDZc

Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

How do you make a rat look good? Put it next to a shark. That would work in almost any case, but as we've seen, you can't make Trump look bad with those who support him. They just bind together tighter.

[smilesammich 10,727]

How do you make a rat look good? Put it next to a shark. That would work in almost any case, but as we've seen, you can't make Trump look bad with those who support him. They just bind together tighter.

they might bind tighter together, but that won't make them multiply.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

they might bind tighter together, but that won't make them multiply.

You're right, but at this point I am a bit concerned. The DNC is way better, but Bill's speech did some damage.

[smilesammich 10,727]

You're right, but at this point I am a bit concerned. The DNC is way better, but Bill's speech did some damage.

come november, bill's speech won't matter. trump has plenty of time to regurgitate his feet and start chowing down on them again.