The Madness of King Trump

I guess I should talk about Trump for a minute because holy shit I can't tell if he is gearing up to drop out of the race or to incite an insurrection.

He started off the week, by suggesting that "NRA guys" might be able to do something about Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court picks after she is elected, spent the next few days saying that Barack Obama is literally the founder of ISIS, no not literally, don't you get sarcasm, okay literally, then today rolled out his plan to prevent voter fraud on election day by encouraging his followers to sign up as "observers" and monitor nearby polling stations for people cheating.

That might actually be illegal, as in violating a specific directive from the Supreme Court targeting the RNC and in effect since the 80s. Apparently the party or racists and assholes has a history of trying to keep people from voting against them, who knew?

Trump, if he has a plan at all, which is not actually a given, seems to be laying the groundwork for simply refusing the accept the results of the election, it's kinda worrying but I don't think will amount to much.

Remember when I talked a bit about how he has lived in a bubble where no one has challenged him basically his whole life? That was in reference to the way he treats women, specifically his own daughter, but it surely applies to everything else in his world as well. He has never had anyone tell him no and make it stick, anyone who attempts to deny him what he wants, or to tell him his view of the world is not accurate, is branded a "hater" and ignored or vilified. He is surrounded by people afraid to give him bad news and I think he sincerely believes he can win, when he says the Silent Majority is with him, he is not being ironic, he truly thinks there is a vast number of racist Americans who are simply too scared to say they will vote for him when polled, but will turn out in November. That or he thinks that the polls are specifically being fabricated in an attempt to depress his turnout, possibly he thinks both these things at the same time.

I do believe the polls, the trends, especially since the DNC are pretty clear, he is losing, and losing badly. I personally believe Clinton gets 400+ electoral college votes. It is clear to me that now we are in the general election and the nation is getting to know its candidates in a way that the primaries weren't able to show off, and on the whole it appears that the more people know Hillary the more they like her, her latest approval ratings are almost to fifty percent, which, you know, still not great but she spent most of her time leading up to the last month in the thirties and low forties. Meanwhile Donald Trump keeps tanking, it is almost like when confronted with someone who literally acts like a crazy person, and another who at least makes an effort to appear knowledgeable and restrained, America tends to want the person who seems less like a loose cannon.

This is not to say Hillary Clinton isn't crazy, she may well be, personally I think it takes a specific kind of mental illness to want to be president in the first place, let alone spend thirty or forty years of ones life preparing for it. But her preparations at least indicate she is unlikely to fuck it all up by doing something like declaring war on China because they won't give us the trade deal we want, or, you know, building a fuck off wall between us and Mexico.

If Trump doesn't drop out, which is a distinct possibility if things don't show signs of turning around within a month, I think he attempts to ride the narrative that the system is rigged, and hopes to incite a sort of grass roots rebellion that somehow invalidates the election. He'll fail of course, his supporters are idiots and he is incompetent, but in his mind it is perfect, when confronted with proof that the system is rigged against him(the proof being he lost, and he is so great he can't lose) the American people will rise up and do... something, and then he becomes president. I can't imagine he seriously believes or wants an armed insurrection, but in his mind it might go something like being declared president by acclamation, the truth of his superiority finally motivates the silent majority to carry him into the White House on their backs.

Trump is a pathological narcissist who lives off attention so the two paths both sort of align with that, if he feels he is losing the attention and gets distracted he drops out, screwing the Republicans immeasurably, if he hangs in there in an attempt to eke out more of his drug of choice until the end, then he has to wrap himself deeper in his self deception to justify all the decisions that brought him to that point, he can't simply be wrong after all, he's Donald Trump! He's never failed at anything in his life! He knows the best words, can get the top people, and can build a brand like no other.

For true sadness/hilarity, he doesn't accept his loss and declares himself president, attempting to rule from the Trump Tower as his family and supporters slowly distance themselves from him. Before he dies, he achieves a moment of clarity and realizes that it is all his fault, he ruined his families legacy and himself in his madness and now no one will even pick up the phone for him to apologize to. He dies knowing he brought his ruin upon himself.

It is weeks before they find the body.