Donald Trump’s Epic Neediness ...Frank Bruni

[mystery-ak]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/opinion/sunday/donald-trumps-epic-neediness.html?ref=opinion

Donald Trump’s Epic Neediness


Frank Bruni MARCH 12, 2016

AFTER Donald Trump asked voters at a recent rally to raise their hands heavenward in a pledge of fealty to him, a few commentators frothed at the gesture’s supposed evocation of a Nazi salute.

That wasn’t my take. As much as Trump appalls me, I don’t assign him control over the precise arcs of his supporters’ arms.

I was and am transfixed by something else: the scope and intensity of his hunger for adulation. It’s bottomless, topless, endless, insatiable. He gazed upon a teeming arena of admirers and neither their presence nor their numbers was quite enough.

He ached for an extra exhibition of their ardor. He had to issue a command and revel in their obeisance. I’m surprised only that he didn’t ask them to kneel or genuflect, but that could still come. The primaries slog on. The general election looms.

And Trump’s campaign events have become increasingly unsettling affairs, by turns ludicrous and scary.

continued

[sinkspur]

Jason Sparks
‏@sparksjls
Trump: "We're going to take the country back from those people"

 
Ali VitaliVerified account
‏@alivitali
Trump says he's gonna start to "go strongly for arrest" of protesters b/c "once that starts happening" not gonna have anymore protesters.

Imagine if any president said this.

[sinkspur]

Trump just read a silly poem, and doesn't (nor do his followers) have the presence of mind to know that the last line applies to him:

"You knew I was a snake, before you took me in."

[GAJohnnie]

Keep clinging to the same failed poltical playbook "News Media".  It going to be funny watching the meltdown when you  realize this is the sort of idiocy that is going to end up electing Trump.

[sinkspur]

Great article. 

Trump is an attention whore, and his speeches would be these rambling streams of consciousness that we hear on the campaign trail.  And he would get his ass in trouble with other countries, with the Congress, and would, eventually, become a running joke. 

Do we want a joke in the WHite House?

[massadvj]

I don't pretend to know what motivates Trump, why he does what he does and says what he says.  I try my best to judge him by his stated positions and not get into his psyche.  I don't think anyone can really know what is in the heart and mind of another person.  In fact, most of us don't know ourselves.

But I will say this about Trump.  He has boundless energy, not just for a man his age, but for any man.  And that, combined with hard-headed insistence on winning, makes him a formidable force, as he has shown.

I am still not supporting him, but I think people are getting a bit panicky over the possibility that he could be the nominee.  He is not Hitler.  Maybe Juan Peron.  We'll see.

[Meshuge Mikey]

Re the Attacker in Ohio!!


Doanld trump is certain that HE KNOWS whats not been reported on any known news source.


and he wants the guy arrested.....[?]   my screenshot to the trumped up tweet and my reply!

[Bill Cipher]

Keep clinging to the same failed poltical playbook "News Media".  It going to be funny watching the meltdown when you  realize this is the sort of idiocy that is going to end up electing Trump.

Ahh.  So pointing out Trump's flaws simply reinforces his supporters' desire to elect him, and their belief that most other Americans will willingly follow them over the cliff?  Maybe they will; worse things have happened in democracies before.  But that doesn't make it right (or correct).

[Bill Cipher]

I don't pretend to know what motivates Trump, why he does what he does and says what he says.  I try my best to judge him by his stated positions and not get into his psyche.  I don't think anyone can really know what is in the heart and mind of another person.  In fact, most of us don't know ourselves.

But I will say this about Trump.  He has boundless energy, not just for a man his age, but for any man.  And that, combined with hard-headed insistence on winning, makes him a formidable force, as he has shown.

I am still not supporting him, but I think people are getting a bit panicky over the possibility that he could be the nominee.  He is not Hitler.  Maybe Juan Peron.  We'll see.

And Juan Peron is better?  Somehow I don't think Melania will have quite the same ring as Evita though.  Allende may be another possible. 

[A-Lert]

"He ached for an extra exhibition of their ardor."

  The media continues to piss it's diaper. The pain they must be feeling. How sweet it is.

[sinkspur]

[A-Lert]

 

[Paladin]

I wonder if New York Times columnist Frank Bruni ever commented on the psychological condition of this guy:

[massadvj]

And Juan Peron is better?

Than Hitler?  Yes.  I see Trump as a USA version of Juan Peron.  Symptomatic of our people becoming denser and less independent, and our government becoming more corrupt.  Basically, we are turning into a Latin American type of country.

[Bill Cipher]

Than Hitler?  Yes.  I see Trump as a USA version of Juan Peron.  Symptomatic of our people becoming denser and less independent, and our government becoming more corrupt.  Basically, we are turning into a Latin American type of country.

Let me rephrase:  is Juan Peron sufficiently better that it would make a practical difference.  A loss in sports in still a loss, and still as final, whether you lost by 1 point or by 1,000 points.  An authoritarian caudillo is still an authoritarian and the loss still a loss, regardless of the fact that the caudillo is not Hitler.

As an aside, Hitler's regime initially brought a fair amount of improvement to Germany during the 1930s.  Certainly along the lines that patriarchal authoritarian governments usually manage to provide at the start.  His grandiosity and hatred of the Jews, leading to WWII and the Holocaust, were perhaps inevitable, but at the beginning he was little worse than the various strong men who have promised to pull their nations from the brink of disaster.

[massadvj]

Let me rephrase:  is Juan Peron sufficiently better that it would make a practical difference.  A loss in sports in still a loss, and still as final, whether you lost by 1 point or by 1,000 points.  An authoritarian caudillo is still an authoritarian and the loss still a loss, regardless of the fact that the caudillo is not Hitler.

As an aside, Hitler's regime initially brought a fair amount of improvement to Germany during the 1930s.  Certainly along the lines that patriarchal authoritarian governments usually manage to provide at the start.  His grandiosity and hatred of the Jews, leading to WWII and the Holocaust, were perhaps inevitable, but at the beginning he was little worse than the various strong men who have promised to pull their nations from the brink of disaster.

Good points.  But in reality, nearly all successful politicians are megalomaniacs.  Some disguise it better than others.  Is Trump more narcissistic and mega-maniacal than Bill Clinton?  Hillary Clinton?  OPapaDoc?  I doubt it.

[Bill Cipher]

Good points.  But in reality, nearly all successful politicians are megalomaniacs.  Some disguise it better than others.  Is Trump more narcissistic and mega-maniacal than Bill Clinton?  Hillary Clinton?  OPapaDoc?  I doubt it.

You're painting with a rather wide brush.  Is he more narcissistic than Romney?  Is he more narcissistic than Reagan?  And I wasn't aware that if the democrats do it, or are it, that it's now ok for Trump to do it, or be it.

[massadvj]

You're painting with a rather wide brush.  Is he more narcissistic than Romney?  Is he more narcissistic than Reagan?  And I wasn't aware that if the democrats do it, or are it, that it's now ok for Trump to do it, or be it.

I agree he may be more narcissistic,mega-maniacal than any Republican since McCarthy, or maybe Nixon.  For a Republican, he is well outside the median.  But for a politician, he is not. 

[Bill Cipher]

I agree he may be more narcissistic,mega-maniacal than any Republican since McCarthy, or maybe Nixon.  For a Republican, he is well outside the median.  But for a politician, he is not. 

Again, I think it really depends on the contours of what you mean by "politician".  Are you including every rank-and-file member of each and every local legislature?  Each and every local town council?

[massadvj]

Again, I think it really depends on the contours of what you mean by "politician".  Are you including every rank-and-file member of each and every local legislature?  Each and every local town council?

I would say for any politician who plays on the national stage.  That includes people like Harry Reid and Al Sharpton.  I take back the part about "outside the median."  Instead, I'll say that Trump is within 98 percent of a standard deviation from the median, based on what we know now.

[Bill Cipher]

I would say for any politician who plays on the national stage.  That includes people like Harry Reid and Al Sharpton.  I take back the part about "outside the median."  Instead, I'll say that Trump is within 98 percent of a standard deviation from the median, based on what we know now.

Fair enough.

[DCPatriot]

Jason Sparks
‏@sparksjls
Trump: "We're going to take the country back from those people"

 
Ali VitaliVerified account
‏@alivitali
Trump says he's gonna start to "go strongly for arrest" of protesters b/c "once that starts happening" not gonna have anymore protesters.

Imagine if any president said this.

You do know that Obama, Hillary Clinton and Friends had the laws changed to make it unlawful to demonstrate/disrupt at any presidential candidate's venue/speech.

IOW, if you shout and scream from across the street...or even a block away, you are subject to arrest.

As Casey Stengel said...."You can look it up!"

[Bill Cipher]

You do know that Obama, Hillary Clinton and Friends had the laws changed to make it unlawful to demonstrate/disrupt at any presidential candidate's venue/speech.

IOW, if you shout and scream from across the street...or even a block away, you are subject to arrest.

As Casey Stengel said...."You can look it up!"

Why don't you post the links.  Casey Stengel you ain't.

[DCPatriot]

Why don't you post the links.  Casey Stengel you ain't.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/03/the_anti_protest_bill_signed_by_barack_obama_is_a_quiet_attack_on_free_speech_.html

It applies to "...anyone under Secret Service protection".   

[Bill Cipher]

You do know that Obama, Hillary Clinton and Friends had the laws changed to make it unlawful to demonstrate/disrupt at any presidential candidate's venue/speech.

IOW, if you shout and scream from across the street...or even a block away, you are subject to arrest.

As Casey Stengel said...."You can look it up!"

So two wrongs make a right?