![]() ![]() Everyone around him knew that you were best off keeping your distance at those times, or, if that wasn’t possible, to resist disagreeing with him in any way. The Trump I got to know had no deep ideological beliefs, nor any passionate feeling about anything but his immediate self-interestĮven 30 years later, I vividly remember the ominous feeling when Trump got angry about some perceived slight. The more he feels at the mercy of forces he cannot control - and he is surely feeling that now - the more resentful, desperate and impulsive he becomes. No importuning by his advisers would stand a chance of constraining him when he feels this deeply triggered. Over the past week, in the face of criticism from nearly every quarter, Trump’s distrust has almost palpably mushroomed. #Zombie biker porn art freeTrump’s need for unquestioning praise and flattery also helps to explain his hostility to democracy and to a free press - both of which thrive on open dissent. This goes a long way toward explaining his need for control and why he simply couldn’t abide Comey, who reportedly refused to accede to Trump’s demand for loyalty and whose continuing investigation into Russian interference in the election campaign last year threatened to bring down his presidency. What Trump craves most deeply is the adulation he has found so ephemeral. Beneath his bluff exterior, I always sensed a hurt, incredibly vulnerable little boy who just wanted to be loved. It’s forever uncertain when someone or something will throw Trump off his precarious perch - when his sense of equilibrium will be threatened and he’ll feel an overwhelming compulsion to restore it. Whatever goes in quickly disappears without a trace. From the very first time I interviewed him in his office in Trump Tower in 1985, the image I had of Trump was that of a black hole. Trump also now has a far bigger and more public stage on which to fail and to feel unworthy.Īny addiction has a predictable pattern - the addict keeps chasing the high by upping the ante in an increasingly futile attempt to re-create the desired state. But that’s like saying that a heroin addict has his problem licked once he has free and continuous access to the drug. On the face of it, Trump has more opportunities now to feel significant and accomplished than almost any human being on the planet. But the reassurance he got from even his biggest achievements was always ephemeral and unreliable - and that appears to include being elected president. “Can you believe it, Tony?” he would often begin late-night conversations with me, and then go on to describe some new example of his brilliance. Trump derives his sense of significance from conquests and accomplishments. His aim is never accuracy it’s domination. In the same way, Trump sees no contradiction at all in changing his story about why he fired Comey and then undermining the explanatory statements of his aides, or in any other lie he tells. ![]() I saw that countless times, whether it was as trivial as exaggerating the number of floors at Trump Tower or as consequential as telling me that his casinos were performing well when they were actually going bankrupt. ![]() When he is challenged, he instinctively doubles down - even when what he has just said is demonstrably false. Having never expanded his emotional, intellectual or moral universe, he has his story down, and he’s sticking to it.Ī key part of that story is that facts are whatever Trump deems them to be on any given day. The life he lived was all transactional, all the time. Trump simply didn’t traffic in emotions or interest in others. Trump was equally clear with me that he didn’t value - nor even necessarily recognize - the qualities that tend to emerge as people grow more secure, such as empathy, generosity, reflectiveness, the capacity to delay gratification or, above all, a conscience, an inner sense of right and wrong. #Zombie biker porn art fullFrom his perspective, he operated in a jungle full of predators who were forever out to get him, and he did what he must to survive. I happen to love to go up against them, and I love to beat them.” I never sensed from Trump any guilt or contrition about anything he’d done, and he certainly never shared any misgivings publicly. In The Art of the Deal, he speaks with street-fighting relish about competing in the world of New York real estate: “They are some of toughest, and most vicious people in the world. Who knows whether that story, like so much about Trump, is true? What’s clear is that he has spent his life seeking to dominate others, whatever that requires, and whatever collateral damage it creates along the way. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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