Trump has played a character so long there's no real person anymore

[dajoki]

Trump is a brilliant performance artist: We can't defeat him without understanding that
Trump has played a character so long there's no real person anymore: That's what makes him so powerful, and evil
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/30/trump-is-a-brilliant-performance-artist-we-cant-defeat-him-without-understanding-that/

<<snip>>

Donald Trump is a shrewd entrepreneur. Perhaps he sensed an opportunity to sell Trump-branded human-size microwaves, disinfectant suppositories or ultraviolet butt plugs?

Of course, Trump backpedaled the next day and said he was being "sarcastic" because the news media is always so "unfair" to him. After being rebuked by any and all rational and intelligent humans for his suggestion that toxic cleaning solutions and light could perhaps cure the coronavirus, Trump then had a public temper tantrum that lasted most of the weekend. He ranted and raged on Twitter about hamburgers, the "Noble" prize, his repeated claims that he is the hardest working president in American history, the non-existent "coup" attempts by Democrats, the "mean" treatment he gets from journalists and various other grievances.

How did the mainstream American media respond to Donald Trump's suggestion that people should be turned into poison-drinking human lightbulbs to treat the coronavirus?

Some mainstream news outlets condemned Trump, making clear that his statements were dangerous and could kill anyone stupid enough to ingest disinfectant. One "journal of record" defaulted to blatant "both-sides-ism" in an effort to salvage Trump's statements as evidence of him "improvising" and "thinking outside of the box," implying there is room for disagreement about the president's deranged statements. A fair number of news outlets chose to report Trump's suggestions in a relatively neutral way, without context and condemnation. Of course, the pro-Trump propaganda media found ways to defend him.

In total, almost five years since Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign, the American news media continues to demonstrate that it does not understand who or what he really is.

The news media's primary shortcoming of inference and reasoning: What Donald Trump says does not matter as much as how he says it. To focus almost exclusively on his words, and not his style and presentation, is to not understand Trump's cult-like hold over his followers and larger movement — and the danger he and they represent to the United States and the world.

Here's a first principle: Donald Trump is a character who is playing the real-life role of president of the United States.

<<snip>>

[Eyeball_Kid]

1. You give Trumpy too much credit.

Trump never was a "real person."

He's always protected himself by playing up his "persona", now reframed as his "brand." Biographers have repeatedly written that Trump has always been fully committed to his brand, so much so that he's buried everything else. And his malignant narcissism nicely complements his brand. It's the NPD that's hard-wired, probably from early trauma. So NOTHING will change him. He will never "pivot", because he will suddenly have to show responsibility for his actions. Being an NPD, he'll never choose that route, even if he could. But too much of his life is encased in his NPD. So not only is he beyond redemption, but the entire nation will be subjected to his incompetence and batshit craziness until he loses his power. He's elevated failure to stratospheric levels.

[CatMor]

2. There is nothing brilliant about trump ....

he is so transparent you can see very move he's going to take before he even does it. Someone calls him out and the next tweet will be a silly, childish name for that person. Next he will tweet how brilliant and successful he is including being the best in everything in the history of the world. He will repeat the same nonsense over and over. How brilliant is someone who could have invested dad's money he inherited and instead went bankrupt multiple times. He is nothing but a blowhard with reality crashing down on his ugly orange head.