Donald Trump Will Never Stop Fighting—For Himself

The president is removing any doubt that his narcissistic presidency was always entirely about him.

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301

“Despite the Left’s attempts to undermine this Election, I will NEVER stop fighting for YOU,” President Trump assured me in a fundraising email.

I don’t take campaign fundraising emails seriously (never mind literally). They’re all pretty stupid. But this one was obviously different, for the simple reason that the election is over.

Indeed, this note—one of many sent by the Trump campaign recently—was a plea for money to pay for the legal effort to reverse an election Trump lost by the same margin of electoral votes he once claimed amounted to a “massive landslide.” If you read the letter’s fine print, you’ll discover that “fighting for you” actually means “fighting for me.” Most of the money from small donors will go not to the legal effort but rather to pay down campaign debt.

In a sense, I’m grateful that Trump is doubling down on everything wrong about his presidency in its final chapter. Yes, this is embarrassing for the country. Yes, Trump’s radioactive conspiracy theory of a stolen election will have a long, poisonous half-life. But Trump is removing any doubt that his narcissistic presidency was always entirely about him.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    The Dispatch could start a game of (no money) internet BINGO, with squares representing the various ways in which Trump might further beclown himself as a lame duck. The center square, of course, must be "PARDONS SELF & FAMILY AS OVAL OFFICE DOOR HITS HIS MASSIVE BUTT."

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      Cornelius O’Brien

      Where does "you can't fire me I quit!" fit?

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    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    Trump tried to fund his failing casinos on the backs of the tradesmen who provided them with clean sheets, security guards, floral arrangements, food & drink, and all of the other goods and services his casinos contracted to pay for. When forced to declare bankruptcy anyway, they became general creditors whose claims were cut to pennies on the dollar, with even that paid long after those debts were due and past due.

    I don't know, but I seriously doubt that his campaign debt is personally guaranteed by him — in which event most of his campaign's creditors are likely to be stiffed. But hey, sending another wave of disingenuous fundraising emails to his list of suckers — er, his list of repeat campaign donors, I mean — is utterly predictable. One thing you've got to hand to this con man: He knows his marks.

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      JohnF

      That's the key. What angers me most about his most recent petulant temper-tantrum is the expectation that it is going to be funded by the FOX-watching-grandmother who is going to send her $100 into a general pool that will pay for one of Eric Trump's private jet flights.
      I don't care if Sheldon Adelson wastes his money on this effort. I care very much about the people who can least afford to pay money to this grifter continuing to "support" him.

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        Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

        It's tragic. And probably irremediable: In the Konnikova book I recommend downthread — https://www.amazon.com/Confidence-Game-Fall-Every-Time-ebook/dp/B00WDP836S — there's an entire chapter on how con men systematically convert their marks into their (the con men's) most persistent, aggressive, and vehement defenders, even after it's become apparent to everyone else that the marks been ruthlessly, systematically cheated.

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          JohnF

          Yep. I have no counterpoint and I wholly agree.
          We do have laws intended to protect the gullible from themselves, but they can only do so much.

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            Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

            The best defense available to Trump — and he's not above using this one, in only slightly more obscure form — is this one, argued by Fred Astaire to Jane Powell in 1951's "Royal Wedding": "How could you believe me when I said I loved you, when you know I've been a liar all my life?"

            Link: https://youtu.be/8q2fTSo8aoY

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  3. AtlDocD

    A president who has consistently put himself before the country he was elected to lead. Even worse, he seems not to care if his actions damage our sacred institutions of both a fair election and peaceful transfer of power.

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    1. Sue Robinson

      I've been reading through the responses below to this with interest. I think the problem is that "evil" is a hard word to quantify. I think of Trump as amoral in that he has absolutely no guiding principles other than self interest. To be immoral at least implies that you have a sense of right and wrong and have chosen to follow the darker path. I don't think Trump has the ability to think of anything in any way other than a "what's in it for me" sort of way. This kind of person, given a chance, can be evil in the larger ways discussed below if given the opportunity. Fortunately, Trump has had opportunity to be "evil" only on a smaller scale. (Removing small children from their refugee parents and caging them qualifies as "evil" in my book.) I personally am glad that the man is 74 years old and unlikely to have the opportunity to become a Hitler, but I do see where you are coming from, Pat, when you call him "evil."

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        PeteC

        Sue, for me I think you've nailed it. I don't have a clear definition of what it means to be an evil person (though I see many of Trump's *behaviors* to have been evil). But I certainly believe him to be amoral, and malignant, and that's clear enough for me.

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        1. Sue Robinson

          You make some good points re the pandemic, Pat. It's so sad and appalling that Covid-19 reared its ugly head during the administration of the most unfit president to hold office in my lifetime -- and maybe ever -- and that some people have paid for this with their lives.

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      Phil H

      "America's first truly evil president"

      I'm far from any fan of Donald trump. But that is excessive.

      We already have had at least one brazen liar in the White House (name left as an exercise for the reader) who deserves the title "evil" at least as much as Trump. But neither of them really do. Trump's faults don't reach the level of "evil".

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          Phil H

          Sorry, Trump's not Charles Manson either. Donald Trump is not a killer. Being a grossly unfit President is being grossly unfit -- not a psychopath, not a mass murder, not evil.

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        CVS

        I don't think he's evil like Mao or Stalin. That's obviously silly.

        I do think, however, he is the single most selfish and self-interested man we've ever had as President. We have not had a President that sees his entire job as nothing but a stage on which to promote himself and his own personal interests or to avenge his own personal grudges. I also think he's probably the least introspective President we've had. Certainly one of if not the least.

        CS Lewis says that pride is the center of all sin.

        Take from that what you will.

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      Bill Nelson

      “Trump is tearing our country apart by calling our election system into question because...”
      No, this will have no effect on the country. Where are the masses in the streets? Non-existent. There are a few voicing support, but rhetoric is easy and cheap, no one has any skin in the game. Trump is done, toast, the fork has been stuck in. In a month few will remember his name or even his presidency.
      Our country and institutions, for all the flaws and cracks, insure that his impact is gone. The same has been true of every other president (FDR spent years denigrating Hoover-it took Truman several years to purge FDR loyalists before he could bring Hoover back). The problem democrats now have is there is no one to war against. And at some point Biden owns the problems, and his media cover won’t go very far because they have weakened themselves.

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        CVS

        "Where are the masses in the streets? Non-existent."

        Uhh...you should have been in DC last weekend.

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          Bill Nelson

          Thousands on the mall or rioting on Pennsylvania Ave at night? You are not going to see protests have any size. Just not something the right does.

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        2. JMD

          Yet...yet...the BLM protests went on for weeks and cost untold thousands in damage. So, yes, some sad people and some awful people had a rally. And now it's over. Give it a minute already. Let's all take a breath, stop letting Trump live rent free in every corner of our lives, find a way to enjoy the holidays, and look forward to 2021 with hope.

          I really, honestly, truly, deeply believe it's the left who will be more lost without Trump and Trump followers to harp on...

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            CVS

            What's BLM have to do with anything? I didn't even bring it up.

            I'm just stating a demonstrable fact. There are masses on the streets contrary to the original posters contention.

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    4. David R

      James Buchanan literally caused a shooting civil war that has still killed more Americans than any other conflict before or since. No modern president has done anything remotely on that level, and it's preposterous to say so.

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          Phil H

          No. Adolf Hitler was evil. Joseph Stalin was evil. Pol Pot was evil. Saddam Hussein was evil. Donald trump is not evil. Nothing Donald Trump has done remotely compares to any of those evil men.

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            Scarlette Tarte

            Nothing compares except I think, it he was allowed to, Trump would be just like Hitler. I firmly believe he would love to put his enemies in camps, and certainly jail, and he would not give one whit if they died there.

            It is good to be able to recognize this kind of behavior in people BEFORE they are allowed to do it.

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          Ed P

          I tend to agree. Trump does not seem at all motivated by the national interest. Only inasmuch as it might help him to get re-elected. But based on my read of the past 4 years, he's just as likely to purposefully harm the country so he can exploit whatever damage and division occurs because of it.

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      rlritt

      So right. I think candidates should be chosen in smoked filled rooms. The primaries have become a popularity contest. And the most entertaining clown wins, which is why Bernie came out ahead in the first few primaries,, until people realized what that meant and came to their senses.

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          CVS

          I agree with you that modern communications do far more to warp our politics that we appreciate. In part because it's happened so fast and people haven't had the time or ability to catch up on what it means i.e. how information travels.

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        Ed P

        I'm not sure the exact device, but we need some sort of protection against the population electing demagogues.

        The founders were wise (faced with an illiterate population in very different times) to include several layers of protection against demagogues. The EC is a prime example. But even that would be untenable today, for an elite body to overrule the will of an election. Somewhere in the nomination process is probably right.

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      C C Writer

      Lessons learned the hard way are learned more completely and lastingly, aren't they? The verdict of history requires some time to gain perspective.

      Individuals may adjust their opinions sooner. Of course it remains to be seen what will become of his core cult. I have a feeling it will run out of steam with the loss of the government as his platform, and/or go so far off the deep end it shrinks drastically as many he had some appeal for, as what they thought was a better alternative than nothing, realize "OK, this is no longer for me," if not "hmm, seems like we got taken for a ride."

      It will help a lot if the grownups running what is shaping up to be a balanced and divided government do their best to set a new tone, and let people know that if they have felt was ignored and disrespected, they should take a few deep breaths, calm down, and use normal politics to get their legitimate issues addressed in representative fashion. And it will help if we don't expect perfection but try to support these efforts and help by listening to and learning from the center opposition.

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        1. JMD

          Only if you keep him front and center. The onus is on both the left and the right to ignore him. The ONLY way to deal with him now is to ignore him.

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          C C Writer

          He'l try, but he won't succeed. He won't get as much attention as he's been gettng. He'll be old news.

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            C C Writer

            make that getting
            #editbutton

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        Scarlette Tarte

        Uh, we never learn our lessons here. In the next cycle, if Trump runs again, the same boobs will vote for him. The republicans ruined the economy when George W Bush was president, and after 8 years they put them back into power.

        And you can reverse it if you want to. From a conservative point of view, they think the Dems did damage. Yet, here we go again, every few years, giving them power again.

        Really learning the "lesson" would be to insist on changes to laws that make sure such nonsense can never happen again.

        To never get a Trump again, we should insist on major changes in how the presidency is viewed. No more "we can't indict a sitting president". No more allowing justice to be the president's lawyer instead of the nations. No more allowing president's to move funds allocated by congress for one thing, to some vanity project of the president's

        That would be actually learning the lesson. Making real changes.

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        rlritt

        From your mouth to God's ears.

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        C C Writer

        make that if they have felt ignored and disrespected
        #editbutton

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  5. Jennifer Stanowski

    It will take many Americans who love him a long, long time to get over this, if ever. Narcissists are so easy to love, they promise you everything, they are so consistent in their confidence in themselves, it is so reassuring to be around them. You don't have to think, you don't have to analyze, all you have to do is follow him and you will feel cared for. It is intoxicating, and hard to give up.

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    Bill Nelson

    Alright, time for a new topic. No life left in this one.

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    1. Tim Johnson

      Fair, but there still must be plenty of studying the Trump years to understand how the richest more free-est country in the world succumbed to hero worship.

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  7. Scroop Moth

    When he's finally evicted we'll all dissolve in tears . . . of laughter. In 200 years, the Mad President will still be a figure of fun. "Pleased to remember the third of November, the makeup powder treason and plot. I know of no reason why makeup powder treason should ever be forgot." Crazy orange mf.

    Does anyone still have a souvenir ticket for a seat on the Trump Shuttle? Let's give it to him at the conclusion of the inauguration ceremony! He should hitch a ride to Florida with a Mercer or a Koch brother!

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  8. P Satter

    I think the lesson is he desired adulation instead of influence, and will end up--eventually--with neither.

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  9. Cindy

    Somehow these days I've been reminded of C.S. Lewis's portrait in The Great Divorce of Napolean in his self-made mansion in hell...
    Walking up and down—up and down all the time— left-right, left-right—never stopping for a moment. The two chaps watched him for about a year and he never rested. And muttering to himself all the time. “It was Soult’s fault. It was Ney’s fault. It was Josephine’s fault. It was the fault of the Russians. It was the fault of the English.” Like that all the time. Never stopped for a moment. A little, fat man and he looked kind of tired. But he didn’t seem able to stop it.

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    Christopherfield07

    I do not know if Trump will be remembered as the nation's worst President, but I think he will be remembered as our most embarrassing President.

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