Trump's Jealousy

A man named Harvey Ardman, describing himself as a "lifetime political junkie," wrote this about Donald Trump on Quora on June 3, 2017:

When he was a younger man, a real estate guy from Queens, N.Y., unpolished and decidedly middle class, Trump looked at the fabulously wealthy real estate magnates of Manhattan and the aristocratic society in which they operated, and he felt the pangs of jealousy.

He wanted to belong. He wanted to be one of them. He wanted to be seen as just as wealthy as they were, just as sophisticated, just as much an aristocrat. He spent many years harboring that yearning, trying to mix, trying to join, trying to rise above his humble-ish beginnings.

He became a member of this group, but not an equal. Because of his wealth and power, he was tolerated, but not really accepted. He was seen as a vulgar opportunist, a man conspicuously without the veneer of class that the others effortlessly displayed. He might eat at the same restaurants, visit the same clubs, even play golf with these people, but he would never really be one of them.

Now, as President, he is in the same position. He is not a member of the elite, and he knows it and resents it. He still burns with the ambition to be fully accepted by his betters and he hates them for making him feel this way.

Obama, without any effort on his part, has become the symbol of Trump’s illegitimacy, a man without the social grace or intellectual heft necessary to lead the country. He hates the way Obama makes him feel and is determined to cancel out everything Obama has accomplished. He’s like the new Egyptian Pharaoh, determined to chisel his predecessor’s name off every statue and edifice dedicated to the man.

Is he jealous of Obama’s legacy? He’s jealous enough to try to eradicate every trace of Obama’s accomplishments.

*

Rick Wilson was a Republican political strategist, who left the Party over its nomination of Trump. In 2018, he published a book titled Everything Trump Touches Dies -- this was before the COVID-19 epidemic -- and became an advisor to The Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans denouncing Trump, and using their old nasty style of attack ads on him instead of on the Democratic nominee. On December 19, 2019, Wilson tweeted this:

His boundless, ravenous ego is a singularity of need, an insatiable maw demanding abject loyalty when he shows even the most minimal courtesy. Everything is transactional and disproportionate. Nothing is ever enough. It's always "What have you done for me lately?" and FYPM.

FYPM: "Fuck you, pay me."

*

When John McCain knew he was dying in 2018, he invited George W. Bush and Barack Obama to his funeral. Not only that, but he asked them to speak.

Bush had run a disgusting campaign against McCain in the 2000 South Carolina Primary. McCain forgave him. Obama was very effective at painting McCain as out of touch with ordinary Americans, and it clearly got to him. That campaign was physically and mentally exhausting, and would have been for any man. McCain was 72 years old when it ended. Yet McCain found ways to work with Obama, and came to admire him.

The McCain family wanted Trump to stay away from the funeral.

Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, had lots of rivalries. Some were within his own party. He had a tough race for the 1980 Republican nomination for President, and lost it to Ronald Reagan. But when Reagan asked Bush to be his running mate, he accepted. What went on behind closed doors for the next 8 years, only the Reagans and the Bushes knew. But, publicly, Ron and George supported each other.

Bush the elder ran a tough campaign for the nomination against Bob Dole in 1988, and a disgusting campaign against Bill Clinton in 1992. Clinton and Dole hammered each other in 1996. Clinton mostly stayed out of it against George W. in 2000 and 2004, but did speak up on behalf of Al Gore and John Kerry, respectively. Bush the younger smeared Kerry, and Kerry got in some good licks, too. Obama and Hillary Clinton opposed each other strenuously for the 2008 Democratic nomination, and both essentially ran more against George W. than they did against McCain.

Both Bushes became friends with both Clintons, and all 4 of them worked with Dole on various things over the years. Obama asked Hillary, then Kerry, to be his Secretary of State. The Obama family and the Bush family patched things up, too.

When Barbara Bush, wife of one President and mother of another, died in 2018, the Bush family invited the Obamas, the Clintons, and even Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Rosalynn was ill, so the Carters sent a video message, but the rest came. The Bush family wanted Trump to stay away from the funeral.

Think about that: For all the flaws and mistakes of the preceding figures, at the funerals cited, they were all treated as honored guests.

Donald Trump was so much of an ass, he was told to stay away.

The former may have bothered Trump more than the latter.

*

Trump has, essentially, admitted guilt on many things, but he doesn't care. Like the late 19th Century German writer Friedrich Nietzsche, he thinks he's "beyond good and evil." His loyalty is to himself, not to law (ethics) or to humanity (morality). He is a complete sociopath, the cultural offspring of Nietzsche and Ayn Rand.

He has always craved approval. Confirmation. Adulation. From people who he saw as the kind of people he wanted to become. And from people he considered to be lesser than him (which is most people), but whose support he needed to win a 1st term as President, and whose support he now needs to win a 2nd term.

It's like the climax of last year's Shazam! movie, where Captain Marvel (Zachary Levi) confronts Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong):

So, this is, like, the Seven Deadly Sins, right? I mean, I've never been great at math, but, the big angry one, that's Wrath, yeah? And then Gluttony, obvi. Pride. Greed. And Sloth. Lust, who I thought was gonna be way hotter, I'm bein' honest.

But that's only six. Where's, where's Lucky Number Seven? Where's Little Man? Where's Envy?

Is he just scared of me and my family, 'cause we're so awesome? Because I get that. Like, the other Sins, they get to come out and fight, because they're so big and strong and scary. But Envy, he's just the runt.

And that's why all the other Sins never invite him out to play, man. Because they all know who'd win. And it's not weak, worthless, ugly Envy.

Donald Trump is the Seven Deadly Sins incarnate. But, most of all, it's Envy. He is the most jealous man in the world.

He was jealous of John McCain, because McCain was admired.

He was jealous of Barack Obama, because Obama is loved.

He was jealous of Hillary Clinton, because she got more of the people's votes than he did.

And he's about to be jealous of Joe Biden, because he's going to get more votes, too.

The only question left is, can he count on the Electoral College? Or Vladimir Putin? He needed both to save him last time. Will they save him this time? Can they?

Even if he can save Trump, Putin is just one more person that Trump is jealous of: A man who is the absolute ruler of his country.

And that's something that Trump will never be.

The line is that, "Trump is playing (X)-dimensional chess."

No, he's not playing chess. He's playing checkers. He's always demanding, "KING ME!"

Today is Revolution Day. Time to exile him.