Donald’s always been a bit larger-than-life, even in his 80s heyday with Ivana. But he never struck me as truly eccentric or off-kilter. Just a rich, flashy businessman. Sort of the epitome of 80s excess.
And when he got his NBC show “The Apprentice,” it was an interesting idea that sort of brought him a renewed sense of relevance in the public’s eye.
But then the wacky politics began. The birtherism, the nutty run for president, offering to host a debate between Republican primary candidates, the $5 million charity offer for Obama’s college transcripts, and now the election-night Tweets (1 & 2).
Is he having a mental breakdown? He’s behaving like a professional wrestling personality-- but in real life. Or has he always been like this, but for some reason has fired all of his PR people and opted instead to have absolutely no filter between himself and the public?
What say you? Is he having a breakdown? Has he always been this way but it’s just becoming more obvious in the era of social media and full-contact politics? Or what?
He’s a celebrity, his job is to get as much exposure as possible. The crazy political behavior is a cynical put-on to get people to pay attention to him. More adclicks and more eyeballs on TV commercials=more money for Trump.
I am of the opinion that it’s an act, sort of. I mean, he says things he kind of believes in, but he also believes that saying silly things will get him in the media, and that being in the media is really really important to him.
So he really does hate Obama and thinks he’s a terrible president, but does he really believe he’s from Kenya, or is that just trolling? I have the feeling that a con man like Trump has been around the block long enough and made enough money fleecing investors in his properties that he doesn’t believe his own BS. On the other hand, to really sell something to the suckers, it helps to first convince yourself.
So there’s a satanic fusion of conscious lies, and self-delusion that feed on each other. You tell the lies, then you get yourself to believe your own lies, and that makes you better at selling the lie. So the buffoon mask is put on, and then your face grows to fit the mask.
There seems to be a level of desperation with scone of the recent attempts. Narcissism would explain most of it without needing to be actually mentally ill though.
Bluster and allegation is a huge part of his schtick. After awhile the path is going to progress to the point where all the crap just doesn’t add up anymore. Not that it ever did but it’s reached ‘ludicrous’ stage.
It’s funny you bring this up, Happy; I asked the exact same question when he offered the $5 million for Obama’s college degree.
After entirely too much consideration, I’d say he’s just getting more and more desperate for attention, to the point that now he’ll settle for even the eyerolling disbelief kind. He’s always been a clueless douchebag from what I can tell, he’s just hooked on celebrity and finding it harder and harder to stay in the limelight.
See these kind of Tweets make me think Trump is an example of a famous person who just recently scrapped his PR team. These are sloppy, manic Tweets that just aren’t wisely Tweeted. Many people do typos and say stupid shit on the Internet, just not many credible celebrities do; they have agents and PR folks to filter the stupid shit out. Reminds me of when Tom Cruise first dropped his public relations person and ended up jumping around on Oprah’s couch and going all Scientologist-nutty on Matt Lauer.
Maybe he’s had a screw loose for years, and we just never noticed it because of the tight grip his people had on him. Or maybe he just went off his nut recently and thought he didn’t need handlers anymore, à la Tom Cruise.
If Donald Trump is mentally ill, his mental illness is BIGGER than anyone else’s mental illness ever! He is better at being mentally ill than anyone else in the world. It’s really just gigantic and this mental illness is BIG NEWS that everyone will talk about. It’s going to be spectacular. I guarantee you’re going to love it.
Either that or he’s just a a shameless self promoter who doesn’t like the President and has found an issue that he wants to bring attention to and draw attention to himself in the process. And typos on twitter accounts, especially the use of homonyms (“one” for “won”) isn’t a sign of mental illness so much as just quick and careless typing.
