Comment by cedws
17 days ago
He’s a spoilt brat who’s never been told no. That’s all it is. He grew up rich. He’s never had to develop himself or face adversity. He’s even been able to fail, over and over again, and still come out on top.
17 days ago
He’s a spoilt brat who’s never been told no. That’s all it is. He grew up rich. He’s never had to develop himself or face adversity. He’s even been able to fail, over and over again, and still come out on top.
That only explains part of his behavior. Something peculiar to Trump's mindset is the pervasiveness of zero-sum thinking. There is nothing about growing up spoiled that necessarily creates this mindset; in fact I'd expect the opposite (by which I mean, I wouldn't expect people who are never forcibly confronted with scarcity and zero-sum competition, to be obsessed by scarcity and zero-sum competition).
That may be true, but I’d argue that’s just plain stupidity. Animals and toddlers exhibit similar behaviour - not understanding that collaboration and sharing can lead to overall better outcomes.
Due to lack of adversity, his theories have never been tested, only reinforced. He thinks he’s been flying the plane his whole life when really it’s been on autopilot.
You’re describing a similar real life version of Kendall Roy but, remarkably, with even less adversity.
Stupidity is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for believing in Trump's particular delusions. You can be stupid and not delude yourself into thinking that others must lose for you to win.