It’s been a year now and the picture of the internal workings of the White House is shaping up. Going into this presidency, we knew that Trump was a huge narcissist. We knew that he doesn’t really have a handle on or know what’s going on (and, I’m pretty sure some dimly lit part of his brain knows that too). We knew he was a racist, self-centered, dunce who doesn’t read or care to read. We knew that he absolutely has to be seen as being in charge (even if the reality of that is irrelevant). We knew that he’s addicted to monitoring how he is perceived in the media. We knew he is the absolute KING of projection. We know that for him, loyalty, attention, and devotion is something that only flows inward and that he would sell out anyone (except perhaps Ivanka) if they crossed him. I think everyone has probably met a person like this in their lives (probably not at this scale) and we all recognize them as a strange combination of pathetic (because this behavior is clearly covering up some SERIOUS deep-seated insecurities and doubts) and dangerous (because the bombast and sheer asshole-ry used to cover those up does so much damage to everyone around them). Trump is a perfect example of WHY growing up rich, crazy, and never being told “no” in any meaningful fashion is such a disaster for the individual and everyone around them.
Knowing all of this, last year you can see a pretty clear pattern emerge within the workings of the White House. One that could be relatively easy to exploit or at least test to see if it IS exploitable. It’s not something a single person could do (unless they owned a Russian troll farm), but it’s probably something a large enough group of people could do.
The thing Trump clearly craves more than anything else is positive attention. He not only has to be the focus of attention, but he has to be seen as being the person who is ultimately in control and in charge. Looking at some of the major departures (Priebus, Spicer, Bannon, Scaramucchi and now the rumors about Kelly), Trump seems to have soured on all of them relatively quickly after each one of these people either started becoming the focus of media attention (instead of Trump), were being reported as being the “actual brains” behind Trump (like Bannon), or a combination of both. It is clear that the one thing that Trump hates more than ANYTHING is to be sidelined. Nothing makes him angrier. And when he’s angry he’s not only more irrational than normal, but he wants revenge.
So . . . what do you all think would happen if there was a concerted effort (say starting online with twitter) to minimize Trump and his “accomplishments” and anoint one of his adviser’s, say his current Chief of Staff, as his new “Brain?” Just a constant refrain of “Well, Kelly’s really the one in charge. Trump is just his little puppet.” Trump clearly hates being called “Putin’s puppet” but he can’t FIRE Putin. My theory is that, if the meme of “Kelly is actually in charge of Trump” penetrates deeply enough into the public consciousness, Trump will exert the only power he can to defeat that narrative. He will fire Kelly. Then everyone simply moves on and start calling the NEXT person who takes up that job (or whomever looks like they could fit the bill) “Trump’s Brain.” I think that even if he saw the trap he couldn’t stop himself from trying to assert his dominance. He would fire people one after the other, no matter how much damage it did to his administration or himself, solely to keep the public eye focused on himself and to “prove” that he’s the one in charge.
Thoughts?