This story was prompted by this article in The Hill.
We don’ t need a textbook to explain this Trump tactic. It’ s schoolyard psychology. This is from The Urban Dictionary. It explains the tactic which Trump uses repeatedly.
I was a kid in the 60's.. This phrase was not used by older sophisticated persons.. It was simply a juvenile response to juvenile name calling.. Some dumb kid would say: "You're Stupid" the simple and quick response would be "I know you are but what am I".. Sometimes (probably when first used) a good come back to one who was truly stupid, because it confounds them, confuses them.. "Uh uh uh, um, you're stupid?"
In actuallity, the phrase would go back and forth, several times.. "You're stupid", "I know you are but what am I" "You're dumb", "I know you are but what am I".. "What a jerk", "I know you are but what am I", "Jerk", "I know you are but what am I"...
Just a juvenile thing.. Used so often though (way back when) that til this day, I use the phrase in response to good compliments.. Most people my age, or close too, enjoy and laugh :)
Here’s another schoolyard defense tactic:
You don't need to be a psychologist to grasp what Trump is doing. Any sensible person would see through Trump's obvious attempts to deflect blame for what he did to what he says others did.
Any sensible person?
Go figure.
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Bonus Exercise: Go through Trump’s Tweets to find more illustrations of his juvenile deflection.