This is the tenth year I have written about Donald Trump and his unorthodox, norm-defying behavior.
And, as we approach the height of this 2024 election cycle, his actions, words, and behavior have only become more extreme, with a tendency toward the bizarre, if not monstrous.
Never before had a public figure, except perhaps one who had a visible breakdown, displayed such a mercurial, carefree and uninhibited personality.
From dismissing a recent event in Pennsylvania mid-sentence and swaying (for a full forty minutes) to his own playlist, to his 90-minute and often incoherent daily speeches, to his unbridled, expletive-filled attacks on his various enemies, it’s a whole new style of WTF politics.
And it’s not just in public; There are also reports of bad private behavior, of fury unleashed against those closest to him, even against major Republican donors.
Never before had a public figure, except perhaps one who had a visible breakdown, displayed such a mercurial, carefree and uninhibited personality.
Even those closest to him are now struggling to explain what certainly appears to be a deliberate determination to spit in the face of moderation.
A fellow Mar-a-Lago golfer, who frequently sees the former president, recently suggested to me that this could be due to the stress of the tough final weeks of the campaign.
Meanwhile, several Trump advisers have speculated about the lasting impact of two assassination attempts. And then, of course, there is the age factor: Trump is 78 years old. But, putting a good face on him, some in his orbit point out that his decline – if that is what we are witnessing – is at least colorful, as opposed to Joe Biden’s sad fade.
Another explanation is that Trump understands that he could lose – which in such a close race is at least a 50/50 chance – and recognizes the terrible consequences that could follow: ignominy, jail, bankruptcy.
Some insiders trace the escalation in his uncontrolled behavior to Biden’s exit from the race and the rapid rise of Kamala Harris in July.
With Biden, Trump was confident of victory. But that was taken away from him. And his rage, his sense of being the victim of a grand Democratic plot, may have pushed him over the edge. In his opinion, it is already another stolen election.
What’s more, all this is combined with the fact that he would lose to a woman: the ultimate insult.
But there is also the possibility that what might seem like a self-destructive spiral is actually an indication of Trump’s own sense of indomitability: of complete confidence in victory. And if so, then this unusual behavior has greater consequences, because it foreshadows the furies and impunity that could characterize a second Trump White House.
A White House where you will feel free and safe enough to be as Trump as you want to be.
Some insiders trace the escalation in his uncontrolled behavior to Biden’s exit from the race and the rapid rise of Kamala Harris in July.
Despite universal revulsion after January 6, from Republican donors and Party leaders who supported Ron DeSantis in the primaries, from four indictments and a criminal conviction, Trump has persevered and prevailed. Now he’s on a victory lap.
Indeed, he has repeatedly said that his unbridled sensitivity is the key to his success. His modus operandi in foreign policy – the Trump doctrine, effectively – is that the more unpredictable and volatile he appears, the more other nations fear him.
And the truth is that Trump being Trump, without restrictions, often works.
You only have to look at his historic triumph over what could be the most concerted legal attack ever directed at an American politician. Any reasonable legal advisor would have encouraged him to seek accommodations and agreements with his prosecutors. Instead, with Trumpian bluster and contempt, he has unleashed a cascade of spurious efforts to delay, distract, and confront the system that tried so hard to derail him.
And as such, he worked his way to a tie of sorts. If he achieves it on November 5, that tie will become a total victory against his detractors.
Extravagant behavior is usually punished. Society, and often the law, rises up against it. For Trump, extravagance produces success. He’s a rebellious man child who seems to have inverted the most basic rule of parenting: his bad behavior is often rewarded.
Which begs the question: how does he get away with this?
For Trump, extravagance produces success. He’s a rebellious man child who seems to have inverted the most basic rule of parenting: his bad behavior is often rewarded.
Part of the answer is that he offers a clear contrast to other politicians, including Kamala Harris, whose behavior is controlled, strategic, but unrevealing and perhaps boring. Nowadays, it increasingly seems that correct behavior is more likely to be punished.
But another element is that Trump has created a bubble world for himself. He was a bankrupt businessman, a joke in his hometown of New York, but on ‘The Apprentice’ he presented himself as the unrivaled master.
Now he is shape-shifting once again, hiding his abnormalities (his strange daily behavior, his criminal accusations, the memory of January 6) with the constant illusion that he is still the president, more presidential, in fact, than the real president. .
If he wins, a hero of his victory will be his top adviser, Justin Caporale, a key Trump architect who has directed every detail, look and feel of this campaign. From the wood-paneled private jet to the podiums and mock presidential seals, to the spotlights and outsize stages at his rallies, it all sends a message that there is a real president here. Here is the dominant lord, conqueror of the world, time and place.
Since the beginning of the Trump era, the question has always been whether he is crazy as a fox, cleverly gaming the system, or simply so in another reality – that is, simply crazy – that he has turned the game around.
If he wins again, we will be further and further away from knowing the truth.
If he loses, perhaps we will return to a more recognizable standard of normality, although it is far from clear that that is really what people want.
