The Trump Soliloquy

Eduardo del Buey
Photo: Reuters
La Jornada Maya

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

During my recent book promotion tour for my latest book in Spanish, [i]Trump vs. Trudeau: Discursos Opuestos[/i], journalists and audience members would invariably ask me what I think makes Donald Trump tick.

I decided to answer that question in somewhat dramatic form, as though I were Donald Trump himself baring his soul to a confidant.

So as a result, here is my view of how Donald Trump’s mind works, according to information that is in the public domain and, in this scenario, I speak as he would in the first person:

"I am Donald Trump.

I am the President.

Many people ask how I got there.

It was easy, although few, including myself, actually thought that I would make it.

It began with a country that has been deeply divided for the past forty years and that was more divided than ever.

It began with a similarly divided Republican Party, with the right wing hungry for power at any cost. The result is that while some moderates have left, the bulk of the party at all levels has subscribed to my words and actions and have to this day remained absolutely loyal.

I appealed to many voters convinced that they were the victims ignored by a political class that had marginalized their political influence, isolated them culturally and diminished their prosperity and way of life.

I quickly formed an electoral base that was so frustrated that they are willing to believe anything that I said.

They are so opposed to what passes for the country’s elites that they are willing to accept all of what others would call my faults.

They say that I lie, I cheat, and I make absurd comments and hateful remarks constantly. Well, my response is that I am President, and they are not. I once said that I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose a vote. I still stand by that statement, as do my many followers.

Indeed, although there is an attempt to impeach me, you and I know that the Republican majority in the Senate will never allow this to happen. They know where political power lies, and it lies with me. I can make or destroy their careers because my core voters are loyal to me, and not to them.

I am the President.

I have faced a number of sexual misconduct accusations over the years, and have spoken disrespectfully about women in general. I have had three wives and have cheated on them all. Yet, Christian fundamentalists consider me the Second Coming as their political gain comes before religious and spiritual beliefs.

I have had many allegations of having engaged in shady business dealings. Yet, I have managed to convince many in my base that I would put an end to corruption in all of its forms. I and my family have made millions during my presidency promoting our various businesses, and have spent millions of taxpayer dollars more on my many vacations at my own resorts.

Yet, many of my followers believe me when I tell them that I am cleaning the swamp.

I attack and insult my opponents mercilessly, speak to my base in words and concepts that they can relate to and avoid complex ideas or fact-based solutions to their problems. I know how to connect with their innermost fears and prejudices. I can manipulate them totally.

Indeed, although I got out of military service in Vietnam by claiming bone spurs, I am able to convince my political base that some greatly honored soldiers are cowards and traitors.

I don’t have opponents. I have enemies, as do my followers.

Those who are disloyal to me personally are my enemies, and they quickly become the enemies of my followers.

In this way, I plant the seeds of hatred and fear in their minds.

I accuse my enemies of having my own faults, and my followers believe me.
In short, these enemies are their problem, and I am their solution.

Strong, simple, and effective.

Especially when dealing with a sector of society in which many lack higher education, lack critical political judgment, believe that they can profit from my leadership, or feel they have nothing to lose.

After many years in the public eye, I learned to manipulate the media into giving me free wall-to-wall coverage and thus deprive my enemies of much access to voters through the media.

I begin early in the morning by tweeting outrageous claims against my enemies that the media report all day long. I learned a long time ago that even the most honest media are governed by the ratings that determine their income, and although serious media would like to ignore my surrogates and me, they know that controversy sells.

I am always controversial, and my enemies have little chance to get their messages out since they then spend the day responding to my statements and to media questions about them.

In fact, analysts calculate that, over the past few years, I have obtained over $2 billion worth of free publicity while my opponents have been forced to discuss my issues on my timetable.

As a popular television personality, I have spent years appealing to and manipulating the visceral feelings of my audiences.

When I entered politics, they became easy to control since I had already grabbed their interest and won their affection through my television persona.

I did not have to travel the country incessantly in order to connect with voters.

I used social media strategically, raised Twitter to an art form, and used my fame to reach audiences with little effort.

People say that I am a narcissist.

They are right.

I love the limelight and feel threatened when I am not the center of attention.

When I am not the center of attention, I quickly divert from the issue of the day with some outrageous statement or accusation that quickly returns the spotlight on me.

My whole political life revolves around my ego.

I am more at home with tens of thousands of people at huge rallies where I can scream and shout clichés and sound bites that have little to do with facts reality but that rile up my followers’ deepest feelings and leave both them and me energized.

Unlike my enemies, I have very few concrete policy ideas or detailed solutions to problems. Rather than set out in well thought out ways, I govern by whim. My policies are whatever comes to mind at the moment in which I speak, usually based on ideas that I hear on FOX News. I pursue my decisions until they no longer serve my purposes, and then have no qualms about switching directions if that profits me financially or politically.

I prefer to galvanize my followers and channel their frustrations towards my enemies through repetitive sound bites and tweets. Two hundred eighty characters of lies and manipulation in each tweet, and they lap it up.

Unlike many of my enemies, I don’t dig deep into key issues and give little respect for education or expertise.

I surround myself with sycophants, with those who are willing to carry out my will without question or inhibition.

I only appoint as my advisors people who are willing to suspend their own intelligence and sense of reality, and never question my intelligence or my facts.

Like many before me, I have mastered the art of knowing what people really want and of providing them with the words and visions that will appeal to their baser instincts.

Like many before me, I depend on my ability to connect with and exploit people’s frustrations.

I have learned how to create enemies on whom my followers can focus and place blame for their own problems and inadequacies.

Sometimes these enemies are the so-called elites, those with more education or expertise who leave these followers feeling inferior. I dismiss facts and expertise as falsehoods meant to keep them down and they buy it.

Sometimes the enemies are the media, whom I accuse of reporting fake news so often that my base of followers begin to believe that this is true.
And sometimes these enemies are people of other nationalities and races. I appeal to the innate racism of many Americans, and they respond with their votes.

By belittling the media, experts and educators, I promote ignorance and encourage my followers to do the same. This they do willingly because it validates and makes them feel superior. By creating enemies, I give them a target for their frustrations, and this strengthens their connection with me.

Over the years I have learned that many people hear what they want to hear, and that it is easy to mold them into committed and complacent followers.

I have learned from others that, if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it is the truth.

I have used this effectively and in all of my actions. I have mastered mass psychology to manipulate my voters into believing that their deepest anxieties and frustrations are not only shared, but also validated.

I rule in such a way that their anxieties and frustrations are mine, and I convince them that I have easy solutions that only require their support.

I blame democratic institutions as the tools that their enemies use to suppress them.

And my followers believe all of this and support me even when experts use reason and fact that proves me wrong.

I am stronger than facts; I am more powerful than the truth.

Since I have slowly debased the currency of knowledge and fact, people now believe, as George Orwell foresaw, that truths are lies and lies are truths.

This is the reality of my presidency.

Turn my followers’ weakness into strengths, and my enemies’ strengths into weaknesses.

I do this with relish and expertise because, as I stated at the opening of this confession, I am Donald Trump, I am the President".

[b][email protected][/b]