Step Inside Trump’s Delusion — How He Convinces Himself He Is Successful (VIDEO)

There’s nothing all that special about success. Sure, dragging yourself up by your own bootstraps has a certain cachet about it. We all love a good rag to riches story. But for many success isn’t earned; it’s given.

Take President Donald Trump for example. although he claims he received from his father only a very ‘small loan of a million dollars,’ the truth of the matter is somewhat different.

We know for a fact that he borrowed $9 million from his father early on in his real estate career.  He was forced to admit as much in a 2007 deposition.

So that takes us to $10 million.

Then there was Donald’s plan to build the Grand Hyatt hotel way back in 1978. Unable to secure a credit line himself he was given $35 million worth of interest-free guarantees by none other than daddy dearest, Fred Trump.

For those who are keeping count that takes us to $45 million.

After a disastrous foray into the world of Casinos, he was forced to borrow yet another $10 million from his siblings without being able to offer any collateral. In addition, according to the 2005 book TrumpNation, by Timothy O’Brien, he later sought to borrow another $20 million but was rebuked.

A smaller amount was agreed upon; in all probability, he got another $10 million dollars.

Throw into the mix a few million from various trust funds set up in his name, an illegal loan from his father who bought — but did not use — $3.5 million worth of gaming chips so that Trump’s Casino could pay its mortgage and we start to see a very different picture of success. At which point we might as well toss into the equation the additional $35 million that Trump probably received upon his father’s death before we take a quick stocktake of where we are at.

We’re at around $95 million that’s where.

Success is overrated. It’s failure that teaches us humility.

At least, it does for most of us.

101 Dilations

Trump’s first 100 days in office have been something of a disaster.

Any objective analysis of his tenure to date reveals failure without precedent in modern politics. His inability to match bombastic rhetoric with legislative action isn’t even controversial. Even some of the swivel-eyed zealots who were gullible enough to swallow his BS seem to be waking up to the absurdity of it all.

Sadly, somebody forgot to send Trump the memo.

Despite approval ratings described by one Gallup poll as being ‘unusually low, unusually early,’ earlier this month he felt confident enough to inform journalists aboard Air Force One that he’d had:

“One of the most successful 13 weeks in the history of the presidency.

The following week, in an interview with Fox Business he boasted:

“I don’t think that there is a presidential period of time in the first 100 days where anyone’s done nearly what we’ve been able to do.”

Freudian Slipstream

It’s no wonder that the journalists flying high above the clouds were bemused.

Pointing out the gulf between reality and the ravings of a mind that may well be suffering from early onset dementia has become almost routine at this point. To be absolutely clear — and at risk of belaboring the point — Trump’s first 100 days have been exceptional in one way and one way only.

How little he has managed to get done.

To summarize, there are two ways of measuring presidential success.

First, we can look at the activity on Capitol Hill, specifically, the amount of raw legislation pushed through both houses. For Lyndon B Johnson that number was 10. Nixon and Reagan both managed nine, Bill Clinton an impressive 24, Barrack Obama a respectable 11.

Even George W. Bush helped pass seven pieces of legislation through Congress.

And then there was President Franklin Roosevelt. During the most intense period of lawmaking in the nation’s history, his administration helped guide no fewer than 15 major bills.

Trump’s record is set at a big fat zero.

Executive (Hog) Washroom

What about executive orders?

Well, as Liberal America reported last month:

“His tally stands at an impressive 17 orders signed since he took office including one that took place just hours after having been sworn in. Alas, for Trump a closer analysis reveals some upsetting truths behind what might otherwise be taken for decisiveness.”

Structural defects in the orders were manifest.

“Two of them relate to Trump’s immigration ban which has been placed on indefinite hold. Two others, the Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch — signed March 13 — and Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System — signed on February 3 — merely set up instructions to review and then advise on certain aspects of government policy.”

Furthermore:

“Of the 13 orders that remain, one is an as of yet unfulfilled congressional budget request for money to build a wall whilst another simply repeals the order of succession within the department of justice. A third is just a review of the Clean Water Rule that was signed by President Barack Obama in 2015.” 

All that is left is the rump, or as was pointed out in March:

“A series of petty invectives designed with single projects such as the Dakota pipeline in mind. A couple of near-sighted and overtly politicized attempts to do ‘something about immigration.’ Orders to make dirty rivers dirtier, some regulatory mummery that will do more harm than good.”

A Lie For A Lie

All of which begs the question, how does he do it?

How does he reach into a bag of empty popcorn and chew fistfuls of air? How can he turn to the camera and claim it’s the best popcorn he ever tasted?

The answer is simple.

He lies so often and with so little sense of shame that he has become completely divorced from reality.

Like a recalcitrant adulteress with one mistress too many, he no longer knows which lie he has told to whom. It’s a reflex. He opens his mouth and a lie comes out as surely as a half digested Ketchup smeared steak would if he stuck all eight of his fingers down his gullet.

Because this is the world he lives in. The tapestry of deception he has woven is like a safety net, a Moses basket in which he can float down the river (de)Nile, gently cooing at the admiration he thinks is coming at him from all quarters.

A Truth For A Truth

As Politico pointed out, Trump has been behaving like this his entire life.

Back in the day when Trump’s daddy was buying casino chips to prevent his idiot son bankrupting the whole empire Trump was in an ebullient mood. Speaking To Larry King, he claimed that the so-called ‘Eighth wonder of the World,” was ‘doing great.’

Indeed, according to Politico, he was quick to point out that that thing that looked like it might be a badly polished turd was, in fact, a veritable font of munificent bounty.

Sure, it looked like things were going badly wrong for the casino. That’s what success looks like don’t you know? He told King:

“The chaotic launch only looked like a failure because it was actually exactly the opposite. So many people were gambling so much money, he insisted, the machines simply couldn’t handle the demand.”

The Casino would be open for barely more than a year before filing for bankruptcy.

Watch this short documentary on how Trump made his money.

 

Featured image from Gage Skidmore via Flickr available under CC BY-SA 2.0.

 

I'm a full- time, somewhat unwilling resident of the planet Earth. I studied journalism at Murdoch University in West Australia and moved back to the UK where I taught politics and studied for a PhD. I've written a number of books on political philosophy that are mostly of interest to scholars. I'm also a seasoned travel writer so I get to stay in fancy hotels for free. I have a pet Lizard called Rousseau. We have only the most cursory of respect for one another.