Tim’s comments:
Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, wrote a book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. In it, she described the President’s childhood in which he was taught that life is a zero-sum game. “[t]here are winners, there are losers, there are killers.” There was never enough love for Donald, and Donald’s father had too much, but not the right thing. Will Donald conclude he has to be a killer in Iran to avoid being called a “loser.”
Brandon J. Weichert speculates that Trump’s desire to not be a “loser” or associate with “losers” may lead him to de-escalate with Iran, and discard Prime Minister Netanyahu (now a loser?). Principles don’t factor into it, which is why Trump “pals around” with “winners” like Zoran Mamdani.
“Winning” is not always a reliable guide for policy. Will “winning” point the President in the right direction on Iran? It seems to me that this principle-less approach to action (I can’t call it “policy”) makes Trump easier to manipulate1 — All you have to do is convince him that a policy is “strong” and a “winner”, while the alternative is “weak” and a “loser.” If I were a neocon, I know what my playbook would involve trying to escalate the War with Iran using these tactics. Are there people counseling Trump on how to avoid manipulations of this type?
Analysis: Trump on “Winning and Losing”
Brandon J. Weichert:
.. this lends me this leads me to believe there is an opportunity here that we haven't had really this entire war where Trump is going to deescalate. It doesn't look like it now, but look at the carrier. That third carrier for some reason either maybe it broke down. Um, but likely it is stopped over in Singapore and it's just hanging out which tells me that there's a strategic pause and it isn't just to wait for more stuff to flow into the region. I think Trump is now seriously giving diplomacy a chance because you have to understand psychologically here, you know, I'm convinced he's nuts. But the one thing Trump really goes back to is winning and losing. Winning and losing. Everything is put through the prism of winning and losing. Well, that's a that's a winning topic. Why was he anti-immigration in 2016? Because the electorate was. People forget about this. And he glommed onto it. Okay. This is his thinking. He turns on people who he deems are losers because he doesn't want to be associated with losers. He he loves Mandami because he's a winner. Even though Mandani and him are diametrically opposed, doesn't matter. So, this gets me to say Trump acknowledged twice now publicly the Iran war is why he lost. He won't acknowledge that he shouldn't have done it, but he's acknowledged that's why he lost. He's now watching Netanyahu get dragged through the mud politically because of this losing policy of the Iran war. Now, I think is the window for when Trump has a momentary lapse of reason or a momentary return of reason and he might actually start deescalating. And I know it doesn't look like it. And I know we've had some close moments in the last 96 hours or so cuz remember I was told that bombs were supposed to be dropping the day after the midterms. They didn't. Now I I'm sure we were close to it. But my point is Trump is clearly listening to the Better Angels for now on escalation and I hope he continues to and thank God for the Democrats.
Tim: Who are these “Better Angels?”
Brandon J. Weichert:
Yeah, I just I think the fact the I think one of the reasons he didn't pull the trigger, and this was always my fear, is that he would do this. I think one of the reasons he keeps shying away is he's looking at Netanyahu and he's saying this guy's a loser. And I'm telling you, that's how he looks. He he if you're a winner, he likes you. He'll listen. He respects you. If you're rich, right? Because he translates that to winning as well. But if you're if you just got your ass kicked and you're probably going to jail and then he just got his ass kicked for the same reasons that you did, he's looking around and he's going, I don't want to be a loser. I don't want to be associated with this. It has nothing to do with right or wrong. It has everything to do with his perception.
Tim’s Comment:
This idea of “losers” is a very pre-Job and pre-Christian mentality. Nobody wanted to associate with Job when he was down and out (loser). And Jesus was asked about a man born blind. Were he or his parents sinners that he was born blind. Surely Jesus was a “loser,” not a “king,” because he was crucified.
Footnotes
When Mary Trump spoke to ABC’s George Stephanopolis about her book, she said that there was never enough to compensate for Donald’s loss, while Trump’s father was a sociopath who had too much, but not of the right thing.