Does he really believe it?
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I mean, just think how much harder that is on the ego then just losing an election during a pandemic.
Sure, as George H. W. Bush so memorably related, you can imagine it’s rather humiliating to lose an election. But the pandemic, it seems to me, would be enough to give one’s ego the out it needs. You could see it as force majeure, bad luck really.
But to actually believe your enemies just plain cheated you? Took one of the most coveted prizes on the planet away from you with totally impunity, laughing all the way? Just like that, made you their little laughing-stock bitch? Put a big fucking ‘L’ after your name for all of history to see? That’s gotta sting.
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But the loss couldn't have been his fault, because nothing is ever his fault. So the only explanation is that he was gypped out of the win.
And yes, he believes it. He has to. For the rest of his life, he has to have a way to believe it. To do otherwise is intolerable.
That's why all the business with the lawsuits was entirely predictable -- inevitable even.
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That ignores the ego-saving role of the pandemic, though, doesn’t it?
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Does any of these people really believe it?
“Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.), James Lankford (Okla.), Steve Daines (Mont.), John Neely Kennedy (La.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Mike Braun (Ind.) — along with Sens.-elect Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyo.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) — joined [Ted] Cruz. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has already said he will contest the electoral college vote certification.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/cowards-are-destroying-the-gop/617534/
Money quote: “The incentives Josh Hawley and many of his fellow Republicans officeholders confront lead them to conclude that they should pretend the lie is true.”
That article goes into Sen. Hawley’s dissonance, someone they thought should know better but isn’t acting better. Does he believe, or is he pandering?
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@jon-nyc said in Does he really believe it?:
But to actually believe your enemies just plain cheated you?
He watched the four year cultural blitzkrieg mounted against him, which was proof of motivation to do whatever it took to get rid of him. It's not such a far step from realizing the fact that you're competing with people who are motivated to cheat and would do so shamelessly, even righteously, to believing they did. Surely a psychological allergy to losing is at least something you can understand, jon.
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@horace said in Does he really believe it?:
@jon-nyc said in Does he really believe it?:
But to actually believe your enemies just plain cheated you?
He watched the four year cultural blitzkrieg mounted against him, which was proof of motivation to do whatever it took to get rid of him. It's not such a far step from realizing the fact that you're competing with people who are motivated to cheat and would do so shamelessly, even righteously, to believing they did. Surely a psychological allergy to losing is at least something you can understand, jon.
You nailed it Horace.
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@horace said in Does he really believe it?:
Surely a psychological allergy to losing is at least something you can understand, jon.
Did you read my post? I've baked in that it would be tremendously difficult for him psychologically to accept a loss. But by believing his own shit doesn't that mean he has to believe he's suffered the greatest defeat at the hands of his enemies in American political history? Far worse than just being beaten by the impersonal forces of a virus and it's impact on the economy. Seems to me anyway.
DON’T let them eat cake.
- RFK Jr -
@jon-nyc said in Does he really believe it?:
@horace said in Does he really believe it?:
Surely a psychological allergy to losing is at least something you can understand, jon.
Did you read my post? I've baked in that it would be tremendously difficult for him psychologically to accept a loss. But by believing his own shit doesn't that mean he has to believe he's suffered the greatest defeat at the hands of his enemies in American political history? Far worse than just being beaten by the impersonal forces of a virus and it's impact on the economy. Seems to me anyway.
His reaction has clearly allowed you to further cement him as the Biggest Loser of All Time, in your mind, maybe in most minds with TDS. Believing that Trump is a loser is of great emotional value for some of us. But that's your cross to bear. For the rest of us, his reaction is understandable and predictable, and IMO regrettable. But it's not a revelation to me, and it will come to nothing. Enjoy it while it lasts. He'll be gone from the white house at the appointed time.
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I doubt he believes it.
He knows his sheep will be milked if he keeps up the charade, whether it’s for a 2024 run, or for his own news media network (that’ll go bankrupt like nearly all his other companies).
If he does believe it, it’s probably part of his “create his own reality” approach he seems to have used in the past.
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@horace said in Does he really believe it?:
For the rest of us, his reaction is understandable and predictable
Funny this is the third time in 2 weeks you've called his actions predictable, yet when I predicted them in June with a decent degree of specificity, you gave me a hard time. Probably accused me of TDS.
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@89th said in Does he really believe it?:
If he does believe it, it’s probably part of his “create his own reality” approach he seems to have used in the past.
That's Pat Robertson's take.
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@jon-nyc said in Does he really believe it?:
@horace said in Does he really believe it?:
For the rest of us, his reaction is understandable and predictable
Funny this is the third time in 2 weeks you've called his actions predictable, yet when I predicted them in June with a decent degree of specificity, you gave me a hard time. Probably accused me of TDS.
You thought it would be a meaningful existential threat. I would have acknowledged that he would challenge the results. I would not have acknowledged that it was out of the question that there would be illegal election tampering, though at this point it is clear there is no clear evidence of such. My reaction against the talk in June was against the notion that we should all be wringing out hands over what Trump would do to steal the election. The talk was of lots more than ineffectual claims of tampering.
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@loki said in Does he really believe it?:
You nailed it Horace.
Wait a minute, for 60 days you've been saying he's not really trying to overturn an election, it's all just frothing up the base for whatever's next and/or the GA races.
But Horace says something as facile as 'yes he believes it but that's because the outgroup is so bad' and suddenly you change your tune?
What happened to 'nothing to see here'?
DON’T let them eat cake.
- RFK Jr -
@jon-nyc said in Does he really believe it?:
@loki said in Does he really believe it?:
You nailed it Horace.
Wait a minute, for 60 days you've been saying he's not really trying to overturn an election, it's all just frothing up the base for whatever's next and/or the GA races.
But Horace says something as facile as 'yes he believes it but that's because the outgroup is so bad' and suddenly you change your tune?
What happened to 'nothing to see here'?
In fairness, I also say "nothing to see here". The fact that he would challenge the election results was in fact predictable to anybody with their heads screwed on straight regarding who Trump is.
