Donald Trump is a man with an ego. Most presidents are. It would be hard to run a presidential campaign and win without one. But the difference between Trump and his equally ambitious predecessors is tact, which is all but missing from Trump’s Twitter feed.
There is no shortage of ego, however. Let’s take a look at a few of the president’s tweets from the past 24 hours:
When all of the people pushing so hard for Criminal Justice Reform were unable to come even close to getting it done, they came to me as a group and asked for my help. I got it done with a group of Senators & others who would never have gone for it. Obama couldn’t come close....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019
Trump then lists off a series of well-known persons, such as singer John Legend and his “filthy mouthed wife” Chrissy Teigen, who refuse to credit his administration for the important criminal justice reform it pushed through. Trump’s real grievance is that the Legends will talk about how great the reform is, but not about how great the president of the United States is.
For Trump, it's all about him (although in fairness, this is also true for many of his detractors).
Here are a few more examples:
As bad as @CNN is, Comcast MSNBC is worse. Their ratings are also way down because they have lost all credibility. I believe their stories about me are not 93% negative, but actually 100% negative. They are incapable of saying anything positive, despite all of the great things...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019
The Trump Administration has achieved more in the first 2 1/2 years of its existence than perhaps any administration in the history of our Country. We get ZERO media credit for what we have done, and are doing, but the people know, and that’s all that is important!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019
Trump's complaints aren't false or unwarranted. It’s no secret that MSNBC, CNN, and the Legends dislike Trump intensely, and it’s inevitable the things they say will reflect their antipathy. But why does Trump care? He’s hardly the first president to face negative coverage, though there does seem to be more of a concerted consensus on the media’s part than ever before.
It all comes back to Trump’s unquenchable ego. He wants attention, the credit he believes he’s due, and the praise to go along with it.
Ego itself isn’t a bad thing. It motivates, provides inspiration, and guarantees confidence. But it must be controlled and channeled into efficient, coherent ambition that is both practical and energetic. But this requires prudence, a virtue Trump unfortunately lacks, which is why his ego can’t sustain itself. It must be cushioned and encouraged.
Trump’s ego is his Achilles heel. A man primarily concerned with the opinions of others is a man of little personal conviction. Take, for example, his tweets about the Legends and criminal justice reform. If Trump was personally invested in the reforms his administration had introduced, why would he care what Chrissy Teigen thinks? After all, does anyone else besides Trump care what she thinks?
Without conviction, Trump can be easily influenced and swayed by public opinion. Look no further than his waffling on gun control — first one way, then the other. Apply a little bit of pressure and he folds. He talks big, as we've seen so often on Twitter, but don't expect much in the way of substance.
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September 10, 2019 at 12:11AM
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