Friday Round Up! 4/19/24

The Manhattan courtroom is bursting Trump's psychological bubble.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this Rolling Stone article this morning, which describes the impact that the Manhattan trial is having on Trump’s sense of reality. I’ve long been fascinated by Trump’s resistance to the truth — from denying that COVID was a problem to denying that he lost the 2020 election — and the way that he creates his own fantasy world. We know that Trump lies like he breathes but I’ve often wondered: Does he believe his own hype?

I think he does — which is why this trial is going to be an existential threat to his ego. Remember that from a young age, Trump’s father told him to be a “killer” and a “king” — which over time has translated into Trump’s preoccupation with his image, his need for constant adulations, and his willingness to go to any lengths to try to shape reality to get it. (My friend George Conway has analyzed Trump’s personality as a form of malignant narcissism; for those of you who are familiar with the Enneagram, I think Trump is a dangerously unhealthy Type 3.) He does this primarily by first creating an information vacuum (think about how he won’t release his college grades, or his medical records, or his taxes) and then he fills the void with his own preferred “facts.” With social media, and particularly since he moved to Truth Social, Trump has largely been able to exist in the alternate reality he has created for himself, and which he has fed back to him through propaganda feedback loops like Fox News.

As I’ve written previously, courts are the final frontier against disinformation, because the only thing that matters is the truth — and there are consequences for lying. It’s the first forum he has encountered in his life where he can’t control everything…or even anything. In court, Trump can’t avoid hearing jurors’ negative views of him during voir dire, he can’t make sure that the sketches make him look good, he can’t stop reporters from watching him fall asleep and reporting on it, and he can’t lash out and use insults and intimidation to coerce people into conforming to his reality. For someone whose entire personality structure is built on how he is perceived, the trial has the potential to dismantle his entire psychological makeup.

New! Freedom Academy Book Club Selection:

We had a great discussion with author Drew McKewitt for our last book club selection, about the origins of our current gun sickness. I’m thrilled to announce our next book club selection, CNN anchor Jim Sciutto’s latest book, The Return of Great Power: Russia, China, and the Next World War. I love Jim’s work and especially learned a lot from his last book, Shadow War: Inside Russia’s and China’s Secret Operations to Defeat America (I had pooh-poohed Space Force until I read that book, now I am terrified about a space war.) Jim’s latest explores where the United States stands in the post-post-Cold War great power competition: Are we ready? Are we playing catch up? Find out when we discuss it in July!

My pieces this week:

• I elaborate on the podcast discussion regarding FISA Section 702 — which just passed the Senate yesterday — in my piece for Cafe Insider this week

Articles worth reading:

• This Washington Post piece about Russia’s strategic goals in its active measures campaign against the West. (You can learn more about the Russia’s tactics and how they have evolved since the Cold War in earlier modules of my Substack course, Democracy in the (Dis)Information Age!)

Upcoming events:

• Zoom Office Hours, Friday, April 26, 4-5 p.m. EDT. We’ll discuss the latest, including Trump’s Supreme Court immunity arguments, which will have taken place the day before. Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers at 1 p.m. Office hours discussions are not recorded.

• Guest Speaker, Jacob Hacker, May 15, 4-5 p.m. EDT. Yale professor and co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality will join us to discuss some of the driving forces behind asymmetrical polarization, a topic we are currently covering in our Substack course. (You can enroll in the course at anytime, and this topic is new — check out the short assignment to jump in!)

• NEW! Wine & Fries Happy Hour with CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem, Sunday, May 19, 8 p.m. EDT. I’m so excited to be hosting my friend and colleague Juliette Kayyem for the next Wine & Fries Club! We’ll have lots to talk about, some serious and some not-so-serious. Link will be sent to founding members at 5 p.m. (This is not recorded.)

I will leave you with a gratuitous Pancake shot to enjoy on this Caturday!