His ego and narcissism made him run for the Presidency, even though....

[kentuck]

...he knew that if his campaign exposed the facts about his business dealings and tax returns, it could destroy him.

He was emboldened when no one forced him to make his returns public and the Republicans even defended his right to withhold them. He had operated in secrecy his entire life and the Republican Party protected his desire to keep everything secret.

His move to the world stage did not lessen his narcissism or his love for money. His saw the Presidency as one of the greatest opportunities of his lifetime. He no longer had to make shady deals with oligarchs and foreign businessmen, he could now make deals with foreign leaders. The payback had the possibilities of much greater return.

But, unfortunately, most of his business dealings were illegal and try as he might, he could not keep the secrets hidden forever. A Special Counsel was appointed to investigate Russian interference in our elections and he could not help but feel the investigation was about him. He attacked and obfuscated and blocked the investigation at every turn.

Ironically, I suppose, if his ego had not led him to run for the Presidency, he would have still been operating in the shadows, making shady deals with international criminals, and living his life of luxury. Now, it is on the precipice of crashing down upon him.

[Doodley]

1. And it's ironic that his lifetime of telling lies and conning people enabled him to become president

But it is his lies and conmanship that will also bring him down.

[empedocles]

3. . . . and it is ironic that some of trump's most righteous supporters,

are the most hypocritical, vicious, anything goes, voters on the political spectrum.

[erlewyne]

20. There are just too many GOPers wandering around ignoring Treason for it just to be Politics as

usual (my line borrowed from stonepounder in reference
to the G.O.P. in general and specifically McConnell). Let me repeat
your post because it is well said. "and it is ironic that some of trump's
most righteous supporters, are the most hypocritical, vicious, anything
goes, ..."

EW

[malaise]

2. I think his hatred of President Obama took him over the edge

True he always wanted to be President but his hatred of that cool black no drama Obama still consumes him.

[joshdawg]

7. Absolutely correct!

[c-rational]

35. Agreed, especially when the dumpster got dissed by Obama the the Annual Correspondents dinner.

[malaise]

36. + 1,000

But don't forget the birther shit was before that

[Dave Starsky]

4. He was destitute and way, WAY overextended on Russian credit.

His massive egotism, stupidity, and sociopathy is what got him to that point. But he ran for President because he was literally given no choice by his Russian creditors and masters.

[machoneman]

5. DS: Never thought of it the way you described his reason for running for the office.

It's a good point as he could not have been stupid enough (?) to not think every aspect of his life would be under a microscope even as a candidate. Someone MUST have told him that even just running, let alone winning, could expose a lot of things that he spent a lifetime hiding. So perhaps the kompromat wasn't really about hookers. Instead, the Russkies would reveal his illegal condo sales, tax evasions and other financial crimes that would land him in jail if he refused to run.

Kudos to you sir!

[Dave Starsky]

12. After reading Malcolm Nance's and now Craig Unger's books...

I've come to that inescapable conclusion, which now seems like it was obvious all along. For whatever reason, we all just ignored all the blatant signs. Maybe because, at the time he was running, it was all too fantastic and terrifying to accept.

[PatSeg]

17. Yes that is what has occurred to me

Trump's "secrets" weren't all that secret. His corruption, deceit, and criminal ties have been common knowledge for years. Investigative reporters didn't even have to dig very deep to uncover his multitude of scandals. In many cases, they might have gone back and read archived copies of their own newspapers or perused the many photos of Trump with known criminals. Trump would just say, "I didn't know the guy. If he was in the same room, I wouldn't recognize him," and no one would challenge him on it.

Trump's secret life was really always an open book, but he was the master at deny and deflect. His associations with the Russia mafia and oligarchs weren't discreet or subtle. He was colluding with criminals in plain sight. It is amazing to me that there were no FBI investigations of the man and his businesses long ago.

There is a lot of blame to go around.

[EffieBlack]

27. I think he wasn't investigated previously because he was seen as inconsequential and not worth the

effort. I don't agree that it wasn't difficult to find the dirt. Yes, it was there, but this kind of corruption is very dense and difficult, complicated, time-consuming and expensive to untangle. Just look at how long it's taking Mueller with all of his vast resources to pull it all together. I don't believe the FBI or the NY state law enforcement officials had the bandwith at the time to bother with him. And while he hurt the occasional contractor, most of his dirty deeds didn't pose grave harm to large numbers of people, so they just left them all to themselves.

Which is interesting since he thinks he's such a big man. They likely thought of him as a small potatoes big talking rat not worth their time.

Of course, I have no way of knowing any of this for sure, but that's my take on it.

[kentuck]

29. I think he has been on the radar of the FBI for decades....

But they never had the funding or the manpower to go after him. This investigation has given them the opportunity to uncover what they have always suspected of the trump. He grew over-confident over the years, in my opinion. They now have the mandate to uncover international crime that has baffled them for a very long time.

In my opinion, the Congress should create a Special Commission to continue investigating this criminal element after the Mueller probe is finished. This is so deep and complex that no one truly understands the entire picture.

[PatSeg]

31. He was probably viewed

as a rather goofy media hound with some questionable associations, not a real threat to anyone. Or perhaps authorities kept an eye on Trump Tower to surveil the Russians. He may have been their useful unwitting idiot.

I know there are a lot of complexities to the investigations going on right now, but it appears that they are moving much faster than many people had expected. I think it is because there is so much overwhelming evidence and being arrogant and reckless, Trump doesn't cover his tracks very well. I can picture investigators saying, "I can't believe this shit!"

It is all starting to sounds like a political spy thriller, but much too absurd for even fiction.

[EffieBlack]

40. The funny thing (not funny haha, but you know ...) is that

Trump avoided criminal ramifications not because he was some kind of brilliant criminal Mastermind too big or scary or crafty to mess with, but because, for all of his self-aggrandizement and narcissism, Trump and his boys were likely viewed by law enforcement as non-consequential silly little men not worth the time and effort to investigate and prosecute.

[PatSeg]

41. Yeah, that paints a very likely picture

And meanwhile, Trump probably thought that he WAS a brilliant criminal mastermind, because the worst that ever happened was he had to pay some fines or financial settlement, cost of doing business the Trump way.

He was a profound genius in his own mind, not realizing that people thought he was too ridiculous and clownish to be taken seriously. No wonder he was always saying on the campaign trail, "It would be so easy folks, believe me."

[malaise]

33. My question remains how did someone who settled a $25M lawsuit

for running a fake university become President? And this was at the height of the campaign.

[PatSeg]

37. I know

Its not like that was a deep dark secret. The man was a known scam artist and show-boater with scandals surfacing, as he was campaigning.

I remember Obama's big 'scandals' in 2008 about "clinging to their god and guns" or the inflammatory words of his minister. The media rehashed them over and over again, whereas Trump got pass after pass regardless of what he did or said.

[malaise]

39. Precisely

He got a pass

[njcpa1978]

23. Yes he is stupid enough.

Put him on a stage without handlers and the Donnie we know from NYC shine through. His whole life is an 8th Ave, 3 card Monte game.

[malaise]

38. No - he got away with so much criminality in the past

That he thought he would skate through this as well.


Any of these would have disqualified most people. - no tax returns, a fake medical, settling the fake university suit, the 'grab them by the pussy' tape, and he was still allowed to remain in the race.

A lot of ReTHUGs had to have been in on this.

[empedocles]

44. No doubt, still, way over extended on putin credit

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. His supporters turn it round & say it shows his self-sacrifice to fix the country

[njcpa1978]

24. Yup.

Heard he is up for the Mother Theresa award.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. tRump is the dog that chased the car and bit it and his teeth are locked in the tire. . . . nt

[2naSalit]

15. Excellent description!

[watoos]

9. Kentuk has a good theory

but I believe in the beginning he didn't want to win, he wanted the publicity to start a competitive cable news network, Trump TV. When Russia got involved he was obligated to follow Putin's path. Either way his life is becoming an open book, the rock he was hiding under is being overturned. Prison for the entire Trump crime family would cure his ego problem.

[kentuck]

13. I would agree that he did not think he would win.

And he was not prepared to win. As has been shown many times over.

[malaise]

34. If he did not think he would win

Why did the rent the old post office building? I think that was always part of this plot.

[kentuck]

43. That is an excellent observation.

There are still a lot of questions about his purchase of "government property". He never intended to adhere to the contract he signed. He should be removed from that property, in my opinion.

[malaise]

45. Well why should this contract be any different from every other one?

[PatSeg]

21. I agree

He saw a presidential run as a great publicity opportunity. I think he was even surprised when he started to realize that he might even win the republican primaries. I don't think he believed he would or could win a general, but as you said, he had to do Putin's bidding. There was no turning back.

When we look back at his campaign, it was one of the worst in modern history. There was no organization or real strategy. A lot of well publicized over-the-top rallies. He got so wrapped up in the energy and all the attention, I don't think he saw where it was going. Once there, he decided that he would use the presidency for his benefit.

[njcpa1978]

26. Ego too big....

I agree with the run for publicity sake, but his ego will prevent it from ever being his daily. #1 Haters #2 Democrats #3 Mueller's bias #4 Fake News and on and on. He will never run out of others to blame.

[C_U_L8R]

10. Fear of mobsters and hatred of Obama

He had no choice. No way out. Nothing left to lose.
He'd be dead or in jail by now if he hadn't won.
That was a terrific motivator.

[Le Gaucher]

11. I doubt it. Putin asked him to run in return for moneys loaned

[rainin]

14. I think he got a taste of the power a dictator has and Putin made him believe he could have it.

They complimented him, fed his ego and convinced him that he could destroy Obama's legacy (all the while knowing what motivated him because Putin is ex KGB and he knows trump's weaknesses).

I'll bet when he was in russia, he was treated to a front row seat to the power, all to stir trump's envy and desire. They gave him girls, girls, girls, all very young, and very willing and putin showed him what power looks like. Then they said they could make him the most powerful and LOVED person in the world.

He was an easy mark.

[2naSalit]

16. I think you are exactly correct

about that. But there's soooo much more because idiot and spawn have been part of a dirty enterprise that many of the admin and Congress are tied to, either financially or as participants too. By participants I am suggesting something as horrid and evil as the evil disgusting things we are finding out about the Catholic church and many of our private institutions in this country. It will be exposed and pretty damned soon, I suspect. An election is a good time for this to come out so that a timely transition of personnel can take place easing the shock we are about to experience... as though we haven't had some major shock every other day for a year and a half.

[rainin]

18. I'd only add that the country has been feeling the impact of the reality show for 2 1/2 years.

On election day, I remember thinking how much I had aged from stress during the final year of the campaign. We'll never know how many people this man has already indirectly killed. The stress is constant. I remember feeling similarly before the crash in 2008. As soon as Obama was elected, I knew it was going to be ok. We still endured 3 job losses while the economy was in the turnaround, but we could see our country was in capable hands. How does anyone feel secure now? (except the rich, of course)

[2naSalit]

19. I think economic

repair/revival will be the least of our concerns when the dust settles, but I know what you mean. I have been a wage earner since 1970 as a minority. When I finally got a formal education, the country was already circling the drain with W driving.

[Yavin4]

22. In sum, he started to believe his own bullshit.

He was never a great businessman nor a great real estate developer. He was always a con man through and through. His ego took over his mind and he started to believe his own cons were real.

[smirkymonkey]

32. +1000

This. Winning the Presidency has only exposed him for the failure that he really is. It will be his undoing.

[EffieBlack]

25. So true

I think his - and his family's - biggest regret in life will be that he ever ran for president. It will eventually destroy all of them.

Unfortunately, they're doing unspeakable damage to the country in the process.

[njcpa1978]

28. Provevs says.

Proverbs says: He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
I think that covers Donnie's regime.

[dalton99a]

30. For the love of money is the root of all evil

[MurrayDelph]

42. He was trying to produce Springtime for Hitler

He could collect all this money, and after he lost no one would question where the money came from, or went.


(Once again, life imitates Mel Brooks)

[MadDAsHell]

46. If you assume you can run an entire country, you have a massive ego.

Every President but Washington has. Drumpf is just 10x worse than the rest.