Transcript: Trump Erupts in “Mad King” Tirades as Presser Goes Awry

Sergeant: RIGHT. It’s the unshakable narcissistic theory of Donald Trump, basically, which is that he sort of exists in this universe, where he’s sort of discovered that if he bluffs throughout his life, he can get people to act like he’s actually the real thing, a great world historical figure or the best, the biggest real estate developer in New York or whatever it is that he’s the best at at that particular moment. But underneath it all, there is no satisfaction, this kind of emptiness screaming inside him.

Beutler: Yeah. And so what he’s doing is… I don’t think his growing assertion of dictatorial power is something that he’s convinced himself is right and, like, things should be according to the Constitution. He’s just mad with power. And he has the Supreme Court behind him, and he knows that when he does things that are illegal or unconstitutional – even if he doesn’t quite understand them in those terms – but he’s a predator and he’s abusing people, and he’s trying to extort them or blackmail them or whatever – that’s it’s going to take months, if not years, for the Supreme Court to finally determine the legality of each of those individual measures.

And that in the meantime, the Supreme Court – because they are in its pocket – will most likely leave the policies in place while the disputes work their way through the courts. And so he can basically end the First Amendment at the Pentagon, and he can abuse the federal spending power to crush federalism in New York, make it so that New Yorkers don’t have a Republican form of government, and actually harm virtually everyone who lives in New York and leave them in an aggrieved position for months or even years before he’s told you can’t do that.