POWER CRAZY

The Rants of a Lonely Old Man Dictate the New World Order: Wolff

Why do we take Trump seriously—but how can we not?

Opinion

“We just wait and see what he posted last night. Then we watch the panic on Susie’s face in the morning.” That’s from a friend of mine in the White House. Susie is Susie Wiles, the chief of staff whose titular function is to deal with the president’s more-or-less idle pronouncements, whether that’s running Venezuela, taking over Greenland or, most recently, imposing tariffs on any European countries who would say otherwise. These new tariffs are, of course, not going to happen. Still, Trump posts and the world responds. Trump enjoys it all—it’s truly thrilling to him. A Trump aide once explained to me that it’s not the fire he sets that most excites him, but rather the fire engines rushing to the scene, sirens blazing, that he finds so satisfying. The compelling thing for him, nearly in a sexual sense, is that he is once more the center of attention. Donald Trump, the threat of Donald Trump, the chaos of Donald Trump, the “brand” of Donald Trump, achieves yet more dominance. The psychopathology here can hardly be missed. And yet it is. Again and again, Trump’s gambits are treated as policy, however questionable, and strategic, albeit mendacious, power realignments, instead of as a personality disorder.

Click through to Michael Wolff’s HOWL to read more insight into Trump’s psyche, and why he’s more than happy to see the world burn.