And nobody does it better than Kevin McCarthy
I wrote yesterday that Kevin would have to do a full hair-shirt/self-flagellation while crawling on his belly singing “YMCA” to get Trump’s forgiveness for what he said on that phone call. Well, it appears he got ‘er done:
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Mr. Trump said he wasn’t pleased to learn of Mr. McCarthy’s comments in the House leadership call, but he said the California Republican ultimately never ultimately advised him to quit. He said that Mr. McCarthy quickly changed his stance “when he found out the facts,” and embraced him fully, a few weeks after the Jan. 10, 2021, call.
“He made a call. I heard the call. I didn’t like the call,” said Mr. Trump. “But almost immediately as you know, because he came here and we took a picture right there—you know, the support was very strong,” Mr. Trump said, pointing to a spot in the room where Mr. McCarthy had taken a photo with the former president in late January, an image seen as formalizing their rapprochement and confirming Mr. Trump continued dominance of the party.
“I think it’s all a big compliment, frankly,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. McCarthy and other Republicans who criticized him after Jan. 6 and then said they would still back him. “They realized they were wrong and supported me.”
Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I have said forever that Trump actually prefers it when people oppose him and then have to beg for his forgiveness. It shows dominance. And if there’s one thing we know, dominance tastes sweeter to him when he forces it with his boot on his rivals necks. It is the best way to illustrate to others that they are better off never opposing you at all.
Trump isn’t the only one who does this. I had a couple of bosses in my previous career who understood this dynamic and used it. But I’ve never seen anyone do it so blatantly, which is even more powerful. He just comes right out and brags about it, humiliating his submissives publicly.
Keep in mind that he doesn’t forget the slight, however. He made sure he said, “he made a call. I heard the call. I didn’t like the call,” letting McCarthy and anyone else who might have been involved that he is aware of what they said, which gives the timorous little guys and gals nightmares. He’s making a list. That’s part of the power too.
Trump is a natural tyrant. And it’s going to be much harder for the likes of Ron DeSantis to follow in his footsteps because he doesn’t have that instinct about how to wield power in this interpersonal way the way Trump does. He’s just a cheap thug, which Trump is as well and Republican voters obviously like, but may not be as effective. After all, there are lots of people on the GOP team who want to assume power. You have to be able to control them and I don’t know if Desantis has the same talent Trump does.