I’m not one to quote Maureen Dowd but when she’s right, she’s right:
From the first time I went on an exploratory political trip with Trump in 1999, he has measured his worth in numbers. His is not an examined life but a quantified life.
When I asked him why he thought he could run for president, he cited his ratings on “Larry King Live.” He was at his most animated reeling off his ratings, like Faye Dunaway in “Network,” orgasmically reciting how well her shows were doing.
He pronounced himself better than other candidates because of numbers: the number of men who desired his then-girlfriend, Melania Knauss; the number of zoning changes he had maneuvered to get; the number of stories he stacked on his building near the U.N.; the number of times he was mentioned in a Palm Beach newspaper.
By his mode of valuation, if his numbers aren’t better than his rivals’, he’s worthless.
That’s why Trump is always obsessing on his crowd numbers and accusing the press of lowballing head counts.
And that’s why he couldn’t admit he lost the election. If Joe Biden put more numbers on the board, Trump was worthless. The master huckster’s whole identity revolves around having higher numbers, even if they’re fake. (He always pretended his skyscrapers had more stories than they did.)
So, of course, seeing Kamala’s crowds and polls soaring drives him nuts.
He’s totally lost his mind and I think he’s going to come apart. He is old and has lost his resilience. He simply cannot cope with another loss.