At the end of Nine Consistent Things About Donald Trump, I promised more on the traits that I identified in the post. You may remember that the first two are:
1. There is nothing more important than being successful and admired.2. Morality in general, and honesty in particular, are instruments (among others) used to achieve success and admiration; neither carries an imperative.
Needless to say, there is an abundance of proof of the President's obsession with success and admiration. Indeed, my second post to this blog (To be-or not to be-surprised by Trump: Part II--On the Couch) discussed exactly that. Of course, the Donald keeps replenishing the supply, too.
To understand Mr.Trump's use of morality and honesty to amass more success and admiration, consider how he responds each time he's confronted about his crass commentary. Three episodes, occurring early in the primary season, will amply prove the point.
Take a look at how he defended his remarks about Carley Fiorina's face, Megyn Kelly bleeding, and Mitt Romney being on his knees. His reference to Fiorina's face was metaphoric, he said. And he was referring, he claimed, only to those orifices that are north of Kelly's neck. While Romney being on his knees was, Trump said, an allusion to begging.
Each of these explanations is just
plausible enough that the Donald can significantly minimize blow-back by denying that he meant what he clearly implied, and enjoy the political results of having said something outrageous at the same time.
In other words, he uses the truth for political gain, which he defines as success and admiration. He does not tell the truth for its own sake.
