Does trump* know, on some level, he's going to lose so he wants to leave a huge mess behind?

[Siwsan]

Something catastrophic for Joe Biden to clean up. I know Joe is up to the job. He will have competent, qualified, capable people in his administration. People with both empathy and a sense of duty. I do fear how long it will take.

Anyway, that's where my mind has wandered, today.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I don't think His Lardship allows himself to imagine losing.

Instead, he's just throwing stuff against the wall to see how it plays with his base.

[WVreaper]

2. When Republicans leave office

they always leave the economy in a wreck. Only this time it will be worse.

[RKP5637]

15. Yep, exactly, over and over again it's the same story when they leave. n/t

[crickets]

28. +1000000

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

30. And they blame Democrats for the mess the Repugs made,

and take credit for things the Dems did that fixed things.

For example, the stock market went up right after the 2016 election. Before he was even inaugurated Fat Donnie was claiming credit. "They're happy I won."

[struggle4progress]

3. Him and the whole Republican party that props him up

[ProfessorGAC]

4. On Top Of That...

...I do believe he really hates this job.
He's never actually worked a day in his life, and he thought the job was like campaigning.
It's probable he really doesn't care if he wins.
He wins, he's all that. He loses, oh well, there's always cheating at golf, with Secret Service protection for life.

[rampartc]

5. he does not believe he is capable of losing

and this mess, this chaos, this swamp is his natural habitat.

[Siwsan]

7. In my experience, the subconscious mind tends to be more honest. I know mine proved to be

Of course, I'm not a narcissistic sociopath, so................

[msongs]

6. everything he does leaves a huge mess behind, nothing new here nt

[Siwsan]

8. I just can't wrap my mind around how this is all being handled

So, if not him, maybe it's his enablers who are just sociopathic enough to be setting up the Democrats for what they think will be a massive failure that they can "rescue" the nation from, in another 4 years.

[renate]

9. I think he's just flinging all his poo at all the things because he's in a corner and he knows it

But you make a good point, IMO. Maybe subconsciously he just wants to watch the world burn and take us all down with him. But I think mainly he's flailing around for some magical way to make this all go away so he can get re-elected and avoid prison. This is the first time in his entire life he hasn't been able to bullshit his way out of a disaster of his own making and he has no idea what to do.

[stopbush]

10. Everything tRump has done since he was "elected" has been done to keep him out of jail.

That’s his greatest fear.

He never thought he would become POTUS. He thought he was selling his brand to help his celebrity status and business interests. Once elected, the chance that all his dirty laundry would be aired became a very real possibility. And in his case, that meant jail at some point.

[SoonerPride]

11. His NPD prevents him from admitting any faults whatsoever. He thinks he will bigly.

He will not accept the loss when it comes.

We will have to drag him out kicking and screaming.

He will not go quietly.

[Blue Owl]

12. Toddler's gonna shit the crib

And leave the mess for someone else to clean up, naturally...

[Mike 03]

13. I admit I've wondered this too. I've also wondered if it's

Trump's impeachment revenge that White House Aide Eric Ueland was so excited about he could barely contain himself. That warning came in late January, when the WH was fully aware this was coming and was dangerous.

They were more excited about "revenge" than they would have been if it only involved firing some state department officials, IMO.

[BlueTsunami2018]

14. He knew he was going to lose last time right up until he didn't.

He never wanted this job to begin with. He just wanted the publicity and to make money off of it. “Winning” was as bad for him as it is for the rest of us but now he likes it. And the money making ability of having all this power is beyond anything he could have dreamed. It’s the worst of all outcomes, he’s determined to keep the grift going no matter what.

[RKP5637]

16. I think he will only recognize this when his base leaves him, but then he'll

just call them stupid and say they were never worth the bother, that he has better things to do.

[Quemado]

17. It's more than just leaving a mess - it's about destroying things.

Think about what he's done over the past 3+ years: he's destroyed things.

Trump has stuffed his Cabinet with tyrants, zealots and imbeciles – all bent on demolishing our government from within. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-the-destroyer-127808/

Trump has a long history of being a destroyer. Go to minute 3:01 in this video:

&t=476s

[meadowlander]

18. The power players in the GOP are hedging their bets.

If Biden wins, they'll go back to blaming the national debt on him and obstruct any effort to ease the burden on people and bank on people not being able to remember what actually happened in four years. It worked during the GFC.

[Caliman73]

19. No. Trump reacts. He doesn't know and he doesn't plan that far ahead.

I think that people are judging Trump from the stand point of even the average person, and that is kind of a mistake. Trump, I believe, has an underlying goal, which is to keep himself from looking stupid, foolish, and weak. He wants to "win" but mostly he does not want to lose. His goalposts are constantly shifting. People around him are planning and plotting, but he himself, is not capable of doing so.

Trump thinks in terms of hours or maybe days, not weeks, months or years. He does not approach his position in terms of a politician but in terms of a publicist or a show producer. If he wins the cycle he wins. If he is able to escape serious harm, he wins. Trump does not anticipate losing, as others have said. His ego is so fragile that he cannot contemplate it. It isn't a sign of confidence it is a sign of fear. However, as I said, to Trump, escaping is victory so as long as he is okay, he doesn't care.

He will definitely try to get revenge on his "enemies". He holds grudges, like with President Obama, but even that is not really planned. He has a thought of revenge, but he doesn't plot carefully to hurt his opponents, he lashes out stupidly.

He will leave a mess, but not out of a purpose to leave a mess. It will be his stupidity and immaturity that causes the mess. He won't cooperate with his successor. He will be petty, but there is not self awareness that allows him to understand the reality of his situation and plot some kind of problem.

[Siwsan]

21. I've never thought of him as even close to resembling an 'average' person

I think he's a misanthropic, narcissistic sociopath. Which is why I can see him pulling a 'scorched earth' move, much as Hitler planned.

[Caliman73]

26. Hitler was smarter than Trump.

More complex psychology in Hitler. Trump is super easy to figure out. Hitler wanted to punish people for not seeing his vision and failing him. Trump mainly wants to escape unscathed. Revenge for Trump is more personal and not really planned.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. I think you are exactly right. Trump is a completely reactive creature

whose only goals are self-aggrandizement and avoiding humiliation ("losing" ), and he doesn't know how to pursue those goals except by reacting to whatever is happening right now. There is no strategy involved other than scheduling his next tv appearance in which he can lie about fake successes and blame others for failures. Everything is a game show to him, and he doesn't plan beyond the next episode. When an episode of the game show is over he checks the ratings and goes on to the next. He's basically a goldfish living in his little bowl, reacting only to what happens right now and with no awareness of the past or the future.

[Caliman73]

32. I agree 100%

I think that people are overthinking this. Instead of planning to beat him, we need to beat him the majority of the days until the election. Biden needs to be out there pounding away at his incompetence and just poking at Trump to cause melt downs in front of the audience to the "briefings".

[standingtall]

20. Trump knows he could lose and he will not leave peacefully

he will never concede not even after the Chief Justice swears in Joe Biden and if Trump doesn't go to jail it would not surprise me if he tries to run again in 2024 if he lives long enough.

[Siwsan]

22. I picture his reaction as being like Jack Nicholson 'meltdown' in 'The Witches of Eastwick'

Sputtering feathers, spinning out of control and devolving into a puddle of orange goo.

[totodeinhere]

23. I think he plans to win with the help of the Russians and other bad players.

Just you watch them try to use the pandemic as cover for stealing the election.

[Turbineguy]

24. Hitler went through that.

Germany was worse off for it.

[world wide wally]

25. I wish he would try to leave a mess behind him because he would fail at that too and

We'd all be better off

[liberalmuse]

27. They usually start looting everything by now.

And yes, he knows he will lose. Not even election shenanigans is enough to overcome the overwhelming number of people who are going to turn out to vote him out of office.

[Kablooie]

31. No. He only knows what Fox and his syncophants tell him.

When someone like dr Fauci tells him a truth that is not complimentary to him it is relegated to the fake news trash bin.

So no, he will never accept that he is losing.

[pnwest]

33. He's not that much of a planner-aheader...

that’s too much planning involved to think of ways to leave a mess, plus it doesn’t benefit him personally. I do think he’s aware he’s likely to lose, and these incitements to protest lockdown are about keeping those folks at the ready when he loses, so he can claim the election was rigged and illegitimate and they’ll come out to protest and wreak havoc. Maybe even on Election Day, to interrupt the process.

[Siwsan]

34. He is a vengeful bastard

I put nothing past him.

[EndlessWire]

35. That's what Hitler did.

Hiding in his bunker, he tried to get his aides to issue an order to destroy German infrastructure. They didn't.

But, I think Trump thrives on chaos, and other people's pain. He likes to see other people suffer. He's a sadist.

[LakeArenal]

36. I think Dump knows shit and couldn't care less

I do think Moscow Bitch knows Dump will lose and they are raiding the treasury for as much as they can before Nov.