'He knows deep down that he's full of it': Columnist warns Trump that acting like a '7-year-old' won't work with a judge
Donald Trump has mostly escaped consequences from a lifetime’s worth of falsehoods, but the former president could soon face a reckoning, a columnist writes.
Bloomberg senior executive opinion editor Timothy L. O’Brien writes that the three criminal indictments facing Trump will make it hard for the former president to turn to his familiar playbook.
O’Brien writes of Trump that, “His longstanding default response when presented with evidence that contradicts his wishes or self-esteem has been to lie. Sometimes he accomplishes this through deflection. Sometimes he creates his own reality distortion field. Like most serial fabulists or 7-year-olds, he knows deep down that he’s full of it — but he wants what he wants, and he won’t take no for an answer.”
But far from disqualifying Trump from holding office, these qualities have been embraced by his supporters, who O’Brien writes “have accepted all of that — and often revel in it— because he traffics deftly in their resentments and aspirations. His most devoted voters see him as an authentic and dedicated advocate. His most forgiving allies, particularly Republicans who know better, see him as a useful idiot.”
O’Brien writes that “It’s impossible to know with absolute certainty what goes on in someone else’s head, as it is to know with absolute certainty about many things in life. But in a courtroom, the best a prosecutor can do is to convince a jury that a meaningful measure of certitude exists by assembling a preponderance of evidence.”