Eating Worms

"Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms."

Now that the real news folks have tired of DJTrump's interesting comment on his unpopularity, it's our turn to have a shot at it.

In case you missed it or don't remember, the statement came during a COVID-19 White House press briefing on July 28. As usual the "briefing" was a series of repeated tropes on ventilators, inept governors, testing, and the importance of blocking China.

At about 20 minutes into the briefing, responding to a question about his relationship with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Mooncalf-in-Chief gave a typically self-contradictory answer, then went into ruminative mode, considering the relative popularity of Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, and himself.

He came to this conclusion: "So it sort of is curious: A man works for us — with us, very closely, Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Birx also highly thought of. And yet, they’re highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That’s all."

Let's parse that a bit. The delivery is uncolored, in almost a conversational tone. In the first sentence he redefines Fauci's status three times, elevating it each time: "A man works for us--with us, very closely." It's as if he's hoping to avoid another question about Fauci by precisely defining where Fauci stands relative to the Omphalos, i.e. DJTrump himself.

There's also a slight hint of discovery in that first sentence, as if he's just figured out that Fauci works with him--or for him, whichever.

The mention of Birx appears to be an afterthought. You can almost see the gears in his head working, churning out the thought that there's someone else he should mention, then the "Oh, yeah" moment.

Moving to the second sentence, there's that surprising admission: "Nobody likes me." Contrary to some commenters and analysts, that line is not delivered in a self-pitying way, but is stated matter-of-factly, with no noticeable emotion.

What is surprising to Trump here is that someone close to him can be "highly thought of" while he is not. He has continuously held to the idea that as the center of all things, all glory, popularity, and fame adhere to him, and are radiated to those around him as splendor emanates from a godhead.

And yet the notion that he's a dark center while those around him are esteemed does not appear to be a revelation to the Grand Poohbah. Rather, it sounds like something he has thought about for a while and he's turning to the press as an interlocutor. Then he says simply, without inflection, "Nobody likes me."

He states it as a fact. He knows it. He's not bothered by it because the adulation of lesser beings isn't important to him. He knows that he alone is important to the world, and these other names he mentions are nothing.

"Nobody likes me" is the phrase most people locked onto, but I think the penultimate sentence is most telling: "It can only be my personality." Whoa! Let's recontextualize that: "[The reason nobody likes me] can only be my personality."

Do you get what that is? That's Trump taking responsibility for people not liking him. He's not pointing fingers, not transferring the fault to someone else. We've not seen this, have we? Anywhere? Granted, he does speak of his personality as if it's something separate from him, but there's no way he can be separated from it.

"That's all" at the end is a throwaway line to get back into taking questions.

I opened this post with a line from a children's song because it reflects the usual response to being disliked. Trump is nowhere near ready to eat worms, and I think his flat emotional response to being disliked is a good indicator of his abysmal level of emotional intelligence.

Still, knowing that he knows he is disliked is another tool in the struggle.


---Diogenes, 8/7/2020