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[–] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 children)

I won't deny Obama is the one who inspired him to become president -- that correspondents dinner was absolutely the catalyst -- but Donald Trump never ran and lost against Obama. You think the temper tantrums he throws over Biden or Obama now are bad, I cannot fathom the temper tantrum he would've had if he lost to a black man (let alone the one we would've, could've, should've gotten to see if he lost to a black woman).

But the one thing Trump hates more than anything, more than every racist, sexist, -phobic prejudice he has, is losing to people. He views every interaction as a competition (look at the way he shakes hands, he has always done that), and the more public, the more humiliating the loss, the worse of a tantrum he throws over it. Look how hard he pissed and moaned all throughout Biden's term. Look how hard he's fought to not pay E. Jean Carroll (it's not about the money, he can afford it; and it's not about the reputation of being a rapist, he knows his reputation is garbage outside of his base). Think of how much time he spends playing golf and ""winning"" tournaments at his own golf courses. Losing, at anything, is the one thing that really, truly gets under his skin. And to Biden he lost the most public kind of competition a man can lose.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago*

    you know something, you beautiful bastard, you just finally gave me a reason to be happy I'm tall: Donald Trump would despise me for my height.

    Thank you, I hadn't seen that, that's a delightful realization for my weekend.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    He had run several times before. The big difference was Putin's help.

    The correspondents' dinner may have played a part, sure.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_presidential_campaign

    It says he'd mused about it a few times before, but prior to 2016 he'd only ever tried in 2000, under the Reform party, which meant it was about as much of a nothing burger as Ross Perot. Effectively a political publicity stunt.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    2016 was also a publicity stunt. He didn't expect to win.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago*

    I don't think anybody did, least of all him, but he certainly didn't have very strong opposition. I don't remember meeting anyone that was genuinely excited to vote for Hillary at the time, just this sense of "well, duh". In his mind, he probably can't lose a competition he never planned to win, and this is partly why he doesn't pay much lip service to Clinton anymore (from what I'm aware, anyways, I try to avoid listening to his drivel at length), hell he probably gets a warm, fuzzy feeling when he thinks of 2016; and even Obama who he talked a lot of shit about and still sometimes does, he gets less blame these days I've noticed; but that senile, egotistical old fuck will never forget the man that beat him in the most public, high-stakes big-money popularity contest in America.

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