They laughed at him. They taunted him. They snubbed him and sneered at him. And then, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, he won.
Taking the stage at the New York Hilton ballroom just before 3:00 a.m., President-Elect Donald Trump squinted reverently out on a sea of suit coats and red caps, the very model of grace in victory. “For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people,” he said, “I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help, so that we can work together and unify our great country.”
But the brief moment of magnanimity belied the more personal — and visceral — triumph Trump was celebrating that night: the ultimate humiliation of his haters.
Indeed, from the madcap launch of his improbable presidential bid to the mad-dash sprint in his final days, Trump’s campaign was a vehicle powered by personal grievance — a score-settling crusade against the politicos who’d shunned him, the business rivals who’d dismissed him, and the media elite who’d mocked him. A Queens-born billionaire who had long burned with resentment for the Manhattanites who treated him like a nouveau-riche rube, Trump was able to marshall millions this year in his scorched-earth revenge march toward the White House. When it was over, the totality of his payback was undeniable: his doubters were disgraced, his loyalists were vindicated, and Trump himself had won access to the the most exclusive club in American history.
But what if all that isn’t enough?
“The interesting psychodrama that I think rattles around inside Donald’s head is that he ultimately despises the establishment, yet desperately wants to be courted and approved by it,” said Trump biographer Timothy O’Brien. And no singular moment of validation — not even winning the presidency — will sate his bottomless need for retribution against critics and enemies.
“He’s just that insecure,” said O’Brien. “And that’s never going to change.”
From the very beginning of Trump’s campaign, the stated strategy was to win over aggrieved voters by railing against the key institutions of American life. In a series of early internal memos obtained by BuzzFeed News, the rationale for Trump’s candidacy was laid out in blunt terms: “The voters are in an angry mood and they completely distrust politicians, congress, the media, and other institutions.” Trump was viewed as “incorruptible because of his personal wealth,” and therefore the only candidate willing to “take on the entire system.”
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Taking the stage at the New York Hilton ballroom just before 3:00 a.m., President-Elect Donald Trump squinted reverently out on a sea of suit coats and red caps, the very model of grace in victory. “For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people,” he said, “I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help, so that we can work together and unify our great country.”
But the brief moment of magnanimity belied the more personal — and visceral — triumph Trump was celebrating that night: the ultimate humiliation of his haters.
Indeed, from the madcap launch of his improbable presidential bid to the mad-dash sprint in his final days, Trump’s campaign was a vehicle powered by personal grievance — a score-settling crusade against the politicos who’d shunned him, the business rivals who’d dismissed him, and the media elite who’d mocked him. A Queens-born billionaire who had long burned with resentment for the Manhattanites who treated him like a nouveau-riche rube, Trump was able to marshall millions this year in his scorched-earth revenge march toward the White House. When it was over, the totality of his payback was undeniable: his doubters were disgraced, his loyalists were vindicated, and Trump himself had won access to the the most exclusive club in American history.
But what if all that isn’t enough?
“The interesting psychodrama that I think rattles around inside Donald’s head is that he ultimately despises the establishment, yet desperately wants to be courted and approved by it,” said Trump biographer Timothy O’Brien. And no singular moment of validation — not even winning the presidency — will sate his bottomless need for retribution against critics and enemies.
“He’s just that insecure,” said O’Brien. “And that’s never going to change.”
From the very beginning of Trump’s campaign, the stated strategy was to win over aggrieved voters by railing against the key institutions of American life. In a series of early internal memos obtained by BuzzFeed News, the rationale for Trump’s candidacy was laid out in blunt terms: “The voters are in an angry mood and they completely distrust politicians, congress, the media, and other institutions.” Trump was viewed as “incorruptible because of his personal wealth,” and therefore the only candidate willing to “take on the entire system.”
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