That may be sliding into dementia has a circuitry which does not follow trains of thought that make sense to you and me.
Subconciously he may feel fear, but that gets translated into anger and the fabrications he constantly spins, creating an alternate world in which he is a genius universally admired except by stupid bad people.
He has never paid any real consequences. He didn't go to prison for his 34 felony convictions. Instead, he turned his mug shot into a proud banner of defiance which rallied his voters. He doesn't get embarrassed or humiliated. He feels no shame or guilt. Empathy is entirely foreign to his nature. Winning is everything. He can never admit defeat, that he is wrong, or doesn't know more than the so-called experts.
He seems disconnected from reality. And yet, in the real world he has attained the most powerful elected office on the planet. Of course, he did not get there by himself -- but he came from outside the Republican establishment. Lindsey Graham called him a kook, and declared he would destroy the Republican Party if nominated.
Donald Trump has severe mental pathologies, but he is the most accomplished con man in American history with the instict and skill to know and manipulate his marks by tapping into and exciting their worst instincts and fears. He fills the void of their ignorance with what they want to hear, liberating the bigotry and hatred which had been inhibited from public expression -- and they love him for it.
His pathological lying has been taken to such an extreme that it is impossible to know what he actually believes. I don't think "belief" or truth or facts really enter into his thinking, such as it is. Despite his claims of great popularity, I think he knows the midterms are a threat to his power. Does he "believe" the "dumocrats" can only win by cheating, and that they stole the 2020 presidential election?
If he has any actual belief, it is in his own superiority.
Sooner or later, reality will catch up to him. I want him to suffer real world accountability and consequences. If death comes first, let it be soon.
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