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They call him a narcissist because they can't stand calling him a Great Man of history, because he obviously is. They're going to call this decade the Trump Era of politics and the beginning of populism dominating the west for decades to come. He's not a boomer selling the house instead of giving it to his kids because he wants to go on cruises: he's a megalomaniac, like Napoleon. He is a man who believes he has a destiny to reshape the world in his image...
...and, based on how history has turned out, is he wrong to believe so? He was radicalized by the bullet shot through his ear. Nothing convinces you more of Providence then surviving death. God himself acts through him, as he did Pharoah: hardening his heart and accomplishing what is necessary for the proper course of history to reassert itself. In short, God is punishing you, and Donald Trump is his scourge. Reflect on your many sins you must have committed for such a sentence to be passed upon you, and repent.
I think this is serious wishful thinking. The most likely scenario, as I see it, is as follows:
airwavesinterwebs (you know, that silly series of tubes that the young'uns are watching instead of proper TV — surely it can't be harder to get someone removed than it was to get the networks to pay no attention to people like the Birchers, right?); that we haven’t done nearly enough Buckleyite expulsions (see the "edgy jokes in group chat" and “Heritage society Shabbat dinner" purges); and that the party’s only path to regain all those "natural conservative" voters "scared off" by all the "extremism" and "flirting with fascism" is to "tack to the center" with "traditional conservatism" (like forever wars in the Middle East, and shipping your jobs overseas), and become the Republican Party of Mitt Romney again. (You know, the party of virtuous losers, the Washington Generals of politics, whose job — to paraphrase a Republican campaign strategist (whose interview I've been unable to find again) — is to knowingly lie and make false promises to working-class rubes to get elected, then when in office deliver corporate welfare for the GOP donor class.) So they find a way to push out Vance, and run someone like Rubio, Haley, or maybe even Youngkin.(Then things get worse from there.)
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Being a Great Man doesn't make you immune from mistakes and failures, even stupid ones. Napoleon - the prototypical "great man" - fruitlessly invaded Egypt, Haiti, and Russia, losing whole armies each time. In 1813-1814 he failed to make peace with his neighbors and preserve his dynasty, searching instead for a fruitless battlefield triumph. His attempt to reinstate himself in the 100 days was doomed from the get-go. He died on St. Helena in exile a broken man.
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They call him a "Narcissist" because somehow they confused Megalomania with Narcissism, even though they aren't related. Narcissism isn't about how much you think your shit doesn't stink, it's about an inability (or, at least, a diminished capability) of relating to other people except as extentions of one's own ego. Which, to be blunt, is pretty much universal at this point.
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