You might think it kinda of strange that Mike Pence made “Trump took command of the stage" the single thing to say about Trump’s performance on Good Morning America.
I don’t.
I think Josh Marshall has Trump correctly summed up as a person with a pathological need to dominate every transaction he’s part of, and just tangentially in business or politics to scratch that itch.
It’s not good business to screw contractors, it’s domination. It’s not good politics to attack gold star mothers, it’s domination. It’s not financially rewarding to be part of a boiler room misnamed a university, it’s the joy of winning a scam over mom and pop.
And [a goodly portion of] his followers want a strongman because they think it rubs off on them, or at least will hurt and insult the Americans they hate, and want him to dominate.
In my opinion, the pundits who think that Trump did okay as far as his supporters go miss that his supporters can’t stand a situation where he isn’t “the winner” and making Hillary feel bad. For her to come out of this happy is a blow to Trump, period.
THAT is why Pence comes out on an angle that’s completely different from all the nice pundits. He’s talking directly to the roid rage, white supremacist, deplorable supporters who were looking for this debate to take All Of You People down a peg and make you cry. By lying to them, but those supporters know that lying isn’t inconsistent with domination.
So it’s not surprising that after failing to dominate in the debate, Trump lashes out in his impotent rage, trying to rack up a win, trying to rack up a domination. Bring back Marco? Almost. Josh Marshall:
Wounded and angry, this morning on Fox Trump went after that Miss Universe pageant winner who Hillary brought up in the debate. Trump said she was "the worst" and "gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem."
Yep, wounded and angry and looking for someone to kick to make himself feel bigly.
So of course, Trump goes on that fun and light Fox morning show to attack a target that can’t hit back in the way that he knows will hurt her.
Because that’s all he is.