The 'angry man' projection: How Trump's latest rant betrays his own insecurities
On Friday, after the rousing Democratic convention was over, Trump charged that Harris’s securing of the Democratic Party’s nomination posed a “threat to democracy.”
“It was a coup. We had a coup,” Trump said of Harris’s nomination, “the first coup of the history of our country, and it was very successful.”
This from a man who actually tried to orchestrate a coup — who continues to baselessly claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, who after the election threatened state election officials if they didn’t change their tallies, and on January 6, 2021, urged a crowd of armed followers to attack the U.S. Capitol to prevent the election results from being certified.
What’s Trump’s basis for his absurd claim that Harris orchestrated a coup? He argues that Harris has “no right” to run for president because she got “no [primary] votes to Biden’s 14 Million.”
READ: 'Compare and contrast': Ex-GOP insider has theory why Trump's attacks on Harris don't land
This is utter nonsense. The Democratic Party had the power to replace Biden with Harris. In choosing Biden, primary voters elected delegates to pick their nominee. Once Biden dropped out, those delegates could pick his replacement. They chose Harris.
Their overwhelming enthusiasm for Harris at last week’s convention should have laid to rest any doubts about whether the Democratic Party is behind her.
Why is Trump saying this was a coup? Some analysts think he’s laying the groundwork for claiming, if and when he loses the 2024 election, that the results are illegitimate.
That may be part of Trump’s motive, but there’s a far simpler explanation: Trump simply cannot believe that Biden — or anyone in Biden’s shoes — would put the nation above their own personal ambition.
Trump’s malignant narcissism cannot conceive of selfless patriotism. To Trump, no one would relinquish power simply because it is in the nation’s interest that they do so.
Therefore, the Democrats must have forced Biden out.
Trump insists it “was an overthrow of a president. This was an overthrow,” adding “they deposed a president.”
Trump is even claiming it was a “vicious, violent overthrow.”
In Trump’s addled brain, the transition from Biden to Harris had to be vicious and violent because Biden would never have peacefully relinquished power. Before the convention, Trump predicted that Biden, “whose Presidency was Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him,” would crash it and take back the nomination.
Several times during last week’s Democratic convention, Trump described Biden as an “angry man” who was “seething” at being replaced by Harris.
It is Trump who’s angry and seething, because he now faces an opponent who’s attracting bigger crowds than his and has more volunteers, more donations, better ratings, higher poll numbers, and better vibes.
It’s not just that Biden did what Trump would never do — bow out for the good of the nation. It’s that Trump cannot believe Biden bowed out for the good of the nation.
The man who claims to want to “put America first” has always put himself first, and thinks everyone else in public life puts themselves first, too. Or they’re violently overthrown.
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Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/