Understatement o' the Week:
"I don't think you like Donald Trump too much."
That was Symone Sanders-Townsend, co-host of MSNBC's The Weekend, speaking today to George Conway, co-founder of the disgraced Lincoln Project.
It came in response to the condemnation cascade that Conway had just unleashed on Trump. Even by Trump-hating liberal-media standards, this was an unusually vituperative performance.
The heart of Conway's argument was that Trump has no strategy. That as a "narcissistic sociopath," Trump acts purely out of impulse. But er, somehow he's dominating the GOP primaries and leading Biden in many polls. Other candidates who presumably aren't horrendous morons are losing to him. That surely inspires all of this frustration.
The list of epithets that Conway hurled at Trump includes these lowlights [all quotes]:
- He's a psychopath, he's a sociopath.
- He has no real intellect. His intellect is reptilian.
- He's a five-year-old, except more intellectually-challenged than most five-year-olds [laughs].
- He's emotionally stunted at five years old.
- Psychologically, he's so damaged he cannot help himself.
- A man with no empathy, a man with no conscience.
- His deeply damaged mind.
- Trump's authoritarianism, his racism, his misogyny.
- He's a narcissistic sociopath.
- He's a moron. He can't even spell. This man couldn't find Israel on a marked map.
Sanders asked Conway asked Conway to explain what people are now getting on the "Trump train." Among the explanations Conway offered was "grift."
Grift? You mean, like the tens of millions of dollars of donations to the Lincoln Project that were directed [according to this New York Times investigative report] to outside consulting firms owned by . . . co-founders of the Lincoln Project?
In fairness, there is no indication that Conway benefitted personally from any such transfers -- although his work at the Project certainly raised his profile greatly, securing countless media appearances, as the one today. He's clearly on the "MSNBC Train."
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
The Weekend
1/19/24
8:06 am ETGEORGE CONWAY: There is no strategy! Okay, everybody talks about him having a strategy. It's like that quote I remember once in Politico from a few years ago, where they said, he's not -- it was a blind quote from an administration official -- he's not playing [inaudible] conventional chess. He's just eating the pieces. And that's what he's doing in the courtroom in the Carroll case. That's what he's doing there. There is no strategy.
He's, he's a psychopath, he's a sociopath. And if you look at the diagnostic criteria for a sociopath, they're purely impulsive. He acts instinctively. He has no real intellect. His intellect is reptilian, in a sense.
He's got a limited number of riffs. There's bullying. There's lying, and, and, and, that's basically what it comes down to.
. . .
You know, he's like a, he's like a -- he's a five-year-old, okay? Except, except, more intellectually challenged than most five-year-olds [laughs]. He's emotionally stunted at five years old. And he throws tantrums. And this is a big tantrum. This is, this is him just showing frustration: yeah, throw me out: nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. All right? The judge says, you can't really help yourself. And he can't! He can't. Psychologically, he's so damaged he cannot help himself.
. . .I think everybody overthinks this guy. There is no strategy. There is no thought. And the brand is just him. He, he, he lives in this world where there's just him, okay?
MICHAEL STEELE: But it's not just him, George. It's a hell of a lot of people out there who have gotten sucked up into this thing, and are perpetuating that brand.
CONWAY: I understand. I agree with that. I'm talking about, in his mind.
STEELE: Okay.
CONWAY: None of us matter. Those people don't matter. They're not real people. He doesn't care what happens to them. If they, if they show him adulation, and they do what he's bidding, that's good! If they don't do his bidding, they can, they can -- he will destroy them, or he will discard them.
None of it, in his mind, as a man with no empathy, a man with no conscience, it's just him. And that's -- it's not: I am promoting a brand. This is me. In his mind, in his deeply damaged mind, he is, has created this world where, I don't have to follow the rules. I shouldn't have to follow rules. If someone tries to make me follow the rules, they're evil and bad and nasty and should be destroyed, and it's a witch hunt. And I'm a victim.
. . .
To understand Trump's authoritarianism, his racism, his misogyny, and everything else about him, you have to understand his basic psychology. Which is, he's a narcissistic sociopath.
. . .
It's not about any legal principle. It's not about a brand. It's all about: me, me, me, me, me, I, I, I, I, I. And none of you, none of the rest of you matter.
SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: I was just wondering. What does it mean for all of these people that are now saying, uh, gotta get back on the Trump train? It's like, it's what you --
CONWAY: It's crazy, because this man intimidates. Look, it's all a combination of grift, cowardice, and, and it's it's -- and ambition, in the case of Tim Scott, okay? That's what this is all about for the, for the people, you know -- I'm leaving apart the masses. But these people -- those are the three things. And, and what's amazing to me, though -- all of it's amazing. The corruption, the grift, you know, I don't know what you can do about that. The cowardice, is just an amazing thing, because he's not scary at all. He's a moron. He can't even spell. He doesn't know -- I mean, this man couldn't find Israel on a marked map.
SANDERS-TOWNSEND: I don't think you like Donald Trump too much [laughter.]
