Unlike many things said by Donald Trump, this makes perfect sense:
"I do whine because I want to win, and I'm not happy about not winning and I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win," he said Tuesday in explaining his negotiating style.
Like I said, that explains a lot. If it ever crossed your mind that Trump acts like a spoiled two-year-old brat who throws temper tantrums until he gets what he wants because no one has the guts to tell him no, you're right. That's exactly who he is. No one wants to endure the embarrassing public spectacle of confronting him; no one wants to be the one cleaning up the mess after the food fight. So they give him what he wants, the bad behavior is rewarded and the clown act gains momentum.
(Imagine the conservative reaction if, say, Barack Obama had made a similar statement.)
Just yesterday, we saw a perfect example of that dynamic at work.
After whining ceaselessly on CNN and elsewhere about how poorly he was being treated by Fox News, an unhappy Trump got the response that he wanted: A private phone call from Fox chief Roger Ailes, in which Ailes apparently begged to be returned to Trump's good graces and promised to give the Bumptious One the type of respectful treatment that Trump believes he deserves, but that he pointedly refuses to give to others.
Can you say "winning"? Now that Ailes has now made it clear that Fox needs Trump more than Trump needs Fox, will Fox personnel dare to ask Trump another hard or challenging question?
As if to seal the surrender, Trump was rewarded with a fawning hour-long interview with Sean Hannity, half of which aired last night. The tone was set with Hannity's introduction: "Donald Trump is starting to explain key policy positions," he said as the segment began, although of course Trump did nothing of the sort.
And the deeply personal insults directed at Megyn Kelly, probably the biggest political story of the week? Never mentioned, as if it never happened. It was airbrushed away as neatly as out-of-favor Soviet officials used to be airbrushed out of photos back during the Cold War.
Conservatives like talk a tough line on how they would deal with Vladimir Putin, the ayatollahs in Iran, illegal immigrants here at home and wimpy liberals in Congress, among others, yet based on available evidence, they can't bring themselves to confront a cartoon of a man who is tearing down their party from within and highlighting its most glaring shortcomings.
The bully has them cowering, and you can tell that he just loves it.
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