Sarah Burris is a long-time veteran of political campaigns, having worked as a fundraiser and media director across the United States. She transitioned into reporting while working for Rock the Vote, Future Majority and Wiretap Magazine, covering the Millennial Generation's perspective during the presidential elections. As a political writer, Burris has had bylines at CNN, Salon.com, BNR, and AlterNet and serves as a senior digital editor for RawStory.com.
Psychotherapist and lawyer Nick Carmody analyzed Donald Trump's Thursday speech and press availability, highlighting the ex-president's "childish, narcissistic, obsessive need to be liked more than someone else ([President Joe] Biden)."
Taking to X on Friday, Dr. Carmody explained that what continues to manifest in Trump's attempt at policy speeches is that he is building himself up in the reality he is trying to create.
He pointed to one spot in Trump's comments where he bragged that the head of the Taliban "called me 'your excellency.'" Trump pondered, "I wonder if he calls that to Biden. I doubt it."
In Trump's Wednesday speech, Carmody pointed out that Trump's obsession with Biden is almost like a "bad relationship" that he can't let go of, even if Biden is no longer his opponent.
"Trump literally thinks like a child," he wrote. "He sounds like a 3-year-old telling a shopping mall Santa Claus what a good boy he has been.....and which neighbor kid has been mean to him," said Carmody with an excerpt of Trump's speech talking about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.
When speaking to the Muckrake Political Podcast, Carmody pointed to an episode of Don Lemon's streaming show where it became clear "everybody's exhausted, everybody's frustrated. Everyone wants to kind of observe the political situation or MAGA, or Republicans or even Trump through any nuance or even evolution."
Initially, the support for Trump came from what he said tort law describes as "intentional infliction of emotional distress," which he said is akin to "owning the libs." There are people who once bought gossip rags and the National Enquirer who now see politics as a form of entertainment with Trump being the consummate entertainer, he said.
Now, he added, those same Enquirer readers can access the "constant trolling" through things like "The Five" on Fox or listening to so-called "shock jocks" on AM radio shows.
What he saw during the RNC, he recalled, is some who were trying to bring people into the Trump campaign using tactics other than the "immature, petty, conflict and triggering." So, there were Gold Star moms and mothers who lost their children to fentanyl.
People like Hulk Hogan and Dana White are critical to upholding that image of masculinity, he said, because Trump has become the antithesis of that with his complaints and victimhood. Those Trump allies have pulled in voters who otherwise weren't paying attention, according to the analysis.