But it looks like he’s not always wrong.

is a sad specimen.

At his peak, he wasn't prone to introspective thinking, of judging his own behaviour as others may see him, and moderating his behaviour to be more acceptable.
He got into a bully boy mind set early on, and must be right at all times.

But he is a classic Old Man, filled with questions about why his life wasn't more meaningful, why people do not admire him for his self perceived successes, intelligence, insights, etc.

The White House and politics are the wrong place for him. He's be more comfortable in a gated retirement village for the Terminally Confused, where he could discuss life's ups and downs with like minded Old Men, and contemplate what could, and should, have been.

And watch Fox news all day, and eat fast food as well.

A 'gated retirement village' would be much too small a venue for such a boorish loudmouth.

Interesting to say that his outrageous boasts are more to reassure himself. That makes sense, given his odd mix of dimwittedness, ignorance and extreme narcissism.

Of course, I have not the slightest iota of sympathy for his sad life. I doubt George Will does either; it was likely a catchy way to start his editorial.

you find yourself agreeing with George Will. Quite a smack-down of Trump and his cult followers, though. I'll give him that.

Unfortunately he’s able to make an entire country miserable.

His misery realm is transcontinental.

We need to go straight to 25...

We did not call sad, we called him evil.
He has destroyed may lives by his actions through the years.
He has bankrupted people by not paying them for the services they provided. Look at what he is doing to Federal workers. And families at the border.
What about the women he groped or sexually assaulted?

Donald Trump is not a sad figure, he is despicable. He is a sociopath. He wouldn't waste a second thinking about a tragedy that affected your life or mine. He has no empathy. He cares about one person, and that person is himself.

I am sad that a human who had such wealth and connections used them, not for the benefit of others, but for himself and self glorification. I am sad that his children had to have a father like him.
But feel sorry for Donald Trump?
No. No I do not.

In the shape of a huge headstone with Trump's name and years of birth and death on it. All America, as well as the rest of the world, especially Mexico and the rest of Central America, should be invited to come see it and pee on it.

You say, that the monument is to be built in ..."desolate heartland"...Yes, when the monument is built, and at the time of building, that place will be "desolate"

...But after its opening, and millions upon millions of loyal citizens will come to "see it and pee on it."

After a while, the place will not longer be..."desolate" you will have motels, and rest stops, and McDonald's and every other kind of fast food place. Then, of course a new Wal Mart will open up along with souvenir shops and
other businesses. How long will this take?..Unknown, except this could become one of the greatest tourist stops in the entire world. An airport will have to be built to accommodate the number of visitors. Hundreds of toilets will be erected for private peeing, as well as some public peeing. Of course, public peeing will also cause a problem because the Association Against Public Peeing will protest strongly...(AAPP for short) oops...another abbreviation.....again?????????????????????
........................................................................oh well....back to the ....

The more the merrier. And if the supporting structure of the huge tombstone is made of good American steel (imported, of course, from North Korea by way of Canada) it may last forever -- or at least until the coastal waters rise to reach it.

(I love the idea of a heavily trafficked tourist town, gas stations, cheap motels, fast-food dispensers, bars and strip clubs, lights, lots of lights, giving the place a real sleazy honk tonk appeal; and trucks coming and going, buses, airplanes and choppers bringing in full bladdered people from every point of the Earth. )

(I'm starting to enjoy just thinking about it -- maybe a tad too much!)

or his supporters for that matter. They feel pain, I know, but they were clearly fine when the pain was felt by migrant children, or literally every other group hurt by this scumbag over the last 3 years! I feel NO sadness for HIM!!!

Who seldom cusses called Trump!” AN EVIL SOB!” And used the 3 wotds.

He simply DOES NOT CARE

he wants people to think he is wealthy, powerful, successful etc.

feeds his narcissism.

A narcissist who seeks public status may not care what others **think** but he cares very much that others know has more wealth and prestige. Being president of the USA is about as prestigious as one can get.

Although he cares not a whit for the people who attend his rallies, he very much needs their adulation. Rank and position are what fill the bottomless pit of his voracious ego.

Aside from poverty and prison, the worst thing that could happen to Donald Trump is to be completely ignored.

Tungsten strength stupidity is tempered by racism.

trumps LOVING this, he gets off on it, he's a racist sadist with the entire govt at his disposal. Every kid separated from a parent gives him a little juice, and there's always some new way to stick it to his perceived enemies. Will is a fool.

But since he's mentally ill, that changes it. He is unstable and evil. And any sad/depressed feelings are manifest in him as anger and rage.

I absolutely agree that he is not a happy person. He's miserable, in a prison of his own making.

He's not playing golf so he's not loving it. He's not getting his way so he's not loving it. And now the Dems have decided to try to ignore him as much as possible; that he definitely is not loving. Plus a woman is getting the best of him, which must be demoralizing.

and has to put on an act of caring to satisfy his shit base.

He is like the pathetic baby-monster-thing lying at King's Cross in Harry Potter's death dream - the pathetic, moaning remains of Voldemort's soul. Which nevertheless is creating havoc out there in the real world, as the Death Eaters fly around sowing destruction.

Trump is loving this. He gets up every day and knows the focus of the media, the furloughed government employees, even the poor immigrant climbing a wall is looking at him. He totally gets off on it. He always has. Will misjudges the mental problems with Trump, as many do. He thinks Trump has some idea of the wrong he is doing. Nope. If Trump had any clue, he would have upped his brand in the campaign and when it looked like he might win he would have dropped out. His company needs him or some BS. Then his crimes remain hidden, he becomes even richer, and he calls into "Fox and Friends" telling them how great a President he would have been. But no. He pushed it to the limit and actually became President. So now, he has "grown into the job" - he's completely incompetent but loves the attention and the rallies. This American nightmare shows no sign of ending. We might have to ride it out until 2020.

There are even much more skillful sociopaths than he is! There are plenty capable of that level of planning.

He is amazing tho - he pulled it off and fooled 60M+ people. He does have some special magic of some sort.
One thing that has helped him in life & is helping him still: there are a lot of other sociopaths around who
find it useful to support him and live off his exhaust. Other damaged people become enablers of
this kind of person, & they look for those enablers. If he had been Joe Schmoe inheriting a gas station
somewhere, he would be nowhere now, but he inherited 100's of millions and lots of people made (or thought
they could make) their own way on that.

Feeling sorry for him - this is not going to help. We have to be clinical about this, & concentrate our efforts
on getting him out of our system. We don't want to enable him more, even at a distance.

(both physical and emotional) that's needed for humanitarian needs, for social and economic justice and for just plain hard work.

They are artists at appealing to, and amplifying our emotions - including those of us on the left. They have no appointed right to do that, but abuse their station and our media to rob us blind in many ways. I feel the depression and anger every day that's created by Trump, most every Republican, and many others in the privileged class.

And, I'm a bit late but welcome to DU!.......

After reading George Will's column, it occurred to me that just as Trump has fed his base deceptions to keep them in line so has Putin fed Trump while Trump "remains oblivious to his likely contempt for (him) as (a) sheep who can be effortlessly gulled by preposterous fictions"

Please don't trash or castigate me for feeling sorry for Trump. I am well aware that he is stupid, evil, and harmful in a myriad ways. He is not a happy man. As a Buddhist, I am supposed to feel compassion for all sentient beings. Even bugs. Even Trump. Alas Trump lives in a Hell of his own making. Without a shred of kindness and empathy for others. A man, who betrayed his country for a buck. A man, who has inflicted harm and suffering on millions of people, including little children.

A man, whose mind is filled with dark delusions of self-cherishing, untamed negative emotions, thoughtless impulsive drives, and god knows what other dark thoughts. As a Buddhist, I'm certain that his karma will bear fruit, and justice will eventually knock on his door. I do not hate him. I don't hate anyone. Hatred is poison, as Trump proves everyday.

We can't know whether he is happy or sad.

Ultimately, all these feelings of empathy have their roots in projection of our own feelings
and interpretations of situations onto someone else. In the case of a person with his
level of narcissism ... well let's just say that this projection isn't going to result
in a prediction about his future behavior that is going to pan out.

I feel sorry for him, but I also have so much contempt for him. And I focus more on the contempt than on the sympathy. I need to do better and I hope your post will remind me to keep trying.

Go ahead and feel sorry for trump, George Will. You're wealthy enough to do so. We mere mortals will reserve our pity and resources for the victims of trump's savage regime.

Gotta cut this short. I need to call an out-of-work IRS worker, an old school friend who isn't doing very well at all.

............... .........

it will only slightly lessen when his sorry criminal ass goes to prison.

and adds to the miserableness.

I now truly believe peepee tapes are real.

But this is very well written.

Perhaps George Will means impulsively acting on things, one at a time. But maybe that's a reactional life.

He is a person for whom the only human interaction is that of a transaction where there is payment and reward only. Affection, emotional health from nurturing interactions that have nothing to do with payment for the interaction was not part of his upbringing.