Wondering why Donald Trump is attacking his Republicans? It’s in his nature.

“It’s in my nature”. That’s what the scorpion said after fatally stinging the frog who had carried him safely across the river.

In September 2019 a friend asked me who I thought would be president in January 2021.

I thought about this à la the frog and scorpion fable. The question wasn’t who would win the election. Here is my response and answer to my title question.

Predictions as of November 7, 2019
President as of January 1, 2021 (or really anytime up to 01/20/21)
Nancy Pelosi
The dominoes are lining up; Trump losing support, people losing interest in him and gaining interest in other politicians, people seeing he supports no one…. impeachment is viable; or resigning for “family or health reasons” to avoid the embarrassment of impeachment [12/27/2020 note: and now he has any number of reasons to save face and gain support money].
Trump has already implicated Pence in the Ukraine issue. He won’t protect his vice president any more than anyone else he threw under a bus.
…[whatever happens to] Trump … [will happen to] Pence …, and he’ll have Trump to blame; along with himself for sucking up to a flimflam man.
I think any of this, not because of “politics”, but basic human nature.

(And in September 2019) At some point Mitch McConnell will throw Trump under the bus [12/27/2020 note: don’t know when, just see him as even more of a scorpion than Trump]. A week or so after this prediction the headline (in the Wash Post?) was something like “McConnell says he doubts he can stop a Senate Impeachment Trial” … he had everything that he wanted and has no reason to protect or support Trump anymore. But, Moscow Mitch had never before stood between Trump and Consequences (that I can recall). [12/27/2020 note: I still don’t think he has any reason that he has to support Trump, Moscow Mitch just wants more stuff — all he can get — like a big fat dragon on a pile of gold].

Will my predictions prove right? It doesn’t matter. What matters is to keep paying attention. On to my title question…

It’s just about what’s in Trump’s nature. He can’t stop himself from hurting people who hurt his feelings, even if they have always supported him otherwise. And he can’t stop himself from acquiring more stuff.

Trump can’t take criticism, and that is his weakness. Eventually, even the most diligent demand-er of fealty and non disclosure agreements, crosses the wrong people. This year those people were the American Electorate. The republicans did not adequately back up a fight against a valid election outcome.

Now all of the Republican Froggies are now getting stung by the Scorpion King. We ask why is Trump attacking Republicans? This is not hard to answer. It’s in his nature. All the Republican Froggies carried Trump safely across the river of Political Improbability and now he will sting them. He would have done it anyway, the election is just a great optical excuse. Trump will blame them for costing him the Presidency. The Republican Froggies did not fight enough for his desire to illegally retain a public office, so they had to die politically by the Scorpion King’s Hand of Popularity. He must have his supporters see him do these things.

He is now in possession of millions of viewers that he call pull away from the Republican Party. Trump’s shiny new asset is millions of supporters who will give him money for any request he makes and will vote for him for any office he seeks. He has already started a TV station, he only needs to pick a name for his new church and political party (it will probably be Trump). He has given his audience something to watch and they want to continue watching a show.

Nothing in America matters to Trump, not the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, not America, not Americans. The only things that matter to Trump is Trump, to see all the millions of people who like to watch him, and to hear them say how great he is.

We, the citizens of the USA and the world, are in a Clockwork Orange-like forcible watching of truly hideous actions calculated to condition us into “likely” behaviors and reactions. Each of the manipulators are trying to claim and condition a base of supporters. Each manipulator looking for the piece of human nature that can be bought for a price.

My hope is that the majority of us will pay a small price of inconvenience in exchange for better quality of life and country, rather than tolerate more repulsive actions from those in power if they can get “paid”, betting that this scorpion won’t sting.

All of this is in our nature. We are only asked to choose the best aspect of that nature.

Thank you for reading my story

In my day job, I restore family photographs. Each family story shows the importance of learning history and sharing stories. On Medium, I write about our human nature, my experiences, and episodes in our collective story. Part of my story is that I am a founding board member of Kitsune, Inc., 501c3 non-profit. We work on creative solutions for independent living for adults with developmental disabilities, but without an intellectual disability — our fellow citizens who fall through the cracks in our social safety net.
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