Hang on, do I hate you? Let me check the notes.

Nothing to see here—just an obsessive, narcissistic president and his staff carefully keeping track of every instance in America in which somebody says something bad about him.

Aides for President Trump have compiled folders to keep track of attacks Republican lawmakers and others levy against the president, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

One would imagine that the reason they need to keep "folders" on people who have insulted Trump is that without those folders Trump would forget who said what, and he can't have that. The top secret presidential daily brief has been reduced to a morning puppet show in which empty cans of Diet Coke battle uneaten baby carrots, but by God the White House will keep an exhaustive list of people Donald Trump needs to seek vengeance upon.

But the reason for keeping careful lists of the times when a fellow politician has insulted Donald Trump may not be to keep opponents of Donald Trump in line. It may be being done by White House staff in an effort to keep Donald Trump himself in line.

Many of President Trump’s political aides made it a priority to ensure that [Sen. Bob Corker], who has accused the president of “debasing” the country with his “untruths” and “name-calling,” did not reenter the race. So they went straight to the one person with the ability to give Corker a new lease on his political life: Trump himself. They frequently reminded the president of Corker’s criticism, at times even providing specific examples. They kept folders documenting the attacks from Corker and other Trump detractors. They argued that if Trump backed Corker, all that ugliness would receive renewed national attention.

So this is an effort by Trump's aides to sabotage any would-be attempt by Corker or other lawmakers they see as enemies to get back on Trump's good side.

In the past, Trump had proven he was willing to forget past insults if the petitioner groveled enough, but the hard-liners in the White House are so opposed to Corker, who they see as an ideological opponent, that every time Corker attempts to make nice with Trump his aides "remind" Trump of "specific examples" of Corker insulting him, stirring up Trump's ire all over again.

They're not playing Corker. They're playing Trump himself.