From John McCain to John Lewis, the Arc of Donald Trump’s Ego is Long and it Bends Toward Vengeance

Amongst the never-ending, chaotic barrage of personal attacks Trump has lobbed at various public figures on a near-daily basis since announcing his candidacy, the only common denominator through which one can seek to understand The President-elect’s vengeful tendencies is his compulsive need to nurture a massive, extremely fragile ego.

From the day that Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President, we should have known that we were dealing with a whole new beast. Trump had made his name in politics over the past eight years by appealing to the conspiratorial fringes of the right with his birther theory, so it was hardly a surprise when he announced his candidacy by invoking the notions that “when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best” and that “we have a disaster called the big lie: Obamacare.”

Trump seemed to have crossed a new line in the summer of 2015 when he suggested that Senator John McCain is not a war hero because he was captured (a reference to the six years McCain spent as a POW after being shot down over Hanoi), saying “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Republicans reeled as the brash, orange billionaire lashed out at their former nominee, numerous opponents suggesting that Trump was unfit to be President and he owed McCain an apology. Well, he never did apologize and will be sworn in as President in less than two days.

Shocking as his attack on McCain may have been, the most relevant detail here is almost lost. The reason that Trump lashed out in the first place is because McCain had spoken out against his harsh rhetoric, arguing that he was stirring up “crazies” in the party. In what has since proven to be an infallible pattern, Trump was unable to resist not just responding to McCain, but attacking him in the most hostile and personal manner possible. Exhibiting an almost childlike pattern of behavior, Trump lashes out with remarkable predictability at anyone and everyone who criticizes him and manages to get his attention. Some of his most notable targets have included the gold-star Kahn family following the Democratic convention, Rosie O’Donnell who seemed to have really gotten under his skin, and most recently Georgia Congressman John Lewis.

Congressman Lewis appeared on CNN last week and announced that he would be boycotting Trump’s inauguration, arguing that in light of the Russian influence campaign on our election he viewed Trump as an illegitimate President. The President-elect was quick to respond, tweeting “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk — no action or results. Sad.” Much like his attack on McCain, the tweet is overly harsh and primarily inaccurate — Lewis in fact represents a quite economically diverse district, and is famous for having been beaten by police protesting segregation in 1965, as well as having marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr.

Again, Trump’s ego and his inability to take any sort of criticism — particularly criticism regarding the election he narrowly won while losing the popular vote, inevitably wins out over any sort of better angels or saner voices that may exist in his head or inner-circle. In the week leading up to his inauguration, it should hardly be a surprise that one of the biggest stories is another one of Trump’s many feuds. Will this need to always clap-back, to always have the last word catch up to Trump? Is it sustainable while in office?

Some might argue that this particular episode has already cost him, as the number of Democratic Representatives now planning to boycott the inauguration has risen to over sixty since Trump attacked the civil-rights icon. That hasn’t happened since Nixon’s second inauguration, when eighty lawmakers didn’t attend. How Trump will act once in office remains to be seen, but it seems doubtful that his behavior will change now — the only clear thing being that the arc of his ego is long, and it bends toward vengeance.