Thread by @ClaireBerlinski

Just as an exercise, I'm going to tweet--at some length--from a foreign diplomat's psychological study of Trump. I'd like readers to guess who wrote it. Don't Google, and if you know already, don't ruin it for others. All that follows is quoted text.

"This study is not propagandistic in any sense of the term. It represents an attempt to screen the wealth of contradictory, conflicting and unreliable material concerning Trump into strata which will be helpful to policy-makers ...

"Many people have stopped and asked themselves: 'Is this man sincere in his undertakings or is he a fraud?' Certainly even a fragmentary knowledge of his past life warrants such a question, particularly since our correspondents have presented us with many conflicting views. ...

"At times, it seemed almost inconceivable that a man could be sincere and do what Trump has done in the course of his career. And yet all of his former associates whom we have been able to contact ... are firmly convinced that Trump actually does believe in his own greatness.

"He feels that no one in American history is as equipped as he is to bring the Americans to the position of supremacy which all American statesman have felt they deserved but were unable to achieve.

"It makes little difference whether the field be economics, education, foreign affairs, movies, music or women's dress. In each and every field he believes himself to be an unquestioned authority.

"He also prides himself on his toughness and brutality. 'I am one of the toughest men America has had for decades, perhaps for centuries, equipped with the greatest authority of any American leader... '

"That belief in his own power actually borders on a feeling of omnipotence which he is not reluctant to display. Since the events of last year, his faith in his own genius, in his instinct, or as one might say, in his star, is boundless.

"Those who surround him are the first to admit that he now thinks himself infallible and invincible. That explains why he can no longer bear either criticism or contradiction.

"To contradict him is in his eyes a crime of 'lèse majeste'; opposition to his plans, from whatever side it may come, is a definite sacrilege, to which the only reply is an immediate and striking display of his omnipotence."

Another diplomat reports a similar impression: "When I first met him, his logic and sense of reality had impressed me, but as time went on he appeared to me to become more and more unreasonable and more and more convinced of his own infallibility and greatness ..."

He does not in any way attribute his infallibility or omniscience to any intellectual endeavor on his part. On the contrary, he frowns on such sources when it comes to guiding the destiny of nations. His opinion of the intellect is, in fact, extremely low,

in various places he makes such statements as the following: "Over-educated people, stuffed with knowledge, but they don't have the right instincts." "Intellectuals have become like dictators, and they're now a disease of life."

It seems certain that Trump believes that he has been sent to America by Providence and that he has a particular mission to perform. He is probably not clear on the scope of this mission

beyond the fact that he has been chosen to redeem the American people. Just how this is to be accomplished is also rather vague in his mind, but this does not concern him greatly because an "inner voice" communicates to him the steps he is to take.

Many people believe that this feeling of Destiny and mission have come to Trump through his successes. This is probably false. ...

His references to the Bible have become more frequent and the movement has begun to take on a religious atmosphere. ... As a matter of fact, Trump has very little admiration for Christ, the Crucified.

Although he was brought up a Lutheran, and received Communion, this kind of Christ he considers soft and weak.

Everything must be huge and befitting as a monument to Trump. He must always be doing the impossible and leaving his mark on the country.

He firmly believes this and is certain that in spite of all the trials and tribulations through which he must pass he will finally attain that goal. The one condition is that he follow the dictates of the inner voice which has guided and protected him in the past.

"This conviction is not rooted in the truth of the ideas he imparts but is based on the conviction of his own personal greatness.

... by the time he got through speaking he had completely numbed the critical faculties of his listeners

"to the point where they were willing to believe almost anything he said. He flattered them and cajoled them. He hurled accusations at them one moment and amused them the next by building up straw men which he promptly knocked down.

"And somehow he always managed to say what the majority of the audience were already secretly thinking but could not verbalize. When the audience began to respond, it affected him in return. Before long, due to this reciprocal relationship, he and his audience became intoxicated

Before coming to power all of his speeches centered around the following three themes: (1) Obama's treason; (2) the threat of the "radical socialist left"; and (3) the globalists.

... he almost invariably would wind up on one or more of these three themes. And yet people liked it and would attend one meeting after another to hear him speak. It was not, therefore, so much what he said that appealed to his audiences as how he said it.

As soon as Trump came to power new weapons for self-aggrandizement were put into the hands of his propagandists and they made good use of them. Unemployment dropped off rapidly ... (TBC)

The face of America was being lifted at an incredible speed. Trump was keeping his promises; he was accomplishing the impossible. Every success in diplomacy, every social reform was heralded as world-shaking in its importance.

And for each success, Trump modestly accepted all the credit. It was always Trump that did this, and Trump who did that, provided these acts were spectacular and met with the approval of the public.

If they happened to meet with disapproval, it was always one of his assistants who was to blame. Every effort is made to cultivate the attitude that Trump is infallible and is carrying through his mission of saving America.

"Unencumbered with abstract theories or traditional points of view and prejudices he is able to look at complex problems in a rather naive way and pick out the most salient and significant elements and apply them to the present situation in a fairly simple and workable manner.

"To be sure, he never solves the entire problem in this way but only the human elements involved. Since this is the part which interests him most and produces immediate results,

"it has been rated very highly and has won the admiration of his close associates from the earliest days of his political career.

"It can scarcely be denied that he has some extraordinary abilities where the psychology of the average man is concerned. He has been able, in some manner or other, to unearth and apply successfully many factors pertaining to group psychology ...

"The ability to feel, identify with and express in passionate language the deepest needs and sentiments of the average American and present opportunities or possibilities for their gratification.

"The faculty of drawing on the traditions of the people and by reference to the great classical mythological themes evoke the deepest unconscious emotions of the audience.

"The fact that the unconscious mind is more intensely affected by the great eternal symbols and themes is not generally understood by most modern speakers and writers.

"Realization of the importance of artistry and dramatic intensity in conducting large meetings and rallies. This involves not only an appreciation of what an artist--the writer, musician and painter--can accomplish in the way of evoking emotional responses but also the leader's

"recognition of the necessity of his participation in the total dramatic effect as chief character and hero. Trump has become master of all the arts of highlighting his own role in the movement for American Greatness."

"His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame;

"concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

"He has the "never say die" spirit. After some of his severest setbacks he has been able to get his immediate associates together and begin making plans for a comeback.

"Events which would crush most individuals, at least temporarily, seem to act as stimulants to greater efforts in Trump."