Vidiot

Over the weekend, The New York Times published a fascinating behind-the-scenes article (link here) about Donald Trump's life inside the White House where he fights his many foes, real and imaginary.

I had several reactions after reading this piece. One was disgust at how much television Trump watches during a working day. At a minimum he watches four hours, but some days he watches twice that much.

Some of that is to anger himself. Some is to make him feel good about fawning Fox coverage. Either or both of these sources can end up in his tweets.

He's repeatedly said he watches very little television when pressed by the media. His Twitter record tells otherwise, however, because he frequently tweets seconds after something appeared on live TV.

Another appalling Trump behavior that the article exposes is his extremely unhealthy eating habits, which include "plates of well-done steak, salad slathered with Roquefort dressing and bacon crumbles, tureens of gravy and massive slices of dessert with extra ice cream." No wonder he's obese.

Arguably the most interesting aspect of the article is how the chief of staff, John Kelly, in many ways acts like Trump's nanny. The piece notes: "the President actually craves the approval of Kelly."

The final bit I'm excerpting here is particularly troubling about the President's fragile emotional state: "To an extent that would stun outsiders, Trump, the most talked-about human on the planet, is still delighted when he sees his name in the headlines. And he is on a perpetual quest to see it there. [He] could not handle watching the news without seeing himself on it."

Read the whole article. It's not long. You don't want to miss it.