@RationalLeft: It's what he knows how to do. His schtick for decades has been to escalate and at least appear to run straight at the opposition. He is Roy Cohn's boy. Roy taught him well.
@thedisasterautist Until it stops working and he has no idea how to adjust.
@RationalLeft: He turtles up and sticks to grifting the really committed dupes, marks, and suckers, and then works fairly small until he finds a hook somewhere and stages a "comeback".
He's like clockwork, predictable AF, as are most of the people who love him and most of the people who hate him. The adoration and the outrage fuel one another, and he slurps it up eagerly because he knows how to work both groups.
@thedisasterautist Though he is never able to figure out that the ones who love him are not the huge majority he believes them to be. Or that even those that love him increasingly want results he never delivers.
@RationalLeft: Also, he doesn't care who loves him. He only cares who hates him. He only cares who won't give him his way and do what he wants. He hates not being "the alpha". It also doesn't help he's almost certainly got some kind(s) of neurological problem(s) due to his age, diet, general health, and nearly-certain drug abuse.