We know hurling insults at the sitting president isn’t the most constructive use of anyone’s time, but when we call Trump a toddler or childish, it’s not just because he often appears to have given up on holding his breath until someone gives him what he wants. There’s also the fact that he really likes shiny things and gumming soft foods. No, really, it’s more about Trump’s frequent implementation of the “no take-backs” rule, his seeming inability to admit he’s wrong even when confronted with overwhelming evidence, and finally, his insistence on building an alternate reality that, while a hellscape for anyone other than the 1%, is a dreamland for his family and cronies.
Take his recent wiretap accusations against former President Obama—Trump’s now hiding behind the quotes he almost certainly used for emphasis in his original tweet, saying they indicate he didn’t mean “wiretap” when he wrote “wiretap.” Poor punctuation aside, his claims were serious enough to get the FBI involved, if only to clear its own name. Just days after FBI Director James Comey went before Congress in a televised hearing to state for the record that no such wiretap was ever ordered, illicitly or otherwise, Trump’s just stuck his fingers in his ears, telling Time that he has “articles” and “instincts” that assure him he’s right. Well, maybe not right now, but eventually, Trump firmly believes that he’ll be proven correct in some not too distant future. See that? That’s wishful thinking—another sign of an immature mind.