The conundrum was that conservative media saw Trump as its creature, while Trump saw himself as a star, a vaunted and valued product of all media, one climbing ever higher. It was a cult of personality, and he was the personality. He was the most famous man in the world. Everybody loved him—or ought to.

He was the ultimate antiliberal: an authoritarian who was the living embodiment of resistance to authority.

Trump could bring Trumpism down...

Good management reduces ego. But in the Trump White House, it could often seem that nothing happened, that reality simply did not exist, if it did not happen in Trump's presence.

On June 9, 2016, Don Jr., Jared, and Paul Manafort met with a movieworthy cast of dubious characters in Trump Tower after having been promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Don Jr., encouraged by Jared and Ivanka, was trying to impress his father that he had the stuff to rise in the campaign.

the Trump bubble. Trump was incapable of admitting vulnerability—any at all.

Confused to find that the power of the presidency had limitations, he came to see the limitations as his own

To have worked anywhere near him is to be confronted with the most extreme and disorienting behavior possible. That is hardly an overstatement. Not only is Trump not like other presidents, he is not like anyone most of us have ever known.

Sooner or later, Trump felt contempt for anyone who showed him too much devotion.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS GIVEN, NOT EARNED; RECEIVED, NOT TAKEN.

It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am.

At the heart of Christian ethic is humility; at the heart of its parodies, pride. Different roads with different destinations, and the destinations color the character of those who travel by them.