How, after four years of this, can many Americans keep finding themselves shocked by Donald Trump’s behavior. As my psychoanalyist friend Dr. Michael Levin explains: “This disconnect exists because we’re living in a world that is grounded and checked by reason. His is grounded only in his emotional needs and fantasies. I think this is a useful framework to understand why we all have repeatedly been shocked by his behavior for years. It’s just a bridge too far for most of our psychological imaginations … Most of the commentary I’m seeing in the press about his narcissism seems not to get that, deep down, it’s not about feeling good. It’s about psychic survival. I think this is the case with most of his base too. It’s not the garden variety narcissism of someone like Elon Musk or Bill Clinton. It’s much more desparate and psychotic.” Indeed, we keep applying strategic goals to what is a narcissistic sociopath’s emotionally disturbed reaction to a fear of shame and humiliation. Trump truly believes he’s being cheated because the alternative is too brutal and painful to accept; even if democracy has to be destroyed so his fantasy, and thus his psychic existence, can survive. When we see mental illness play out in public or celebrity spheres, we often view it as a sideshow. When we encounter it in real life, we know it’s the whole show. Those politicians who cynically use Trump as a battering ram for their own ends will be able to let go of him when his usefulness declines. For his true believers, the relationship is less transactional and operates more like a religion. And that’s a lot to ask someone to give up because of the small reality of a few million votes. Will the unnerving and democracy-smashing coup-like attempt continue? How far will the GOP enablers take this? I don’t know. But I do know that the psychic frenzy it’s stirred up among millions of Americans cannot be turned off with a switch. An addiction to falsehoods is not easy to relinquish. And no one wants to go cold turkey for Thanksgiving.

+ “Many of those I questioned see this discrepancy as stemming from Trump’s individual personality and characterological deficiencies — what they call his narcissism and his sociopathy. Others offer a more starkly political interpretation: that the refusal to accept Biden’s victory stems from the frustration of a Republican Party struggling to remain competitive in the face of an increasingly multicultural electorate. In the end, it appears to be a mixture of both.” Today’s must read: Thomas B. Edsall in the NYT: What Is Trump Playing At?

+ Greg Sargent in WaPo: “Whatever the details of this encounter, everyone knows Republicans are feeding the idea that the outcome remains in doubt for purely instrumental purposes. They would be perfectly happy for Trump to win through illicit means, but with that looking less likely, they still need Trump voters worked up for the Georgia runoffs, which will determine Senate control. Admitting Trump lost could deenergize them. What’s telling is that Trump is angry at Republicans for falling short in this regard.”

+ Dahlia Lithwick: “So here we go again. It’s either a creeping authoritarian coup, or just a really annoying sequel to a horror movie that seems never to end. We’re either experiencing something really profoundly worrisome, or this is just the coddling of a narcissist who just needs a cozy offramp. My own impulse, as it has been for the past four years, is to contend that both can be true at once.”