As a collapsing narcissist, Trump operates on the principle of maximizing whatever best repairs his acute narcissistic injuries—or protects him from acquiring new ones. The most recent full capitulation to Putin indicates there is some worse injury imminently threatening his ego than being labeled a Russian puppet by people across the political spectrum. Trump’s cognitive decline has destroyed his ability to bullshit his audience. He can’t dance around these kinds of topics anymore—so he just swings wildly to whatever is going to make him feel less frightened in the present moment. This is actual psychosis, a malleable alternate reality that he manifests from his own psyche, his own delusions. He has almost totally disconnected from the objective world—by replacing it with a universe curated by Natalie Harp and his other servants. I’m increasingly worried about what he will do as the prospect of getting crushed in the midterms looms closer. To him, this is like having an execution date. He will get more desperate and dangerous as it nears.