Like taking candy from a baby

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Temptation has been around since the beginning of time. I think everybody at one time has come face to face with the perils of temptation. Being tempted by forbidden fruit is just part of the human experience. It can, on occasion, however, lead to calamitous results.

That’s what I see in the distance for Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s narcissism is on fire right now. He is struggling — and failing in that struggle.

Since Judge Chutkan reinstated Trump’s gag order, he’s been in a state of fury. Nobody hates like a narcissist hates. Nobody gives into temptation like the narcissist. The gag order was reinstated Sunday evening. Hours later, Trump lashed out in a fit of rage.

He threatened to prosecute President Biden. He accused people of political interference. It was the same old same old with Trump as his diatribe continued into Monday morning, with streams of angry ranting on Truth social posts.

There is a difference now, though. The gag order is in place. Yes, at some point, trump will be hauled off to prison. He is ensuring that. Trump’s temptation dances in front of him, a forbidden and mischievous apple, waiting for him to take more bites, mockingly beckoning him to violate the gag order in so many different ways.

And he will. He has to because narcissists and criminals like Trump know no limits and no self-control. They never think of the ramifications of their actions. They think only of NOW — of satisfying whatever itch they want to scratch in the present.

Yes, temptation — that silken, deceptive vice that has driven many to insanity has existed since the beginning of time. But most people can ward off the forbidden fruit that sings to them, asking them to take a bite from the tempting but deadly low-hanging fruit.

Most people have limits and inner logic and reason. So they resist. Donald Trump has no such limits. He has no impulse control. He cannot win in a battle with forbidden fruit, with temptation. For temptation, it is like taking candy from a baby. That is how easy the tempting of Donald Trump is.

This is one battle Trump cannot win, but later, be it next week or next month when he’s starting at the bars in his new home, perhaps — only perhaps — he might realize that temptation has tempted him all right — right into the trap, right into the ruination of all that he once held dear.