Despite how ubiquitous, prolix, and attention-seeking as he is, sometimes it\u2019s still hard to know what makes President Trump do the things he does.<\/p>\n
Why, for example, is he so fixated on \u201cacquiring\u201d places like Greenland<\/a>? Why is he obsessed with renaming things and changing the maps? Shouldn\u2019t he be too busy presidenting to care about whatever Bill Maher said about him<\/a>? And what the hell is with all the butt talk lately?<\/p>\n We\u2019ll leave that to psychiatrists to solve. But, most bizarre and baffling of all, Trump has seemed determined to help Republicans lose their midterm elections all over the country \u2014 and it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess as to why.<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s because he\u2019s not on the ballot. Maybe he secretly misses sparring with Democrats while Republicans have had total control of Congress. Maybe he\u2019s just bored. Who knows?<\/p>\n Thankfully, Trump\u2019s inner workings will likely remain a mystery. But sometimes, he just comes out and tells us what he\u2019s thinking. It\u2019s in these moments, when he says the quiet part out loud, that we often learn the most about him.<\/p>\n Over the weekend, with just over a week to go before elections, Trump was on the stump in places Republicans should be doing much better in. But again, because of his inexplicable decisions \u2014 to prosecute a war no one wanted in an election year, to intentionally throw grenades into safe Republican primaries, to say things like \u201caffordability is a hoax<\/a>\u201d \u2014 his rambling and untethered rallies have made for some odd final moments.<\/p>\n During a Georgia rally, he went on a long riff that can only be described as political suicide \u2014 or is it homicide? Either way, it was nuts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States oil and gas business is making hundreds of billions of dollars,\u201d he crowed<\/a>.<\/p>\n And then he told on himself. \u201cBut my people said, \u2018Please don\u2019t mention that, sir.\u2019 Because people are paying a little higher\u2026. No, I could just see the fake headlines. \u2018President Trump is talking about all the money they\u2019re making while the people are suffering at the pump. That\u2019ll be the headline. But I said, \u2018I don\u2019t give a damn. I\u2019m gonna say it.\u2019 We\u2019re making a freaking fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, this was revealing in two ways. There\u2019d been a thought among politicos that maybe his inner circle wasn\u2019t telling him how impolitic and imprudent it was to diminish the pain Americans are feeling, to call that pain a hoax, and to brag about inflation, the war, tariffs, and how much oil companies have made.<\/p>\n