The presidential election is next month. Donald Trump is feeling the pressure. He planned on running against President Biden and not Kamala Harris. Since becoming the party’s nominee, Harris has closed the gap with Trump and is now leading in the national polls. Harris is tied with Trump in the key battleground states. The election is still one of the closest in modern American history; however, it is not the cakewalk it likely appeared to be when the summer kicked off.

For Donald Trump, the results of the 2024 presidential election are deeply personal. Although the Supreme Court has made Trump a de facto king who is above the law when/if he takes back the White House, for now, he remains a convicted felon who still must navigate the reality that he could be sentenced to prison for the rest of his natural life if convicted in even one of the three remaining criminal trials that await him after the election.

There is also the narcissistic injury that he is experiencing at the very thought of being defeated in the election by a Black woman. Trump was symbolically castrated before an audience of tens of millions of people by Harris when she defeated him during their first debate in September/august. To lose the presidential election would be devastating for Trump’s ego. He has already announced that he will leave the country if he loses on Election Day.

Instead of the so-called “issues,” Trump and his surrogates have decided to embrace what CNN’s Stephen Collinson describes as a “feral political offensive”: In essence, nothing is off limits in Trump’s campaign to take back the White House.

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As I chronicle these last weeks until the election, I keep returning to the visual of Trump as Robert Mitchum in his iconic role as Rev. Harry Powell in Charles Laughton’s 1955 film “Night of the Hunter," his knuckles tattooed with the words “love” and “hate." With the election a month away, Trump is now more angry and more rageful, flexing his muscles and sweaty, spittle coming out of his mouth as he becomes even more feral in his attacks on Harris and his other “enemies.”

On the other hand, Trump, the political cult leader and master manipulator, is continuing to love-bomb his followers. His campaign's fundraising emails call supporters friends, beg for their counsel and claim Trump will make any sacrifice for them — even his life. This is transactional of course: Trump wants more money from his MAGA people.

Trump also plays the complementary role of being a dark, twisted, and cruel therapist who knows how to trigger and pressure his MAGA people’s and other followers’ pain points. But, unlike a kind and responsible therapist, Trump offers no catharsis or healing.........

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