Donald Trump’s go-to move when he’s posed a question he doesn’t want to answer — especially if a female reporter asks it — is to berate the journalist in highly personal terms. He likes to scold her like a rude child, as if it wasn’t a reporter’s job to ask about issues that make him uncomfortable, like his relationship to Jeffrey Epstein or what his Iran war plans are, if any.

So I definitely noticed it when he went there on Norah O’Donnell of CBS News, after she directly quoted the most recent would-be Trump assassin’s anger over being represented by “a pedophile, rapist and traitor.” When asked what he thought of that quote, Trump could simply have dismissed it as the ravings of an unwell man. 

Instead, he got angry and defensive, calling O’Donnell a “disgrace” and saying she “should be ashamed” to read it. It’s worth watching the video just to see how angry he is. 

The other quote from the CBS News interview that really struck me came when O’Donnell asked Trump whether he had been “worried” that other people might have gotten hurt during the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday. To normal people, this would be a no-duh question. Even most sociopaths would be aware enough to pretend to feel concern, even if they don’t. 

Trump, however, let the truth briefly slip: “I wasn't worried.” He then tried to pretend he was speaking with some profundity, adding, “I understand life. We live in a crazy world,” like some sage or hermit speaking from a higher plane of existence. 

That’s all total nonsense, of course. The reason he wasn’t worried is because he does not care about a single person in the universe except himself, and never has. He was safe, and in his mind, that’s all that matters. 

His behavior since Saturday night suggests that he’s actually pretty happy about the whole thing. It gives him an opportunity to preen about his belief that he’s basically the most important man in history, and also to try to guilt-trip Democrats into letting him build that stupid White House ballroom after they (presumably) take back majority control of Congress in January. At the very least, Trump wants to continue to pretend he’s building it, allowing more donations to flow into some mysterious account. 

From a high-minded journalistic perspective, I know we’re supposed to focus on his policies and leadership choices, not his odious personality. But from a human perspective, it continues to be disturbing that so many people willingly voted for a man so devoid of any basic decency. 

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I sense that there’s a big gap between how much the Beltway press cares about this attempted shooting, which is a whole lot, and how much the public cares, which is not that much. That’s mostly a guess. I don’t have any polling data or anything. It’s just a vibe check, especially since it seems Trump was in no real danger. 

Part of that is self-centered, since the people in attendance were elite journalists and take this more seriously than, say, a random armed and deranged person arrested outside a Trump rally. Also, I suspect, it gives the media But a break from the Iran war, which has otherwise been the top news story for two months, even though there’s a vague ceasefire in effect and there’s little movement on peace negotiations. It’s tough to cover that, because it’s the same story of failure, every single day. 

On that front, I have bad news for everyone: I don’t see how this stalemate between Trump and Iran ends. As Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir reminded us this weekend, Trump basically lost the war. His supporters will play along with whatever lie Trump tells them, but even he understands, despite his weakening state, that simply declaring victory and pulling out is won’t fool anyone else. 

Even a deal where he ends the war and Iran gives up control over the Strait of Hormuz won’t be received as a victory even by the most supplicant members of the press. Everyone knows that just amounts to restoring the situation before the war, and means Trump spent all that money and killed lots of people for nothing. 

I fear the war may last until Trump leaves office. I know that’s hard to imagine, since it’s so pointless and dumb, and three years is a long time. But this is Trump we’re talking about. Pointless and dumb, at much greater length than anyone could have imagined, is pretty much his M.O. But hey, the silver lining here is that at least it’s sinking JD Vance’s presidential aspirations. 

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