It's impossible to know what he was thinking in the aftermath but I think it was possible his massive adrenaline rush made him forget that actual reality is not like reality tv. When you die in reality - that's it. You're actually dead.

IMO Trump doesn't have an ideological drive that justifies personal sacrifice, on the contrary he is extremely selfish and MAGA atracts exactly a huge part of this selfish chauvinistic white population.

So yeah when he had the opportunity to reflect on whether any of this is worth dying for he probably couldn't answer with "yes" unequivocally. Heck I doubt he even actualy cares or believes in actual MAGA rhetoric if it doesn't include direct benefits to people like him.

Not like this isn't obvious either, bullies tend to be cowards as a stereotype and first of all Trump's entire personal life before MAGA was entirely as part of the privileged capitalist class. He is part of the least likely group of people to ever consider any sort of altruism or sacrifice for a greater goal.

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

he is extremely selfish and MAGA atracts exactly a huge part of this selfish chauvinistic white population.

In early/mid 2017 - I left liberalism. In two words: Sebastian Gorka. News broke that there was a Nazi in the White House so I assumed he'd resign or get fired. Surely that had to happen. What a quaint thought that seems now. After some time had passed (About a month? Two months?) I realized two things that made me sick to my stomach. One, Trump wasn't going to ask him to resign. Two, the democrats weren't going to demand he resign. I could see how utterly useless the democrats would be in dealing with Trump in general.

In fact - I assume that in private in 2017 DC dems focused on what they considered the silver lining of Trump's presidency. They figured they'd do well 2018 and in 2020 after Americans realized who they elected. Of course that was nonsense. Trump's base knew who he was - that's why they voted for him! In the end and up to now - I've been 100% unsurprised that the DC dems were not only shortsighted but idiots as well. Libs would never admit it but I think some of them still realize that if not for covid - Trump would have won a second term.