1. I use my knowledge of Shakespeare as a resource to analyze leaders. If I step back for a moment and match Trump to a tragic character, I would start with the Scottish play. Ambition leads to a crime that leads to power and then hopefully defeat by a noble warrior.

2. IMO Trump gets regular internal polls that show him losing in November. Reality is not fun for him so he reverts to his glory days of TV that he may actually think was why he won rather than the GRU's masterful micro-targetting operation in three swing states.

3. But this is not 2016 and the #GRU is not as free to operate. So what does Trump think of when he plots? He thinks of the specter of January 20, 2021 and being out of power. He's hidden Russian and Chinese financial entanglements, engaged in bribery and graft on an epic level.

4. He lives with those memories. And every few days his political team tells him he's losing.

If I played a desperate character like Trump I might chose to exploit the desperation that comes from having no hope. You try anything to make your thoughts move from the future that

5. has no hope to one with hope. "A guy says drink bleach. Why not?"

When I analyze Trump's conduct yesterday, combined with the obvious manic specter of his sleepless eyes, that's what I would use as a foundation for playing that scene.

Did you ever save a drowning person?

6. Trump's eyes yesterday looked just like their eyes look.