Kruse on Trump at politico:
" a crisis is something he actually enjoys."
Trump: "I was doing what I love to do most—battle back from the brink."
Stone on Trump: "“Makes Nixon look like a cream puff.” Nixon? “Nixon was smarter,” Stone responded, “but Trump is tougher.” "
Tim O'Brien, biographer: " “being a survivor” was “not just one of his strengths” but “a core and overriding strength.” "
O"Donnell, former Trump executive: "He is probably the ultimate survivor ... In the process of becoming the president, he made mistakes that no other politician would have survived"
Gwenda Blair, biographer: " “He has been shrewd for decades at figuring out how to make his preservation in the interest of whoever might be standing in his way,” "
Trump: " “Toughness,” he declares, “in the long run, is a major secret of my survival.” "
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/05/donald-trump-nixon-presidency-219639There is something Kruse misses, tho he comes close to it in this para:
" “The banks,” in the words of a former Trump employee I talked to on Wednesday, “were his adversaries and his allies.” They didn’t want to snuff him out—they wanted him to survive. Other foes were the same way. Ivana Trump was his adversary—but a broke, ruined Trump was no good for her, either. New York’s then-mayor, Ed Koch, loathed him and constantly butted heads with him—but in the end, more or less, wanted Trump to keep building and being a character in his pro-business city. And the legion of his celebrity squabbles? Mostly mutually beneficial. “He has been shrewd for decades at figuring out how to make his preservation in the interest of whoever might be standing in his way,” said biographer Gwenda Blair. "
But Kruse does not see that Trump, today, needs his enemies. They strengthen his base. And his enemies do not yet see how much their opposition empowers him.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/05/donald-trump-nixon-presidency-219639sidd