I must admit that I had the same reaction as Atrios when I read this in the New York Times:
Hillary Clinton’s advisers are talking to Donald J. Trump’s ghostwriter of “The Art of the Deal,” seeking insights about Mr. Trump’s deepest insecurities as they devise strategies to needle and undermine him in four weeks at the first presidential debate, the most anticipated in a generation.
Her team is also getting advice from psychology experts to help create a personality profile of Mr. Trump to gauge how he may respond to attacks and deal with a woman as his sole adversary on the debate stage.
They are undertaking a forensic-style analysis of Mr. Trump’s performances in the Republican primary debates, cataloging strengths and weaknesses as well as trigger points that caused him to lash out in less-than-presidential ways.
…
The Clinton camp believes that Mr. Trump is most insecure about his intelligence, his net worth and his image as a successful businessman, and those are the areas they are working with Mrs. Clinton to target.
I mentioned it to my wife, but after a little reflection, I came to the conclusion that it probably makes sense to tip him off in advance to the targets, because it’s more likely than not to eat away at him until the debates, at which time he’ll come unhinged. This is a guy, after all, who spent years trying to convince Graydon Carter, formerly of Spy Magazine, that he did not, in fact, have short fingers. These things eat away at him. He is more likely to act out if given advance warning than if he had none. That’s my take anyway, and I’m assuming it’s what the Clinton folks are thinking. At least I hope it’s what they’re thinking, and what their experts are telling them, because if not, they’ve quite possibly made a major mistake.
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