For Trump, it's about America's ego — and his own

To understand why, consider the billionaire's ego not just as mere mortals might see it (an outsized allotment of conceit) but also as Trump himself understands it (an extraordinary drive for excitement, glamour and style that produces extraordinary success.)

[...] his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, addressing why Trump wants a strong and seasoned running mate, says the candidate sees himself as chairman of the board, not CEO, and "needs an experienced person to do the part of the job he doesn't want to do."

Trump followed his father into real estate, but chafed within the confines of Fred Trump's realm in New York's outer boroughs.

Through years of boom, bust and more than a decade of reality-TV celebrity on "The Apprentice," the deals kept coming and the price tags (and, often, the debt) kept growing — as did the hype.

"Harry Potter" actor Daniel Radcliffe recalls an 2005 encounter in the "Today" show studios, when he confessed to the businessman that he was nervous about making a live television appearance.

A Mississippi man remembers a surprise phone call from Trump after his father wrote asking for a loan to build a hotel back in 1988.

Trump didn't offer a loan to the Indian-American small businessman, but did give him a pep talk and some advice.

"Trump inspired my father to the fullest when he told him that Dad's immigrant story was wonderful," Suresh Chawla wrote in a 2015 letter to The Clarksdale (Mississippi) Press Register.

[...] pro golfer Natalie Gulbis tells of Trump coaching her on how to negotiate equal pay with male competitors.

Not senator and war hero John McCain, not the disabled, not Mexicans, not Muslims, not even those people who make up a majority of the country (and the electorate): women.

Aubrey Immelman, a political psychologist at Saint John's University in Minnesota who has developed a personality index to assess presidential candidates, puts Trump's level of narcissism in the "exploitative" range, surpassing any presidential nominee's score in the past two decades.