REVEALED: We Are All Trump’s Psychiatrists, Plus Jared Was Given Power To Please Ivanka, Per Book

I believe I’m going to shell out the price of a copy of Maggie Haberman’s new book, “Confidence Man: The Making Of Donald Trump and the Breaking Of America.” The tidbits that have been served up this Sunday morning are simply too delicious to not have more of– or disgusting, depending upon your mood.

Here are excerpts from Politico Playbook:

Culled from three sit-down interviews Haberman had with DONALD TRUMP, the piece is chock full of eye-popping, quotable moments. (Trust us: You’re going to want to read the whole thing.) Bits that raised our eyebrows:

— Trump,on Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL: “The Old Crow’s a piece of shit.”

— On what he told then-VP MIKE PENCE ahead of Jan. 6: “‘I said, “Mike, you have a chance to be THOMAS JEFFERSON, or you can be Mike Pence,”’ Trump recounted to me, repeating an inaccurate comparison to the election of 1800. ‘He chose to be Mike Pence.’”

— On Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.): “‘You know why Lindsey kisses my ass?’ he asked. ‘So I’ll endorse his friends.’”

— On JARED KUSHNER: “I asked why he had given Jared Kushner expansive power. ‘I didn’t,’ Trump said, although he had done exactly that. When I pressed, Trump said, ‘Look, my daughter has a great relationship with him and that’s very important.’”

— On documents he took from the W.H.: “He demurred when I asked if he had taken any documents of note upon departing the White House — ‘nothing of great urgency, no,’ he said, before mentioning the letters that KIM JONG-UN had sent him. … ‘You were able to take those with you?’ I asked. He kept talking, seeming to have registered my surprise, and said, ‘No, I think that’s in the archives, but … Most of it is in the archives, but the Kim Jong-un letters … We have incredible things.’”

— On his contacts with world leaders: “I was curious when Trump said he had kept in touch with other world leaders since leaving office. I asked whether that included Russia’s VLADIMIR PUTIN and China’s XI JINPING, and he said no. But when I mentioned North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un, he responded, ‘Well, I don’t want to say exactly, but …’ before trailing off. I learned after the interview that he had been telling people at Mar-a-Lago that he was still in contact with North Korea’s supreme leader, whose picture with Trump hung on the wall of his new office at his club.”

— On his whole M.O.: “At one point, Trump made a candid admission that was as jarring as it was ultimately unsurprising. ‘The question I get asked more than any other question: “If you had it to do again, would you have done it?”’ Trump said of running for president. ‘The answer is, yeah, I think so. Because here’s the way I look at it. I have so many rich friends and nobody knows who they are.’ … Reflecting on the meaning of having been president of the United States, his first impulse was not to mention public service, or what he felt he’d accomplished, only that it appeared to be a vehicle for fame, and that many experiences were only worth having if someone else envied them.”

— On his media strategy: “He started to explain why he doesn’t like when audiotapes of his interviews are released. Being on camera was ‘much different,’ he said. ‘Whereas,’ he said, in a ‘written interview, I’ll repeat it 20 times, because I want to drum it into your beautiful brain. Do you understand that?’ He repeated himself again. ‘One of the things I’ll do, if I’m doing, like with you, for the written word, is I got to drum it into your head. So I’ll repeat something six times.’”

— Haberman, on her interactions with Trump: “I have found myself on the receiving end of the two types of behavior Donald Trump exhibits toward reporters: his relentless desire to hold the media’s gaze, and his poison-pen notes and angry statements in response to coverage.”

— Trump, on his interactions with Haberman: “[H]e turned to the two aides he had sitting in on our interview, gestured toward me with his hand, and said, ‘I love being with her, she’s like my psychiatrist.’ … The reality is that he treats everyone like they are his psychiatrists — reporters, government aides, and members of Congress, friends and pseudo-friends and rally attendees and White House staff and customers. All present a chance for him to vent or test reactions or gauge how his statements are playing or discover how he is feeling. He works things out in real time in front of all of us. Along the way, he reoriented an entire country to react to his moods and emotions.”

This is spot on. We all became this man’s shrinks, or his concerned relatives. There is nothing remotely like this in American political history and we can only pray it never comes again. Donald Trump is an empty shell of a man, a hollowed out vessel, who gains identity from the cameras and the cheering crowds.

He’s not a mature personality, let alone a well adjusted one. He’s a reactive, bitter, vindictive child who craves the spotlight and wants everybody to take care of him. And he has gotten that his entire life. To an astounding degree. America became one big extended family to dysfunctional Donnie and we’re still consumed with what our collective crazy uncle is going to do next, or discovering the ramifications of what he has already done.

There has been a sea change, however, in just the past 30 days and some long overdue justice is about to be meted out. At least, that is my fervent prayer.