It WAS that at first. More PR and pumping up the brand. He didn't think he'd actually beat Hillary. He was just as shocked as she was on election night.GeorgiAg said:
I thought his candidacy was actual fraud/joke in 2015/2016. I think he thought it was a joke and was just trying to pump up his brand but then morons actually started to consider his schtick to be real. A New Yorker born on third base pretending to be some kind of economic wizard when all he is is King of the Grift.
He has been grifting off the Presidency ever since. Now he's a cornered mafia-style schmuck whose only hope to avoid jail is to get elected President again. He is now absolutely desperate and will do or say anything to get reelected to avoid prison. He wipes his ass with the Constitution and calls it fighting the "Deep State."
I'm not even fully convinced he wants to be president again. He just can't stomach losing to Biden and wants to go out on a high note. Also he knows he's cooked in court and becoming president is his only out, so he's using every delay tactic in the book.
His most incredible grift was convincing the working class that he's a champion for them. And convincing a bunch of gullible people (some of whom are otherwise educated) that the election was stolen from him.