"Some days he wanted more French fries. Other days he wanted documents."

[fishwax]

15. I think that's about right -- but only part of the story, and not inconsistent with a bigger grift

I think he felt entitled and saw his election as, essentially, an acquisition of the government and in some sense the country. He had no interest in or curiosity about or knowledge of or concern about the processes and institutions. It's not a particular striking observation that trump has always demonstrated a really childish sense of what it means to be smart ("I'm like, a smart person" ) or to be manly (tiny hands, etc.) or to be brave or strong or rich or patriotic or whatever. He also seems to have had a really childish view of power--the sort of childish view in which "I'm going to grow up and be president" and "I'm going to grow up and rule the world" mean essentially the same thing. Predictably, any restriction on his power was met with a childish tantrum.

But he's also a grifter, and knows that acquiring certain things can help him satisfy his (childishly conceptualized and regulated) desires. He just satisfies "Me want french fry," in the one case, while in the other he could have envisioned various schemes for leveraging money and power out of thousands and thousands of confidential government documents.

Those schemes could have involved reducing his exposure for a pretty broad range of plausible crimes and misdemeanors while in office. Those schemes could have ranged from elaborate plots to sell secrets to our enemies for cash or for influence or for lucrative deals for his personal brand or for extra ketchup on his well-done steak. They could have involved attempting to blackmail his enemies or his friends or foreign leaders or his ex-lover's new boyfriend. They even could have involved some childish notion that he could somehow prove election fraud or simply find something that would continue to put pressure on various individuals and institutions so that they would have no choice but to relent and give him a chance to play king again. In any case, it was a crime. It demonstrates a danger to our national security. (All the moreso given that such a broad range of motivations and machinations seem plausible.)