What 80th birthday gift do you get the man who wants everything?

Donald Trump somehow believes he’s entitled to anything he sets his mind to. Some soccer club’s tournament trophy. A young woman’s Olympic gold medal in a sport he probably doesn’t know exists. Republican nominees for office who think the way he wants and not for themselves.

It’s an amazing state of being and it boils down to a simple fact: the man is incapable of guilt.

It is, in fact, his superpower.

You and I – and just about everyone I’ve ever met – lie awake at night. Did we hurt somebody’s feelings with our words and actions? Did we cause inconvenience or hardship some we work with, for or who works for us? Did we look or sound ridiculous in front of a lot of people? Have I done anything to hurt, embarrass or sadden someone I love?

We have a sense of guilt. It’s been instilled in us by our parents. Or by our religious beliefs. Or it comes naturally from living in an imperfect world and being bothered by people in some kind of pain.

Trump is immune from this stuff, to a degree that is shocking and – for those of us who hate his guts – infuriating.

The evidence of it is strewn, much like the debris he’s created on the White House grounds, all over the past week.

Start with the beginning of the week – and his interaction with NBC’s Krysten Welker. He started in again on the idea that the 2000 election – the one he lost to Joe Biden by nearly 8 million votes and more than enough Electoral College votes – was somehow from him. 

For 5-1/2 years, he’s said he’s got evidence to prove it – and has never managed to show it. Or proven his case before impartial observers and judges.

Yet he persists. When Welker corrected him, Trump went ballistic. “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” he told her. Both those things are insults, particularly to the integrity of an American journalist. The misogynist frosting on this was his telling her, “Thank you, darling!” as he stormed away from the interview.

Do you think Trump, for a second, thought, “Hey, I’m the most powerful person in the world and I belittled someone”? Do you think he lost a wink of sleep over his behavior?

Wait, let me rephrase that – do you think that stuff, as opposed to the other crap he posts on his pet social media site at 1 a.m., kept him awake the way it would do that to you or me?

Speaking of being awake, Trump – oblivious to the impact a presidential trip has on other people – accepted an invitation from clueless New York Knicks owner Jim Dolan. 

Not of that mattered to Trump, who probably thought Willis Reed still played for the team. He forced a massive shift in security, inconveniencing the people who pay real money to see a team trying to win an NBA championship.

Trump was booed and heckled on his way into Madison Square Garden. He was booed and heckled inside the Garden, even during Avery Wilson’s stirring rendition. And he visibly fell asleep during a back-and-forth basketball game.

Does he care? Was he embarrassed? Did it matter?

It’s honestly impressive to have that little guilt. To be dozing off in some luxury box while American servicemen and women were risking their lives trying to rescue helicopter pilots shot down by Iran near the Strait of Hormuz.

Which used to be a free passageway before he started a war with Iran three months ago. 

A war CNN pointed out this week has ended 37 times according to Trump. Usually wars only end once. And when you win, the other side doesn’t launch attacks or counterattacks.

Is there any sense of humility about this war from Trump? Does he lose sleep wondering about putting American lives at risk? (It seems way too much to ask whether he loses sleep about Iranian children dying.)

It’s an amazing power to not feel guilt or shame or anguish. Yes, he’s angry all the time. But that’s when he doesn’t get something he wants, or when someone dares to confront him with the lies, the hypocrisy, the incompetence.

He never loses or is at fault. Never. There’s never a moment of regret. I don’t even think sadness is available to him – anger, yes, sadness, no.

You can try all you want to be that way. I don’t think you can get there. You’d feel guilty about missing your son’s wedding. You’d write anguished notes to the families of those who die in the war you started. You’d wonder if maybe those tariffs I inflicted are eating away the paychecks of working Americans.

That’s why I think it’s naive to believe the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files will chasten or embarrass him. Raping a 14-year-old? “I’m entitled to it.” “What a lucky girl!” “She enjoyed it.”

What to get the 80-year-old man who wants everything?

The ability to say “I’m sorry” or “it’s my fault.” Good luck with that.