I think that someone can only be as successful and consistently dumb-seeming and effectively evasive as that with a compartment being active. I think something in Cheeto knows, but and the reason he seems so dumb is because he is, and all the "smart" is happening where not even "he" can see it.
Oh for sure he is comparmentalizing. But he is totally aware that he's doing that, and in fact reveling in the fact that nobody can force him to stop. He can go on falsely claiming a stolen election for as long as he's not arrested for doing that (which he knows he won't be), and if he can corrupt enough politicians and voters in the next 28 months, he can again ascend to the throne, pardon everyone kissing The Ring and live happily ever after, sucking Putin's dick to his heart's content.
I'm not so sure to assume awareness. Either way, it's a problem and needs to be put on felony charges.
Nobody can inhabit Dolt45’s brain, and lucky for all, we don’t have to in order to get where we need to go on this.
I’ve been right about Trump’s actions, predicted he’d never concede defeat regardless of margin, wouldn’t allow a peaceful transfer of power and a lot more at which our RW friends scoffed and mocked. Accurate enough to convince myself that my read is basically correct: Trump knows what he’s doing including the benefits of having a lot of people think he is crazy.