Jim, "In Trump's case, he has a troubling tendency to launch attacks at targets that are actually veiled criticisms of himself. It's a genius strategy, really: a preemptive strike that not only removes the card from his opponent's deck, but also accuses them of the very thing that he is guilty of." I have pointed out this strategy here for 10 years.

This political tactic goes back hundreds of years.
If anything Trump overdoes the perverse prevarication of the bigger the lie the more believable it becomes. His whoppers are so huge they don't work except for misdirection and distraction.