While it is thrilling to watch Trump concoct his spin in real time — whipping a few raw data points into an oozy lather of absurd hyperbole and fast-talking salesmanship — it is clearly not the whole truth. One of the least believable plotlines in Trump’s self-styled personal narrative is his dutiful endurance of a spotlight he claims to never seek. He labors to exhibit nonchalance when I ask questions about his relationship with the media. “I don’t have a press agent, you know,” he says. And in 1997, he told the New Yorker, “I think the thing I’m worst at is managing the press.”

But in fact, Trump’s preternatural ability to hold the media’s attention is arguably his most impressive and enduring talent, one that has been central to his long career as a showman. His most elaborate, and perversely effective, political performance in 2012 was his yearlong “birther” crusade, during which he riled up the right-wing fever swamps with a conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was born outside the United States and engaged in a large-scale cover-up so that he would appear constitutionally eligible to run for president. Trump championed the theory in front of every camera he came across, and he claimed to have sent investigators to Hawaii to unearth the truth. The message appealed to the worst instincts of the conservative fringe and drew charges of racism from many corners, but it proved irresistible to cable news bookers. (For the record, he denies that his accusations were racially motivated: “I am so not a racist, it’s incredible,” he says.) Later, Trump tried to up the ante by publicly offering to donate $5 million to a charity of Obama’s choice if he would release his college transcripts and passport paperwork — but by then, even many of his fans were rolling their eyes, and reporters who had once covered his various stunts with gusto were now openly mocking him. Stephen Colbert seemed to capture the general sentiment when he responded by offering to donate $1 million to Trump’s favorite charity “if you will let me dip my balls in your mouth.”

I ask Trump if he has ever heard the word “trolling,” and at his request, I define it for him. He mulls it over for a second, and then confesses, “I do love provoking people. There is truth to that. I love competition, and sometimes competition is provoking people. I don’t mind provoking people. Especially when they’re the right kind of people.”