Why Is He So Angry?

Why is Mark Crockett so angry? That question is a recurring theme in his brief public career. He struggles with a vein of contentious resentment coursing below the surface, its genesis a mystery. 

He invents a version of reality obliged to agree with only one thing - his sense of himself. Then, when facts fail him, or the argument passes him by, he defends that manufactured reality with anger, condescension and a blithe disregard for the truth.   

That pattern of behavior is repetitive and predictable. 

For example, his position on ski link has occupied every possible side of that issue. It's clear, it's taped and it's on the public record.

Yet, when Ben referred to that history, he responded with an eruption. "That's not true!" he yelled in a loud outburst disproportionate to the tone of their recent debate.

Yet it was true, and the Deseret News called him on it.    

More recently, there was a Dan Jones poll showing Ben down by only three points. The previous Dan Jones poll had Ben down by eleven points. So, by any measure, that's huge progress. The trend line is clear. 

And Crockett's response? 

According to the Deseret News he said, "Our opponent has spent over $500,000 so far, and it doesn't seem to be changing the numbers."

What? 

He could say, "I don't believe in polls," or "I expected things to tighten." Almost anything would be more credible than simply denying a verifiable fact.  

But that's what he did.

And then there's the repeated assertion of being a lifetime CEO who has run large organizations. It's a claim his resume contradicts. In fact, ten years ago he ran a small business for less than thirty-six months. His big achievement? Selling out. 

That's his CEO experience… period. 

Beyond that, he's bumped along to ever smaller consulting firms. Now his business is a pretentious website listing only one employee, himself. (No wonder he's interviewing for another job.) 

What Crockett relies on is a media disinclined, or unable, to give him scrutiny, and an opponent too polite for personal and public confrontation. 

I believe Crockett's marriage to this invented reality, made up as he goes along, is the wellspring of all that anger. The gap between what he wants to be true, and what is actually true, is simply too large to sustain. Any challenge to it becomes not an argument over fact, but a challenge to who he is.  

While everyone else is having a conversation, Crockett is engaged in self preservation. For him it's not politics, it's pathology.

…..

A recent Crockett quote before the Salt Lake Rotarians: "Salt Lake County is becoming… how do I put this politely… ever more diverse."

Makes you wonder, how would he express himself if he wasn't trying to be polite?