The man is a narcissist, and constantly compares himself to other, much more successful people. He will hint at it if the person is controversial or outright state it if benign.

He'd like to be seen as intelligent as an MIT professor, as honest as Lincoln, as famous as the Mona Lisa, as dangerous as Al Capone, as persecuted as Mandela.

He'd none of these things, but he wants to plant that association in your head. It's transparent and a consistent core of his disorder.