DONALD TRUMP ACCURATELY LABELED AS A POPULIST TYRANT
A populist is a politician who keeps talking about saving "the people" from "the elite." And, populists frequently blame the current government for terrible mismanagement, corruption, etc. Moreover, populist politicians first and foremost want personal loyalty from their staff, associated politicians, and from the voters.
A populist president could possibly become a successful.
But trump never had the necessary experience and he lacked the moral character necessary to be president. He's a well documented record setting liar who has been exploiting government for selfish reasons. He doesn't care about rules and never before has been held accountable for flaunting the usual rules of the game.
Trump succeeded in gaining popularity and he satisfied Far Right Republican agendas but damaged the Republican Party, American democracy, and American culture. Really? Yes.
As I've previously written, Trump has always been extremely self-centered, morally deficient, and willing to do whatever necessary to get himself elected. Unfortunately for American citizens--if this wasn't bad enough--he had never held public office, came to the presidency very ignorant of governmental process, and was uninterested in learning anything new about it (see Woodward, 2018, pages 231-233 for example).
Instead of courting good American citizens (with legislation we wanted), Trump courted enemy dictators! He applauded them as great men of good intentions. He floated fantasies of solving any world problems by consulting with them. He ignored and failed to condemn many of their actions which most free world leaders would condemn.
Vladimir Putin, president of Russia since 2012. Putin was formerly head of the KGB.
Xi Jinping, the Head of State of [Communist] China. He is the general secretary of the Communist Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Moreover, Trump has modeled for American parents and children: selfishness, disloyalty, lying, insulting others, and being generally disrespectful. He has often expressed approval (his favorite words: "beautiful," "perfect") towards American insurrectionists and political bad boys.
Trump attacks and punishes any Americans who cross him. But, he has spent lots of time flirting with Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un.
And Trump as President was dangerous to America. He held many outmoded and uninformed opinions on how to react when he felt he or the country threatened.
A year into his presidency he wanted to undo longstanding treaties with South Korea and other area allies; he was demanding major changes. But what he proposed would disrupt the balance of power and could have provoked a major war.
At one point, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said to the National Security Council Meeting, which included Trump:
"We're doing this in order to prevent World War III" (Woodward 2018, pages 304 - 308).
Woodward described the scene: "[Mattis] was calm but stark. It was a breathtaking statement, a challenge to the president, suggesting he was risking nuclear war. Time stopped for more than one in attendance."
Trump then left the meeting. Trump's staff was exasperated and wondered why they had to have such meetings to justify their reasoning.
Woodward wrote: "Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like--and had the understanding of--'a fifth or sixth grader.'"
TRUMP HAS A LONG HISTORY OF NOT PLAYING BY THE RULES
To help him skirt the rules and not be held accountable, he seeks personal loyalty and surrounds himself with enablers. He prefers this to the better informed advice from his staff.
Personal Loyalty Examples:
(1) Former president Trump's first attorney general was Senator Jeff Sessions. When Trump was impeached, Sessions recused himself from working on defending Trump at his impeachment. This is what ethical attorneys do.
Sessions could be loyal to Trump on anything except the impeachment. A different attorney would have to represent Trump at the impeachment.
But Trump, instead of accepting the correct legal and political action, insulted and shunned Sessions, continuing to bad mouth him for being "disloyal." Trump was brazenly unethical. Sessions was ethical and did the right thing.
Eventually Trump without evidence of empathy fired Sessions via Twitter--without informing Sessions ahead of time. Such a high level of disrespect for staff was not at all unusual for Trump!
(2) Directors of the FBI are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a term of ten years.
Trump, soon after he took office, privately questioned Comey to assess whether he would be personally loyal to Trump. Comey reported Trump said, " I need loyalty, I expect loyalty" (Comer, A Higher Loyalty, 2018). Comey's book makes clear Trump was conducting a loyalty test in a manner reminding Comey of a mob boss. Comey's "higher loyalty" was to the laws of the United States and the ethical standards of an attorney.
Trump soon fired Comey in a Tweet without empathy, without forewarning him.
TRUMP WAS AND IS A TRAGIC FIGURE
When Trump became President, his ignorance and arrogance were so great that his comments were stunningly disturbing to his staff.
He was too ignorant to lead. He was too arrogant and proud to be tutored. He preferred his ignorant ideas to what his very capable advisors would recommend, and he would often dismissively refer to advisors' real knowledge as "bullshit."
Trump reportedly watched a lot of TV, as much as six to eight hours a day. He was always interested in what others were saying about him.
He was not, however, interested in getting the daily intelligence briefings that were routine for presidents. Instead, he took intelligence briefings only twice per week!
Trump, before elected president, was successful in his unique way. As soon as he became president he was in deep water way over his head. Trump's insensitive and out of line talk and his lack of common sense manifested in many places. For example, when he visited London, England he met the Mayor of London and referred to him [reasons unknown] as a "stone-cold loser" at the start of his state visit to the UK. In response, the Mayor of London likened Trump's maturity to that of an 11-year old. The mayor also asserted that Trump's racist remarks and far right ideologies were damaging to international relations.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/06/04/sadiq-khan-reaction-trump-uk-trip-comments-ward-vpx.cnn
Bob Woodward interviewed many of the White House staff, whose characterizations revealed an unfortunate aspect of Trump's personality:
"Grievance was a big part of Trump's core, very much like a 14-year-old boy who felt he was being picked on unfairly. You couldn't talk to him in adult logic. Teenage logic was necessary" (Woodward, 2018, p299).
CONCLUSION
Since Trump's years in office, the Jan. 6th Committee, the subsequent Federal Criminal Justice investigations, and multiple State investigations have produced an enormous amount of evidence concerning criminal offenses. This has resulted in four separate indictments that include 91 separate charges.
It is interesting that Trump's level of maturity has been estimated as that of:
An eleven year old.
A fourteen year old.
And a ten year old.
Multiple politicians, both republican and democrat have commented on Trump's dangerousness to democracy. Many of both parties have said Trump does not have the character to be president.
Trump remains a popular personality and is the leading presidential Republican candidate in national polls. Many commentators say he could be the Republican Nominee for president. And polls indicate he and President Biden are at an approximately virtual tie as to which might win if both ran for president.
According to Chris Christie, however, the current polls are "national polls" and don't mean much. He says it's the State polls which count and those polls indicate Trump's popularity is not as great as the national polls indicate.
My assessment is that it's a little less likely Trump can gain the Republican nomination. But he never gives up and he is very desperate. And he is increasingly making bizarre public comments and vicious threats like, "If you come after me then I'm coming after you."
As Federal and State Courts come closer to beginning trials, Trump has continued to do whatever he pleases--even though multiple judges have warned him against biasing and intimidating jurors and judges.
So far, judges have written two gag orders. Trump, however, has not stopped his usual misbehavior. He continues to shoot himself in the foot with what he says.
He is desperate, increasingly unhinged.
Many polled potential voters apparently deeply value Trump's personality output. Or maybe he's a successful "counter-culture hero." I believe there must be something meaningful explaining Trump's popularity. It's generally thought true about him that he's very good at reading the emotions of the public's values and inclinations. And he can read other politicians quite well. His verbal attacks on others are deviously stinging. His nicknames for enemies stick to the unfortunate victim.
But when we citizens are casting a vote for the Presidential candidate, it should be a vote for American democracy--NOT for the personality of any one man. It should be a vote for character and competence, not just for a personality packaging a serious lack of capacity to govern. After all, Trump can't adequately govern himself.
For references, see the relevant page on the powertomyvotes.com website.
- END -