Dr. John, who died in 2019, lives on. He might as well have been taking about Trump’s performance as president when he sang: “I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time. I’d have said the right thing but I must have used the wrong line.” Over and over, Trump’s modus operandi has been to choose the worst possible means to whatever end he’s seeking.
Even if you concede our southern border is insecure, promising a wall he can’t get enough votes in Congress to build, manufacturing imaginary invasions, and separating small children from their parents and subjecting them to inhumane conditions makes him and his solutions look worse than the problems.
Trying to improve our balance of trade with China and to address Chinese state subsidies for industries with which we compete or its systematic piracy of intellectual property from trading partners ought to be on any president’s agenda, but imposing almost two years of tariffs on Chinese trade has had the boomerang effect of causing more economic pain for American farmers, manufacturers, and consumers than to the rulers of China. Autocrats can take a longer view and have a far higher tolerance for pain than the leaders of democratic capitalist societies subject to public opinion and market swings.
President Obama warned Trump that North Korea’s nuclear ambitions would be a problem, but Trump responded by turning his back on longstanding policies of sanctions and military readiness. Instead, Trump alternatively called Kim names, rattled sabers, and wooed him with visions of turning his impoverished police state into a tourist resort destination in exchange for nuclear disarmament. To a real estate huckster this may have seemed like genius, but to an insecure, vain and ruthless tyrant who murders any family members who get in his way, nukes are the obvious secret to longevity and Trump’s idea of a bargain puerile. Dotard, indeed.
Believing the absurd conspiracy theory peddled to him by Vladimir Putin that Ukraine and not Russia was out to steal our elections managed to get Trump impeached, and believing a looming climate apocalypse is fiction makes the worst more certain by making Trump willing to scrap the Paris Climate Accord and to roll back constraints on fossil fuels in order to pocket a few extra votes from coal miners and dollars from the pollution lobby.
And then there’s Iran. Trump thought lifting sanctions and eliminating a treaty curbing the acquisition of nuclear arms by Iran would poke Obama in the eye and make Iran into our pals. Instead, these steps made our implacable enemies more vicious than ever and did nothing to deter their malicious intent in their region. So, Trump reimposed sanctions claiming maximum pressure would bring the regime to heel.
However, no such luck. Instead, they brought attacks on American assets including a drone. When Trump was criticized for failing to act, he worried he looked weak. So, when Trump learned General Qassem Soleimani had new terrorist plots afoot he was miffed enough to have him assassinated, and then took to TV to boast about it.
Call it a vanity killing. But this clumsy creation of a martyr all but guarantees more insecurity in the region of “endless war” and danger to American lives.
Such a list could be extended for pages, but the principle is obvious. Trump acts on whim, misinformation, or misguided self-interest on issue after issue. He refuses to trust experts and values the photo op of the moment over the risk of dire consequences in the future. Even when trying to pander to his base, Trump often puts into motion forces likely backfire by threatening their prosperity and safety.
His foes would be wise to emphasize the inevitability of unintended consequences following every hasty move a clueless Trump arrogantly undertakes. Wile E. Coyote might as well be his role model, but another fictional character also comes to mind.
In “Red Dragon,” Will Graham, who put the sociopathic forensic psychiatrist and serial killer, Dr, Hannibal Lecter, behind bars and was almost killed in the process, feels compelled to ask the madman’s help with a new case. Lecter wonders why Graham would bother.
Lecter: “You think you’re smarter than I am, since it was you who caught me.”
Graham: “No, I know I’m not smarter than you.”
Lecter: “Then how did you catch me?”
Graham: “You had…disadvantages.”
Lecter: “What disadvantages?”
Graham: “You’re insane.”
Democrats, Never-Trumper Republicans, Independents, and American citizens of no particular political persuasion hoping for a rational approach to our country’s ills and opportunities in the future, should take heed. The parable above may have something to teach about a leader whose psychological profile has led experts to debate only whether to describe him as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder or sociopathy. Either way, he has shown himself to be too dangerous to entrust with the power of the presidency and the command of the armed forces of the United States. Stop him before the latest unintended consequences come home to roost.