Gabe… IMO this is your most thoughtful and well-articulated column ever. You’ve captured the essence of government based on the showmanship and rantings of a sociopathic madman.
The two sole constants of the post-1968 Republican Party are what they have been since 1968: cutting taxes on rich people and using racism to get white people to buy into doing this by telling them that cutting taxes hurts black and brown people
Trump is not an anomaly: he is the epitome of the post-1968 Republican Party. He is what you get when Ronald Reagan kicks off his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The only reason the Republicans might change is because their efforts to bring Latinos into their fold were wrecked by Stephen Miller
With regard to the future of MAGA believers and by default the current Republican Party full of politicians practicing self-empretzelment, The Queens real estate mob boss sundowning as President not only has no plans or concepts of a plan for the future, he is a walking stroke waiting to happen. His “leaving the stage” will happen sooner than later and the reality of the residue left in his place will not be so much a war that tears his coalition apart, but a puff of wind that blows them all away.
Trump wants to be the hinge on which outcomes turn. If helping Ukraine makes him look decisive, he helps. If threatening to withhold support makes him look powerful, he withholds. The country is secondary to the performance. In other words: There’s a Trump instinct, not a Trump doctrine; and instincts don’t bind themselves when the spotlight shifts. If we were to distill any of that into some form of a doctrine or pattern, it would be: “Trump does what he thinks is best for Trump.”
I think this is a very apt description: "Trump governs with a NON-IDEOLOGICAL SPONTANEITY that can’t really be boiled down to a doctrine." The only area of Trump's behavior, I believe, that you can guarantee to be a Trump doctrine is that he'll support anything that he thinks can make him and his family money.
I was wondering whether Trump's claim to be the "Acting President of Venezuela" would be illegal or unconstitutional. Based on some preliminary research, it appears that it might not be. The Foreign Emoluments clause prohibits any person holding an "Office of Profit or Trust" under the United States from accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." However, Trump could argue that a) there is no compensation (emolument) associated with this position and b) he didn't accept the position: he took it.
Support for a popular president implies a capacity for leadership towards a perceived "rightness". It is difficult for anyone to follow him, except the entitled, and those who believe denigration of the "other" will deliver them. Their perception of "rightness" is not right. It lacks empathy, which is a constant element of what's "right". Further, as you have so artfully pointed out, a doctrine requires consistency, and effective planning and execution.
It's impossible for a zero-sum narcissist to do that -- Trump can't think beyond enriching and aggrandizing himself -- in real estate, that's done transaction by transaction. Everything is a "deal". A "big deal" here is that he has access to a highly effective military, which can do precision strikes better than anyone. That tool is deadly in the wrong hands, unencumbered by vision, objectives and execution beyond the immediate awesome mission. There will be nothing left when he leaves office except the mess he made while in it.
Gabe… IMO this is your most thoughtful and well-articulated column ever. You’ve captured the essence of government based on the showmanship and rantings of a sociopathic madman.
The two sole constants of the post-1968 Republican Party are what they have been since 1968: cutting taxes on rich people and using racism to get white people to buy into doing this by telling them that cutting taxes hurts black and brown people
Trump is not an anomaly: he is the epitome of the post-1968 Republican Party. He is what you get when Ronald Reagan kicks off his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The only reason the Republicans might change is because their efforts to bring Latinos into their fold were wrecked by Stephen Miller
With regard to the future of MAGA believers and by default the current Republican Party full of politicians practicing self-empretzelment, The Queens real estate mob boss sundowning as President not only has no plans or concepts of a plan for the future, he is a walking stroke waiting to happen. His “leaving the stage” will happen sooner than later and the reality of the residue left in his place will not be so much a war that tears his coalition apart, but a puff of wind that blows them all away.
Trump wants to be the hinge on which outcomes turn. If helping Ukraine makes him look decisive, he helps. If threatening to withhold support makes him look powerful, he withholds. The country is secondary to the performance. In other words: There’s a Trump instinct, not a Trump doctrine; and instincts don’t bind themselves when the spotlight shifts. If we were to distill any of that into some form of a doctrine or pattern, it would be: “Trump does what he thinks is best for Trump.”
I think this is a very apt description: "Trump governs with a NON-IDEOLOGICAL SPONTANEITY that can’t really be boiled down to a doctrine." The only area of Trump's behavior, I believe, that you can guarantee to be a Trump doctrine is that he'll support anything that he thinks can make him and his family money.
I was wondering whether Trump's claim to be the "Acting President of Venezuela" would be illegal or unconstitutional. Based on some preliminary research, it appears that it might not be. The Foreign Emoluments clause prohibits any person holding an "Office of Profit or Trust" under the United States from accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." However, Trump could argue that a) there is no compensation (emolument) associated with this position and b) he didn't accept the position: he took it.
Just saying...
Support for a popular president implies a capacity for leadership towards a perceived "rightness". It is difficult for anyone to follow him, except the entitled, and those who believe denigration of the "other" will deliver them. Their perception of "rightness" is not right. It lacks empathy, which is a constant element of what's "right". Further, as you have so artfully pointed out, a doctrine requires consistency, and effective planning and execution.
It's impossible for a zero-sum narcissist to do that -- Trump can't think beyond enriching and aggrandizing himself -- in real estate, that's done transaction by transaction. Everything is a "deal". A "big deal" here is that he has access to a highly effective military, which can do precision strikes better than anyone. That tool is deadly in the wrong hands, unencumbered by vision, objectives and execution beyond the immediate awesome mission. There will be nothing left when he leaves office except the mess he made while in it.