Trump began this year like he did last threatening North Korea with nuclear weapons by telling how he has a bigger and more powerful nuclear button than Kim Jong-Un. No president in our history has openly threatened another nation in such a manner. We are truly dealing with a situation unprecedented far outside what is normal.
I don’t know about you but I like consistency which has made our country into what it has become. A constant thread has run through all our dealings whether the president was Democrat or Republican especially since the end of World War II. No prior president railed at the past (never mind trying to have his opponent charged with crimes) and none thought he was beginning our history anew. Each built upon his predecessor making small changes as reflect his philosophy.
We went from two extremes when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter. Their beliefs differed greatly. Yet Reagan never attacked Carter. He did not try to undermine what he had done. He went forward with his own beliefs and ideals in a smooth transition of power building upon some of Carter’s programs and instituting his own.
Trump has no regard for what happened previously outside of a feeling that if Obama did it then he must undo it. I suggest the reason we see such outlandish happenings is we have a president who doesn’t read. He watches television. He has not even a little understanding of history. He never served the country as all other presidents had done by being in the military , politics or public service. He only served himself.
Remember when Xi Jingping visited Trump in Florida. Afterward Trump said Xi gave him a history lesson of China and North Korea. He said: “After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy. I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power over North Korea. But it’s not what you would think.”
I hope you’re shaking your head and wondering how Trump could be negotiating anything without a background on what he is dealing with. Wouldn’t a normal person in his position have spent time preparing for the meeting with his own advisers and experts? It is apparent that he didn’t. He knew nothing about North Korea’s history.
It also turns out that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner who he relies on as his primary adviser has the same habits as the president. Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough told about him : “I have spoken with him a lot, I like Jared, but any time he tried to explain the history of the Middle East, he didn’t want to, he didn’t want to hear it. He said, ‘I’m tired of the talking. We don’t need to read history books.”” This accounts for his attitude shown in a January 3 article in the Washington Post which noted “An unnamed senior European official recounted a “frightening” conversation with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, . . “Kushner was ‘very dismissive’ about the role of international institutions and alliances and uninterested in the European’s recounting of how closely the United States had stood together with Western Europe since World War II. ‘He told me, ‘I’m a businessman, and I don’t care about the past. Old allies can be enemies, or enemies can be friends.’ So, the past doesn’t count,’ the official recalled. ‘I was taken aback.’”
Obviously you don’t want to hear anything about the past if you have no knowledge about it. Trump and his son-in-law believe they are inventing the wheel. All that has gone before them is of no value. That’s why while waiving the flag of a nuclear war – a war that will bring death to millions of South Koreans – Trump is unaware of the damage he is doing. Do you wonder if he understands the carnage a nuclear attack can cause. Do you think that with his loose talk he is oblivious to the reaction of the people who will be affected by his actions?
On a tangential matter. Professor Alan Dershowtiz pens an article today decrying the use of psychiatric diagnoses pinned by laymen and even non-treating physicians on politicians, like Donald Trump. Dershowitz boasts that for 25 years he’s taught law and the law/psychiatry and published extensively about the dangers of diagnosing politicians in the media.
Funny . . . he forget . . .in 1990, after being trumped by Bill Bulger at the Governor’s Council and aptly labelled a “murderer of reputations” for his malicious unfounded attacks on judicial nominee Paul Mahoney, what he, Alan Dershowitz did. He scurried to two radio shows (Jerry Williams and Avi Nelson, as I recall; afternoon, late afternoon) and he described Senate President William Bulger as a lunatic in need of psychiatric care: Here as I recall the words I penned in 1990 is what Dershowitz said, in a nutshell about the always cool, calm, temperate Mr. William Bulger: “Bulger was out of control, he was ranting . . . he was raving . . . he is in serious need of psychiatric help.”
Now, today’s kinder, gentler, little lamb who counsels against mixing politics with psychiatry, was wolfishly adept at doing that very sort of snarling mauling thing against his political foes thirty years ago.
He must be suffering from forgetfulness, an old age malady visited upon one and all, or puffery: as we age we do tend to view out tilting at windmills as something more chivalrous than whimsy, wishful thinking, wind-baggedness, boastfulness, a narcissistic personality disorders’ sine qua non signpost and pathognomonic (sp?) symptom: DENIAL.
Alan D. denies he was the godfather of attacking political foes with psychiatric slurs, as well as being the godfather of using/urging prosecutors to prosecute political opponents. Remember how often he railed that Bill Bulger should be imprisoned for bribery and extortion and John Connolly should be squeezed to squeal? For 20-30 years or more, that’s how long and often Alan D. has been off his proverbial rocker.
Ah, well; all’s well that ends well I suppose, except that some of those Alan D. has stigmatized and crucified have not ended up so well, and some continue to suffer for his past excessive indiscretions.
It takes a big man to acknowledge he was wrong and apologize for it and try to rectify it.
Some men white-wash their pasts with imagined glories, or gloss over wrongs. What, me worry? They say. I’m a high and mighty muckety muck; I’m in the Media and Academia, why should I admit anything, admit any failing . . . look at all the “good” I’ve done . . . and so said Oliver Cromwell, was that before or after they beheaded him, buried him, dug him up and drawn and quartered him?
Well, let Alan D and all the whirling dervishes whirl; do not judge lest you be judged; don’t throw stones, but don’t let Alan D or Howie Carr stone good people to death either; and don’t let self-serving ideologues, demagogues, academics or talk-show guru guys revise history; and REMEMBER, as the Bard said, of all of us, “The evil men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar” which to me is a great indictment of the Modern Media which defames the living and dead with impunity, . . .
but the common man remembers the good that good men do, and calls out the hypocrites, two-facers, wolves in sheep’s clothing, and back-stabbing Benedict Arnold’s of the Modern World.
Don’t throw stones; don’t let folks, especially innocent folks, be stoned to death or raked over the coals by the Media, Power Mongers in the Press, in Academia and in Public Office.
Do good and fear no man!
You…..nailed…..it!
Kushners quote is telling….explains why he’d partner with Russia to win the election.
Good point. It was the same attitude of the neocons in the White House under Bush, fils. It also coincides with the approach of the neoliberals that Hillary consorts with. It is a policy that isolates the US from the entire world, except Israel. Any interest differing from total support of Israel is a threat per se. It must be destroyed. Kushner is an example of this. A parasite is genetically programmed; it cannot abide sharing a host.
Easy to caricature Kim delinquent as the loose Korean cannon he is . He is a calculating young fellow , intent on staying alive and in power . He has developed a deadly Shtick of playing nuclear brinkmanship with his terrified regional neighbors , and with the World . Chain reactions being as they may .
Our ” Stable Genius ” is quite capable of putting this destabilizing North Korean Nuclear Genie back into the bottle he nurses on at such a mature age . Like Ronald Reagan with his captured off mike quip about having …” just launched ” nuclear missiles … Donald Trump , bluster and braggadocio and bravura and essential goodness and all , makes the little bully nervous . He needs to be .
This is a Stick as opposed to a ” Shtick.”
Like TR , Trump knows how to use that stick . It has brought North Korea to these recent talks with their scarred psychic half . It is a start .
Trump is now taking credit for the fact that North and South Korea are talking. But the talks are clearly intended to leave the Trump and the U.S. on the outside looking in. The North will never surrender its nuclear weapons. The elephant in the room is the weakness of the U.S. anti-missile system. If Kim can actually shoot a few missiles in our direction with a reasonable degree of accuracy, chances are a couple of major U.S. cities will be wiped out. Not a pretty picture. But it’s the same problem we face with nuclear-armed nations like China and Russia. North Korea should just be added to the list of our potential nuclear foes and managed accordingly.
The Trump lack of polish in foreign affairs is not unprecedented. John Kennedy appointed relatives to high positions and relied upon them. His inept conduct towards the leader of the USSR had him stumble into the closest unnecessary skirting of a nuclear holocaust in history. At the height of it he was so PR conscious that the he delayed halting the Soviet ship delivering armaments to Cuba until a naval vessel named after his brother could be brought up for the photo op. To get out of the pickle JFK sold out our ally Turkey by withdrawing much of our fire power on the Soviet Union’s southern border. It was fulsomely denied at the time. So much for transparency.
No good comes from appointing relatives to high office. Having knock out looking wives is one thing, but having ambitious relatives is another. One is a pleasure; the other, a danger.
Given the advances in the technology of communication the North Korean situation has not escalated to the close call with annihilation for mankind that the Cuban missile crisis brought forth. Both sides know they are tossing spitballs to amuse the public while the backroom boys work something out.
There is much room for optimism today. Donald Trump does not drink or have a Doctor Feelgood pumping him full of a mind-altering cocktail of drugs. But that is not good enough. Trump should dump Kushner & Co. In that Matt is on the mark.
Excellent post, Tadzio.
What is your solution on North Korea ?
‘ Zactly
You do not have one .
NEXXXXXXXTTTTT !
Right , Ronald Reagan was a cretin and George W. Bush was a dummy . This is so novel a development in the course of Democrat politics , to demean and belittle and degrade and excoriate and revile and shamelessly shame and slander an opponent , that we must call the behavior out .
Remember :
Democrats just want to have fun !
The Trump saga is also a reflection of modern American society .Now we hear talk of a very well known rich woman who also might run for President. It seems nowadays people are looking for something they feel is exciting rather than something boring but solid.The best and the brightest seem to go into tech or Wall Street. We also have late in life billionaires looking for something to do that will put them in the history books and live day to day in a manner that speaks of ego gratification rather than public service.
Matt – Your most reliable sources are the Washington Post and Joe Scarborough, proven Trump haters. What did CNN and MSNBC have to say ?