--President Donald Trump (10-7-2019)
Translated into normal presidential language -- "If Turkey should respond to the withdrawal of American troops in an unacceptable manner, the American government will respond with severe economic sanctions."
Note the difference between warning about an American response, and Mr. Trump's characteristic talent for making it all about himself. As though Turkey would be offending him personally, and he, in his infinite wisdom, would personally destroy the Turkish economy. There are other disturbing aspects about the President's tweet today, but his repeated use of the pronoun "I" is what catches my eye.
L'etat c'est moi.
It's but the latest of recent bizarre statements from the President. Claiming that the Speaker of the House was guilty of treason. Calling for her "impeachment," as well as the "impeachment" of the chairman of the committee investigating Mr. Trump himself, and the "impeachment" of a senator from his own party. Denouncing a teenage girl who has moved the world by campaigning against global warming. And admitting that he committed what most would agree were impeachable offenses, but asserting they weren't.
The President is a graduate of Wharton Business School at Penn, although with grades that must remain forever secret. Even if he barely graduated, he did graduate. His ignorance of the Constitution and the political process seems strange, and his inability to work with people with ideas different from his own seems peculiar in a man educated in one of the best business schools in the nation.
Even if his peculiarities of spelling and grammar are part of the Twitter idiom, they seem odd in a person with at least a high school education who is trying to appeal to countrymen who speak more conventionally.
And Trump seems to be getting stranger and stranger as the threat of his impeachment increases. It occurs to me that he may be cracking up, or breaking down, or falling apart.
But maybe not. Maybe he's still planning ahead. Maybe he realizes that, at this point, he can no longer avoid impeachment in the House, even if his loyalists in the Senate will refuse to convict him. Maybe he doesn't want to be the third President in history to be impeached, especially on the basis not only of collusion with foreign powers, but on the less explicitly stated bases of incompetence, lack of leadership ability, traits showing weakness (or absence) of character, and serious personality disorders.
Maybe he wants to be persuaded to resign. To resign not because of his guilt or stupidity, but because of an onset of mental illness, however temporary, over which he has no control, for which he has no personal blame. After a period of rest and relaxation at Mar-a-Lago, and "treatment" by a friendly therapist, he can return to the business world, restored to vigor and mental health. The world for which he was educated. The art of the deal, deals among businessmen who respect each other. The owner of great skyscrapers and well-plotted golf courses. Casinos. Resorts designed for the rich and tasteless.
Or, he could return to the work that really got him to where he is now. Reality television. Firing young people on national television who have risked just this very humiliation, in exchange for the hopes of fame and money. The talent and love that he has carried with him to the presidency -- dismissing underlings with scorn and humiliation.
Let's look into it. Maybe we can make a deal.
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