President Trump likes to create crises situations. That way, if they do not grow worse, and especially if they happen to get better, he can hog all of the attention and, of course, the credit - both of which he is clearly addicted to.
It is a tiresome approach, and one that requires that Trump plays with fire. Of course, he is assuming, as he always assumes, that he knows best, and knows how to handle the situation - or at least that he will pretend to. This was clearly not the case when it came to healthcare, when he promised the world to Americans, a better system that would cover everyone, and which would be significantly cheaper than Obamacare, to boot. In the end, he did not even bother to actually draw up such a system himself, and attached his name to the Paul Ryan plan, that would have booted tens of millions of people off of healthcare coverage altogether. Or, for that matter, his secret plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days, when in fact, nothing much had changed in the approach to ISIS. Or, let's face it, paying for the wall along the Mexican border, when he promised - repeatedly - to make Mexico pay for it, but obviously was never going to be able to deliver on that promise. He has attempted various avenues since, and often tried to elevate this funding to crisis level. As of now, he is still looking for funding for his damn wall.
For those of us who recognize that he is, and always has been, a con artist out to scam people and convince them that he is far, far more than he actually is, this approach is obviously more than a little alarming. This man believes himself to be a genius - and a very stable genius at that - but the rest of us are far from convinced. That is especially true when he has such a limited attention span, that he often cannot complete his own sentences without interrupting them with some kind of new thought. His vocabulary is apparently limited, so he often does not quite get the right words that he wants, but he nevertheless attempts it time and again. Again, many of us recognize that this does not reflect well on the country, and it does not speak well of the man who we collectively as a nation decided to elect to the top office.
Another typical, and typically alarming, approach by President Trump is how he deals with the press. Obviously, he deflects any and all criticism of him and his approach by claiming that these criticism are biased and full under the domain of "fake news."
His believers are convinced that he is a genius, and absolutely right on this point. And really, how do you argue against this? After all, literally every argument to suggest that Trump is less than perfect falls on deaf ears when facts literally do not matter. Even legitimate criticism, once backed by facts, simply becomes yet another unfair and biased attack on their beloved leader, and thus falls under the umbrella of "fake news." Meanwhile, Trump has shown himself to be quite a master at producing plenty of fake news in his own right, things that are demonstrably false and/or misleading. Needless to say, this climate has felt downright dangerous to democracy, for obvious reasons.
And these relentless attacks on the press by President Trump have just not stopped, or even slowed down. Literally, he plays this same theme time and time and time again. That's his argument, his defense, for literally everything. But his supporters do not seem to mind that their beloved leaders in a one trick pony.
Recently, and unfortunately off the cameras, Trump revealed to a prominent, veteran reporter why he does this. Indeed, during a recent interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes (on CBS), she had this following exchange, while the cameras specifically were not rolling (see link below for access to the article where I got the following from):
"At one point, he started to attack the press," Stahl said. "There were no cameras in there."
"I said, 'You know, this is getting tired. Why are you doing it over and over? It's boring and it's time to end that. You know, you've won ... why do you keep hammering at this?'" Stahl recalled.
"And he said: 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.'"
He is not denying that the facts do not favor him. He is simply taking the approach that facts do not matter, that this is some kind of battle, and he obviously fully intends to win it. When he talks about "winning" all of the time, you kind of get the sense that he is talking about everything in terms of confrontations that need to be won. The United States versus the rest of the world. The Republicans versus the Democrats. The believers of extreme capitalism versus everyone else. And, of course, him and his tens of millions of supporters versus the rest of us, who are obviously not so quick to believe him, or jump aboard his bandwagon.
It is not going to stop, or even slow down. Not even a little. This guy creates tensions, he sets up crises, and then takes a systematic approach towards these crises, one in which he tries to make the only alternative is to do things his way, or everything will spiral out of control. The problem with this approach, of course, is that it creates not just tensions, but crises. Our allies in Europe are no longer allies, apparently, but this does not alarm Trump. Our national actions since Trump took over, particularly in breaking two major international agreements, also suddenly has fallen into crisis level, with the rest of the world no longer trusting whether the United States will even honor any deals.
Therein lies the problem - or at least one of the many problems - with Donald Trump, and his whole approach to what passes for leadership. When he is relentlessly boisterous and outright claims to be a "very stable genius," and now has the status as President of the United States to inflate his already oversized ego and embolden his already obviously exaggerated sense of importance and brilliance, you get some dangerous situations, as well as some ridiculous ones. Look at the whole Korea situation. It went from name-calling to threats which quickly escalated, and which had the world worried about nuclear war. Then, suddenly, Trump was about to become the first American President to meet with a North Korean leader, and he hailed it as a triumph, proclaiming victory before the meeting even took place. His supporters were cheering and chanting for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. And then, Trump released a very public breakup letter, done in typical Trump style, reflecting poorly on himself, and by extension, of course, on the country he now represents.
What a ridiculous situation, and what a farce this is. Trump is, and always has been, a ridiculous excuse for a man. Now, he is a ridiculous excuse for a president, and a fake president, at that. Yet, because people were not serious enough to take him for what he was, and instead indulged his fantasy and ego and took him at his word when he pretended to be so much more than what he is, much like the country itself, which has seen the standard of living decline, and hope along with it. Trump symbolizes this, too. But Trump is what he is, and unfortunately, he and his particular brand of fake news is the reality that we have to deal with now.
President Trump told Lesley Stahl he bashes press 'to demean you and discredit you so ... no one will believe' negative stories about him Dan Mangan, May 22, 2018:
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