By now, everyone knows the choicest tidbits from Bob Woodward's Fear. But the relentless chaos and nightmare of Trump's administration only really comes across when you read the whole book. I finished this weekend, and Steve Bannon's observation really sticks in my mind. "He doesn't like professors. He doesn't like intellectuals. Trump was a guy who never went to class. Never got the syllabus. Never took a note. Never went to a lecture. The night before the final he comes in at midnight from the fraternity house, puts on a pot of coffee, takes your notes, memorizes as much as he can, walks in at 8 in the morning and gets a C. And that's good enough. He's going to be a billionaire."
So now he's won - he's king of the castle. And the experts, the thinkers, those who have spent their lives in public service have to pretend that he's in charge. And guess what - he IS in charge - in charge of dismantling everything they stand for and everything they've done.
Damage control is all they can hope for now. They must scramble every minute to avert disaster, recover from random tweets or some improvised insult inserted by Trump into his official talking points. And even after he's walked it back, it's useless. In the case of Charlottesville, Trump calls the correction (you can't even characterize it as apology) the worst mistake of his presidency.
Mattis and Gary Cohn have frequent hushed conversations about The Big Problem: "The president did not understand the importance of allies overseas, the value of diplomacy or the relationship between the military its economy and intelligence partnerships with foreign governments." But not only does he not understand them, he repeatedly sets out to undermine and dismantle these alliances.
"Trade is bad" he writes across the page at one point.
It would be one thing if Trump knew he was ignorant and thus relied on the expertise of others. But only flattery and 100% loyalty matter to him. In spite of the evidence - on the importance of trade for instance, repeatedly put before him, Trump's mantra is "if you disagree with me you're wrong." And why wouldn't he think that? He's their boss - king of the castle. He's got the big prize and you work for him. He is president. He reminds me of Yertle the Turtle.
The big takeaway from this stunning book: Trump is not only ignorant, but he believes that his strength lies in ignorance. Woodward writes "He acted like doing too much advance preparation would diminish his skills in improvising. He did not want to be derailed by forethought. As if a plan would take away his power, his sixth sense."
So the real question is why everybody continues to enable him. When you give your notes to the class clown you do it for a reason. There's some kind of self preservation or warped logic behind it. Usually it's because the clown is also a bully or has some kind of persuasive charm - and you don't want to get on his bad side. Since he's full of bluster he can make life unpleasant, and you don't want his scorn turned in your direction. But actually in giving him your notes, you undermine your own integrity. The work you did, the things you know may go unseen to the casual observer. The so called prize - that degree or accolade that comes at the end - is actually not the prize at all. It is only an outward indicator of success. Real success comes from integrity and what goes on inside. In letting the slacker off, in covering up for him and enabling him, you have undermined not just yourself, but what your institution or country stands for.
Wish I felt that when Mueller issues his subpoena for Trump to testify this will all come to an end. But the last chapter of Fear throws this hope into question. Trump is a liar and a loser and everybody knows it. But his lawyers are working day and night to protect him (not us) from this truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment