The tough guy who isn't — President Trump lets his flock of neocon imperialists walk all over him

© 2019 Peter Free

 

08 January 2019

 

 

If you want to be an emperor — act like one

 

President Trump's abrasively nasty personality seems to let him down, even in political areas that one might think his assertiveness would exhibit mild competence.

 

For example, the commander in chief fancies himself the equivalent of a monarch. But he seems to have neither the consistency, nor the foreseeing intelligence, to make his cabinet members and advisors do his announced will.

 

 

Consider President Trump's announced Syria withdrawal

 

Of this, libertarian Ron Paul accurately observed that:

 

 

No sooner did President Trump announce our departure than his neocon advisors began walking his words back.

 

First he had to endure a lunch with Sen. Lindsey Graham reading him the riot act, where, according to the Senator, Trump agreed to no timetables for departure.

 

Then his National Security Advisor, John Bolton, and his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, began to tell the world that President Trump’s statements on troop pullout were just empty words, not US policy.

 

Secretary of State Pompeo is embarking on a Middle East tour where he will essentially tell leaders in the region that the US president is a liar.

 

According to one State Department official quoted in a report on Sunday, Pompeo’s message to the Middle East will be, “Despite reports to the contrary and false narratives surrounding the Syria decision, we are not going anywhere. The secretary will reinforce that commitment to the region and our partners.”

 

How is this not insubordination?

 

© 2019 Ron Paul, Trump’s Neocons Reverse His Syria Withdrawal Plan, The Unz Review (07 January 2018) (excerpts)

 

 

The moral? — The only thing that President Trump seems to be good at — is consistently displaying a short list of arguable negatives

 

These include:

 

 

sowing attention-receiving discord,

 

being erratically theme-demolishing, just after having seeded kernels of arguable sense

 

and

 

wildly displaying a glaring inability to control his administration.

 

 

The president's skill set is more in accord with a histrionic child, stomping toddler legs atop resonant plywood, than a world leader striding the world stage.

 

With the above listed behaviors, Trump eventually makes himself tiresome. The Deep State has, it seems, disemboweled the President by using his impetuous personality against him.

 

All his life, Donald Trump has been running from the possibility that he is ineffectual. His current behavior, despite being adorned with the Presidency's significant power, may be demonstrating that demon's case.

 

Is there tragedy in this — or considerably less, given the President's probable lack of Shakespearean soul?