Random Reflections On Current Nonsense
Donald Trump attended the G7 economic summit, as American presidents always do. And as Donald Trump always does at such summits — unlike all other American presidents — he used his opening public remarks at the conference to advocate yet again for the interests of Russian “President” Vladimir Putin and to berate America’s major democratic allies for not including and embracing the notably anti-democratic Putin in their meeting, as well as to claim that the West would have no problem, but only friendly partnership, from Putin if only they would let him join in their reindeer games.
Why, then, is Donald Trump the one and only democratic world leader today, and the only American president in history, to serve as a permanent, consistent, and predictable advocate for the interests of a Russian dictator? The answer, it seems to me, has always had more to do with psychology than politics, and seen in that light, it actually all becomes fairly straightforward. Not palatable, but straightforward.
Here is how I summarized the matter back in November 2019. Yes, that’s 2019. Plus ça change….
Trump stands with Vladimir Putin against every ally, foreign and domestic, serving and overtly defending Putin’s interests in every context imaginable, from Syria to the G20 to Ukraine. And as for that last case, I believe the Democrats are barking up the wrong tree in pursuing this idea of a quid pro quo linking military aid to a Ukrainian investigation of Joe Biden’s son. The Democrats are missing the point. Trump was not demanding any quid pro quo, although his language and tone may at times have carried that implication; and he was not really all that concerned about Joe Biden as an electoral opponent.
Rather, he was doing what he always does, and what he has been doing consistently throughout his presidency: He was trying to avoid acting in any way that might look like a rebuff to Putin, and therefore anger him, such as by giving military support to Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russia. Trump has been resisting and dragging his heels against the civilized world’s, and even his own party’s, judgments and policy choices with regard to Putin since day one. In every instance, he tries to quash any effort to reduce Putin’s influence or thwart his ambitions. Short of that, he takes pains to position himself in a personal light that is in no way disagreeable to Putin, and to distance himself from all American government resistance to Putin’s global thuggery and expansionist projects. His views on Crimea, for example, and Ukrainian interests in general, have been crystal clear and frequently stated all along. He does not understand why the U.S. should be positioning itself as a friend of puny little Ukraine, when Russia is bigger, stronger, and more important, and Trump always wants to be on the winning side of history.
In short, this president is owned by tyrants, and serves their interests at any price. My question is: How can any half-honest person fail to understand that at this point?
Being on the winning side of history, where Trump so desperately yearns to be — think of how often he makes “winning” his own claim to fame and chief promise to supporters — is an unprincipled coward’s concern. That is why Trump, the unprincipled coward par excellence, supports every brutal dictator at the expense of that dictator’s slaves or potential victims. He does not see right and wrong, good and evil, freedom and tyranny. He sees only “power” and “winning” vs. “weakness” and “losing.” (The scare quotes in that last sentence are meant to indicate that Trump’s perspective on power and victory is the backwards outlook of a moral coward and intellectual weakling.) He therefore admires those who show an ability to maintain or expand their power, regardless of how they do it.
Mike Lee, who just a few years ago looked and sounded like the soberest and most principled economic and moral conservative in the United States Senate, has recently been converted, via his social media alter ego, “Based Mike Lee,” into the most bombastically unhinged Trump populist in the United States Senate (and that’s really saying something). Now Lee, apparently confusing “based” with “base,” goes on Twitter rants against Ukraine and uses politically motivated murders as an opportunity to throw around radical and incendiary language about the radical and incendiary behavior of (supposed) “Marxists” — which he has since been induced by Democratic senate colleagues to take down. I do not know anything about his personal life or activities, of course, but I cannot help wondering whether Lee, a senator from Mormon-Republican Utah, has forsaken his formerly squeaky clean public image under the sway of some newly acquired habits of a decidedly un-Mormon chemical nature.
Donald Trump staged a quasi-military parade in his own honor last weekend, as his favorite dictators like to do. To his great surprise and shame, the parade was a bust, as the crowds were small and awkwardly lacking in enthusiasm for this strange display of military equipment on their public avenues. It was a surprise to him because he is ignorant enough not to understand that the same is true of the parades staged by his heroes, such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. That is, the purpose of such shows is never to excite and impress the locals, who are naturally embarrassed and/or frightened by their thuggish leader’s use of the military to show off his personal power, but rather to demonstrate to the outside world that the dictator is strong and has lots of scary weapons. Hence, even the small number of Trump cultists who lowered themselves to show up for such a performance voluntarily (unlike their Russian or North Korean counterparts, who are there mostly by coercion or so as to avoid looking non-compliant before the secret police), were undoubtedly feeling somewhat squeamish and bemused about the whole thing. After all, it is “Trump the America-loving TV star winner” that they worship, not so much the idea of having their very own dictator, which they are (ever-more desperately, one must assume) trying to convince themselves Trump is not. This parade must have been a most uncomfortable event indeed for those poor idol-worshippers who showed up, not to mention the millions more at home who did not show up but rather tried to turn their attention away and pretend this “parade” didn’t mean what it so obviously meant.
Oh, and Trump is now trying to join in on Netanyahu’s escalation against Iran, which is what one expects of dilapidated hero-leaders when they start to feel they are inexorably fading away and losing their ability to charm and impress even the weak-minded sheep they had hitherto counted on as their adoring “base.” But not to fear, Trump will back away from this brave talk issued from behind Bibi’s apron strings if Putin phones him with an objection. Trump’s dilemma: Desired Money vs. Sworn Duty, which is to say Israel vs. Putin. The next few years of America’s very ugly and far-overlong death scene, aka the final years of Western liberty’s sad surrender, appear likely to get much uglier, and, in fact, much longer.
