"The Greatest President" (a TV masterpiece)

(editorial comment)

My current analytic theory in  contemplation of Trumpland is that the man is engaged in producing his own TV "reality" show.

There are quite a few things that he has done or caused to occur that I like; the tax law, the veterans benefits law, Justice Goresuch, de-regulation of everything he can reach by EO, a long list of pending judicial appointments that will fundamentally alter the character of the federal judiciary for a generation,  his negotiating technique with China, and other Melian states over trade barriers (the tariffs are IMO just a ploy), his confrontation with NOKO (it is yielding changes in rocketman's positions).  From my POV these are positives.

In spite of all these good things, the man is bizarre in his approach to life.  He seems to be driven by demons from his childhood to act like a fool and boor.  Usually such behavior is derived from an unhappy relationship with a parent or both parents.  His serial philandering with women who happen to pass through his life and his grotesque description of his wooings leads me to believe that it is probably his mother whom he is trying to defeat.  Unkind?  Freudian? Yes.

In the development of his "team," a favorite business term, he really seems to me to be producing his own show with the intention of starring in it as well.  His ego is such that he is compelled to see himself as the center of every scene, a magnetic pole toward which all heads are bowed without serious discord or disagreement.  In his version of "The West Wing," there is no place for serious dissent by such as McMaster, Kelly, Tillerson, Mattis, etc.  To reach the right casting outcome, he is systematically replacing any characters who will disturb the coherence of the show.  At the same time he appears to be writing the scripts in order to produce successful endings and outcomes with regard to the foreign countries who, for him, are really just script devices and scenery.  I doubt that it really occurs to him that he may not be able to overcome the Spartans/Russians/Iranians and their trivial satellites like Melos/Syria.  After all, is it not HIS show?  pl

Comments

[shepherd]

It may interest you all to know that in the Greek, Thucydides is well known for writing sentences that could mean two entirely different things. Thus, a translation is even more of an interpretation than is normally the case.

[Jack]

TTG

The power of K Street and the various lobbies are impressive. Our budgets are a marvel in pork barrel spending. While many worthwhile projects do get funded, so do many more boondoggles. I believe Israel came out ahead too. I'm certain every committee member got something for their favorite "charity". When it is OPM (Other People's Money) it is always time to be generous.

[The Twisted Genius]

pl,

Yes, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has some great programs including the oyster reseeding. The accounts of Captain John Smith about the boundless oyster beds in the Bay are quite remarkable. I'm more attached to the Potomac Conservancy which works hand-in-hand with the CBF. The Conservancy just released its report on the river and gave it an overall grade of B. In 2011 it was a D. Fredericksburg has also done a terrific job of preserving the Rappahannock along with the Friends of the Rappahannock group. The city acquired control of both banks of the Rappahanock and Rapidan for some 30 miles upstream to ensure the rivers' quality. It's another ecological success story that contributes to the health of the Bay.

[Charlie Wilson]

Col Lang,

What/which two men?

The post is brilliant.

[turcopolier]

Charlie Wilson

Qathafi way back and Saddam pl

[Fellow Traveler]

Thucydides was a favorite of Leo Strauss:

https://leostrausscenter.uchicago.edu/course/thucydides-1972-73-st-john’s-college-annapolis

I'll stick to Asimov and see Trump as the Twitter Mule.

[Laura]

What if God was using Obama and you just didn't recognize it? Religion is a pretty poor guide for national interest in the 21st century. It is a good guide for how to treat your immediate surroundings and people. Praying also!

[Laura]

I think if you convert those older costs into current dollars you might be surprised! Also, health and safety of workers has certainly become more important. I don't think it is money or regulations that is stopping us from rebuilding---it is imagination and ideology.

[turcopolier]

Fellow Traveler

Azimov liked Thucydides. L. Strauss could pervert anything including Plato. pl

[catherine]

jdledell said...

What bugs me the most is neither Trump or any in his adminsitration have defined "Make America Great Again".>>>

Exactly. Someone needs to define what 'Great' means. Just like we need to define what 'American interest' are.

[catherine]

''What is the proper number of acres the federal government should own? What is the proper public use of these areas? How many national forests?''

What do you think is the proper number of acres?

If you don't already understand the wisdom of preserving some natural land, wildlife and ecological soundness in the country--then my explaining it to you would be pointless.

[Dr. Puck]

The frisson produced by the blurring of entertainment celebrity with most powerful person in the world is papable.

I'm of the left but not in it. Trump won fair and square and is legit.

Thanks for the summary. It is all about the positive results at the end of the day.

POTUS's unwinding and tilting leftward the GOP's free trade ethos goes along with a number of disagreeable economic policies, such as supply-side borrow and spending. Still, should he and his party usher in prosperity in the rural, exburban, and suburban precincts where his core base lives, then the more cosmopolitan areas would have already been well served by the success of the growth experiment. This is, potentially, his strongest hand.

Concerning was his delivering a mountain of cash to the very elites, WS, masters of the rigged system, and, predatory lenders he ran against. (I do note that 'drain the swamp' has been neatly refashioned to target the confiscatory collectivism seen by some to be the root cause of all poor economic performance.) POTUS should be very careful not to upset the applecart of the Trump economy.

There, seemingly, is a lot of cash sloshing around the cabinet departments. That never ends well.

Concerning most of all is his shooting from the hip.

[blue peacock]

Laura

No doubt our purchasing power has been substantially debased. Over 90+% since the creation of the Fed according to their own statistics.

But... that does not account for the time it takes to get these projects completed. 4 years to get the Golden Gate Bridge built compared to 11 years just to replace a span on the Bay bridge! That shows the degree of productivity loss over the past century.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Yes, and at that Golden Age, you could not have vascular stents, insulin, penicillin, gene-therapy, organ-transplants, dental implants, television, radio, the Internet, airplanes, turbines, Fuel-injected engines, SUVs, computers, computer games, etc. etc. etc. at ANY PRICE.

[blue peacock]

Great! But we can't build a span of a bridge or bore some tunnels in under a decade or even cast some steel beams.

However, we got SnapChat. Progress indeed.

[DickT]

Re veterans benefits what's up with VA health care privatization? I'm getting great care. Shinseki and Shulkin shouldn't have been shoved out. Sorry for the alliteration.

[Richard]

A nice analogy. But what makes you believe that Russia has been cast by Trump as a "bad guy" that the main character has to defeat?

[Babak Makkinejad]

That is due to the political choices of the electorate over 40 years, it is not the fault of SnapChat.

[turcopolier]

Richard

How boring! I was merely listing "enemies" he might think he had to best. pl