One of the more amusing
aspects of the 2016 election was how the pearl clutchers of Conservative Inc.
would rush out of their hobbit dens every week, shrieking, “That’s it! Trump is
finished!” It was always after Trump mocked their virtue in some way. They
would carry on like it was just a matter of time before their adoring public
rallied to their banner and chased away the evil dirt monster. They are still
waiting for anyone to show up and take their side. Meanwhile Trump has
completed his sixth month in office.
Since January, another pattern has emerged. The Fake News makes
up a story and the commentariat carries on as if it is fact. A few months ago,
the Fake News swore that Bannon was about to be fired. That did not happen so
they moved onto Kushner. His alleged ties to Tsar Alexander were going to force
him out. Now, the Fake News swears that Trump is about to fire Sessions. Suddenly
everyone in Conservative Inc, who hated Sessions, is now defending him as a
great statesman and politician.
The key to understanding Trump has always been that he loves
drama. The never ending quarrel is what gets him up in the morning. He thrives
in chaos and when he cannot find it, he creates it. The reason is Trump is an
opportunist. That’s his nature. He seeks to maximize what he has in order to
leverage it into a chance to catch someone sleeping, so he can get a bargain in
his next deal. This
post from two years ago described Trump pretty well and it is holding
up now that he is in the White House.
There’s another aspect of
Trump that has always been true, but is taking center stage now that he is in
the White House. Two decades ago, he was often compared to George Steinbrenner,
the late owner of the New York Yankees. Like Steinbrenner, Trump is an
unpredictable and often impetuous boss. He gets mad at people for no sensible
reason and he hold grudges that make even less sense. Steinbrenner fired people
for trivial reasons, but would then hire them back. That’s what we see with
Trump now.
The reason Trump was so perfect for the reality show The
Apprentice was that he had the reputation for being the hot-headed
boss. It was not hard for Trump to be convincing when he would say his
catchphrase, “You’re fired!” It was something that people imagined he said
every week, because he had the reputation for firing people. It may have been
exaggerated, but we see now that Trump is not only a tough boss, bu he can be
petty and small. His treatment of Sessions is childish and pointless.
The thing is though, guys like Steinbrenner and Trump got very
rich in the toughest of businesses. The reason is they had a knack for creating
chaos, forcing people out of their comfortable positions. An enemy on the move
is vulnerable. By creating a whirlwind of chaos, Trump gets everyone moving and
inevitably, making mistakes. One possible reason for the paralysis in
Washington right now is that the snowflakes in the GOP are too frightened to
move. They have never experienced anything like this and they are scared.
From the perspective of the Dissident Right, this is a good
result. Most of the GOP are liars, who have been finking
on their voters for years. Their inability and unwillingness to
repeal ObamaCare has exposed this to even the most naive voters. Of course,
Trump’s penchant for creating chaos has collapsed the Washington media. Even
the most gullible is now assuming the news is fake. The ability of the
political class to peddle their agit-prop has been greatly diminished because
Trump has destroyed the media universe.
On the other hand, Trump’s
mad man management style is keeping him from getting anything through Congress.
He thinks he can wear down people like Ryan and McConnell, but he is misreading
the situation. Being Speaker is not like being the CEO of a company. Leadership
can only enforce discipline by withholding favors and that has a limit. Ryan
can’t fire uncooperative members of his caucus. Trumps’ bullying style is
probably making that task harder for the leadership.
Of course, the bigger issue is Team Trump does not know what
they are doing. Jared Kushner was good at marrying well and maybe he is good at
business, but he does not have the slightest clue about Washington politics.
Trump’s penchant for relying on family over smart advisers is fine in business,
because Trump is usually the smartest guy in the room. In politics, the only
person less qualified than Trump is his daughter, who he seems to rely on more
than political strategists like Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon.
Regardless, six months into the Trumpening and there is plenty
to disappoint and dishearten his voters. His vacillating on immigration is the
most worrisome. It’s why he is in the White House. His unwillingness to bring
the hammer down on recalcitrant
Republicans is mind boggling. Instead of tormenting Sessions,
he should be blasting the bugmen of the GOP. Again, Trump’s impulse to keep
everyone on edge, even his allies, makes supporting him an exhausting and
unrewarding endeavor.
On the other other hand, Trump did not get to this point by
doing things like a normal politician so it would not make sense for him to try
to become a normal politician. His unconventional style has worked when the
professionals said it would fail. A point worth making again is that you can’t judge Trump by
traditional metrics. He’s a once in a century political force who
will be judged more on what he destroys than on what he creates. He is the
destroyer of worlds, because the world of Washington needs destroying.
