Trump Almost Outdoes Himself

Trump managed to surprise me a little this week. I’ve known he is a vulgar, unpatriotic narcissist and demagogue.  I’ve known he is a fan of brutal dictators with a strong authoritarian streak of his own. I’ve known he is a scoundrel and a  pathological liar. I’ve known he is a blustering ignoramus.  Still his behavior this week displayed those traits so vividly that it was as though he were trying to outdo himself in being Trump with all that that implies.

When a hostile foreign power invades a country friendly to the United States, a patriotic American does not pick that time to praise the invaders’ dictator. When an aggressor attacks a peaceful neighboring country, an opponent of authoritarianism does not prattle admiringly about what a great deal the attackers made for themselves. When a war is breaking out in Europe, an occasionally honest and intermittently decent ex-president does not blame the war, not on the aggressors, but on the unfortunate fact that he is no longer running  things and repeat a lie that somebody, somehow cheated him out of his rightful place at the  top. Upon being told of a possible amphibious assault on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, an even slightly well informed ordinary American citizen does not jump to the silly conclusion that U.S. rather than Russian forces would be making the landing.   

It was something that Trump managed to do all those thing in a couple of days and on camera to boot.  Politics is a nasty business. I understand that Republicans need to placate Trump enough to keep him from sabotaging them in the mid-term elections or making a third party run in 2024. I just hope that in doing so, they also make sure he never gets close to getting their nomination. Maybe Garland or some state or local prosecutors could help them out. Trump did try to overthrow the republic in the days between December 14^th, 2020 and January  6^th, 2021. He may have gone beyond shifty to illegal in some of his dealings in business. Officials should be looking.