A Wounded Narcissist Leading Us to Ruin

If there's any solid evidence that the United States as a nation, as a global power, as a beacon of political stability is no more, the recent letter from donald trump to Norway's prime minister should be the big fucking clue we've finally gone over the cliffs (via Robbie Griffiths at NPR): 

President Trump says his controversial push for U.S. control of Greenland comes after he failed to win the Nobel Peace Prize last year, adding he no longer feels obliged to think only of peace.

In a message to Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Sunday night, Trump criticized the European country for not giving him the prize.

"Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America," Trump said in the message.

"The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland," Trump added. The message was reported by PBS NewsHour, and was later confirmed by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in a statement.

Gahr Støre said he received the message on Sunday in response to a text he and Finland's President Alexander Stubb had sent to Trump, in which they had conveyed opposition to Trump's proposed tariff increases on eight European countries over the recent Greenland dispute.

There are images floating around of a physical letter, but I fear they are mock-ups instead of the real thing so I'm not going to post it here. But given how too many reputable news outlets have verified the contents of that letter, we should expect the messaging is correct... and clear.

For all of trump's bluster that Greenland is necessary for America's national security, the truth is that trump wants Greenland to satisfy his own broken ego. The truth is that the current occupant of the White House - I refuse to identify him otherwise - is a bratty five-year-old throwing a tantrum and lashing out in anger towards everyone he feels has insulted him.

As Anne Applebaum clarifies at the Atlantic:

One could observe many things about this document. One is the childish grammar, including the strange capitalizations (“Complete and Total Control”). Another is the loose grasp of history. Donald Trump did not end eight wars. Greenland has been Danish territory for centuries. Its residents are Danish citizens who vote in Danish elections. There are many “written documents” establishing Danish sovereignty in Greenland, including some signed by the United States. In his second term, Trump has done nothing for NATO—an organization that the U.S. created and theoretically leads, and that has only ever been used in defense of American interests. If the European members of NATO have begun spending more on their own defense (budgets to which the U.S. never contributed), that’s because of the threat they feel from Russia.

Yet what matters isn’t the specific phrases, but the overall message: Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland.

For the past year, American allies around the world have tried very hard to find a theory that explains Trump’s behavior. Isolationism, neo-imperialism, and patrimonialism are all words that have been thrown around. But in the end, the president himself defeats all attempts to describe a “Trump doctrine.” He is locked into a world of his own, determined to “win” every encounter, whether in an imaginary competition for the Nobel Peace Prize or a protest from the mother of small children objecting to his masked, armed paramilitary in Minneapolis. These contests matter more to him than any long-term strategy. And of course, the need to appear victorious matters much more than Americans’ prosperity and well-being...

This is nothing new, by the way. Any rational observer of trump's world-view since 2016 saw this kind of self-serving mania coming. I remember what Adam L. Silverman wrote back then, and how it applies now:

...More than that, however, is that the Trump Doctrine is really the animating force or theme of the entire Trump campaign. The other candidates had better treat Donald Trump fairly, the Republican National Committee better treat Donald Trump fairly, the Republican establishment better treat Donald Trump fairly, the media better treat Donald Trump fairly, the state level parties that handle the primaries and all the delegates chosen better treat Donald Trump fairly. And Donald Trump will make them treat him fairly! And the only candidate, nay the only person in America who can ensure that you are treated fairly is Donald Trump. And if he isn’t treated fairly or the US isn’t treated fairly, then he will get even...!

It's not that America gets treated fairly - by whatever measurement anyone would use - it's that TRUMP gets treated fairly. And trump's idea of fair treatment is "Give me everything you have and worship me like a god."

trump doesn't get a Nobel Peace Prize? he'll force the soccer organization FIFA to create a brand-new Peace Award in order to keep the planned 2026 World Cup in the U.S. going. Even if everyone else on the planet saw it as the ego-boosting it was and mocked the award. Try to get the actual award winner María Corina Machado to gift trump the physical award as though he won it? The Nobel committee will go public with the reminder that the Peace Prize once given cannot be traded away.

We've seen this ever since trump stormed the public stage back in the 1980s: Denied any public display of success, trump had / is / will lash out however he can.

And with the powers of the office at his disposal, lashing out is arguably the only sadistic enjoyment he can feel.

The problem with this kind of absolutist leadership - the sins of tyrants and mad kings - is that it alienates far too many allies our nation relies relied on to remain a superpower. trump and his handlers haven't really thought this through: trump's threats to tariff most of Europe can backlash with those nations pulling out their investments in US Bonds and other financial markers. We're seeing another drop in the value of the dollar. The calls to relocate the World Cup away from the United States are increasing.

Even if trump pulls back on the tariffs threat, if he does follow through on sending US armed forces to seize Greenland any time soon (gods help us, it might be this week depending on where these airborne troops go) it will not only trigger the collapse of NATO - which benefits only Putin - but also turn far too many nations against us at one time. The US had a hard enough time fighting a War on Terror on two fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Trigger this kind of war and we're counting at least eight nations - including the bordering Canada - cutting off our overseas bases, shutting down our logistic capabilities, and arguably going toe-to-toe on a battlefield in multiple locations.

The Far Right - and a lot of the Alpha Male wannabes in trump's world drooling at the fantasy of war - may think we have the world's greatest military and we can take all comers, but they're dragging the rest of the nation into a fight that most Americans - even other Republicans - don't want. Our military may be the best-trained, the best-supplied, the best period, but even we have limits on both manpower and resources. Fighting most of NATO - which may drag in Mexico and various South American nations already pissed at trump, and with the likelihood of our Asian allies like Japan and Philippines refusing to side with us - is not going to be easy.

Everything the United States did over the decades to rise to become a global superpower is getting demolished and firebombed into ash all because of one man's demented ego, this hollow man donald trump who struts upon the stage like an unsatisfied fool.

The only way this ends well is if someone in a position to do anything - a cowering Republican Congress, a military command structure wary of pulling a coup that would still harbinger an end to the constitutional order - steps up and forces trump to step down.

The odds of that happening are less than the odds that trump will drive us into a ruinous war.

Stay safe, everyone.

Doubts About Singapore This Week

Just to note that right now trump is in Singapore planning to meet face-to-face with Kim Jong Un, despite all of the earlier bashing, mockery, failure to commit (on trump's part), and scrambling to save face (also on trump's part).

trump is REALLY REALLY desperate to "earn" himself a Nobel Peace Prize. Most Republicans have this insane love/hate/really-hate relationship with that Peace Prize: They argue whenever Democrats receive it - Gore, Obama, others - and belittle it whenever possible, but at the same time they make excessive "nomination" efforts (many of them aren't even allowed to do so, doesn't stop them from acting like idiots in public) to get their warmongering guys like Dubya and even trump to win one because it conveys Statesman status.

Anyway, trump is trying to establish his foreign policy mastery - right after insulting the hell out of Canada and the rest of the G7 allies - by doing his damnedest to suck up to the North Korean dictator to try and get the tiniest concessions he can fake getting. trump has already agreed not to bring up anything that would offend Kim to his face - especially human rights abuses - and there's little else that trump is bringing as incentives for bargaining chips as need be.

Under normal circumstances, I hope for the best possible outcome of any foreign nation negotiations not just for the United States but also our allies in the region who can benefit from peace or stability.

But in this case, I don't want to get my hopes up. trump is going to be way out of his league here, and Kim is likely to walk away from this visit with all these gifts and leaving none behind for ourselves.

You gotta remember, trump's negotiation skills are not all that great: He panders, he bullies, he demands, he tries to wear down his opponent but offers little in exchange worth taking. Against small businesspersons and contractors unable to keep up, it works. Against political peers, well... Just look at the disaster that was this weekend in Quebec. All trump got out of that was the certainty his tariff trade war is going to escalate, and not in our favor.

The best possible outcome out of this is that Guam gets a chance to get out of U.S. protection and switch over to Japan or something. 'Cause right now they're sitting ducks for any Korean missile strikes if trump ever brings up his goddamned "lil Rocket Man" barbs.

Just remember to Duck and Cover, Asia. Duck and Cover...

Presidential Character: Week Twenty-Six, The President As Superhero

"To me, the key to understanding the character is that Bruce Wayne is Teddy Roosevelt." - Christopher Nolan

In my review of Andrew Jackson, I despaired of the fact that while Jackson was an asshole, he was also a Badass which meant by American standards he was and will always be admired.  The problem is that a Badass isn't always what we consider Good or Lawful (character alignment!), a Badass can be Chaotic or Evil as well.

If Andrew Jackson was Badass Evil, we can at least take comfort that another President served as Badass Good: Theodore Roosevelt.


Did we mention he had asthma growing up? He did, and after he beat asthma to death, he ate asthma's raw flesh and ran 100 straight miles off the energy it gave him. - Cracked.com article on badass Presidents (guess who topped the list).

Roosevelt comes to this review with one of the more impressive resumes a President could have (maybe Garfield comes closest): state representative, cowboy, Wild West sheriff, entrepreneur, New York City Police Commissioner (not only is he the template for Batman, he's also the template for Commissioner Gordon), adventurer/explorer, author, historian, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, volunteer cavalryman (the Rough Riders), New York Governor, and then Vice President under McKinley.  This last bit needs explaining: nearly everything Roosevelt did was as a progressive-minded reformer, a True Believer in the exceptional potential of the United States.  An upper-class socialite who took noblesse oblige seriously.  He went after corruption at all levels in nearly every form: he went after injustice.  And he did it with nerves of steel, total determination, and a willingness to get the job done with his own hands if need be.  And it pissed the hell out of his fellow corrupt politicians...

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt's "Man In The Arena" paragraph from his Citizenship in a Republic Speech, 1910.  This is Roosevelt basically daring every living soul to be badass.

Roosevelt became Vice President for McKinley's second term because enough political bosses in his own party - Republicans - were sick of his meddling while serving as New York's governor.  The reasoning was that the Veep's office was where political careers went to die: Roosevelt would have no true power there (save as tie-breaking vote in the Senate), and almost nobody who served as Vice President went on to do anything else as a career.  Only one machine boss was against it - Mark Hanna out of Ohio - who knew that while the Vice President was powerless, all it would take is something happening to McKinley to make "that goddamn cowboy" the most powerful man in the political arena.  It had, after all, happened before.  And in three out of the four times, it led to disaster for both the party and the nation.

While it was sad for McKinley when he was assassinated, Roosevelt becoming President proved a good thing for the nation.

"Why spoil the beauty of the thing with legality?" - attributed to Attorney General Philander Knox, reportedly after Roosevelt spent another lecture defending his actions over Panama's independence from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal deal.

Every adjective to describe an Active-Positive President could apply to Theodore Roosevelt: confident, self-controlled, Adaptive, optimistic, creative, and enjoyed the use of power not for himself but for the benefit of others.  In another way to describe him: Roosevelt was the MOST ACTIVE President we've ever had.

He pushed a Progressive platform, seeking reforms across the board from the political to the business world to education to everything.  Trust-Buster: he went after J.P. Morgan's railroad interests, he went after the sugar monopoly, he went after Big Steel, he started after Standard Oil before he left office.  The Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.  He put regulations in place to ensure public safety and health.  He backed the efforts to establish a constitutional amendment to establish a progressive-scaled income tax.  He pushed for natural conservation as the industrialization spreading westward that threatened to over-consume everything (preserving wildlife and the natural beauty of the nation were beneficial side-effects).

In foreign policy, he put the United States at the forefront of international politics.  He settled an international crisis with Venezuela vs. European powers.  He negotiated a peace treaty between Russia and Japan, becoming the first President to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  He threatened an invasion of Morocco over the Perdicaris Incident but made shrewd diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis.  If there was any bellicosity during his administration, it was his getting involved in a Panama uprising against Colombia in order to get a Pacific-Atlantic canal finalized that would open up global shipping trade (and military naval routes, although navy ships soon got to be too big for the Panama Canal later on).

The entire nation seemed to hum with energy and vigor while he sat in office.  The SOB - and I mean that in a good, awe-inspiring way - was powered by Pure Awesome (and a ton of coffee: he was a heavy coffee drinker for the day, which helped popularize the habit across America).

Politically, he gave a face and personality to the reformers in the Republican ranks, quickly identified (and still to this day) as Progressives.  Previous "accidental" Presidents - Tyler, Fillmore, Johnson, Arthur - never had a chance to build up a power base or take control of a party that didn't want them: Roosevelt - through sheer force of personality, intelligence, and willpower - became the first succeeding President to win a Presidential term in his own right.

Roosevelt left office at the height of his power and tenure: of the Presidents to serve more than one term, his second round in office is remarkably free of scandal - all the scandals were in the business circles - and he could have easily run again for a third.  But he took the idea of two-terms seriously, even if one was just a half-term, and decided to move on, allowing a hand-picked friend to succeed him into the White House. When his friend (more on him later) proved more, well, timid in pursuing a Progressive agenda, Roosevelt went and formed his own political party - Progressive/Bull Moose - to win back the White House and resume his reformer's agenda.  Well, it didn't work out, but he did dare greatly...

After Roosevelt left the White House, he went on explorations across the globe.  He made one trip up the Amazon rainforest in search of a waterway known as the River of Doubt.  When he was done, it was re-named THE RIVER OF UNQUESTIONABLE CERTAINTY - quote generally attributed to everyone who read up on everything Roosevelt did and came away stunned that such a person existed in real life.  The river actually got renamed Roosevelt River.

Roosevelt had personal energy the likes of which we've rarely seen in other historical figures, and most likely never will again.  Of the great Presidents at the top of the list, Roosevelt was the most Badass (and we're talking a list that includes Washington and Lincoln, no slouches in the Badass department).

The Last Thing Death Sees Before a Brutal Ass-Kicking:

It's the stunned look on Death's face that sells it.

Next Week: All In All He'd Much Preferred The Judgeship.

The Nobel Prize for Not Being Dubya

I've got this thing about complaining how the Far Right has this "Obama Problem" via my Shoelace Hypothesis, because they'll complain about EVERY little thing he does up to and including how he'll tie his shoelaces. Follow the labels for shoelace hypothesis to follow the trend...

But I wake up this morning to pretty unusual headlines. This morning it seems we're getting the perfect example of how the Far LEFT obsesses over Obama with overt praise, sometimes excluding all reason and evidence that Obama hasn't really done as much as he ought to (JOBS, OBAMA WE NEED JOBS, ahem)...

The Norway-based Nobel Prize Committee has awarded this year's Peace Prize (sorta the "They Like Me! They REALLY LIKE ME!" Award for global leaders) to Barack Obama.

That noise you just heard was the entire Right Wingnut faction from Limbaugh to Malkin and the entire FOX News Zombie Force screaming "SOCIALIST!" But I digress. This isn't about them. This is about Obama.

Even though he's only been on the job nine months. Even though he's STILL overseeing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and might even increase troops there!). Even though he's a bit... reluctant to pursue war crimes investigations into the torture-lovers from the previous administration (pretty much everyone from Cheney on down the roll call). Even though a lot of the things he's really done on the global stage - dropping the missile shield projects for Europe, talking to Iran to comply with international nuclear treaties and oversight, following through on pre-set troop stand-downs in Iraq - are pretty much proposed actions rather than actual accomplishments.

To wit: he hasn't really DONE anything. The only thing he's really really done is... show respect to other nations. That's officially it.

Unofficially, there's an even better explanation, and a good number of observers (even Greenwald) have picked up on it right away: Obama won the Peace Prize because HE'S NOT GEORGE W. BUSH.

Let me remind you seven readers: I'm not a huge fan of Dubya to begin with. And I'm not defending him either. I can understand PERFECTLY why the Nobel committee would want to snub and insult Bush the Lesser any and every way they can.

Bush is pretty much the ur-example of how NOT to work towards winning a Peace Prize:

• A questionable invasion of Iraq and years-long occupation of that country;
• Mismanagement of a global intervention and rebuilding effort in Afghanistan in response to 9/11 and Taliban human rights abuses to where Afghanistan is an even worse place to live than before;
• Pushing an inane missile defense system that did little but put money into defense contractors' pockets and also cheese off the Russians;
• Hampering international efforts across the board on things such as climate change issues;
• A massive criminal enterprise of torture, illegal detentions, more torture, and deaths of innocents;
• Basic personal cluelessness regarding personal protocol. You do NOT give any woman an unsolicited backrub.

Basically, Dubya's Reign of Error presided over America's slipping in international prestige from Number One to Number... well, somewhere below Brazil. This was, in some respects, why Obama won the election in 2008, why Obama's overseas trips get crowds the size of a U2 or Springsteen stadium performance: Obama is not Bush.

Obama is NOT Bush in terms of demeanor, and especially in terms of sincerity. When Obama talks of wanting peace, wanting other nations to join in efforts to end war and threats of terrorism, he says it like he means it. Unlike Bush the Lesser, who seemed to be going through the motions, making the gestures, acting solemn but not actually achieving the resolute stature you need to pull it off, and also pushing the issue with phrases like "You're with us or against us."

That's pretty much the only reason Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. To piss off the Far Right still worshipping the Worst President Ever.

I can vaguely recall when the Far Right wingnuts promoted certain individuals as "nominees" for the Peace Prize when the people doing the nominating weren't on the Nobel Committee, making the distinction worthless. It was during the build-up to the Iraq invasion, to have these war proponents argue for bloodshed under cover of "peaceful" intent. BS. I'm pretty sure after Al Gore got the Peace Prize in 2007 for also Not Being George W. Bush that the wingnuts stopped pushing the Nobels as a worthy resume add-on. This is going to go over well at the Weekly Standard.

And I'm pretty sure Obama would want to trade the award in to get the 2016 Olympics back. I mean, Japan or Cuba vs. USA in Wrigley Field??? AWESOME.

Update: Linkage to Sullivan's linkage to prominent reactions to Obama's win. And the Volokh Conspiracy is starting a Top-10 list of Reasons Why Obama Won. The best one so far: "The Norwegians wanted to honor one of their own, and the committee discovered that Obama was born in Oslo, Norway, the son of a Volvo factory worker."

Update pt.2: It always helps after a few hours to try and gain perspective of what happened, and I found this bit by Steve Benen on Washington Monthly apt:

For all the recognition of George W. Bush's unpopularity, it's easy to overlook the ways in which the international community was truly mortified by the U.S. leadership during the Bush era. The irreplaceable leading nation could no longer be trusted to do the right thing -- on use of force, torture, rule of law, international cooperation, democratic norms, even climate change. We'd reached a point at which much of the world was poised to simply give up on America's role as a global leader.
And, love him or hate him, President Obama changed this. I doubt anyone on the Nobel committee would admit it, but the Peace Prize is, to a certain extent, an implicit "thank you" to the United States for reclaiming its rightful place on the global stage.
It's indicative of a degree of relief. Much of the world has wanted America to take the lead again, and they're rightly encouraged to see the U.S. president stepping up in the ways they hoped he would. It's hard to overstate the significance, for example, of seeing a U.S. president chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council and making strides on a nuclear deal.
This is not to say Obama was honored simply because he's not Bush. The president really has committed himself to promoting counter-proliferation, reversing policies on torture, embracing a new approach to international engagement, and recommitting the U.S. to the Middle East peace process. But charting a new course for American leadership, breaking with the recent past, no doubt played a role.
As outraged as American conservatives are this morning, notice the international reactions. Praise was not universal, but Mohamed Elbaradei, for example, said, "I cannot think of anyone today more deserving of this honor. In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself." Mandela, Tutu, and Gorbachev, among others, also praised the announcement.
The most angry international responses came from Hamas and the Taliban.

Rush Limbaugh made an explicit comparison that he and the Far Right are on the same page as the Taliban. Um, you sure that's the right comparison to make there...?
Oooh, I just noticed I got a comment! Lemme go read it!