Most of us learned as children what Trump obviously did not—that you must play nicely with the other kids in the sandbox or they won't want to play with you and may, in fact, pelt you with sand when you behave especially badly. That Trump is a bully goes without saying. But in so being is he such an outlier in the American scheme of things? Or is he perhaps merely the most recent and worst reflection of a hitherto mostly hidden horrible underbelly of US society?
Who then are these "real Americans" or the "real America" or "true America" referred to in earlier comments? I know that there a good many terrific Americans; I've met them inside and outside their country. And, hey, I have family on my maternal and paternal sides spread across several of the lower 48 Continental United States.
But let's face it, America and by extension the American people have, if we're being totally honest with ourselves and one another, been for most of their nearly 250 years of existence bullies in places far and wide around the world. America has on numerous occasions deposed legitimate, democratically elected leaders and installed miscreants who imprisoned, tortured, and murdered their people. Including, and most notably given what is happening in the world at the moment, in Iran!
It's well-nigh time that the American people look beyond the admirable American Revolution and the slaughter of the American Civil War to study their nation's surly dealings with countless of particularly the globe's smaller countries. And then demanded that, to quote Lincoln, the "government of the people, by the people, and for the people" adopt a less-aggressive posture toward and learn to get along with the peoples they share this earth with.
I strongly recommend reading the following two pieces by one of America's great writers, Mark Twain, who penned them in his later, most cynical years: "The War Prayer" and "To the Person Sitting in Darkness." To understand Twain's references to people, places, and events of his era, use Google or, as I did, an artificial intelligence app.
You can’t spend years turning allies into targets and expect them to show up as partners. Trust is a form of capital, and once it’s spent carelessly, it doesn’t replenish on demand.
Coalitions are revealed by it. When the moment comes and the room is quiet, that silence tells the whole story. Power can compel action, but only respect sustains loyalty.
How do those sycophants that surround Trump really see him? Are the 45 minute "Let's Make a Music" dance routines inspiring? Was the manic huffing and spurting about his Venezuelan raid something they want to imitate? Do the "Cheapest prescriptions in the world" exist in America? Is his standing and staring while some poor loser blacks out in the Oval Office the model response to What To Do in an Emergency? Do they join in his Leering at the Lips of Leavitt? And are they enthralled by the predictable cluelessness of his every utterance?
The speculation that his inner circle is comprised entirely of Epstein Society Founding Members must be true. Or is it just their continuous exposure to the smothering fragrance of Trump® Empire™ that keeps them held fast in his oily sway?
Access, proximity, relevance. Those are powerful adhesives. People don’t have to admire what they’re part of to stay inside it. They just have to calculate that staying serves them better than stepping out.
Mostly I was just looking for a place to use "Leering at the Lips of Leavitt". And "oily sway" is a pun on the title of the Gong track "Oily Way", side two track two, "Angel's Egg".
Once again, an excellent take. All of the foreign leaders who refuse to be dragged into a senseless war have one thing in common: they value their self-respect. And they are cognizant that they are the guardians of the dignity of their respective citizenry. They are not idiots like the MAGA subjects and Republican politicians who don't see how stupid Trump really is. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but NATO is a defensive pact, not an aggressive military. What Trump and Netanyahu are doing to Iran is an act of aggression, which Trump has been quoted as saying to be fun. Trump and Israel will have to go it alone. The world values its humanity; Trump and Netanyahu can't put a value on what they don't have.
wouldn't be surprised if Papa Putin goaded comrade Trump into this war, knowing that it'd help Russia not only economically, but also by causing an irreparable (?) rift with NATO - which both Putin and his puppet have been trying to effectuate........ WTF?
The number one problem with Trump is nobody EVER told him no. He inherited multi-millions at a young age, totally "owned" his businesses so no Board of Directors to report to so his style of business developed into grifting, bullying, "negotiating" "deals" and filing lawsuits to get his way. He keeps trying to bully everybody and every country into getting his way bc that is just the way it has been with this asshole.
I think the crucial word in your title is "bully."
I grew up with the Charles Atlas ads which promoted the idea that boys and men should get strong to protect others against bullies, certainly not become bullies. When I was about 16 I saved up and bought a set or weights and spent a lot of time exercising with them, and actually got pretty strong.
When I decided to republish a Substack which I wrote a few days prior to Trump being re-elected, I referenced those ads (and had AI make illustrations of Trump you will probably hate). I wrote about the psychology of Trump, the bully who relishes being seen as a warrior, and the psychology of his enablers and supporters.
I wrote:
"Warrior Trump is a delusional unhinged sadist living in a phallocentric manosphere." Written before Trump was re-elected, I asked if this is who the country wanted as a president. Enough voters answered that they did. Now the the country and the world is suffering for this choice. https://halbrown.substack.com/p/warrior-trump-is-a-delusional-unhinged
As you write, Trump has discovered that our allies don't want anything to do with bullies. They fought two world wars against bullies. They know from experience what happens when power-hungry bullies use that power for their own sick purposes.
History will recall that the real villains of this story (well, among the real villains) are Republicans in Congress who looked the other way as Trump imposed illegal tariffs, systematically set out to destroy public health systems, attacked energy of the future to promote energy of the past, did not even try to hide the corruption that he and his family have injected into politics, and instructed his cabinet members to cover up evidence of his history of sexual assault.
History will recall the mutation of the Grand Old Party of Honest Abe Lincoln into the (lower case gop) gutless obsequious puppets of pathological liar Donald Trump. There is more backbone in a bowl of chicken noodle soup than there is in the leadership of the Republican party.
Six weeks ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about the epidemic of Eye Diversion Spasticity among Republicans in Congress. Sadly there is no vaccine and the epidemic has gotten worse.
that would be the million dollar question. I don't think so, at least not in our lifetimes. I think foreign leaders, allies and other, can see that over half the country detests trump. they're intelligent people who can distinguish between an ignorant strongman and his victims. what they can't accept, or accommodate, or navigate around, is that 78 million Americans knew who trump was and STILL voted him in. how can they ever trust the US again, when we could end up with another trump in five, ten or twenty years? I believe our place in the world has fallen irreparably; I also don't think we have the intellectual bandwidth (or the energy or political will) to amend our constitution to prevent trumps of the future. the founders instilled separation of powers but didn't consider that congress would simply refuse to act to check a rogue president, yet here we are.
SAbrina, despair is contagious, says Rebecca Solnit, who has a new book, and an interview with her is at TheGuardian online today. She shares who surprised she was that the Berlin wall came down, etc etc. HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO SHOW UP! ~eric.
It seems to me that every pundit and his dog this week has suddenly become a middle east expert. A common theme is that, of course, Iran was always going to block the Strait of Hormuz.
However what I haven't seen a clear answer on is why, if that was so obvious, hasn't been more to be done to secure the strait over the last fifty years? Appreciate all learned thoughts. Has there been infrastructure installed that was quickly disabled or is it just not there? Cheers.
Definitely no expert on the Middle East here. the topic of this essay, at least in my own head, is trump's failure in messaging the war- to allies and to Americans alike.
Sorry to lump you in with the Hormuz pundits. That was unintentiona and bad writing on my partl. I agree with you wholeheartedly on planning and messaging. I do hope you or others in your orbit do have an answer though. 😉 cheers
Sabrina, we don’t have a president; no, not even a king (as kings care about their subjects and their reputations). We have a TYRANT! And a new book by a classics scholar lays out the case as history in re-run. James Romm has written PLATO and the TYRANT, which compellingly and accessibly depicts the arrival of Dionysius of Sicily, in the western Greek empire. This murderous, duplicitous “bully” will do anything to win — much like our current tyrant, shameless DonOld; and his evil twin, Netanyahu, who sucked him into this war. ~eric. MeridaGOround.com
It's time we Americans got honest about what we have turned ourselves into. Selfish and stupid.
We have welcomed the epitome of those characteristics into our leadership. In eras past the world was big enough for it to heal the wounds of such character. Not any more. The limits of our resources is plainly visible to those wise enough to open their eyes. Is it too late for just to get smart?
Most of us learned as children what Trump obviously did not—that you must play nicely with the other kids in the sandbox or they won't want to play with you and may, in fact, pelt you with sand when you behave especially badly. That Trump is a bully goes without saying. But in so being is he such an outlier in the American scheme of things? Or is he perhaps merely the most recent and worst reflection of a hitherto mostly hidden horrible underbelly of US society?
Who then are these "real Americans" or the "real America" or "true America" referred to in earlier comments? I know that there a good many terrific Americans; I've met them inside and outside their country. And, hey, I have family on my maternal and paternal sides spread across several of the lower 48 Continental United States.
But let's face it, America and by extension the American people have, if we're being totally honest with ourselves and one another, been for most of their nearly 250 years of existence bullies in places far and wide around the world. America has on numerous occasions deposed legitimate, democratically elected leaders and installed miscreants who imprisoned, tortured, and murdered their people. Including, and most notably given what is happening in the world at the moment, in Iran!
It's well-nigh time that the American people look beyond the admirable American Revolution and the slaughter of the American Civil War to study their nation's surly dealings with countless of particularly the globe's smaller countries. And then demanded that, to quote Lincoln, the "government of the people, by the people, and for the people" adopt a less-aggressive posture toward and learn to get along with the peoples they share this earth with.
I strongly recommend reading the following two pieces by one of America's great writers, Mark Twain, who penned them in his later, most cynical years: "The War Prayer" and "To the Person Sitting in Darkness." To understand Twain's references to people, places, and events of his era, use Google or, as I did, an artificial intelligence app.
You can’t spend years turning allies into targets and expect them to show up as partners. Trust is a form of capital, and once it’s spent carelessly, it doesn’t replenish on demand.
Coalitions are revealed by it. When the moment comes and the room is quiet, that silence tells the whole story. Power can compel action, but only respect sustains loyalty.
How do those sycophants that surround Trump really see him? Are the 45 minute "Let's Make a Music" dance routines inspiring? Was the manic huffing and spurting about his Venezuelan raid something they want to imitate? Do the "Cheapest prescriptions in the world" exist in America? Is his standing and staring while some poor loser blacks out in the Oval Office the model response to What To Do in an Emergency? Do they join in his Leering at the Lips of Leavitt? And are they enthralled by the predictable cluelessness of his every utterance?
The speculation that his inner circle is comprised entirely of Epstein Society Founding Members must be true. Or is it just their continuous exposure to the smothering fragrance of Trump® Empire™ that keeps them held fast in his oily sway?
Access, proximity, relevance. Those are powerful adhesives. People don’t have to admire what they’re part of to stay inside it. They just have to calculate that staying serves them better than stepping out.
Mostly I was just looking for a place to use "Leering at the Lips of Leavitt". And "oily sway" is a pun on the title of the Gong track "Oily Way", side two track two, "Angel's Egg".
Once again, an excellent take. All of the foreign leaders who refuse to be dragged into a senseless war have one thing in common: they value their self-respect. And they are cognizant that they are the guardians of the dignity of their respective citizenry. They are not idiots like the MAGA subjects and Republican politicians who don't see how stupid Trump really is. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but NATO is a defensive pact, not an aggressive military. What Trump and Netanyahu are doing to Iran is an act of aggression, which Trump has been quoted as saying to be fun. Trump and Israel will have to go it alone. The world values its humanity; Trump and Netanyahu can't put a value on what they don't have.
Next -- Trump instructs Navy to "Fill the submarines with oil and, you know, go underwater..."
wouldn't be surprised if Papa Putin goaded comrade Trump into this war, knowing that it'd help Russia not only economically, but also by causing an irreparable (?) rift with NATO - which both Putin and his puppet have been trying to effectuate........ WTF?
The number one problem with Trump is nobody EVER told him no. He inherited multi-millions at a young age, totally "owned" his businesses so no Board of Directors to report to so his style of business developed into grifting, bullying, "negotiating" "deals" and filing lawsuits to get his way. He keeps trying to bully everybody and every country into getting his way bc that is just the way it has been with this asshole.
I really doubt that much planning went into this.
Partly because this is the bag-of-hammers dumbest administration in
American history.
Partly because this is one of those knee jerk "Ooo! Let's bomb 'em!"
exercises that we've seen several other administrations indulge in.
There is a school of thought among some politicians and generals
that air power is the Holy Hand Grenade of military force. You just
toss it in anywhere and "Boom! Crash! Kapow!" you've demonstrated
your machismo by creating impressive looking rubble, killing a
bunch of nameless/faceless people, and doing little actual damage
to the hostile power's military.
But it looks so Neato!
I remember Barack Obama and his penchant for lobbing cruise
missiles at everything. Then there was Bill Clinton's great victory
over an aspirin factory. Supposedly our fly boys blitzed an Iranian
refrigerator factory the other day.
But...actual long range planning....taking in various strategic
factors?
Thinking! Pete Hegseth don't need no stinking thinking!
I think the crucial word in your title is "bully."
I grew up with the Charles Atlas ads which promoted the idea that boys and men should get strong to protect others against bullies, certainly not become bullies. When I was about 16 I saved up and bought a set or weights and spent a lot of time exercising with them, and actually got pretty strong.
When I decided to republish a Substack which I wrote a few days prior to Trump being re-elected, I referenced those ads (and had AI make illustrations of Trump you will probably hate). I wrote about the psychology of Trump, the bully who relishes being seen as a warrior, and the psychology of his enablers and supporters.
I wrote:
"Warrior Trump is a delusional unhinged sadist living in a phallocentric manosphere." Written before Trump was re-elected, I asked if this is who the country wanted as a president. Enough voters answered that they did. Now the the country and the world is suffering for this choice. https://halbrown.substack.com/p/warrior-trump-is-a-delusional-unhinged
As you write, Trump has discovered that our allies don't want anything to do with bullies. They fought two world wars against bullies. They know from experience what happens when power-hungry bullies use that power for their own sick purposes.
From Andy Borowitz's satirical column (The Borowitz Report) today:
Though expressing confidence in Miller’s effectiveness as a human repellent, Trump disclosed that he had a backup plan.
“I will put my name, Donald J. Trump, on the Strait of Hormuz,” he declared. “That emptied out the Kennedy Center very rapidly and very powerfully.”
fabulous. LOVE Horowitz. he and tiedrich make this idiot's term worth watching.
History will recall that the real villains of this story (well, among the real villains) are Republicans in Congress who looked the other way as Trump imposed illegal tariffs, systematically set out to destroy public health systems, attacked energy of the future to promote energy of the past, did not even try to hide the corruption that he and his family have injected into politics, and instructed his cabinet members to cover up evidence of his history of sexual assault.
History will recall the mutation of the Grand Old Party of Honest Abe Lincoln into the (lower case gop) gutless obsequious puppets of pathological liar Donald Trump. There is more backbone in a bowl of chicken noodle soup than there is in the leadership of the Republican party.
Six weeks ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about the epidemic of Eye Diversion Spasticity among Republicans in Congress. Sadly there is no vaccine and the epidemic has gotten worse.
https://joetye.substack.com/p/gop-plagued-by-epidemic-of-eye-diversion?utm_source=publication-search
Can this country ever recover from the harm this idiot has done?
that would be the million dollar question. I don't think so, at least not in our lifetimes. I think foreign leaders, allies and other, can see that over half the country detests trump. they're intelligent people who can distinguish between an ignorant strongman and his victims. what they can't accept, or accommodate, or navigate around, is that 78 million Americans knew who trump was and STILL voted him in. how can they ever trust the US again, when we could end up with another trump in five, ten or twenty years? I believe our place in the world has fallen irreparably; I also don't think we have the intellectual bandwidth (or the energy or political will) to amend our constitution to prevent trumps of the future. the founders instilled separation of powers but didn't consider that congress would simply refuse to act to check a rogue president, yet here we are.
SAbrina, despair is contagious, says Rebecca Solnit, who has a new book, and an interview with her is at TheGuardian online today. She shares who surprised she was that the Berlin wall came down, etc etc. HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO SHOW UP! ~eric.
Very, very good. Thank you. P
It seems to me that every pundit and his dog this week has suddenly become a middle east expert. A common theme is that, of course, Iran was always going to block the Strait of Hormuz.
However what I haven't seen a clear answer on is why, if that was so obvious, hasn't been more to be done to secure the strait over the last fifty years? Appreciate all learned thoughts. Has there been infrastructure installed that was quickly disabled or is it just not there? Cheers.
Http://preceperi.substack.com
Definitely no expert on the Middle East here. the topic of this essay, at least in my own head, is trump's failure in messaging the war- to allies and to Americans alike.
Sorry to lump you in with the Hormuz pundits. That was unintentiona and bad writing on my partl. I agree with you wholeheartedly on planning and messaging. I do hope you or others in your orbit do have an answer though. 😉 cheers
Sabrina, we don’t have a president; no, not even a king (as kings care about their subjects and their reputations). We have a TYRANT! And a new book by a classics scholar lays out the case as history in re-run. James Romm has written PLATO and the TYRANT, which compellingly and accessibly depicts the arrival of Dionysius of Sicily, in the western Greek empire. This murderous, duplicitous “bully” will do anything to win — much like our current tyrant, shameless DonOld; and his evil twin, Netanyahu, who sucked him into this war. ~eric. MeridaGOround.com
It's time we Americans got honest about what we have turned ourselves into. Selfish and stupid.
We have welcomed the epitome of those characteristics into our leadership. In eras past the world was big enough for it to heal the wounds of such character. Not any more. The limits of our resources is plainly visible to those wise enough to open their eyes. Is it too late for just to get smart?