Donald J, Trump is the most hated man in America.
Only if he knew it.
SAD!
1
"I'm not President. I just play one on TV."
5
Do main,y men wear girdles? Or protect their hair but neglect national security? Just asking
1
There ARE decent models of manhood around, not perfect but a million times better than the clown in the White House. The Boy Scouts provide one, built on a code that includes kindness as well as bravery. The ideals of chivalry are romanticized in movies and literature--actual knights were more chivalrous to each other than to the public--but still, offer a beginning. Service clubs are often both practical and idealistic. And then there's that guy Jesus, who was known for his charity and compassion, but could get fierce and roust the moneylenders too. With all the good role models around, it's a shame that we give enormous amounts of attention and power to the orange antihero. What are today's boys and young men thinking as they watch the farce?
8
I have a nasty feeling we are all cannon fodder to Trump. "Toy soldiers" can do a lot of damage while they sit in Potemkin villages.
3
Stop taking the bait - ninety percent of what Trump says is just trolling, to maintain his tough rebel image, to outrage the media, who dutifully go berserk each time, and this column is a perfect example. Why should he stop when it works so reliably? When he says for example that he would have gone into the school, completely unarmed, its so laughably ridiculous that it cant possibly be taken seriously. Its the equivalent of your friend at the bar who says he could wrestle an alligator, and you just laugh at him. Everything he does is calculated to get a reaction, to create buzz and outrage. Its a bluff, an old strategy where you try to look crazy enough to do anything, to scare your unsophisticated opponents. He is a screaming toddler trying to get attention, and the press are the helpless parents hanging on his every whine. The sooner the media learn to see his statements as the absurd theater they are, the less power he will wield over the national psyche.
9
What continues to amaze me is what a small percentage of Americans actually understand what motivates Donald Trump. I know well educated professionals who, when asked to describe Trump's personality, will say that he has a big ego. It's a apt illustration of how little mental health education we receive in America.
Donald Trump's ego is anything but big. He has a deficit of ego. This deficit accounts for his thin-skinned, reactionary approach to everything that comes his way. It explains why he continues to denigrate Obama and Hillary, over a year into his presidency. It explains why he incessantly brags about abilities that he doesn't really possess. It explains why he takes the Russia investigation as a personal affront, instead of a matter of national security.
At every turn, we witness the consequences of his feeble ego. Many are taken in by his charade, but one person who isn't is Trump himself. His biggest fear is that he will be unmasked, and his fairy tale presidency will come crashing down like some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.
9
And the no shame bar just got lower...ants have to climb over it now...
I bet you can make him flinch over and over by doing the fake groin punch. (Men you know what I mean)
He's trying to convince us and himself that he's not a coward; that his behavior in the late 60s and early 70s was disgraceful, but an aberration. He really wanted to fight in Vietnam, but his parents needed him to count the money, and the managers of their apartment buildings needed help convincing the blacks and Hispanics that they would get an apartment, but they would have to wait in line for 30 or 40 years, just like all of the other non-whites. He didn't have the spare time to fight in Vietnam - even though he would have done so even if they didn't give him a gun - because he was a college grad and his folks also needed him to invest the family assets which, after all, would be his someday. He didn't have time for some war in Vietnam. Anyway, he told himself, he'd be surrounded by general someday, and who needs to fight in a war when you're in charge of the United States and all of its generals. And, please, no more stories about bond spurs and draft dodging. It makes him cry, and manly men shouldn't cry.
1
Although widely misattributed, a version uttered by Thomas Jefferson applies: "the government you elect is the government you deserve". Voter turnout in the 2016 presidential campaign was estimated at 58% overall, with Republicans edging-out Democrats in turnout. Notwithstanding the advantage in 2016 popular vs. electoral count, the price America is paying for its' apathy is Donald Trump. Please do not let this happen again, get out and vote.
6
Where was that courage when the draft beckoned?
5
Trump is great at throwing out any thought that comes into his head like a 'tough guy', ideas like walls, armed teachers, people applauding the twin tower bombing, yuge crowds at his inauguration ceremony, a bigger button than yours, Obama's foreign birth birth, Hillary's emails, Ted Cruz's killer father.
Trump is quick to assure the world of his personal prowess and gloriousness. Yes, he'd run into gun fire. He is the one who can solve all problems, one of the greatest men., a stable genius. Quick to throw out a constant barrage of insults and tweets, woe to anyone who calls Trump out. Sad.
When confronted with real issues, ones needing his presidential input like DACA, health care, gun control, Trump can be counted on to dither, demur, waver and ultimately defer to someone (anyone) else for a response. This is not how to make decisions.
Trump handed John Kelly the responsibility for White House security clearance, threw DACA to congress, told the GOP to come up with a replacement for the ACA which he would sign. If something fails to make him look glorious, he instantly blames others. Trump never takes responsibility.
Parents discourage this kind of behavior in their preschoolers. It is anything but manly, or womanly for that matter, and it is certainly not the behavior of a leader.
4
Yes, I can see in my dreams/nightmares Donald the Tremendous (to use his favorite word) running to the rescue, with his wig in one hand and the other holding tight a Secret Service Agent to use as a shield.
He must spend hours in front of the mirror, admiring his hairdo or his military jackets the way Wilhelm II did in his days.
2
And across the nation we have millions of "boy-men" who deeply admire and emulate this joke of a man who so demeans our nation with his false bravado and infinite (and infantile) self-regard. It's a sad indicator of how sick our culture is. Seems we've been unable to outgrow our fascination with the 19th century, wild west cowboy culture where resources were infinite, land was free, and guns were the only law ever needed. The American gun obsession? Just another irresistible symbolic extension of manhood to the adolescent male mind. Time to grow up, America.
2
Donald Trump has, from his earliest age, exhibited signs of having been put down by his parents. He has lacked self-esteem from that time. The book "I'm OK..." describes him perfectly.
Comparison to Trump might be unfair to Playboy and 1950s masculinity, which in my memory was really, really awful but still had some scintilla of nobility now and again that Trump lacks more completely than any public figure not a felon we've seen in some time. Loved Bruni's column but isn't it already obvious to everyone who watches Trump - 35% of us anyway?
Trump is his own audience first. After 70+ years of 24/7 self adulation he's still not convinced that he's not a buffoon. He's the comedian in chief.
1
Just saw that he wants to defund planned parents again and still pushing to get rid of our natuional park system or part of it.
he is really a horrific president.
3
Donald Trump is a stereotypical girly man. Soft, pink, hates exercise, thin skinned, emotional and catty. His hair and tan are of more interest to him than national policy. And when he moved in to the White House, he, not his wife, spent hours pouring enthisiasticallu over the drapes, rug and decorative choices. He was more interested in the "cheap tile" in the UN recently than the speaker in front of it and was more distruned about the marring of his "beautiful marble floor" than the elderly man bleeding on it. He should be an interior decorator not president. Probably not a good one, but more true to his real interests.
3
Yes, the irony of the macho grandstanding is that it really exposes smallness and weakness. A person of confidence and strength of character would not need to make this kind of show and drag all of us into it the consequences of his insecurity. The show of "manliness" is as fraudulent as every thing else about him.
1
I think it all stems from mommy issues and Ivana issues. It seems like one gave him an inferior complex and the other was the authoritarian running the show.
Real men would never treat their child so badly because he no longer loved her mother.
Real men would stand in front of dangers to innocent children. Except he and the GOP cower behind the children as they are sprayed with bullets to shield themselves from donors.
Thanks for a wonderful column, Mr. Bruni. How can anyone begin To conjure up an image of this Fat, bullying Draft-dodger, this would- be hero, going after an armed shooyer without his own weapon? Give me a break!!
1
In my many years studying the oldest continuous martial arts tradition in Japan, it was always emphasized that when tying our belt always place the left end of the belt over the right. The symbolic meaning was yin over yang, gentleness over aggression, kindness over cruelty, female over male. The message, both explicit and implicit, was that in real combat, cultivating feminine qualities will lead more surely to victory and survival. We see echoes of this philosophy in the practice of chivalry in Europe.
In our search for a healthier masculinity, we may find some of the best models in ancient traditions. The existence of such models suggest that humans have been wrestling with this problem for millennia.
1
Draft evading Donnie a first responder? Only if his 4F "foot problem" that kept Captain America from fighting with his birth group in Vietnam isn't acting up at the time.
1
Our election system resulted in a president who is less a leader than he is a cowardly buffoon. We should all be ashamed. So ashamed that we oust his entire illegitimate administration.
2
Where was this masculinity and bravery when he used a tiny "bone spur" to save him from the draft?
1
LIke the wall, a military parade is just a waste of taxpayer money to demonstrate a military power no one, anywhere, doubts we have. Who will fix the streets after the tanks roll by? $30,000,000 seems low for all that would be necessary to satisfy the bullying individual in the White House, who only wants to brag to other dictators how much better and bigger his parades are...
I was born just a few years after Trump, and I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and I don't have any overwhelming desire to return to those days. Of course, I was never even close to being rich, but we did fine. Today's world, despite its flaws (and there are many), is still far better than that one.
No baby boomer can become young again. We don't need another Cold War to make life exciting. We don't need to go back to when women were second-class and blacks were still being lynched for no reason.
All Americans really want is world peace, universal health care, and freedom to live as we choose. We don't need politicians who are manipulating the vote, giving huge tax breaks to the very people who don't need them, and hamstringing the rest of us from living satisfying lives.
We have only one means to ensure that we obtain the fruits of our labors of the past decades: the ballot box.
Register and vote!
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Rhetorical question: would Trump think of Jimmy Stewart’s character in ‘Destry Rides Again”? Stewart, new sheriff, slays bad guys with wit and cunning intelligence — not once firing a bullet. He didn’t even carry a gun. That character was the polar opposite of Trump and a seriously sexy man.
This is a man who not only wouldn’t run into that school building unarmed, if threatened by a gunman he would hide behind Melanie or even Barron for protection.
1
Comment writers and columnists alike, a suggestion which will help you deal, on a small scale, with the extreme anxiety so many of us feel about trump: Do not ever capitalize his name or the names of those who surround and support him. The mere act of capitalizing trump's name shows respect to him that he does not deserve. Try to include someone in your comment or editorial whose name you will capitalize, because that shows common respect for another human being, and will illustrate to him that the lower-case letters for his name was not accidental. Those might include Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Tim Kaine, Joe Biden, Adam Schiff, Richard Durbin, Tom Steyer, Chris Murphy, Richard Blumenthal, Eric Swalwell, Malcolm Nance, Richard Painter, Lawrence Wilkerson, Jeremy Bash, and last but definitely not least, Robert Mueller. Notice that there are several republicans in that list, but I can't bring myself to capitalize the party name because of all the incumbents who are selling America out as we watch.
1
It certainly won't come from a person like you!
3
I saw a brief segment of Stephen Colbert last night. He repeated the Trump statement that he would run into the school when hearing gunfire. The audience laughed. Someone also said the funniest part is the ide of Trump running and the audience laughed again. What a pathetic (but valid) statement about this president's image.
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Do not equate manliness and courage. Being manly may require courage but being courageous does not require manliness.
Real courage is having self doubt and acting heroically even in the face of that doubt. Heros are generally terrified. Those who claim to have never been terrified or conflicted never act heroically
Trump claims to have no doubt that he would have entered the school, which, to me, seals his fate that he is indeed a coward.
64
This article is spot on and is manifest in every thing he does and touches. During the campaign he talked tough about China and its leaders, but now he fawns all over XI who wants to proclaim himself dictator. Where is his talk now of bringing China to task for their trade policies? There has never been a strong arm dictator that trump has not fawned all over including North Korea's Kim who manipulates the situation shamelessly.
To Trump appearance is everything and actually solving a problem is for wimps. So he sends a few drowns over Syria that does nothing to stop Assad's use of chemical weapons. He wants to put more weapons in schools and claims to be capable of solving the assault rifle problem bare handedly. Cowards and con men have big mouths and Trump's is the biggest.
12
If this ridiculous parade happens, I only ask one thing of the mainstream media (print and electronic): Don't cover it! No reporters, no cameras, no eyewitness accounts. Nothing. Treat it like it never happened.
15
Youir wish will never happen; although they could minimalize it and bury it, as they do the Right to Life March every January.
This op-ed—and the bulk of the comments it has elicited—is a glorious take-down of a really, really bad hombre. I admit feeling great schadenfreude after reading it given how many people have been negatively affected by his false bravado, disrespect for almost everyone, countless failures, and total incompetence as an emotionally mature human being.
7
Lest we forget, our fearless president opted out of the Vietnam War with a bone spur on....which foot was it?
5
Might have been on his interior skull, obstructing the part of the brain responsible for mental and emotional stability.
1
Seriously? Donald Trump- Super Hero? Give me a break! This from a draft dodging coward who admits that he can't stand the sight of blood. Trump, in my opinion, has serious emotional issues. This is a man, and I use that term loosely in this case, who is so insecure, so deceitful, so untrustworthy, that many Americans probably don't sleep well at night. Trump is incompetent and as clueless about being President as a person could be. He's just a loud-mouthed lap dog for Vladimir Putin and is probably our most serious national security threat.
6
Doesn't the look on Melania's face speak for all of us?
6
Psst don,
For you, that flight jacket is a costume not a uniform.
4
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
Was all this not evident in 2016?
A nation gets the government it deserves.
7
"Donald Trump, Manly He-Man."
That's why Dwayne Johnson should run against him as the Democratic candidate. Love Dwayne's smile by the way. Wouldn't be a bad thing to see on a TV screen as we switch on in the morning.
I see the NYT picking many responses for highlight that include references to "manly" behavior. This is sexist, but it seems OK this time since these references are made in the context of bashing Trump. Women can be just as brave or even more so than men.
1
My six-year old son watched Trump debate Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election. He was obviously way too young to understand the issues, but he squirmed at the sight of Trump's boorish behavior. "Daddy, he can't just cut her off like that! And he's not listening. He keeps making faces. What's wrong with him?" I didn't need to tell him that Trump was no role model for adult behavior - he figured it out on his own.
13
In response to Marge Keller Mid West
President Trump once said that Ivanka is so attractive, if it were possible, he would have gone out with her.
It certainly sounds as though he's just compensating for something, and those hands are certainly very small looking...
3
His biographer is right; he is a small, frightened man masking his fears with excessive bravado. Such men are extraordinarily dangerous. He has never hunted, or possibly even shot a gun, yet he advocates the mass consumption of weapons. He has never been to war or rescued anyone, yet he revels in his self-created image as a manly "savior." His actions would be laughable if he didn't hold the fate of the world in his tiny hands.
7
We have chosen the worst example of our society to be the head of our society. I for one reject him as president. He is merely holding the office. He is not presidential in actions, words, demeanor or intent. He did not win the election, the Electoral College failed to do the one thing for which they exist, to prevent a wholly unqualified, undemocratic, possibly treasonous person from holding the office. He is needed though. We needed him to see that our great experiment in power to the people is fragile, it's not settled, and we see we can no longer take it for granted that the power will be with us! Certainly we see that minority rule is anathema to liberty and that citizenry is no longer a spectator sport! We now see the power of voting and engagement and we will rise to the challenge and ensure that, in the words of a true president, "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."!
11
Real lions don't need to roar. Thank you, Mr. Bruni.
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I do not believe for one second that Trump would have entered that school, armed or unarmed. He is a first rate bully and would have cowered behind a post or another person or run away. All talk, no action.
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Who would have ever guessed back when 'The Dictator' came out from Sasha Baron Cohen that if would be prophetic to what could happen in America?
1
The term he-man is interesting as it relates to trump, dollars to donuts he ached to be a member of the little rascals he-man woman haters club when he was a kid watching tv.
Instead of giggling at the idea he’s seemed to embrace it and practice its tenets his entire adult life.
On his way to Mar a Largo he stopped in the hospital and visited 2 students for a photo op. Without permission from the family he used one black and white shot in an ad for donations for his 2020 campaign fund. He was so cowardly he could not face the children and families at the high school pleading, grieving and eloquently expressing a need for change. Difficult to comprehend his evil nature and the amount of despicable people he surrounds himself with, his family is no better, all opportunistic. Guns and the Trump's are American Tragedies.
11
Well, we saw how Trump reacted when he was bested in 3 debates with Hillary. He was sweating and all he could come up with was "Nasty woman". I think him getting utterly humilated by a smart, strong woman made people (men, mostly, probably) vote for him. They couldn't stand it that a women had beaten him so badly.
9
The empty vessel makes the loudest sound - and there you have Trump.
10
I so look forward to the day when I wake up knowing we are rid of the twisted tweets and actions of the twisted man who is wrecking the United States of America!
3
As a genuine hero Tammy Duckworth noted, all the "manly" Trump can brag about doing a genuine war is four deferments and a case of supposed bone spurs.
3
We had just such an exemplary example of masculinity/manliness in our last President. Perhaps that is why the GOP treated him so cavalierly: his quiet example put them all to shame.
7
"...He’s a frightened guy. A tough guy wouldn’t have to demonstrate it.”
Yes, Mr. D'Antonio. In my experience, if someone has to tell you they're an "alpha male", the aren't.
3
Kudos to so many of the folks writing comments today who, unlike our "Fearless Leader," articulate a strong sense of what a "Real Man" is. President Trump is a dreadful human being, of that there is no doubt - the worst president of modern times and the most insane leader since Caligula. Still, he is who he is and can't help himself. Because he blames others and refuses to acknowledge when he is wrong, he is incapable of growth or learning. I am most angry at those who enable him, especially Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell. They know better but still they stroke the Mad Boy King for political expediency. It will not end well for Trump or them.
9
I've thought, recently and in light of all the puffery, that it might be a tremendously patriotic act to advocate for a doubling of the SNAP (food stamp) program. Maybe our American economy as well as our populace would benefit more from a shot in the arm to the less fortunate than they (us) benefit from a. New aircraft carrier. Doe s anyone think that might be so?
7
Being a male has its challenges, particularly because of shifting norms. The manliness of a hundred years ago is frowned upon, but o claim there is a particularly appropriate way to be or not to be a man (or a woman) is gender stereotyping.
What is really sad is that more people buy into this "persona" of "manliness" and "strength" than some of us realize . In a poll that came out awhile ago, Donald Trump received very little favorable ratings in almost all areas. However, 59% of those polled thought he was strong!
I was amazed that people could see a person who bullies and ridicules others, cannot withstand the slightest criticism and lacks empathy for others could be viewed by a majority of people as "strong".
4
Too much t.v.; too little thought.
1
The main point to take away from this essay is that while Trump does seem obsessed with manliness and "tough" characteristics, he is the exact opposite of both. He hid behind student deferments and suspect medical exams to avoid the military as a young man and, as an adult, has kept himself surrounded by subordinates both in the business and political realm, so he can constantly play the role of strong man and bully people who have no choice but to accept his bullying.
6
I think Trump serves a valuable purpose in the overdue and vital discussion of what it means to be a man. He is the poster boy of toxic masculinity. He is a caricature of society's traditional male, and he makes obvious just how dysfunctional that is.
Women have had a half century of discussions and activism around expanding the accepted role of women in society. While there is still much to do, and thank goodness for the #MeToo movement, they are far ahead of men in that respect.
It used to be possible to gloss over the deleterious effects of machismo, to say it wasn't really that bad. He didn't really mean it, or it was just the heat of the moment, or he's been under a lot of stress lately. Trump makes it so blatant that it's no longer possible to make excuses.
We now need to start discussing why men aren't allowed to have tender emotions, why they feel that they can't ask for help because that makes them look weak, why they are embarrassed about feeling sadness, or saying 'I love you'. As ironic as it is, we need a men's liberation movement.
31
Frank, the book "A Higher Loyalty : Truth,Lies and Leadership" by James Comey will say a lot about what kind of leader Trump is.
"Donald Trump the manly He-Man" as your article suggested, must read it,
Trump who fired Mr. Comey last May and confessed to the visiting Russian foreign minister Mr. Lavrov and their Ambassador to U.S. Mr. Kislyak that he had to fire the F.B.I. Director, "Because he's crazy. He won't let go of the Russia inquiry which was bothering me too much. Now I'm relieved", is in for a surprise when the above book will reveal the existence of a tape with Trump's voice in it.
And really which American president will criticize one of the top most law enforcement officials just because the official won't show his loyalty to him by ending an inquiry into the allegations of a foreign power spying inside our country ?
Only Donald J. Trump.
No body else.
So it should be noted here that Trump's short reign in the most powerful office in the world, the presidency of our country which might crumble down any moment in the coming weeks or months due to his own ignorance of talking to an open microphone in the Trump Tower in the waning days of 2016 when he consoled the Russians through Mike Flynn.
Like a parrot, Mr. Flynn was repeating every words that was dictated to him, like the promise to lift sanctions that Obama imposed on Russia for meddling in our country's election that Hillary lost irrespective of the fact that she got 3+ million more votes than Trump.
2
Sadly, look around you. More men are built like Trump than anybody we'd actually aspire to look like.
4
When you look back through the past 2 years the quotes such as "I like men who weren't captured" and "I like rich people" he has insulted everyone to the point that it is chilling and dangerous for our country. We are so diminished personally and as a country.
9
The most baffling part is how many Americans adore these characteristics of Trump. I suppose we should all keep in mind that there are probably millions of American guys just like Trump, and the women and families who love them.
19
For the low class women who love these men who abuse, degrade, & denigrate them, having the same kind of pervert as President means it is right to just submit to any & all of the perverted things their men do. Like not working, laying on the couch watching porn, yelling for another beer, letting their kids watch this kind of video. Bums, that’s what they are. They father sub standard children who make another generation that can NOT take care of it’self. These are the ‘base’ (PC TERM). That have been known for decades at least as another name the NYTimes won’t publish. The time has come to sterilize all the these females, & castrate the males. Stop the lowering of the intellect of a segment of our population in ONE generation. Or maybe just use them to do all the degrading, dirty jobs the illegal immigrants do now. Once deported these jobs still need to be done. So let the pale garbage people do them. Again, NYTimes won’t let me use their correct name. Though they allow them to use even worse names for ‘others’ while trying to make us believe they are against them. tRump is one of them. With the intellect of a very small boy, the humanity of a squid, he is the same as his ‘base’ (PC TERM). Worthless. Same as the rest of his family. Oh, deport his in-laws (CHAIN MIGRATION), deport his so called wife (illegal immigrant, married a low class (though rich) citizen to stay. Makes the marriage void, & the son born FitzTrump. English for born on the wrong side of the blanket.
This one more illumination of our incorrect president is spot on. But the real question of our time is why do so many americans, male and female identify with this wigged throwback? And when does this demographic aberration shift back to sanity? Or does it ever in the (permanent) global economy, opiod addicted age we live in. Is the decline and fall of America and democracy world-wide inevitable? Is the ascendant order benevolent dictatorship where press and people are controlled but given an adequate living wage and lots of entertainment but few rights? Sobering to think that the history of mankind may well be in the hands and minds of American voters. Can we right the ship? Do we even recognize it's listing badly, soon to be sinking?
29
WE can right the ship. By organizing, arming ourselves, & marching (in our millions) to DC to arrest this regime, cabinet, evil minions (staff), family, appointees, congress. Then all those convicted of High Treason (see above list), should be hung, on the National Mall, televised on all stations. Then from that day on, every year, those videos will be shown on TV, in schools, so no one will forget what happens to traitors. Then those who march can sit as congress pro tem & fix the election system. Including: no electoral college, each 18 year old, who stays in school will take & have to pass (with a score of 100%) a civics course on how this government works. Pass get full citizenship, fail or not get the test if you drop out, never vote, only get the dirtiest nastiest jobs as befits your 2nd class citizenship. If you are not mentally capable, we will take care of you for the rest of your lives as should be. If you are just lazy bums, you will work hard & dirty for the rest of YOUR lives, with no right to retire at any age. Though you will still pay into SS & Medicare. No benefits will be yours. What are you? Hmm. WHITE. Trying to think here. But, only seeing TRASH. Wonder if it will work? ‘Base’ (PC TERM) are lowest of the low. Mainly because of dimwitted fathers who like being bigots.
Trump's emotional maturity ended when he was in high school.
Explains all of his behavior perfectly.
He's the rich kid in school who gets sycophants and followers simply because he's rich, not because he's especially smart, gifted, or charismatic.
We've all seen such a kid (and his posse) in high school, and he's usually the exact dullard that Trump is.
22
Your right. But his maturity stopped in 3rd grade. As well as his intellectual capabilities. There is often one in ever high school. If the Athletic Director allows it. In mine (almost 50 years ago), if you were on Varsity teams, your grades had to be kept high if you wanted to play, your maturity also had to be high, or you were kicked off, & the year I graduated EVERY football player went to good colleges on marks as well aS football. On scholarship too, except one idiot who wanted the one school that didn’t want him for scholarship, so Dad paid full tuition & board. His parents were stupid. Best schools in the country would have taken him, didn’t want them wanted this one. A second level school.
I guess that Frank Bruni was lacking for any political actions to jump on in criticizing Mr. Trump, and so he went for an old reliable - a personal attack. President Trump clinched the Republican nomination on May 26, 2016, and EVERY DAY since, one or more NY Times columnists have attacked Mr. Trump. Mr. Bruni's latest column is just one more gust of wind, which endlessly blows from the NY Times. Does Mr. Bruni know for a fact that had Mr. Trump been in high school, that he wouldn't have intervened? People grow over the course of their lifetimes, especially when they are put in the crucible of having to make decisions everyday about life or death, as every modern President must do. Mr. Bruni aligns with Hillary Clinton, who labeled Mr. Trump's supporters saying: "you could put half of Trump's supporters ... the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic.." His idol of masculinity, Barack Obama said of Middle Americans said: "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." School playground name calling by supposed adults - and Mr. Bruni joins right in! Could Bruni's "masculinity" withstand public scrutiny for everything he ever said or did? Stick to policy issues in the future, because everyone lives in glass house!
4
Donald Trump has personalized his Presidency himself. His interminable tweets (most of which are personal attacks), his instant allusions to himself and his personal qualities - the best, the smartest, the richest, the toughest - all mean that any criticism of him is almost necessarily a personal attack, especially since his only means of defense is attack. Your arguments, Michael, are infantile at best. (Note that I didn't say you were infantile. That's the difference between attacking someone's arguments and attacking themselves.)
7
Just cause you identify with Trump, doesn’t make this depiction of him wrong. Just makes you an Inferiorcist. AS in White Inferiorcist. Feeling so inferior, your prefered title is white supremacist, but it’s backwards. As you feel so inferior, that you must push all others down. As does he. Your kind, who never try to upgrade yourselves (as some do & manage well), are deplorable, worthless, & very bitter. Started when your great grandfathers started beating their sons for getting good grades in school, wanting to make something of themselves, but Dad was so inferior that it made him so mad he’d rather his son be dead than ‘above’ him. Each generation it repeats it’self. A few escape, most just become bums or women who marry bums. You have with your post named yourself. With a non PC TERM that can’t be used here, as you are too tender to see it.
1
Yes everything about Donald "Dirty Harry" Trump screams masculine insecurity. And how many intelligent people do you know who have keep reassuring us that they are "like really smart" & real geniuses?
18
Why even write columns about this man? Who cares?
10
You should care. Because once he turns this country over to Putin, it will be too late. For those only crying, WE MUST VOTE! It’s too late. Our elections are controlled by Russia & our low classes, are almost through training to be serfs. You’ll know it’s complete when our ‘government’ announces all the best jobs will be held for veterans, after they do 30 years in the army, if they live that long. Even the low class girls won’t wait to marry them, but, marry the guys who get the real good jobs (which can’t wait for a ‘veteran’). It’s the way things are in Russia now. It’s the way they will be here when Trump finishes his traitorous job. Today’s veterans won’t be eligible of those jobs as they are too high class. Only the low class soldiers of the future will be conned.
The worst kind of coward is the kind that struts. Nobody struts like Donald Trump.
20
Another truth hater. Trump is working his way up to confiscating all guns (even historical ones). He wants none near him. So no one must have one as he must be able, on a moments notice, be able to go wherever he pleases (on taxpayer money) with NO security (who watch everything he does & write reports on it as they should). So better go wrap your assault weapons, with bump stocks, in grease & plastic, then bury them. Forget about hunting until he’s gone. As to you it’s assault weapons or nothing. You are so afraid of does,they might hurt you, so bam bam bam goes the assault rifle, Any venison eaten will be full of lead. So, your kind’s kids will have lower intellects from lead poisoning. But, better than letting a doe or fawn get within 100 yards of you. You arejust like your lord & master.......cowards.
This essay was way beneath you Mr. Burni. Grow up.
2
The post I wrote above to William L. Valenti, belongs here.
Well known facts about Donald Trump:
1. He invented the hamburger
2. There was a new star created the day he was born on a mountain top and winter turned to spring
3. He never needs to use a toilet because his bodily functions are so well regulated that he never urinates or defecates.
4. He learned to drive at the age of three
5. He is an accomplished musical composer and musician whose talent is celebrated around the world.
6. He is couragious and invincible
Whoops, sorry. That's the other blow hard, Kim Jon-gun
24
This is a follow-up joke to how Al Gore invented the Internet, right?
Hey, backstage NYT censors, let's try it again:
That's an authentic A-2 jacket he is putting on. Tells you everything you need to know about where this nation is headed while he's living in the White House. So sad for the NYT cultural Marxists. But then, there's always 2020. Good luck.
3
No way!! An authentic A2 jacket... impressive.
4
May be authentic, but, he doesn’t deserve one. He’s a draft dodger & coward. I respect some who dodged the draft, but, stayed here to protest that war. It’s those who’s daddy bought all their diplomas, then bought them diagnoses to keep them from being drafted I think are lower than scum. Like? Can you guess? Likes groping women, spent ‘HIS’ Vietnam not getting STDs, while dating (he really means ‘laying’) soldier’s girlfriends & wives. Dates don’t get you diseases.
2
Only a simple minded Trump voter would think the donning of a jacket
(Authentic A2 or not) would have any meaning. It's a con job and they're the marks. It's ALL show and it's going right over their heads. Sad. Bigly.
1
trump will never understand the man who lays down his life for someone he loves or is responsible for. He would never do that. I doubt if he ever inconvenienced himself for any of his wives or children. They seem to have been left on their own to grow up and learn. He doesn't even treat his present wife with respect in public. Doubt if he does in private. Please, America, save us from this horror in our White House and next time give us some one as honorable as Barack Obama was.
21
You yearn for a pretty do-nothing who let the country wallow in despair as he insisted on very little economic growth and no good jobs? Why inflict that on a country of people you live with?
♬ Donny's playroom
Is a bunker filled with sand
He's become a third world man
Smoky sunday
He's been mobilized since dawn
Now he's crouching on the lawn
He's a third world man
♬
Soon you'll throw down your disguise
We'll see behind those bright eyes
By and by
When the sidewalks are safe
For the little guy♬
3
It seems that the politicians who are the strongest advocates for war are always the ones who ducked the draft or never thought of volunteering for the armed services.
Bush never finished his Air Force Reserve commitments, Cheney—the nation’s most belligerent VP—had five “deferments” and Trump (who, unarmed, would have attacked a gunman armed to the teeth) ducked the draft completely.
During the Vietnam War, the advocates for war were called “hawks.” The ones who shouted the loudest and with the greatest number of draft deferments were called “chicken-hawks.”
Where are the Village People; now that we need to hear their inspiring anthem to masculinity— “Macho, Macho Man.”
20
I was called a hawk in high school (only one it seems). They said I was a war monger. Why? Well, my English teacher was advisor to the school paper. Saw something in my writing he liked. So, as he could, he gave me a column to write every week. I wrote, not in support of the war, but, support of the soldiers. I’d write a column, turn it into him, he’d send it back have me rewrite, sometimes 5 times. Then tell me to turn it in. Never made the paper. NOT ONE. I peeked in once & watched the editor pick it up with thumb & forefinger, not reading more than my byline & put it in the round file. Wished I’d kept them. Also wished I’d made a stink about them not getting published. I didn’t try hard enough. Excuse? I was shy. So, I apologize to all those Vietnam Vets (& Vietnam Era Vets), for not trying harder to support you. I tried, not hard enough, during the first Gulf War, when locals gathered on the common every week with anti war signs, just like those in the 60’s. I made a sign, went to the common & held it high. It said SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. The next week some of the protestors had the same sign. Churches started collecting items for ‘care packages’ for soldiers. Did I do enough? Still don’t think so. Protesting a war is one thing. Talking dirt about those sent to fight it is another. To the person who said no one ever yelled ‘Baby killer’ at soldiers a few months ago: You are wrong. I heard them. They were/are our brothers, sons, fathers, now grandfathers, too. RESPECT THEM!
U had a critical skills job with a secret clearance. I was a Junior in the College of Engineering and got drafted anyway.
Everybody is a "hawk" in the Army--you can't survive any other way.
I see all the draft dodgers wearing flags in their lapels and wish there was a lapel flag pin that only veterans could wear.
I think I understand you.
agreed. I lived in New York during trumps heyday. saw a lot of him, and he provided a certain value as the city's comedy relief, the jester in Chief.
But the record has shown he never really did anything profitable. Simply offloaded the risk on the unwary who are impressed by his bluster. the credit markets reacted accordingly, and eventually froze him out.
so why does this qualities make him a fairly minimal president, let alone a decent one?
19
Oh yes, he would run with no weapon and save the day. Just like he ran into the army w his bad foot. He also invented the wheel and the internal combustion engine. Sickening.
17
I believe that Trump would NOT have thrown himself at the "shooter". I also believe that arming teachers, or, for that matter, any school staff, is beyond bizarrely stupid and reckless.
I have been both a fighter pilot (with some handgun training) and a school teacher. I would refuse to be armed when teaching, and would refuse to teach in a school where any staff is armed!
I would also love to see how Trump perfumes in any "simulated" combat or threat situation!
11
Now apply those reasonable thoughts about his personality and apply them to how you think he is likely to handle the North Korea problem.
4
Perhaps Bruni is right: Trump doesn’t just act infantile, he is infantile. Either way the infantile description fits.
Another facet, however, is mental deficiency. Can’t focus, can’t plan, can’t read, can’t count, can’t tell if it’s raining when he’s outside. Like a fly trapped an open paper bag, banging into walls, unable to see the light.
To trim things down to a size he can comprehend, everything has to be black and white, on or off, now or never, and happenings have only one cause and call for only one response.
That’s our President.
15
I just realized something. After WW2 & Korea many men when they came back entered politics. They wanted to keep helping our country. Same now, those who have fought in both gulf wars, Iraq & Afganistan have done the same (women now too). But, those who fought in Vietnam, haven’t gone the same route. Many came back, got jobs & have had very good lives. Others were too damaged. I believe much of the damage was inflicted by the protestors who hated them. Why should they continue en mass, to work for their country when all they saw was their country hated them. I’ve said before, I didn’t try hard enough to support them, for which I will forever be sorry. I’ve tried to do better since. I apologize to all who gave some, & kneel in sorrow for the some who gave all. Forgive me. Those who pretend like Trump & Bush before him, I feel nothing but contempt. For those truly 4-F who tried to enlist anyway. You are heros too. Like my brother who has one leg shorter than the other, so nearsighted if he loses his glasses he can’t find a doorway, many allergies. After landing a very good job after college, he tried to enlist. They were kind, didn’t laugh at him. He figured, since his new job was with the Federal Government he could do the same work for the Army, & relieve one able bodied soldier for combat. Nope. Then he got his draft notice. They would take him, for the infantry. Same place, just across the hall. The enlistment Sgt saw what was happening & ran over, screaming at the Captain.
LITTLE Donny showed us how fast he could run even with bone spurs when it
came to avoiding real service to our country
15
This man has no redeeming value whatsoever. How in the world did he get elected to be our President? Oh yeah. Russia.
20
With Trump how far does the elevator go down? Trump has been and always will be a spoiled rich boy. Someone who has never lifted a figure to do anything. The Trump real estate empire was built on the back of Fred Trump's wealth. In his delusional mind he believes he's Bruce Willis in the Die Hard movies. He going to run into a building with or without a weapon and take on a shooter with an AR-15. He was the ultimate draft dodger, but he loves the military. Women love him, because he has a giant wallet that he inherited from his unscrupulous father. A real macho guy that can smugly bully opponents, but is freighted of the Russians and the NRA.
15
Watch Donald Trump closely as he applauds in public events. He closely emulates Kim Jong_ub, the North Korean dictator. In reality, Donald Trump believes he's our dictator.
14
DJT, Superhero. Sure.
From Howard Stern, July 16, 2008, Trump said:
“I was at Mar-a-Lago and we had this incredible ball ...and a man, about 80 years old—very wealthy man, a lot of people didn’t like him—he fell off the stage. So what happens is, this guy falls off right on his face, hits his head, and I thought he died. And you know what I did? I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t, you know, he was right in front of me and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him… he’s bleeding all over the place, I felt terrible. You know, beautiful marble floor, didn’t look like it. It changed color. Became very red. ... I was saying, ‘Get that blood cleaned up! It’s disgusting!’ The next day, I forgot to call [the man] to say he’s OK."
123
Great story. He would call it fake news. Then Sarah Huckster-bee Sanders would scold the media that it’s all just guy-talk and they ought to be able to take a joke and stop being so critical. Anyway, a former boss once told me there’s nothing funnier than someone falling flat on their face. And in the cartoon world Trump lives in, this is the truth!
1
Consider, if you would:
one more example of Trump's hate-filled rage toward the vulnerable;
one more example of his grandiose notion of masculinity;
one more example of how he shrouds his own felt-vulnerability &
"small-ness" with violently "superior" notions of "strength."
Trump rants from both sides of his mouth. In one breath, he advocates
mental health initiatives. On the other hand, shortly after Orlando, he fantasized a "beautiful" sight were the gunman to have been shot between the eyes by an armed patron. He (along with many TV commentators) refers to young Cruz in "monstrous" terms. Had teachers been armed, he argues, this 19-year-old would “not have known what hit him.”
In no way am I defending the shooters’ acts. Yet, part of the masculine ideal in our culture seems to include derogation—if not decimation—of the mentally ill. If we see the issue of gun-violence in correlation with mental illness, do we not need to stop applying comparably violent "remedies" to those who commit these acts? Do we not need to stop referring to them as “evil” or “monsters”? Deeply troubled human beings: there—but for the grace of a very different neuro-psychological-social development—go I." Instead, Trump pursues an "I" for an "I" … and an eye for an eye. Freud called it "projection" of our own aggressive instincts; the Scriptures, "the mote in our own eye."
20
The manly president, The Donald, who stated that he would have gone in into Margery Stoneman Douglas High School armed or not to get the shooter failed to remember that he did not serve his country as he received FIVE DEFERMENTS during the Vietnam War! This is the same manly man who speaks of women with total disrespect and has a most questionable history of sexual harassment. This manly man is a total fraud. Thank you, Donald, Mitch and Paul and all of you extreme ultraconservatives for jeopardizing our democracy. Can not wait till 2018.
25
I guess Trump's bone spur has healed since he can now run.
27
Just find the video from the campaign rally in Ohio, when somebody rushed the stage and you will see what he's made of...
Tough guy, yeah right...
19
trump is a disgrace in every sense of the word. From sexual predator and abuser to military service evader to conman, he is a national disgrace every single day. He represents the very opposite of manhood.
21
What a poser this coward is.
11
" . . . a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." _Shakespeare, Macbeth
15
Manly He-man? More like what my old DI would have called a Butterball. And no good for anything but killing donuts.
17
The Donald just isn't worth the ink. His braggadocio is masking many insecurities and much hidden self doubt. How do I know? Just listen to him carefully.
9
Apart from being neither a manly man nor a he-man, Trump is not a successful businessman. His only success is in creating the image of being a successful businessman. He did that by following a script on TV and by being a lying braggart. He did not build a successful business in NYC. His grandfather started that; his grandmother continued the work after her husband's death; and her son Fred learned the business at her side. Fredd built a business riddled with sleaze and racism. Donald inherited that, a business worth over $300 million back then. He made money by failing to pay his suppliers what he owed, and by stripping the assets of casinos and then by declaring bankruptcy. The real scandal is not Trump. It is that the people of America are so ill-prepared for the real world that they think Trump is a successful businessman--and worse, that a once-great party worships at the altar of a fraud.
24
The more props and noise a man needs for show on the outside, the weaker the man on the inside. Pathetic.
16
It is truly amazing that Trump can do and/or say the most ridiculous thing possible as often as he does. He really is beyond whatever limits you could think of for anything.
10
And one more thing - please do not call him a billionaire. No one knows what his true net worth is. He hasn't produce his tax returns. He is a self proclaimed billionaire. But since he's lied about everything else, that claims is likely to be a lie as well.
17
Absolutely right!
1
You know, we'd all better be careful about this line of talk. An existentially insecure guy like this one, with big-time masculinity issues, shouldn't be allowed to have his (tiny) fingers on the button. But that's where they are. Does anyone put it past Trump to to start up trouble as a way to prove what a tough guy he is?
Oh yeah. Not sure if it's been mentioned here, but Trump had the opportunity to prove his mettle with Mexico's president when they met face-to-face. A real man would have demanded then and there that Mexico pay for his wall.
But SuperTrump couldn't muster the brass to even bring the topic up. And what about how he cowers to Putin? He's not man enough to make Russia and Putin suffer *anything* for attacking our democracy.
10
All this from a man who refused to defend his country. Little donnie is trying to make up for his tiny hands. As my grandmother used to say, "Empty barrels make the most noise."
16
Nice touch, Mr. Bruni--that about the "clean, well-trimmed fingernails." And it rang a bell:
Back in the day. Some British minister (started off as a "navvy"--a workingman) had locked horns with Soviet foreign minister, Molotov.
And Molotov was holding forth on the iniquities of capitalism and the downtrodden workingman. (Much of it true, of course.)
And suddenly the Brit had had enough. "Show me your hands, Mr. Foreign Minister!" he erupted. "Show me your hands!"
And he stuck out his own. Big hands. Callouses--he'd done no end of hard physical labor. Back in the day.
And Molotov? He'd been a clerk. Parked at a desk. He thrust his own lily-white hands under the table where the two of them were sitting. No way he was winning THAT match!
And our President? Oh so tough! "There's no problem at all," he reassured an anxious nation not so long ago. No problem at all with . . .um. . . . .
. . .well, never mind.
Your point is well taken,Mr. Bruni. And hey! Quotes and anecdotes are flooding my mind. The late Zsa Zsa Gabor, for instance. Who declared:
"MACHO--does not necessarily mean MUCHO!"
Perfect! You listening, sir?. . . . .
. . . .uh. . . .sir? . . . . Mr. President?. . . . .
12
We're talking to a guy who never gave or got a bloody nose in a schoolyard fight. Not in the tony schools he attended!
7
This guy running into a building with an active shooter is about as likely as him runnnig into the East Room and answering reporters questions. ZERO.
14
Meanwhile, republicans slowly dismantle health care, social security, education...
21
From day one when Trump pushed his way into our lives, if anyone who was paying attention to the words the man used, one could have detected the nature of the man.
Yes he's narcissistic, selfish, self observed braggart and most of all a scared little guy who's words show he wishes to be all the things he puts down in his adversaries.
He says he's smart, bright, and a strong leader.
He wish.
He says he's honest, but he uses folks like a dust paper towel then tosses it away.
Even as president, he's using this country as a way to line his pocket.
Remember what he said about that lucrative bankruptcy payoff.
All he has going for him is his reported wealth and nothing else.
I have to give it to him, however.
He's the best used car salesperson I have ever seen.
A total con artist.
10
" because in his blinkered view, that’s the measure of a nation’s worth. It’s also the affirmation of his potency."
(Ditto Kim and every other retrograde fascist)
" Trump advocates the hardest possible hits."
(And let's not forget his hilarious claim 'I could play linebacker for the Jets!'
"“He’s a frightened guy. A tough guy wouldn’t have to demonstrate it.”
(And of course his base demands this. What's that say about them?)
He's a ten year old man/boy playing army in the back yard.
And he is POTUS.
10
Actually in so many ways, Trump shows he is not a man much less a human being. Do “real” men and women constantly: brag about themselves, whine and stamp their feet about how unfair everyone is, call other people names, never do what they promise and constantly lie? Would any right thinking human want to spend time with a man or woman like that? Would you want a friend like that?
9
The gunman was on the third floor. Trump would've needed to run his golf cart up to the door, switch to a Hoveround to get through the door, get to the elevator (he'd never make it up the stairs) and then do what? We now have a President who is the sitting equivalent to the loud mouthed drunk at dive bar who constantly claims he'd be a better - quarterback, pitcher, cop, fireman, soldier...the list is endless. This is what Trump brings to the world as the face and attitude of the America's President. God help us.
19
There is a great idea in this column that has prompted a very important debate: What is exemplary masculinity? What Is masculinity? While we may be debating Trump's poor example o masculinity. I suggest following Bruni's key question: what are the nuances of masculinity today? Obviously not the gross,rough cartoon-like model Trump thinks he represents and his followers admire. Let's talk about good models of real honest men.
7
It seems the one thing that makes Trump cower in fear is Putin.
4
He is so obviously in that man's thrall, Melania should sue for alienation! Seriously, he's as desperate for Putin's as Rupert Murdoch.
We have all seen some version of the ancient Caveman; clubbing his bride to be and dragging her back to his cave . . .
Barbaric for sure; however, many cultures maintain a similar disregard for women - sadly - to many to name - "can't drive, vote, walk in public alone . . . and pretty much handled as property" -
Of course this is not the case in educated 1st world countries as a rule, but many, even in our country, tremendously disrespect women.
He's not only the president, but also a member of this club !
How could any women feel like OR BE an equal among anyone who is in this club ?
It gets worse;
These "club members" also have deeply seated issues of self confidence.
There are endless paths of "acting out" - poorly compensating for these shortcomings.
Our president apparently has collected many of the popular "compensations" . . .
He abuses women and has done so for a very long time.
He abuses workers and ignores previous promises.
He abuses the Truth and lies Constantly about Everything.
He abuses our Constitution and every level.
He is one of the most self centered and self aggrandizing person in modern history !
He is completely devoid of even the tiniest amount of sympathy or empathy.
He is the weakest excuse for a man who ever occupied the White House.
11
"He is the weakest excuse for a man who ever occupied the White House."
Oh, I don't know about that. Millard Fillmore may have been
just a tad weaker......but maybe not.
With all of his posturing the 'very stable genius' still cannot compensate for those tiny little hands of his.
8
Trump is to a real leader as Sid Caeser was to a General. Ref: "The General" on you tube.
3
If the 'rushing in' part came from someone who actually did as tours of service instead of getting deferments, it might actually be worth more than a laugh. Thank God those bone spurs did not affect his golf game! Reminds me of another famous chicken hawk, Dick Cheney, who couldn't resist blaming Saddam Hussein for 9/11 as a pretext for invading Iraq. Now that's one we can't wait to duplicate again! How courageous these hawks are with other people's lives! The players may change, but the game stays the same.
8
A cowardly, blustery wimp, Mr. Trump is frightened of blood, runs from conflict, wilts in the face of challenge, and bullies anyone he perceives as less powerful and important than he.
His reputation for accepting the advice of, and agreeing with, the last person who talks to him is evidence of this, as is his constant about-facing when anyone flatters him.
Guns? He's all for stronger laws ... while the teenagers tell him that's what's needed. Until he has lunch with Wayne LaPierre, and realizes stronger laws are useless.
China? Our greatest enemy. A threat. A foe determined to foist the hoax of climate change on us to destroy our competitiveness. China? Great people, great leader, wonderful reception -- the moment Xi rolls out the red carpet.
For anyone with actual character, Trump is not just a laughingstock, he's a pathetic take-off of a cartoon character. It's sad that so many deplorables think he's the real thing: a leader. They, like him, remind me of Harley-Davidson riders who are desperate to have something big between their thighs. I suppose that, for once in his life, Marco Rubio told the truth.
9
It's not just Trump who is the problem here. The entire GOP is a problem. So is the NRA. In both cases we're seeing organizations headed by men who have no idea how to be men or human beings. Donald Trump is blowhard. Wayne LaPierre comes across as a wannabe czar.
“He often jokes about killing drug dealers,” a senior administration official told Swan. “He’ll say: ‘You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them.’” The preceding statement is emblematic of the sort of person and leader Trump is. Due process for him, doubt for him but death for everyone else. He'd no more rush in to save a student than he'd take responsibility for the mess he's made during his time in the White House.
Lord of Incompetence thy name is Trump and thy servants are the GOP.
14
His comment reminded me of Lady Catherine in Pride and Prejudice when she says that if she had ever learned to play the piano she would have been a great proficient. Trump spouting nonsense like the silly, selfish and entitled character in a novel.
9
It's not about what donald 'would do' but more about what donald 'says he would do'. Remember the video clip of him with the bald eagle tied to his desk? All that bird had to do was flap its wings in order to frighten our fearless leader.
12
Not much that one can say these days about who men and women are. If what is portrayed of manliness or manhood is symbolized by the army and bruteness then I know why God is a woman !
9
I keep trying to find the perfect 'qualifier' for Donald Trump. He attempts to belittle his betters with derogatory monikers: Lyin' Ted, Crooked Hillary, Liddle Marco, etc., so why not follow his lead and provide him with a his own suitable moniker. One thing we all know about Donald is that he is a coward through and through. He won't show his tax returns because he is afraid of what they will reveal. He brags about how smart he is, but he won't release even his college transcripts because he is afraid of revealing what a bad student he was (aka: not very smart). The list goes on and on. I submit we should call Donald Trump something that befits his cowardice such as 'Scaredy Don', or maybe 'Chicken Don'. But there are others (oh so many others). Do you see my dilemma? Any ideas?
7
The Times couldn't print what I usually call him!
4
I like "Defendant Don"
5
We do not need a new model of the nature of either of the two procreative human genders. The ultimate human virtue is humble humane empathy for every member of the one and only biological DNA genetic human race species that originated in Africa 300,000+ years ago. The Golden Rule should rule human affairs.
What we do not need is an ignorant, immature, intemperate and insecure inheritor of wealth as a role model. Donald Trump looks thoroughly stupid and foolish in this leather jacket photo as the vapid model Melania smiles. Trump's delusion is that tweeting and speaking slurs is fighting. Vladimir Putin's foes end up in prisons, mental institutions, hospitals, urns and coffins. Putin helped put Trump in the Oval Office of the White House.
12
Frank's analysis of trump's psyche is quite valid, but not as important as the conviction of trump for treason.
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
9
In the not-too-distant future (assuming the world survives petty potus escariot), dictionary definitions of "Kafkaesque" will come with the citation "anachronistic" -- and the reference, "see trumpesque."
2
It really is shocking to see all these liberals, flaming liberals, making fun of someone one for not going to Vietnam. You know that is not even a fair argument especially from liberals. All of a sudden Trump is president and Vietnam is the great patriotic war? Give me a break. I am getting bone spurs just listening to all this tripe.
2
It’s not that he didn’t go to Vietnam, it’s that he acts as if he’s a he-man who could run into a building with an active shooter while at the same time getting deferments. It’s the irony and the delusion. As you no doubt know.
11
My relatives volunteered, fought and died defending this country. One received a posthumous Purple Heart. Trump is an insult to their memory. And how have you served?
6
@mark from Iowa , it's a Frankie Bruni article , what do you expect . Entertainment , NOT to be be taken seriously .
1
Has anyone ever seen Donald Trump run at anything. The closest I saw him come to actually bolting and running was when a thug at one of his speeches tried to rush the satege and he ran like chicken running away from a Fox. The idea that Trump would dart into a phine booth, remove his garmets to reveal his Superman costume and rush into the building and PFFFFFT away with the bad guy to the cheers of students and the Superintendent lavishing him with praise saying: "Thanks to you Mr. President, our schools are safe again!" may be one of his fantasies where he is the Christopher Reeve version of Superman but I can't imagine Trump saying" "No Superintendent, we're all in this together!" I can imagine him saying:: "I know! I lnow! Now for my next trick..."
5
Every day derogatory words are spoken and written about our pip-squeak president. However, a picture is worth a thousand words. Every picture of Trump and Melania together says it all. You can see it in her face that she despises him. Don't make fun of her; she's with us.
11
"71-year-old billionaires"?: We still have to see the tax returns - probably far less when you figure in Putin-held debt.
12
Trump needs to change the color of the dye in what remains of his hair to yellow. the color that runs down his back.
12
Mr. Trump, that leather jacket is considered equipment for those who actually serve in our military.
When a draft dodging coward like you puts it on, it's just a costume.
15
Donald Trump is beyond absurd, he must be removed from the office of President.
10
I recall how Trump cringed in abject fear onstage during the 2016 primary campaign when an outraged man ran toward him. No standup courage, no aggression, no bravery. He backed away and cringed as his bodyguards swarmed around him. I was embarrassed for him then, but this time I am ashamed, because he’s a cowardly blowhard and he’s the US President.
9
The alternative label I could think of is “it-man”, not a real man but a freak of nature, the likes of which we have never seen.
7
Once again , thank you Mr Bruni .
Regrettably, the current occupant of the White House is a man whose entire life is a lie. Everything he claims is indeed the opposite of the truth, and you can be sure that if this man lies about every day aspects associated with himself, that he is very likely lying about something much bigger that may have dire consequences for this country.
Last night I watched another Republican parasite whining on CNN about a journalist who attacked the president personally, about his behavior.
Let's get this straight – there is sadly nothing admirable about this president in any of his behavior. He lies , cheats , brags , insults , and degrades others on a daily basis.
Where Russia is concerned, and with all due consideration to the way they have acted with hostile intent, this president has been derelict of his duty, and has turned his back on the constitutional oath he took.
With regard to his lack of any moral character, this is something that the press should cite aggressively, and although it is not an impeachable offense to be a person of low or no moral character as President of the United States, it sets all kinds of negative examples, fully on display ,every day internationally .
And to all the Republicans in Congress who have sold your souls to this "very stable genius in chief", enjoy your power while it lasts. The time for celebrating yourself is coming to an end.
9
"Selflessness comes in a close second."
I mean, i sense the sarcasm, but, where would anyone get that particular idea? I havent seen or heard him even lie about being selfless.
But my issue with this piece, which i think is actually written very well, is that only for one sentence does it focus on the fact that trump privately talks about mass killing drug dealers. There isnt a link to a different article, and this saddens me. I know the context has to do with the microgram potency deadly Fentanyl, but regardless, killing drug dealers and arming teachers being top ideas from the president, the people should know the insane things he actually entertains in his mind and talks about. Because more than anything its a sign of the truly horrid place we arrived at collectively, while trying to be progressive
2
"...toughness means packing heat. Just as striking as his call to arm some teachers — “only the best,” he tweeted — is his inflated estimate of how many of them are adept with firearms and his romanticizing of that group." Does Donald J. Trump even realize that a majority of teachers (about 77%) are females? Or perhaps he has developed a recent fetish for danger in fantasizing about groping women packing heat...
6
A manly man is my dad who, at age 92, proudly wears his "World War II Veteran" baseball cap. He served as a radar technician in the Army Air Force. He and my mom raised their children to be sensible, smart and kind adults. While just a teen, my dad taught me everything I needed to know to launch my business career. He taught me that you can get ahead in this world without stepping on other people; you can become successful and still have a big and generous heart. A real "Manly He-Man?" My dad. The President of the United States? A clown.
12
Your father and mine are kindred spirits.
3
Any chance your dad, (an actual hero and a real ‘man’), would be interested in running for President in 2020?
3
You're fortunate to have had that kind of person for a dad. Our country, with this "president"? Not so much.
1
We'll know the shark has been jumped when he designs a uniform for himself and issues himself medals.
5
In the old "Little Rascals" series they boys had a club called the "He-man Woman Haters Club" and gathered in a homemade shed in the backyard. Since the President's objects of hatred are far broader ..... perhaps we can tack a sign on the front of the White House with the words "He-man and Haters Club."
7
Until he got his very own military to play with I suspect Donald's only masculinity weapon was Viagra.
10
One can only assume that Trump does not read Bruni.
3
It's very interesting that Trump is trying to show others his powers, and yet it is exactly these actions which lead to people disrespecting him. He wants people to think of him as masculine, but he fails to understand that posturing without backing it up makes him appear cowardly and insecure. He is trying so hard to perform that he is undermining his own performance.
Additionally, the masculinity he cares about is the masculinity of the 50s and 60s--the time he wants the US to emulate. It is not just himself, then, who he is trying to make appear masculine. Trump views this form of masculinity as the ultimate power, and he wants the entire country to go back to this. His crisis of masculinity is so severe that he is projecting it onto the country as a whole.
3
Trump, Trump, Trump. The Times should spend a lot more effort on reporting on what Congress, SCOTUS, state governments, lobbyists and the oligarchy are up to. They have been and continue to be the greatest threat to government by and for the people.
3
Robert Mueller is a man! Went to Vietnam after graduating Princeton when he could have easily deferred a la Trump. Mueller served as a Marine Corps officer receiving the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" for heroism and the Purple Heart Medal. Served as a public servant throughout his career. Steared the country through the darkness post-9/11 as the head of the FBI. Is a man of honor, intelligence, integrity, and humility. Trump- sits around watching his TV "shows", putting on his orange make-up, has his hair done, and is unable to read10 pages of information, and tweets like a 12 year old (I realize that this is an insult to MANY 12 year olds). Mueller would have gone into that school. Trump would have run for hair and make-up, called Fox News, and tweeted like the coward that he is.
8
The first thing that comes to mind when I read this is Trumps reaction at a Dayton Ohio rally in March of ‘16. Secret Service agents jump on stage to form a wall around Trump after a disturbance broke out around him. Trump’s reaction is the picture that’s worth a thousand words. Panicking, he reaches for an agents jacket with a white knuckle grip, appearing to hold on for dear life. Then there’s the Trump who sought five deferments to keep from going to Vietnam. To some that sounds a lot like military cowardice. His boasts of how he would have rushed into the Stoneman Douglas school to stop the Fl shooter seem almost comical now. This, after all, is a man who couldn’t even face his own wife to announce he was divorcing her. Instead he let Marla Maples read about it in a newspaper! A particularly unique display of cowardice toward a woman, if you ask me! Now we should arm the teachers, he says. More guns! Which also brings to mind the Archie Bunker episode where Archie’s solution to stop plane hijackings is just as simple minded as Trumps. “ All you gotta do is arm all your passengers. Just pass out the pistols at the beginning of the trip” , he confidently proclaims ! The difference? That fictional Archie episode was actually funny. Trump, our fictional all American manly He-Man President is sadly, not funny at all.
5
Trump wants a military parade of goose-stepping soldiers, phalanxes of tanks, massive rockets towed on carriages, with thundering jets overhead. He and his adoring cabinet would give stiff-armed salutes from a reviewing stand surrounded by throngs (“the largest crowd ever”) of cheering mortals.
Any comparisons come to mind?
Trump is dumb, but not courageous enough, to enter a mass shooting unarmed. What’s the point? Wouldn’t a sensible person pause long enough to figure just where the shooting is happening? Wouldn’t he pick up a brick, a stick, or some tourniquets and bandages before sallying forth to add to the confusion of the desperate, fleeing horde of victims?
3
Allow me to present a quick defence of President Trump, hopefully rebutting this opinion piece by Frank Bruno.
President Trump was formed by the world of Manhattan real estate development. To build buildings and to bring buildings in, on time and under budget you have to be unimaginably tough. You face continuous horrendous competition from other Manhattan developers.
Yes, he is boastful. Yes, he is brash. Yes, he is vindictive. Yes he is rude. Yes, he can be obnoxious but he gets things done and he delivers on his campaign promises. That wall will be built. He is an American archetype in the vein of Cornelius Vanderbilt, JP Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Schwab, Henry Frick and Jay Gould and I do realize that Andrew Carnegie was an immigrant from Scotland.
President Trump is running for re-election in 2020. Who do the Democrats have?
13
There can be no defense for Trump any more than there can be a defense for the real estate situation in New York City - or, for that matter, can there be any any defense for those capitalist pigs of yore that Teddy Roosevelt tried his best to tame.
Trump expresses virtually everything an American president should not be. Your attempt at defending this barf-provoking person is in itself indefensible.
1
if he were solely in charge of his own biz then no one would care. But he chose to represent the USA and the characteristics you point out are not positives in the global world. Already we have seen a great harm the USA brand. Moreover, building a wall is no accomplishment, it is a waste of taxpayer money. As to 2020, if the best we do is Trump then we will continue to be in a world of hurt. He is a horrible person.
16
I'd vote for Donald Duck before Donald Trump
23
Well stated and spot on. Hopefully we will not have to suffer this moron too much longer.
7
The baby-in-chief strikes again.
6
I remain flabbergasted that Trump's macho, manly minions, both male and female, fail to recognize that their hero is, in essence, a metrosexual — not that there's anything wrong with that, to quote Seinfeld, but it's a ... style completely at odds with the president*'s alleged tough-guy character.
Think about it. He transparently makes use of tanning salons (though more artful metrosexual-types note that his tan-practitioner lacks nuance, thus the reverse-raccoon eyes in a face otherwise the color of Gerber pureed carrots). He's an absolute weenie about germs. He dyes his flyaway, poofy hair. And just watch his hand gestures sometime without sound; he is the very definition of flamboyant. Fortunately, I've not been close enough to the man* to know what he smells like, but here's betting he douses that sluggardly carapace of his in "manly" cologne.
Plus, he's a documented chickenhawk and blusterer. No tough guy, he.
Donald Trump, metrosexual. Can anyone deny it?
4
I have no doubt that our Pillsbury Doughboy-in-chief would scream like a little girl if faced with danger.
6
An insecure little boy in need of psychiatric help. Someone put Trump away please.
6
As someone who has studied masculine beauty and masculinity, trump does not exhibit anything manly to me. Matter of fact he is almost like a transexual. With his white natural hair color he resembles and elderly overweight old lady, without pearls. You can talk tough, curse people out, disparage women "they let you do anything" grabbing ---, threaten, lie, triangulate but that does not make a man. It just makes you pathetic.
3
Mussolini-on-the-Potomac.
7
The more we talk about this obese coward acting like a petulant clown, the less we talk about his potentially treasonous and criminal acts. Let's stick to the real topic: Russia and the coward who is indebted to them.
4
Thank God he doesn't do the shirtless thing like Putin.
4
He is such a wimp, such a compensator. Once I punched a bully in the eye, early in high school and in front of a crowd. He wore a shiner for a week and never bothered me again.
Many bullies are that way: all bluster until humiliated in public.
2
Trump makes me sick.
5
Trump is the opposite of tough. Reportedly, he cannot even stomach firing people himself! He blabs on about guns, but I doubt he's fired a gun since his mommy and daddy shipped him off to military school. Who does he physically bully? Women! Actual tough, confident people do not have to make grand declarations of how tough they are. He's a coward.
3
How can a real man be a germaphobe?
2
Don't look at us Frank.
Your party of "poorly educated" nitwits put this freak in charge, not us.
3
Had Hillary Clinton turned around on that stage during the debate, stuck her finger into his chest and said, "Back off, buster" he would not be president today. He would have crumbled. Just as he did when the woman at the African American conference shut up his tantrum; his image of tough guy would have vanished in the eyes of the morons who think he is tough.
He is not the man to emulate as an example of manhood or toughness.
As in everything else about him; his manliness is phony. Just skin deep.
As far as imagining him running toward the sound of gunfire; I will not imagine him running anywhere. That image just gives me a stomach ache.
5
To me, Donald Trump is the most effeminate, vain, and cowardly male to ever occupy the White House, not even counting his excessive weight, makeup, and gauche wardrobe. FOX News would never read my comment on the air, but it's true and I wish someone would say it to Trump's face, which would redden.
4
The only thing he would run to rescue is a Big Mac.
5
A manly man. When is he going to strap on a .45 and strut like Saddam? When is he going to assemble a guard force of thugs similarly strapped? After all, you don't know whom to trust these days.
2
Trump is beyond riducule. He is pathetic...the problem is he is capable of causing much damage. I still cannot get my mind around the fact he is POTUS.
3
There is a word for men like Trump ... "punk"
3
Trump the Feckless.
3
DJT did tell US governors the other day that he would have run into the Parkland high school without a gun. Wow!! What a real man, a super man. Come to think of it, I do not think I have ever seen DJT in the same room with Superman....do you suppose??
2
I think the last Bush was a pipsqueak by comparison, whose macho posturing, equally as phony as Trump's, still lacked Trump'sheer brazenness. Lucky for us to have been spared for a time what this current public spectacle epitomizes, so openly acknowledged in the att'd article, and from which we can't escape. Surely this clown's bossy boy behavior must be seeping into the minds of adolescent males. I hope these latter media-saturated innocents have some wise dads to remind them, among other things, how to recognize a side-show when it comes to town, and advise them, intelligently and reassuringly, against giving too much notice to such stereotypes of "manhood" that are, in this age of "MeToo," as ancient and stale as Hugh Hefner.
1
Get your facts right, Frank. GWB did not “declare mission accomplished”. The banner was hung on the ship’s super-structure by the crew. We saw it, too.
Cut out the exaggeration trying to make your story more dramatic. Even in high school I learned to use facts properly. But I guess that’s not part of the NYT journalistic philosophy anymore.
2
This so-called president continues to embarrass us all.
Were that all, we could probably tolerate it.
But he's a crook, a liar and is no leader.
We need Mueller to relieve us of this dangerous and sickening fraud.
2
This "He Man" seems overly concerned with his hair, his baldness and his combover(s.) God help us all! Colbert said the part he found difficult to believe was Trump saying that, "he would have run in there." Trump can't run, never mind keep his head enough to shoot straight!
2
Forget about being a manly man, Donald Trump is just a miserable excuse for human being.
3
If our manly man president were a passenger on the Titanic, he would have put on women's clothing in order to board the life boats.
3
He'll rip them (school shooters) from top to bottumus!
...A punk in wolf’s clothing...
2
Trump is a soft, privileged "chickenhawk". Arrogance isn't character or muscle. He needs a "play date" with Danny Quale another puke-inducing make believe tough guy. Just look at him. He loves to show how he can put on a jacket makes him a legend in his own mind. Why aren't you impressed?
2
Tammy Baldwin: "Corporal Heel-Spurs," draft-dodger, and champion STD avoider.
2
He is a sick caricature of a man. Plain and simple.
4
Obama was a fantastic role model. But he had a problem - he was black. Now that the racists are in charge, everything gets reversed. Lying, fornicating, cheating scoundrels are held up as leadership material. How irresponsible is it to elect a leader of your country who is immoral and proud of it? What a truly amazing role model for children everywhere. This way, even if he lasts for two terms the damage will be multi-generational. Thanks Evangelicals! Your real values speak louder than your words.
6
For an European not his played manhood is the problem but his sheer vulgarity. This is the main disgusting thing on him.
2
I believe he was the founding member of the manly he-man women haters club. Based on his behavior, maybe there really is a connection regarding his small hands.
4
Trump’s B-movie affectation of manhood is less insidious than the Barbie-doll imagery attendant the women who attend him. This woman as spiked healed-size-8-air-brushed hood onarment tempts the resurrection of a truly harmful female Ideal buried in a far more shallow grave than are those of Hollywood’s renditions George Patton and Black-Jack Pershing!
2
We had/have a new role model of masculinity. His name is Barack Obama.
Except that most white men don't like black people, especially black men in power.
5
"The president wants a parade, but not some girlie, frilly procession that limits itself to high-stepping musicians, high-reaching headdresses, flutes and floats. He wants muscle. Metal. He wants tanks and soldiers and planes."
Big boys, big toys. Trump is an insecure adolescent stuck inside a septuagenarian's body.
4
Yeh, yeh, yeh! Meanwhile Ryan and McConnell go about their business of supporting Trump and of dismantling the Republic. Dear God, Mr. Bruni, how often must you write about the obvious in the NYT? Better you should print handbills and distribute them all across America.
3
great column
3
I just hope he doesn't start running around shirtless like his soul mate Vladmir. I might never be able to eat again.
6
He is a pitiful shell of a person.
3
I don't like him, I didn't vote for him. He is a morally repugnant and reprehensible human being. That said, I had a glimmer of hope that he would moderate his absurd behavior once he became president. Without question he has gotten worse. I do not understand how we can tolerate such an imbecile. We have to come to our senses or we are doomed.
5
If trump had been on the Titanic, he would have put a dress on...
6
No, he wouldn't have bothered. He would have just pushed his way into the first lifeboat he found.
2
......and blamed the sinking on Obama!
4
let's get it clear ..he is a despot.. he has no truck for democracy as we learn every day. Trump is a fool for himself and an abyss for the nation.
2
Frank that you have spent a lot of fancy words on describing an overweight bully who is so obviously a physical coward that any decent man with a 'physical history' would love the opportunity to talk to him in the woodshed.
3
No, Mr. Bruni, we don’t need a new model of masculinity; there are plenty of worthy examples everywhere. You and your fellow NYT columnists should try leaving your bubble and look for us — and maybe show the next generation of boys what they could aspire to be. It’s a pity; your paper was once a pillar of journalism, not the daily woman-worshiping, man-bashing tabloid it’s become. Sad!
1
When you see the filth that is Donald Trump being held up as a role model, it only tells me that some people are so blind that all they need is a big mouth and a MAGA hat to think that they are "real men." I'll take a NY Times columnist over a lying crook any day.
2
He is a narcissistic, malignant sociopath. He has no moral principles, feels no compassion, and does not regard others as fully real except in relation to him. Life is a cheesy 70s action movie, he is the star, the rest of us are props, extras and collateral damage. If he isn't stopped, he may win the competition among Putin, Kim, and himself, all of whom seem determined to be our contribution to the big club: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Hirohito...
4
It amazes me that veteran groups embrace the man who refused to serve (oh, he had bad feet). He brags that can do anything better, better than anything you can do. He would have gone in the school but he can't make a definitive statement about solving the gun problem. He mugs like Mussolini and is as arrogant as Hitler. Watch out for this one. He is not a leader, he is a pretender.
3
Exposing and belittling him may be the only way we can get rid of him.
He has one dog and pony show he lapses into when he is with his sad followers.
Someday soon, a great American hero will knock on his door and let him know the state of our Republic is not for sale...and Donnie your 15 minutes are up.
Pick up your snake oil and go back to the only gold throne you will ever know....your john at Trump Tower....and wait for karma to find you.
4
HAIKU TO BRAVERY UNDER FIRE
Without a tremble,
Charging into the maelstrom!
Heel spurs got better.
The most pathetic thing about this Trumpian self-hero worship is that he probably believes his own puffery. He so wants to cut the hero's image for himself that he has self-persuaded that he really would have run straight into the line of semi-auto gunfire. This makes him not only a liar but also an idiot.
https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/dc022718jpg
4
I've known tough men. You don't hear it from their mouth. You see it in their eyes. trump's an insecure boy still trying to prove something to a father who didn't like him. He spirit never made it through adolescence, stuck somewhere between 6 and 13, completely oblivious as to how stupid he sounds, how transparent his cloying need for approval.
And we're stuck with this moron while the world scratches it's head between fits of laughter and watches the beaming light on the hill slowly extinguish.
8
Next time he is swimming in his Lago Mar Pool, someone yell SHAAAAARK!
4
He does dumber and dumber things every single day! he wants Ginsburg off the supreme Court, I want he and his horde gone from this administration.
4
Hey, all you Trump haters! The funny thing is that he is President and you are not. Manly not like BO, straightforward not like Hiliary. Maybe he bears some similarity to Big Bill Clinton, but who is looking at that?
Strong men are always targets.. check out Putin. That ought to get you going.
1
Silly article.
No one looks to model themselves after any president.
He is who he is.
2
Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Classic example. Should never have cleared the primaries or Electoral College. Heads in the sand. Emporer's Clothes.
2
Not much in politics is certain, but there are three "known knowns" about Donald Trump that no literate adult could rationally dispute:
1. The current occupant of the Whited House is a narcissistic sociopath.
2. The President of the United States is a racist bigot.
3. The Commander in Chief of the United States is a cowardly traitor.
All discussions of Donald Trump's character beyond these three basic facts is superfluous.
2
"Run," as with much of his utterances, is a vast exaggeration of his abilities. Waddle perhaps but run not possible.
3
Forget the masculinity role model.What the chief buffoon embodies is the not so comical mafia don.He's a throwback to a character right out of damon Runyon but not so lovable.
The Gotti men have more class and masculinity than this poseur.
2
You are talking about a man who didn't change diapers!
3
Trump is an insecure man-child. He shows the world this on a daily basis.
Trump thinks his "tough talk" makes him tough- His actions show he is anything but tough.
Trump is the "snowflake president", to put it in words his alt right buddies would understand.
4
Trump and George Costanza would have trampled over the kids to get out
the door.
4
Heaven help us if he decides to emulate his idol and goes horse riding shirtless. That's something we will never be able to un-see.
3
Certainly Trump is not the ideal of gentlemanly male masculinity and frank seems lost in sexual allusions.
2
Yeah, a real he-man, but with bone spurs!!!! BEYOND SAD, for himself and unfortunately for our nation.
1
Trump is a living example of the computer cliche "garbage in, garbage out." Just look at the shtuff he swills down and calls food.
4
.... nailed this one Frank
2
Remember when he thought he was being attacked at a campaign rally?? He cowered like the coward he truly is
2
Trump is a schoolyard bully. Nothing he does should be subject to criticism because he says so. He insists there was no collusion with the Russians and gets mad at the media because they won’t drop the story. He would have run into Marjory Stoneman High School without a weapon to save those children because in his fragile, egotistical mind he is always the hero. He must go to bed at night dreaming that his is the “greatest presidency ever”. If only he knew how miserably history will write about his term in office.
4
That's an authentic A-2 jacket he is putting on. Tells you everything you need to know about where this nation is headed while he's living in the White House. So sad for the NYT cultural Marxists. But then, there's always 2020. Good luck.
2
Trump surrounds himself with generals, loves military regalia and favors dictators. His fame is associated with power (“You’re FIRED!), and building tall (phallic) buildings, seemingly rooted in a deep psychological need stemming from a cross between an over-inflated ego, on the one hand, and deeply rooted feelings of insecurity, on the other.
It should not be forgotten that he schemed to avoid military service himself, with five draft deferments, and that neither of his able-bodied, love-to-shoot-and-hunt-in-foreign-country-sons enlisted to served in our armed forces.
Trump is driven by a compulsive and pathological lust for absolute power and adoration, but above all else, he is a small man, merely a marketing flack, shilling for himself.
1
I'll be so glad when this sorry nightmare is over.
Better yet, when he's in jail. Then we'll see how courageous he is in fending off bullies and murderers. Oh wait, he'll probably never actually go to jail and if he did it would probably be a country club with a gold toilet and taxpayer paid secret service protection.
Are we all nuts, or what?
2
"Real men" build bridges to others; cowards like Trump build walls to keep them apart. America is NOT a gated community.
2
Just as sickening: his supporters see themselves in him and like what they see. To quote from a Charles Blow column of last year: Trump is a coward's idea of what a hero is.
1
This president can play military dress up all he wants. It will never hide the fact that he is a pathetic third-rate rank amateur.
4
Be Sure to check out Trump's new book, "The Art of the Deal with Russian Intelligence"
1
The accompanying photo is worth a second look. Melania's clenched fists in combination with tense posture and expression say everything.
No doubt Donald will lavish credit on himself if Melania's future book deal is bigger than Michelle Obama's blockbuster deal.
1
Donald Trump is the Andrew Dice Clay of politicians.
1
The emperor has no clothes
1
Donny Pretty, the spoiled teen who was shipped to the whites-and-rich-only-need to-apply cadet academy. To get a head-start for his life-long love affair with everything education -education in the arts of chicanery and deceiving, all the way to that "trumphole" of a scam, Trump U and, right this week his posturing as an action hero.
Super Don, the guy who sure would have saved the children of Parkland, Fl. Whose horrific death -one more under his care- was abetted by precisely the kind of company he craves, the nefarious NRA. Anyone keeping tabs about the frequency of massacres under recently inaugurated presidents? Hallo!
1
He is not a man he is a caricature of a dictator.
2
We already have the model of masculinity that you argue for, thoughtful, respectful, emotionally intelligent... it's Obama.
1
A man's man?
President Trump is obviously no John Wayne.
1
Right again, Frank. Still waters run deep. What you have in office is a babbling brook.
1
Donald Trump tries to demonstrate his manhood via his taunts of his opponents and his desire for military parades because at his very core he is a coward and weak. He is a little man, who avoid danager in going to Vietnam, yet he wants many of us to believe otherwise. But in all reality, you cannnot make a Medal of Honor recipient out of a bad make-up and an equally bad hair do.
2
As true as it is that he despicable, the true despicables are those who continue to support him.
2
Sadly, DT is the ice above water; below it are those very much like him who put him in the White House precisely because of who he is and because he's a president they can relate to as being like them.
Troll 'Facebook,' Mr. Bruni. Tune in to FOX. Listen to shout radio.
Yes, Donald is the opposite of what we need, and Barack Obama a model of what we do.
And Red County, Red State America literally hated Barack and put Trump in office, not Hillary who would have doubled down on Obama.
Over 40% of Americans are fine with him. Let that sink in.
2
Perhaps the reason he appears to be jealous of Barack Obama is that President Obama is a better model of a gentleman...respectful husband, loving father....in other words a real man.
2
"an ejection harness to declare — prematurely "
Premature ejection?
You're killing me, Mr. Bruni. Brilliant piece!
1
Now that that the "manly he-man" ( LOL) has perfected the role of (fake ) president, he has announced that soon he will announce the start of the 2020 campaign. Isn't about time that Amateur Hour at the White House came to an end and Major Bowes rang the gong?
2
Like a crab. All tough on the outside, but soft inside. Trump is the anti-hero; the guy that retroactively proclaims his bravery. We all know he is 110% coward, which only makes his claims more inane. Clearly he has no sense of self, of how he appears to others.
1
Trump is a fearful old man.
1
I used to think of Trump as being like Mortimer Snerd. Thanks to the title of this article, I now see him more like Alfalfa.
DT is Just short a cape, a benevolent cause and a righteous name... otherwise he’s a real marvel!
When Bush landed on the carrier, the band should have played the Glen Campbell tune, “like a rhinestone cowboy”. At least Bush had earned pilot’s wings. Trump is a cowardly draft dodger.
Trump is out of shape, dyes his hair and eyebrows blond, artificially tans his skin, whines a lot that he's a victim of "bad" people, needs a lot of attention and flattery.
Republicans are weird. They've gotten convinced Trump is some sort of alpha male.
1
When he looks in the mirror, what does he see?
The only thing in the world that matters.
1
The only thing manly about him is that he clearly has sex with women. Otherwise he is girl in a way that most women and girls never are, but are made fun of. I think the chasing of prostitutes is overcompensation for not being truly manly at all. He has to control them thru money, always.
1
Trump haters are getting him re-elected, his base are widen by day... shame on media,
1
Not sure how he could have rushed in to Parkland...what with those nasty bone spurs and all.
2
And, I wonder how much he had to pay Marla Maples to go along with that "best sex I ever had" nonsense. He-Man? Oh, please.
1
I can't imagine Trump rushing into that dangerous building unarmed what with his painful bone spurs and all.
1
He can dress himself in any uniform he wants, but it will not alter the fact our ship of state is at sea and the captain doesn't know port from starboard.
1
OUr president reminds me of Dorothy's friends rolled into one while Putin has been the wizard. with J K Toto.
Regan, W, & Trump...all tough guys who never served in the military. I'm just sayin'. Regan ducked out of WWII, W was in the Air National Guard during Vietnam where he got to fly fighters without being shot at. And the Donald? Mr. "I'd run in there unarmed". Where was he during the Vietnam war. Playing golf? Married with kids deferment?
1
"For Trump, toughness obviates restraint. It precludes mercy."
Well, phony, grifter, con man type of toughness. Personally, he's a coward. Bone spurs and all, protecting is ugly hair weave. But just wanted to note, that when the time comes, I hope the American people also preclude mercy when dealing with the grifter and his co-defendants.
1
One can only describe this piece as quite extraordinarily one sided; by this account the man (Trump) has not one redeeming feature. On reading it it appears to be bias concreted up with hearsay. Don't men just love to gossip yes, all those 'men' indulging in tittle tattle, sneering and giggling from the safety of the sidelines.
I am afraid there is no reaching for depth in this epistemologically flawed piece
by depth I am referring to male identity, what are males striving for? Identity, but identity to what? To all those talkative 'men' a lot of whom have been thoroughly emasculated by soi disant 'education' one wonders have they ever done a manly day's labour...you know hoeing in the fields. Anyway, permit me to lapse into the poetics and address these talkative men; you are as constructed as me; the same anarchic Womb has birthed us both. I call upon you to investigate your nature and I don't mean your tendency to smugly sneer at lesser mortals from atop Mount Moral. How about you risking abjection by being the target rather than the sniper. PS Currently the odds in the UK of you accepting this comment are 500 to 1 against. Toodle pip.
For a prez who doesn't want the other guy to know his plans I think a show about how much might the US has wouldn't be in his play book. And for all the drugs coming into the US how many white collar Americans criminals are making a killing moving the drugs around. Time is up vote women, gay, trans-gender, etc and leave the bullies behind this country needs a 180 degree change
Right or wrong Bush was a military aviator and earned the right to wear a flight suit. Unlike Draft Dodger Don.
Send GI Don to Afghanistan. Problem solved.
2
You use the word "toughness" when I think you really mean "brutality".
1
The Hunt's in Washington
Trump
"Witch Hunt"-Fake News
Mueller
"Which Hunt"-Real News
2
Sure, Trump would have gone into the school unarmed and faced down that shooter--the same way he went to fight in Vietnam for love of this great country of ours...
Trump is the worst kind of coward: the aggressive coward. He is a man without honor or decency. He isn't, really, a man at all, except, perhaps, anatomically. His wife knows it (her contempt for him is palpable), and he knows it--he covers it up with swagger and ignorant, big mouth talk. I'll bet that in secret he is a person full of self-loathing, loneliness, and deep-seated fear.
2
No - a real man would have gone to the funerals of the 17 victims.
1
He can insist on a military parade but will still be an idiot. No amount of hob nobbing with the military will make him a war veteran or role model for others. Evading the draft showed his cowardice and willingness to bend the rules for personal gain. This guy is not a Kennedy or an Eisenhower.
1
Disagree with your thoughts wholeheartedly. Trump has the right idea. Surprised you are so closed minded when it comes to expressing ones self. We're only good if we agree with your philosophy? Sounds ignorant to me.
Kim Jong Un and Donald Un(fit) are remarkably similar.
Wanna be John Wayne would no doubt have run the other way - the delusions get even more delusional than we think possible....
John Wayne was also a draft dodger
Trump is a complete and total failure as a man; and as a human being.
But this is not news. Frank, I think you should spend your column inches elsewhere. Trump is repulsive coward, but really what more is there to say about him? Write about other things. We will all benefit.
I seldom laugh at anything this man says-mainly I stay in a state of anxiety knowing that my beloved country is being torn apart a bit more each and every day. But this fantasy that he would, weaponless mind you, run into a building knowing a killer was armed inside, using a weapon of war made me laugh. Really, Donald! He is a coward who wants others to think his words mean strength-since in his own twisted mind they do. He projects these fantasies onto others hoping they would somehow believe them since he does. He is a pathetic little boy inside of an aging body.
like almost everything that trump professes, his self-proclaimed 'bravery' is phony. his entire life is a charade. he claims to be 'like, smart', yet we can all see that he is stupid. he claims great wealth, but we know that his debts far exceed his 'assets'. he claims he is a 'builder', but it is obvious that he knows only about gold fixtures and marble veneers.
what is real is his narcissism, his sociopathy, his greed, his cruelty, his impulsivity, his opportunism, his treasonous ascent to office, his racism, and his misogyny.
impeachment and lifetime incarceration are what he deserves.
He thinks putting on a military jacket makes him a soldier. uh huh.
My vote for Manliest Man to emulate: Robert S. Mueller III
4
Hard to be proud these days
1
Trump quote:
"I was at Mar-a-Lago and we had this incredible ball, the Red Cross Ball, in Palm Beach, Florida.
And we had the Marines. And the Marines were there, and it was terrible because all these rich people, they’re there to support the Marines, but they’re really there to get their picture in the Palm Beach Post.
So, you have all these really rich people, and a man, about 80 years old - very wealthy man, a lot of people didn't like him - he fell off the stage.
So what happens is, this guy falls off right on his face, hits his head, and I thought he died.
And you know what I did? I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn't, you know, he was right in front of me and I turned away. I didn't want to touch him. He’s bleeding all over the place, I felt terrible.
You know, beautiful marble floor, didn't look like it. It changed color. Became very red. And you have this poor guy, 80 years old, laying on the floor unconscious, and all the rich people are turning away
What happens is, these 10 Marines from the back of the room.
They come running forward, they grab him, they put the blood all over the place—it’s all over their uniforms—they’re taking it, they’re swiping [it], they ran him out, they created a stretcher.
They call it a human stretcher, where they put their arms out with, like, five guys on each side. I was saying, ‘Get that blood cleaned up! It’s disgusting!’ The next day, I forgot to call [the man] to say he’s OK.
It’s just not my thing"
3
He is a tragedy for the nation and the world.
A fool in a position so far above his abilities that is destined to bring the country down.
1
A true role model would have made it about the kids and his commitment to make them safe. Instead, he turns it around and makes it about his own imagined heroism that nobody above the age of 4 believes.
So he continues to be a doormat for the terrorist NRA along with all the other bough-and-paid-for sheep in the Guns Over People 'party'
1
I think he is a Superhero. I am really surprised that he didn't fly in his cape down to Florida and make all of the bullets bounce off of his chest.
1
It may well be that Trump is a fake, but in some stage sense, we all are. We enact the self that we think we are or should be. The real problem with Trump is that he’s a fraud. He’s doing his best to deceive us. Our job is to let him know that we know he’s trying to deceive us.
1
Trump is a dream come true for feminists: his performance of manliness ("I've got the bigger nuke buttons", "I'm a genius", "I'm a hero" (would have killed the school shooter with his bare hands!), etc. etc.)), is so hilariously and obviously pseudo, phony, and outdated that it discredits the traditional conception of manliness as a whole. Women, rejoice: Trump is shattering your very enemy. Men, learn from this caricature. There's more to being a man than what Trump puts on display.
1
Contrary to apologist, Obama, this president is not intimidated or pushed around nor does he fall to the media. This president survives and succeeds and the left does not like it; too bad for them.
"Examining why men sexually abuse and harass women, Moises Velasquez-Manoff observed that for many of them, “It is precisely the power imbalance that’s erotic.” Doesn’t that sound true of Trump?
For many of them? The problem with the terms "sexual abuse" and "sexual harassment" is that abuse and harassment have nothing to do with sex. They're about violence and power. I'm sure there are many killers who get an erotic thrill out of killing people. That doesn't make it sexual abuse.
It's always, always, about power.
2
To use a phrase Trump may use:
"He's a (synonym for kitty)."
I had no idea HeMan was developed for the little boy whose mother never got off his little back. To sell it, the makers invented a TV show, then threw in an alter ego, a Prince who wears pink and lavender and has manners. But the little boy inside Trump still wants to slap his teacher and tell his mother to shut up.
Oh, go drive a monster truck into the dumpster, Big Don.
1
He will be remembered as the “Bone spur President.”
1
Well said...hits the nail on the head! Maybe he needs to be hit on the head!!
1
Widdo Donald had a chance to wear a big boy uniform and carry a big boy gun as many of us at his age did. But, he didn’t. Now he tells us he would have faced a maniac armed with an assault rifle even if he had no weapon. What a laugh. He would have run as fast as his bone spurs would have let him.
2
This reminds me of a letter to the editor of a small-town newspaper that I read, some time ago.
The writer complained that there weren't any real men, anymore...like John Wayne. He saw John Wayne as the epitome of manhood.
I knew the guy who wrote the letter. He was conservative to his core, a blue-collar factory worker, a deacon in his all-white church. I'm not revealing his identity with these specificities. These traits could be attributed to any hard working old fella, from anywhere in the rural bits. A version of this guy is in almost every neighborhood, so there's truth in this generalization. You know a guy who thinks like this.
John Wayne?! That says it all, doesn't it?
There's a whole generation raised on this carefully crafted example of manhood.
But Mr. Wayne's real name was Marion. He wore a toupe, was a terrible actor, a heavy smoker, had emphysema and heart disease. The cigarettes that made him look so cool, were killing him. About the time he was filmed as a Green Beret, a real tour in Vietnam would have most likely resulted in his cardiac arrest. It's the fantasy of a generation
This is Mr. Trump's version of masculinity. Of course, it takes a can of hairspray to keep Trump's baldness hidden from all but the stiffest winds.
I'm thinking Mr. Mueller and his team are moving like the wind.
Stay tuned, as the horror of gun, the rise of #metoo and this profound moment in history reveal to us exactly what it means to be a man.
4
Here is one more of the stupid (I wanna use stronger language) sentences that this guy says, "You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them.” The first time I heard this, I was enraged. Where is the logic? If there is no problem, then why are they killing people? The Philippines and China do have drug addiction problems. This is just one more comment by this pres that no one seems to challenged him on, and not on its outrageousness as to the justification of murder, but as to its flawed premise; and this has been going on since he came down that escalator (not counting before that, when he was a person of much less consequence). I realize this guy is prolific and that it is hard to keep up, but this man has to be challenged the second he utters nonsense, if not sooner, mid-sentence.
2
Trump is not a good man. Nothing decent, courageous, generous, or studious about him. But he sure knows how to dominate the conversation.
Meanwhile, what's Scott Pruitt up to? Betsy DeVos? Jeff Sessions? Ben Carson? Rick Perry? Rex Tillerson?
I would welcome exhaustive analysis of their inept, unethical, and perverse "leadership" for a change. Trump's stupid lies and words are real, but they are also by design, a diversion tactic.
3
As to the coal miners, Black Lung is making a come back in 'Coal Country.'
1
Mr. Trump actually did stop an assault back in his Marla Maples days when he stopped nearby as a man beat another with a bat. The guy was probably so surprised that it was the recognizable Trump more than anything else.
If you read the agitating tripe that some people at the Times churn out, you quickly get the sense that they would NEVER mind this if the scandal-ridden Barack Obama was getting the praise for good results and not the paper's political enemy.
But Barack never wanted good economic results, or an improvement in America's reputation overseas. Can we admit yet that what Barack really wanted was revenge on the culture and the capitalism that make America so remarkable?
Sorry, Frank, but Trump is making a success even though he doesn't play by your rules. America can deal with that, but can you?
I wonder, what will happen to all the deplorables when they realize that they were duped.
1
They are totally unaware. They continue to be in a state of bliss. Sad!
Bully Nelson Muntz of "The Simpsons" has far more integrity and self-awareness than that man in the White House. This guy is bully Biff Tannen of the "Back to The Future" series. If he keeps it up we may see him morph into Lee Marvin's insane Liberty Valance. What a scary but little man he is.
Absolutely spot on - Trump is THE role model for bad/childish/disgusting/indecent/immoral behavior.
So what do we make of the Republican Party?
What do we make of the evangelical Christians?
What do we make of one-third of Americans who are beguiled with Trump?
4
Just watched the video of Trump and the bald eagle. He nearly jumped under his desk when the brazen eagle flapped its wings. And the eagle didn't even have a gun! So much for the fantasy of Trump taking on a gunman armed with and AR-15!
1
"All of this has nothing to do with strength, and it’s less paradigm of masculinity than pantomime of it." Frank Bruni is an astute writer. The current president is sitting in his artificially jacked-up pickup (which actually makes it top-heavy and unstable), complete with "truck-nuts" (and muffler removed, for maximum aural assault). Full of sound and fury, signifying NOTHING. No real masculinity at all.
1
A Veteran's Day parade, hmmmm? We'll see about that. Isn't Veteran's Day AFTER the midterm elections?
1
Our President appears to be a closet wimp hiding, as wimps often do, under a blanket of false bravado. Where was that overblown preposterous and dangerous attitude when he sought his deferments? In stark contrast, real and substantial courage was just demonstrated by the folks who run Dick's Sporting Goods when they made a bold decision to stop selling assault rifles and not to continue to sell any firearms to kids. These folks just demonstrated that the NRA is not invincible and that there is no need to cower from their political might notwithstanding the terrible example set by our elected wimps in congress. Real courage is real power. Cowards who strut and bluster only appeal to their own kind.
2
Yes, Donald Trump is a perfect example of toxic masculinity. But it's even worse than that. He is also a malignant narcissist and a pathological liar who is mentally unstable. Some even believe he is a sociopath. It is this combination of traits that makes him so dangerous. Listen to him speak without a teleprompter; he's incoherent. Look at him holding his "empathy" notes. Observe the way, everything is all about him, even other people's suffering or deaths. Pay attention to his insults and total lack of self-regulation. Witness all the corruption and non-stop scandal that surrounds him. It is this combination of traits that makes him so dangerous to us and the world. This is why I - and millions - have anxiety, depression and fear with him in the Whitehouse. We, and most rational people, know he is morally, mentally and intellectually unfit for office. I am certain GOP sycophants and enablers in the West Wing, his cabinet and the congress know this, too. Yet, the charade continues as people put their own self-aggrandizement, agendas and power over the needs of the citizenry, the well-being of the country and global safety and peace. These people are even more culpable than he is, because they know better. If we survive his reign, how long will it take to undue the damage. Will it even be possible?
4
Could Trump be acting out his own definition of metrosexual as misguided as it may be? After all, it seems everything he does is an act as evidenced by his reality show existence. And the embarrassment of a nation continues.
It is undisputed Trump has enormous courage and bravado. Of course he would have charged that building, engaged the perpetrated and terminated the threat. He is a licensed conceal carry and is not afraid to defend himself or others. He calls a spade a spade. He calls a coward a coward. He is the mayor of realville. Remember when he led the chants of Lock Her Up against Crooked Hillary Clinton? That took courage. America rewarded such courage with their trust in him and elected him with an electoral majority to serve us as President. Stay tuned.
Donald’s acts of courage haven’t gone beyond hitting a seven iron over a water hazard. His lie that he would have entered that school, armed with nothing more than his fists, is so patently absurd that even a dedicated Trumpist won’t swallow it.
1
It's plain to see, that Trump was fantasizing about being a hero by stating he would rush into the school building unarmed. He knows he is a coward, and he feels he must convince others, and himself that he is truly a brave man. He would love to be the knight in shining armor, but his cowardice make this impossible. He must satify his own ego by dreaming he is Mighty Mouse, and share this dream with us. Who, outside of his DEPLORaBLE delusional base actually believes that this man would have done as he claims he would ?
As a popular philosopher put it, one day soon will obtain an owner’s manual for mankind’s enormous brain. “Tet” ‘68
My great-grand father, an immigrant Union Army recruit from Switzerland who left a wife and two infant sons, died of wounds received early in the Civil War and is buried in Arlington cemetery. My father was an AEF corporal who was gassed in France in World War I. Both my brother and my step-father went into Normandy on D-Day plus One in 1944. I served with the U. S. Marines during Korea. Donald Trump has the gall to be photographed signing many of his senseless Executive Orders beneath a wall hanging depicting the nation's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor. And as if his demand to celebrate his version of Veterans Day with a macho Juan Peron style military parade from the White House to Capitol Hill isn't disgusting enough, get this: As President, the Draft Dodger-in-Chief is eligible to be buried at Arlington alongside genuine American heroes. For doing nothing but run his mouth.
But Pete, will he and his family have the courage to let people get close enough to his grave at Arlington to express their feelings in time honoured fashion? I doubt it. If he chooses to be interred there, hopefully soon, I imagine a wall will be needed for decades to keep people from desecrating whatever garish tomb he has built to himself...quite an irony since placing him in Arlington would be a literal and figurative desecration of that place.
DT is grossly over-compensating for something. It may be an inner knowledge of his many inadequacies: intellectual, moral, spiritual. But I suspect there's also something more. I detect a certain effeminacy in Trump - his "taste" for gilded trash, excessive concern with his appearance, including fantastical hairstyles and spray-on foundation, his hand gestures, pouty mouth and even his speaking voice, which lacks the deep gravitas of his predecessor. He makes up for it with bullying, nastiness and aggression.
1
Mentally disordered. Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Damaged in first 6-7 years of youth. Abusive parents, abandoned, etc. See, Search for the Real Self, Dr. James Masterson, MD.
"I'd run in there even if I didn't have a weapon." Because it's a building full of teenaged girls.
1
“If we do not redefine manhood, war is inevitable.”
― Paul Fussell
Paul Fussell, an infantry officer in WW2, wounded and decorated, went on to get a PhD in literature and write the excellent "The Great War and Modern Memory," an account of the British poets of WW1, which won the National Book Award in 1975.
No bonespurs, he.... In fact, he had hammertoes. This was discovered in hospital as the beds were too short and his feet stuck out. A passing doctor notices his toes and commented that he must have had a brief bout of polio when he was young. Who knew? It didn't stop the Army from making him an infantry (foot) officer.
With no comparison possible, I could go on to contrast the life and mind of Paul Fussell with Donald Trump. I could do likewise with Robert Mueller, which the Washington Post just did. Like Gertrude in "Hamlet," who chose Claudius, the "mildew's ear," over her noble husband, Hamlet the Elder, the American People wound up with The Donald when we could have had someone brave, honest, noble, intelligent, informed, self-effacing, reasonable, kind, human, compassionate, etc.
The list is endless for what The Donald IS NOT.
"[B]oys between the ages of 6 and 10 'get fascinated with Superman and all these powerful figures because of their own puniness.'" Let's give proper credit - the president has advanced and had reached age 16-17 teenage years maturity.
"[W]e’re struggling right now to forge a healthier sexual dynamic between men and women." This struggle commenced in the old tale of Adam & Eve. The tension will never disappear (fortunately.)
1
"It's a cartoon." This sums up IQ45 perfectly. He's a fake throwback to even the 50's and 60's. He's a cartoon man, a cartoon president, and a cartoon human being. Real men don't go around talking about how manly they are; thus, this automatically excludes IQ45 from the "manly crowd."
Trump is so tough. I suggest we eliminate the entire military, and just send trump.
It's obvious what we need to do--next time there's a shooter in a school, send in Trump pronto, unarmed. It's a win-win.
4
I'm not sure I know of a LESS manly man--in the true, honorable sense--than Donald Trump. His manliness is a hollow charade. Compare him with Lincoln, who was humble, self-effacing, honest, and always thinking of his nation rather than himself. Now, there was a REAL man.
Gun toting NRA members--like #45--enjoy the facade of bravery obfuscating their cowardice. Courage requires risk. These NRA cowards are too afraid to risk anything beyond themselves, which is the antithesis of courage.
I no longer know what it means to be 'masculine,' but I sincerely hope the potential for self-sacrifice--I do not necessarily mean martyrdom--is still high up on the list of admirable traits humans can endure.
1
Someone needs to buy that man a G.I. Joe toy.
People say talking about "looks" is off-limits and gets you nowhere. I disagree. How one looks, and how one perceives one's looks (which derives from how one thinks others perceive you) is a deep part of the psychology of a person. More open discussion of the unfairness of nature in granting good looks to some and homeliness or even ugliness to others would help us better understand the plight of young people struggling to survive the cruelty of adolescence.
As for Trump, at 71, he is a very soft-looking man. He has a soft face, soft arms and hands, and a large paunch. When he was young and at his most handsome, he possessed the soft handsomeness of Elvis.
I'm would never argue that all soft-looking men are insecure about their looks or their masculinity, but rather that soft-looking men in this society, in order not to feel weak, must find ways to compensate for this. Healthy ones do just fine. But given Trump's multiple personality and character deficiencies (an attention disorder, some kind of reading problem, a pathological narcissism, compulsive lying, sadistic bullying, groping of women, etc.), the odds are he's deeply insecure about his looks.
A military parade will make an old, soft man with thinning hair feel he's a very masculine Commander-in-Chief.
Trump said that he would have stormed into the school to stop the gunman "even if I didn't have a weapon."
"You don't know until you test it, but I think, I really believe I'd run in there, even if I didn't have a weapon, and I think most of the people in this room would have done that too," Trump told a gathering of US governors at the White House.
So let's look at the time he had a chance to "test it," in a situation with no danger to himself. Here's what he said to Howard Stern in 2008, about an incident at an event at Mar-a-Lago:
“So what happens is, this guy falls off right on his face, hits his head, and I thought he died. And you know what I did? I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t, you know, he was right in front of me and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him… he’s bleeding all over the place, I felt terrible. You know, beautiful marble floor, didn’t look like it. It changed color. Became very red. And you have this poor guy, 80 years old, laying on the floor unconscious, and all the rich people are turning away. ‘Oh my God! This is terrible! This is disgusting!’ and you know, they’re turning away. Nobody wants to help the guy. His wife is screaming—she’s sitting right next to him, and she’s screaming.”
He's a big man only in his own fantasies. In reality, he's a frightened 9 year old.
1
Let's remove his personal bodyguards who accompany him plus let's remove secret service protection and let's see how "brave" this guy is in a crowd or facing any kind of threat.
When this toad visited his AC casinos to strut through the premises, his bodyguards surrounded him followed by his "entourage" of casino execs who had to cater to little Donny for the day. If someone would have approached him, he'd have ducked behind the hired goons. Like all bullies, he's a physical coward who knows he's a coward and tries to bluff his way past the fact that when he could have showed an ounce of decency or courage, he dodged the Vietnam draft and let another guy take his place to possible take a bullet. I don't know how any current or former military personnel can stand the stench of being in Trump's presence knowing that he's a flat out coward.
What is frightening here is the accompanying image. A bloated phony acting the tough guy and a soldier smile approvingly. Yes, a military man admiring his "commander-in-chief" who is a 5 time draft dodger. We have a problem.
1
Donald Trump
The man who gives new meaning to the phrase "leading from behind."
1
Independent white male waiting for Democrats or preferably a real-Third Party candidate to push better candidates than Trump or Hillary. Stop worrying about Trump. It's a process. Now I want a Veteran, who has flaws, has challenged Hillary's Hierarchy as a Party member, is a Hindu so she has Spiritualness that is not divisive, and oh yea, she is a beautiful women. Ping me all you want, I am a heterosexual male that likes beautiful strong women!! In my Utopian world, she would run as a Third Party candidate and destroy this corrupt divisive two party system, but I can live with #TulsiForPresident is the party system does not influence who she really is. Ladies and Gentleman, take a look at Tulsi from Hawaii.
1
Donald Trump's ideas of being a "manly man" are as outdated as his comb-over
(modern balding men shave their heads - MUCH sexier!). He really IS a comic strip character (and NOT the super hero kind).
If he were a real man and the Super Hero he tells us he is, then he would prove it by getting rid of his Secret Service detail and just carry a concealed weapon himself. Now that would be something to see.
3
Yeah, real tough guy. Especially when there is no chance he will be called out on it. When it was his turn to really step up and show some bravery he menaged to get 5 deferments from Vietnam. Now he wants us to beleive he would have run into that school unarmed...talk is cheap, he proved that when he had to "man up" he was not capable of it.
3
The headline of this piece is all wrong. It does not convey the content of the article. I bet DT is very proud of it.
If he’s impeached, do we still have to hang his portrait somewhere? Are suggestions being accepted?
Come on: nobody has ever been fooled that this effete bully’s is genuinely masculine. He’s not even a well drawn caricature. From his first appearance on Letterman in the early ‘80s he made it very clear that he wasn’t a warrior of any sort, he was the kind of guy who sniffs the towels and hangs on every word of the quarterback so he can embellish the story as his own later. As a man, as a doer of any sort, he’s a fraud.
4
It's not just that we're being led by someone with the emotional maturity and intelligence of an entitled, coddled 6 year old. It's that almost half the country thinks this is a good idea.
5
Isn't it clear that its the president and others who believe the good guy always wins in a shootout are the ones watching too many hollywood movies?
Twenty-eight years ago, when he was presumably in better physical shape than now (not that this is saying much), the man who says he would charge into a school to confront an active shooter stood by cowering and trying to run away as his first wife and soon-to-be second wife had a face-to-face confrontation in Aspen.
Neither of them had more than words to battle with, yet he proved to be such a total coward he couldn't even break that ruckus up.
According to the new book "Double Down," in which Mark Halperin and John Heilemann chronicle the 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama told his aides that he's "really good at killing people" while discussing drone strikes.
Presidents say stupid things. Sometimes their power goes to their heads. The media reports every such statement made by Trump, however trivial. Obama got a free ride.
Here is the quote from the book... sounds like Donald, doesn't it?
"Obama didn’t need to run through this preamble. Everyone knew the litany of his achievements. Foremost on that day, with the fresh news about al-Awlaki, it seemed the president was pondering the drone program that he had expanded so dramatically and with such lethal results, as well as the death of Bin Laden, which was still resonating worldwide months later. “Turns out I’m really good at killing people,” Obama said quietly, “Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.”
Sorry businessmen and real warriors don't wear pink!
Trump is the greatest power of negative example for any human being, but especially for men.
Perhaps phony is true enough, and Trump with his wretched gold
plated braggadocio persona is the right way. If so, then Baal.
Trump epitomizes the dark opposite shadows of the "King archetype": the Tyrant, and the Weakling.
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine
by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, 1990
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EXOFDXI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_f-IHzbBZBRXTQ
"We sorely need a better and more nuanced model of masculinity."
Yes. Add Trump and Obama together and divide by two. (smile).
Enough already about Herr Trump. Those who enable the impostor are the only reason he remains in power. His family members and his appointees are complicit and should be shamed for helping him dismantle our Democracy.
1
My dad was so sad they reinstated the leather bomber jacket AFTER he retired, but seeing this Don wearing one, I am thankful for the opportunity well missed! He makes me want to vomit in that appropriation.
1
The paramount and crucial virtue in manhood -or any kind of serious person-hood is honor. Honor simply means reliability. Trustworthiness. Telling the truth and keeping a promise.
As well as being a Vietnam draft dodger, I recall the 'Manly He-Man' scuttling off the stage like a frightened rabbit during a campaign rally in Nevada at the merest suspicion that there may be a shooter in the crowd (which there wasn't).
Well, John Wayne was born in 1907. In 1942, he was 35 years old, married with kids. I have been informed that he did attempt to enlist but was rejected for the above reasons. And yes, director John Ford raked him over the coals mercilessly for missing out on WWII but that doesn't mean that Wayne was a coward. But Trump is an actual coward. He wouldn't rush into danger under any circumstances.
1
I dare Donald Trump to listen to the testimony of a physician on WaPo today, about the damage inflicted by an AR-15 versus a smaller caliber and slower moving bullet.
The AR-15 is, by design and more effective killing machine than other guns and rifles. It was meant to be used by our troops in the field, under fire by an armed enemy. It was never intended to be in the hands of civilians - of any age. Remember the Las Vegas shooter, who used a bump stock, and killed 58, was in his 60's.
The sheer speed of the bullet shot from an assault weapon causes so much more damage, making a bigger hole, and shattering bone, the fragments of which can be missiles themselves in shredding organs and severing arteries.
Not pretty. And certainly not what any civilian should be able to inflict on a child, or concert goer or club patron.
No ex military person has come out in favor of them in civilian hands - the opposite.
And if you hunt deer with an AR-15, you are no sportsman entitled to the protection of the 2nd.
Donald says he would go up against this weapon unarmed? He's a liar.
1
Our daughter and our son-in-law are both officers in the military. The thought of this "man" ordering them to participate in a military salve for his brittle ego makes me sick to my stomach. Commander-in-Chief, Leader-of-No One.
2
The bigger question is why people who voted for Trump mistook him for a good version of manliness. What is it that lacks in their lives that they cannot see his lack of humanity?
1
Is it really possible that Trump has no idea of how ridiculous he is? Can it be that he truly does not grasp that millions of people in the US and around the world see him as elderly, overweight, insecure and pathetic? Can a person really be so delusional about themselves and the way they are perceived, or in his private moments is he able to admit to himself that he's a fraud? He is truly an interesting specimen, and a man who should be studied. How did his perception of himself, which is so at odds with reality, develop? What happened to him that made it necessary to create his delusions about himself, and what does it cost him to maintain it? Especially now, when as president he is called to account as he never has been before. While he calls everything negative written about him "fake," does there ever come those moments when he can be honest with himself and admit that it's all true?
1
I think I can guarantee that Donald J. Trump and his sons, and son-in-law would not last more than about five minutes in USMC boot camp. Trump is about as military as Micky Mouse and as cowardly as they come.
I feel sorry for all those Marines stationed at the White House that have to salute this fraud and defer to him and his worthless cronies.
4
Trump's brash bravado is his MO and millions embrace it. He's our elected leader. You may pine for a "sensitive man" in the oval office but the world doesn't seem to respond well to that type of leader. As for the football coach who died shielding his students, I have little doubt that if he'd been allowed to have his gun, things may have been different. Just because you despise the president's carriage and comportment doesn't mean he's wrong on policy.
DeeJay is like Robert Redford at the end of 'The Candidate': he won! But he's lost. He doesn't what to do next.
My Dad was born in 1925. During World War Two he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Airforce where he served as a pilot. Thereafter he enjoyed a successful career as the owner of a small business. Although not university educated, he was articulate, well read, responsible, strong (both physically and emotionally), graceful and well-liked and admired by all who knew him. He could not be pushed around. He never seemed to pick a fight but would never back down when wrongly challenged. His resilience and courage continued right through to the final days of his battle with cancer. In short, my Dad exemplified what I came to believe a real man should be. Donald Trump is nothing like my Dad.
3
Trump is a pitiful little man who managed to bamboozle nearly 63 million Americans with the help of the Russians.
Give control of Congress to the Democrats in November.
1
My late father was a WWII vet, and then became a high school social studies teacher whose focus was the non-Western world. He saw it as imperative that students learn about the world and its peoples.
My gentle father-in-law survived the Holocaust in hiding. After the war, in which his father was murdered, he and his brother and widowed mother moved to the U.S. The teenage sons went to American schools, learned English, and worked part-time. He also served in Korea.
My husband will help anyone who asks. He changed diapers, arranged play dates, went to parent-teacher conferences, etc. He has been my rock for 35 years.
Our son is getting a degree in health care. A tall young man, he is adored by little children because he is so kind.
These are real men. Not one is a braggart nor a bully. Two faced possible death in war. A gentleman is a man who treats every woman like a lady, be she a queen or a janitor.
Donald Trump is a pathetic specimen of male insecurity.
1
He's no man. He is just a sniveling, cheating, lying, terrible terrible person. How anyone could vote for him is beyond my comprehension. I wake up everyday hoping Mueller finally has enough evidence to convict him of anything to do with Russian collusion. That day will come. And on that day we will say, THAT Mueller is a real man.
2
If DT had lumbered into that school, it would have been only to loot the abandoned desks and backpacks.
Was Trump on LSD when he said he would run into the school? The guy must have been tripping. No one, for a minute, believes that this guy would have done anything other than run the other way while first probably grabbing a janitor as a human shield.
Real men don't need to brag about what real men they are.
1
Yesterday I read in this newspaper that a former US Marine has written down in in his memoirs that he shot dogs out of boredom.
I don't consider this as 'manly', but as sick. Just like Trump is.
The least democratic person has become president. Excercise 25!
The only bravado that Trump can claim is when he plays military video games. The man didn't even served in the ROTC, and when time came to serve his country, he hid behind a 5-time bone spurs claim paid by his well-to-do father. C'mon, man!
1
"We need a new model of masculinity." But who is "we", is it just you, the writer, or who else? And why is there such a need for defining or illustrating masculinity? The whole history of mankind has evolved and functioned without hardly a need for a "model" of "masculinity". All those "models" were just characters created by the poets and myth writers, and glorified in schools. And why should such a "model" be "new"? Simply to keep up with the creation of new Hollywood figures? Sure, schoolteachers love to extol "models". Sagaciously, most men in our society, "real" or "unreal", "empowered" or powerless, do function, live, and work pretty well unencumbered by any reference to those "models".
Are all those questions just make-believe issues in your imagination and basically only the pretext to launch another brilliant and witty essay, yet again another brutal savage takedown, demolition, denigration of the ludicrous even foolish pretenses of the man who seems to be at the center of your obsessive thoughts.
This man should not be in the position he is in. It is clear from his election that our system no longer works. There are few jobs that don't require some level of experience , education and training and yet, here we are with a President who is so obsessed with himself and his power that he is likely to take us into a nuclear conflict. Why do we allow anyone to run for the highest office in the land? We are in an extremely precarious position and Mr Bruni you are so right unfortunately. He is obsessed with dictators and strongmen and he is one step away from wanting to show that he is the strongest.
Thanks so much for writing this, Frank. We need to hear and understand the truth about Trump, and this is the truth writ large and in bright letters. Our politics, our future rest on the foundation of Trump’s perverted sense of himself as a man and the willingness of many other weak and cowardly men to allow him to live out his delusion using our country’s core institutions as his playthings.
45: "if I was standing outside of Vietnam I would have rushed in.."
His 45 year anniversary and he wryly goes on to say that he deserves a gold medal award; the gold medal award goes to the other party, I tell him.
The small movie '45 Years' where the selfish husband is pounding his weak chest as a call for mating. Donald Trump is the epitome of 'Manly He-Man'; a woman would have to be pretty desperate.
Fortunately it is not 45 years, but 35 too many where the likes of Trump left this American indifferent. Trump surfaces on our T.V. and I blink, while my husband adjusts the bunny ears. There's a man with a 'slack-jaw' are fleeting thoughts on my part, as his face diminishes.
Some young men in this region might relate to Clint Eastwood, but Trump is a joke on us. The peacock wants a military parade. The most ingrown, inverted government in modern history. Stuck in a rut, while China marches on; while other countries keep moving; while our Allies are no longer wondering when we are going to get our act together.
Maybe it's time to watch 'The Crying Game' again and start praying for the safety of Our Children. We are going to have to start at home. 'Breaking News': Dick's Sporting Goods, one of the U.S.'s largest sports retailers, will stop selling assault-style rifles and require gun buyers to be 21 - 7:09 AM'
Give it to Frank Bruni and the Staff of The New York Times to have the decency to set us right and keep us honest. The follies of youth do not include Trump. We certainly are living challenging times.
Sure, Trump loves coal miners who flaunt death every day by going down into those mines. But, if they come out alive at night, he is unwilling to pay for their black lung disease. His administration also is loosening mine regulations making it more likely that the same miners won't emerge safely from their underground death traps. The best one can say that he is cognitive dissonance writ large. He is a terrible president.
1
Everything has to be about Trump. He'd do this, or he'd do that. Can he just talk without making himself the center of attention? So sad for the supposed leader of the free world.
1
Not a single person thinks of Mr. I'm not going to Viêt Nam because my foot hurts, as a model of masculinity. That would be weird.
I'm pretty sure that if the constitution wasn't adamant about the commander in chief being a civilian, he would have long ago done what would-be autocrats in failed nations in Central Africa or Souht-East Asia always has done; given himself a fancy military title and reward himself with more medals than any real officer or serviceman has ever had. And a bigger hat.
I just don't understand how some people don't see him for exactly what he is; a very small and insecure person who is so preoccupied with appearing powerful that he does whatever is in his power to diminish other people around him so that he seems stronger. A strong and good leader is one who encourages others so they feel stronger, and diminishes his own importance and role so that the ones under his leadership feels they have important things to convey, thus making people do their absolute best and be proud. Instead, he surrounds himself with yes-men who'd never speak up against him, rather constantly praising him and reassuring him, thus reducing them to never contributing anything of value.
These character flaws was exactly what made him a hit as a reality show persona but they are also characteristics you really don't want in any leader, least of all the leader of the most powerful armed force in the world. And it is so extremely obvious in Trump, I just can't grasp how anyone thought otherwise.
Of course, none of this is news, Mr. Bruni. Just the latest display of this tiny "man", who clearly feels so small that he feels compelled to declare, constantly, how big he is, how brave he is, how smart he is, how rich he is, how successful he is. Despite all evidence to the contrary. Were he not such a monster, were he not an existential threat to our democracy, to the very survival of civilization and our planet, i might feel sorry for him. He must have suffered something truly traumatic, must have been shamed, or neglected or abused, to have become the truly loathsome person he has become. But as with most monsters, it's impossible to feel anything but enmity toward him. And hope that he an his cult followers crawl back under their respective rocks very soon.
1
Raising boys to have good character is tougher when our President has none.
4
I completely agree with Frank's narrative and comments on Donald Trump.
The sad part is that we, the collective we, elected Donald Trump. Without us, he would not be there. Should we not blame ourselves?
Those of us who sat in their homes and shirked their responsibility to vote and those of us who voted so foolishly for him are to blame.
Donald Trump was created by us, not by Russians or some extraterrestrial malevolent visitors.
Let us do something about us and become responsible citizens, and elect our leaders more wisely. A good start would be to require mandatory voting, if not in person, by mail, email, or online.
1
Give the Trump bashing a rest and stop pandering to the virtue signalling crowd. He won the election; get over it.
Trump simply appeals to the unrealistic fantasies of his followers. When Trump claims he would run toward the sound of gunfire, all his followers fantasize, AR's at the ready, doing the same. Republicons have become a party of wannabe heros. Everyone else are just scapegoats when needed to keep these fantasies alive.
1
The rise of Donald Trump shows that we need some method of setting a bar, beneath which no man or woman need apply when seeking the presidency. Who would have thought that our system was so poorly designed it could countenance a man like Donald Trump in the White House? Readers should refer to old David Letterman show tapes in which the future president plays his vulgar, narcissistic self for laughs. Unfortunately, the joke's now squarely on us.
1
I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of Republicans just spend their lives terrified.
They carry loaded guns on their hips, even in their own homes, because they are scared. They want a massive military because they are scared. They want aggressive cops because they are scared.
The constant terror must be wearing... and I guess to maintain their own self esteem they have to at least act tough.
So Republicans like the loud, “tough” guys... of course, what I see is a scared little boy in a suit, shouting about how brave and tough and strong he is.
Make you almost want to hug them.
Almost.
There is no one that I see defending this man from the Bruni accusations in this string of comments. I find that extremely telling. Perhaps we now have enough Americans who can recognized that the emperor is sans culottes. November may be the rout that we are hoping for.
Hollywood offered more sensitive models (Atticus Finch, Mr Smith, Gêne Kelly...) before Hefner.
Hefner suppressed his obvious misogyny but also spun it as sexual liberation - and almost succeeded. Could be that Trump emulates Hefner in more ways than one?
Perhaps his secret service detail would be better utilized in a couple of hundred high schools. Trump can take care of his myself. Give him a gun. And he has John Kelly for backup.
I hope Trump's treatment of women as objects who must be tricked or pressured into sex begets a male backlash of tenderness, romance and mutual appreciation between couples. The best way to deal with this dishonest--and crooked--egomaniac is with facts, common sense and a string of Democratic victories.
2
Maybe his base gets this behavior...but even my Republican neighbors view him as a joke...now having said that, I am not certain that would not vote for this joke again...
Let's see - was Jesus a real manly man? We're told as Christians to "do as Jesus would do". Jesus promoted the golden rule, he promoted turning the other cheek, he said to not even lust after another woman who is not your wife, he said to be humble as a little child, he said if you have two coats, give one to someone in need.
Trump says and does the opposite - he seems full of fear and hate. Why does he feel he has to tear others down all the time?
I still don't get why so-called evangelicals are behind him.
Trump is no "Manly He-Man" but the President of the "He-Man Woman-Haters Club". He is certainly not part of "Our Gang".
3
There is nothing manly about Trump- he looks like a kid, behaves like a kid, thinks like a kid. "Manly" and "Trump" do simply not belong in the same sentence. He knows it and desperately tries to make up for it with his caricaturized behavior.
2
Stoneman Douglas students are, presently, returning to school for the first time surrounded by an extraordinary police escort that, frankly, makes the school grounds look like a war zone..........a heartbreaking image for all who imagine this country still has some innocence left to lose. Make no mistake.......this is on you, NRA.
4
I don’t think Trump should run into any shoot-outs until the teachers are armed.
Saw Obama’s on Letterman’s new Netflix show the other day. What a class act. We miss you Mr. Obama!
18
We had a man in the last administration who was a truly honorable, decent man with integrity and moral gravitas. He did not need to "act manly" because there was no doubts ever expressed over his masculinity.
That is what we have to compare this present man in the WH to. And the present man in the WH is someone whose physical appearance is the only indication he is a man.
9
I said this before Stephen Colbert. I am doubtful about Trump's running in statement. This guy doesn't run any where.
2
Trump wouldn't run, he'd drive in on a golf cart.
If this country were under military attack I would choose muscle, metal and manliness over its alternative any day as would a large majority of the country. Get real my friends. It’s all about survival. Wimps don’t win wars.
3
So would the rest of us Einstein.
The point of this article was that loudmouthed braggarts like trump are the biggest cowards of all.
"Wimps don't win wars"
Neither do shallow, bigoted, intolerant, uncaring, unfeeling, stupid POTUSES who used bone spurs as an excuse for not serving his country.
Given the lack of security around top secret information within the WH, the no- action policy of the Trump administration's response to Russian election hacking, the reliance on military power and warmongering, and the crippling of the State Dept., we may get a chance to see your non-wimps in action. Then Trump can show what a real man he is.
One wonders what would happen if we could hijack Fox programming for just one day and replace it with MSNBC's reporting. (I'm citing television journalism here because of Trump's oft-exhibited inability to take in information from any other source.) Would he understand that he was finally seeing what the world's reality-based community collectively understands? Would his television set remain undamaged? Would he finally grasp that the entire world is in on his deepest secret? Those tiny "hands" cast a monumental psychic shadow--only sunlight (and the 2018 and 2020 elections) will free the world from its darkness. (Apologies for the juvenile equation of anatomical inferiority with macho overcompensation--living in Trump's America has lowered my standards along with everyone else's, it seems).
1
Let's not forget some real hero presidents of recent vintage, at least in this old guy's era. John Kennedy and George H. W. Bush with silver spoon upbringing and Ivy League schools both risked their lives in WWII.
4
Sarcasm ... I am not very good at it, but here is my two cents' worth. Donald Trump has been very eager on the idea of arming teachers at all levels in schools recently, because he likes the idea in general, because it would save the hard-working American tax-payer a ton of money, because teachers love their students, because they would be right there where the action is. He should apply the idea to his own situation and arm himself! He could cut back on his security detail -- the guys are with him around the clock and he could probably let half of them go; maybe they could go and serve in some elementary school somewhere-- he could save the hard-working American tax-payer a ton of money, he would be right there where the action is and no doubt -- since he loves himself -- could storm right in firing the best gun on the market. Added bonus: the NRA would love him more than ever.
2
Manly he-men would have never sought a deferment due to bone spurs. Trump chose to evade military service but he wants a military parade. He is the ultimate paper tiger.
6
Nobody is weaker than the tough guy.
4
This is the legacy of the baby boomers and the war in Vietnam, Trump ran as a war hero, Hillary as an anti war candidate.
1
That's pretty woke of you, alvn.
Some days in reading the news. I think of Alice in Wonderland but today it’s the Wizard of Oz.
Seeking courage, heart and a brain.
5
As I've read elsewhere, wouldn't The Donald have had to have his golf cart to
be able to "I'd run in there even if I didn't have a weapon," ? How else could
he have gotten in there to save the day? He clearly needs that golf cart for other than golfing. Secret Service take note.
2
He’s not a manly man. He’s a child. Look who he surrounds himself with - 20 and 30 something dependent novices and family members. He put people in Cabinet positions who knew almost nothing about their new specializations. Look at the fear and discomfort that overtakes him when he knows he’s speaking with someone who knows more than he does. He creates feuds with world leaders so he doesn’t have to work with them and have his ignorance revealed. He can not tolerate any criticism and constantly creates a fantasy world in which he is much loved and super successful. A man?
6
Doesn't Trump remember how he cowered behind his bodyguards when there was a "scare" at one of his rallies? He would have been the last person to run into that school, with or without a gun.
5
Yes, we should all be able to understand that we have someone occupying the Oval Office who is developmentally/emotionally arrested at the ages of about 6-10, which qualified mental health experts would tend to agree with.
Thanks, Frank Bruni, for pointing that out to us.
We should expect actions and statements from the current Occupant that reflect the state of his emotional development. I don’t know about you, but that scares the heck out of me.
2
This is the same guy who turned his back on an 80 year-old guy bleeding on his marble floor.
Next, he'll give himself a medal for bravery and the celebrate with that military parade he craves.
It's no longer funny; it's tragic.
https://wifelyperson.blogspot.com/
7
Tsar Donald the Tough? He believes his own image. But he's a symptom.
This column makes many valid connections ---all about dominance, control, privilege, and ego. The headline and the column are full of truths, but to read them is revolting and detestable in our supposedly modern democracy.
It’s the underlying attitudes of our whole gun culture. Also our big money politics dominating our lawmaking, removing power from We the People.
Now we need a column exposing the phony excuses used to rationalize all this.
How to survive the next shooting rampage? How to survive the next election?
2
At heart, he’s a scared little boy, who can’t defend his mother from his abusive bully of a father. And so he can only be a bully.
It is a given that the weaker and insecure a person is, the louder and more aggressive he becomes. Neither China’s new President For Life or even Putin are loud bullies. They quietly go about their criminal business under the radar: we don’t much in the way of talk from them. They talk softly and carry a big stick.
The lesser tinpot autocrats like Duterte are more Trumps speed. It’s all too obvious, isn’t it?
Most of us are adult enough to know and understand and agree with Frank Bruni’s argument.
But unless Trump’s GOP enablers are tsunamied out of office this November, our national moral backslide will continue. We are already barely recognizable as the country we were less than a year ago.
Those Parkland HS students ought to be appearing at every event where an NRA funded candidate is running for Congress. It’s a great use of their time and will contribute to both theirs and our education.
4
“ Duty, Honor, Country” was the message of Gen’l. MacArthur’s last speech at West Point. These words should be in a prominent place in the Oval Office, facing DJT every day, given his love of the military.
Trump's dream of a really big military parade recalls the first eight verses of the book of Esther, chapter one, where Xerxes plans an enormous show of his own glorious power. In fact, Trump can regarded as a kind of targum on Esther.
1
Trump and the people making up his administration are a particularly vile collection of people. Posturing, cold, cynical and cruel. Still one danger of a column such as this, as satisfying and insightful as it is, is to to give credence to the notion that the system itself doesn't have it is own murderous momentum and that it all comes down to personality. I think Frank often retreats into colorful, pointed, often legitimate outrage to avoid making real structural criticisms of the society as a whole.
2
And Congress fiddles while the White House implodes. Is the country next. Trump is running the country as he ran his business - on bankruptcy - moral and financial.
5
It's called the "long con." Attempt to look as if you are running an upright business while emptying it of every assets that's not nailed down. Use the credit to its fullest extent and leave the establishment shaken down
1
I believe Margaret Thatcher said, “Being powerful is like being a lady; if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” Which I find a bit of delicious irony, in that nowhere in there is power equated with being “manly.” D’Antoni hit the nail on the head. Trump is a cartoon. Only not the funny kind. He embodies all the insults that he’s hurled at others. For a man of his supposed wealth and stature, he is petty and small. And nothing good ever comes from that.
4
Generalissimo Trumpeto, the Macho, would have gladly run into that building where AR-15 fire resounded, but his bone spurs limited his action to observer.
(Sigh) The spirit is strong but the flesh is weak.
There is an old saying about talking the talk and walking the walk. Donald John Trump is very good at talking the talk. Walking the walk is another thing entirely. I have a good friend who I respect and admire who has abbreviated that old expression into "Watch the Feet". Watch the feet folks.
I can not imagine any reasonable or responsible parent expecting let alone encouraging their children, male or female, to admire or emulate Trump. The most responsible parents would and should simply tell their children to look the other way. That there is nothing of worth to see here. If they can't find it in themselves to do that then they should at the very least tell them that Trump represents everything they should not aspire to be.
We are all flawed in a myriad of ways, the difference between us and people like Trump is that we recognize our faults and hopefully deal with them responsibly when they pop up. People like Trump can't deal with fault simply because they have no ability or desire to admit that they have any. Doing so would be an admission of weakness which in their demented view is a fault rather than a strength.
5
To this interesting article, may I add that each of us, regardless of gender, has both masculine and feminine characteristics, in principle. The masculine is assertive, active, and often dangerous. The feminine is receptive, open and usually more benevolent, asking, before acting, "Is this right for life? Does this serve the greater good?"
In order for any human to be harmless, whether male for female, the feminine principle must proceed the masculine. We look both ways before crossing the street, right?
George Bush Junior was the antithesis of this: blast 100,000 innocent Iraqi citizens to death, many women and children, before seeing what's going on.
Trump is also masculine first, which makes him so dysfunctional.
In order for our society to heal and have even a hint of sanity, we need to become a matriarchy. We need new eyes, not bigger tanks and guns. The feminine must proceed masculine, in both men and women, if we are going to survive.
1
Hey, I’d be thrilled if we could just get our leaders to use both. Which comes “first” would not be so important.
Nancy
Nancy, you missed the most important point. In order to be harmless, the feminine MUST precede the masculine ALWAYS. No exceptions. That is what is wrong with the world. Men, and even women leading with their masculine principle, are not grounded in real goodness. Look around. The shootings. Trump. Most men. Many women. The feminine principle MUST precede. Visit https://savetheworldcontest.com/february-entries.html and you will see a lot of women and some men leading with their feminine.
It's obvious to anyone who has self awareness that those who feel the need for guns and muscles and all the outward expressions of military bravado are the most insecure and fearful among us.
1
I watched this phenomenon become epidemic in U.S. corporate culture starting in the 1970's. It led to the demise of two previously successful corporations and federal prison terms for some top executives for fraud and tax evasion. What bothered me most was the many employees who accepted, rationalized and cooperated with that behavior. In the biblical phrase, those cultures became a habitation of dragons. I thought I had escaped when I retired a decade ago, only to realize the infectious malignancy had become ubiquitous in national politics.
The harsh lesson of democracy is the speed with which it will reward a gullible public with the rulers they deserve.
1
All of these comments are old and stale and well accepted by this time. This article smacks of just beating the drum; there is nothing original or interesting here. Frank should realize that what you do with Bullies is ignore them. That is how we should be treating Trump. Old news. No news and let him live with our indifference to his personality flaws while we work to take back our country.
Reference to an observation by an unnamed renowned psychiatrist noted in your column - "... boys between the ages of 6 and 10 'get fascinated with Superman and all these powerful figures because of their own puniness.” Perhaps some 71-year-old billionaires do likewise".
Have you not omitted a third - and more obvious - option, that perhaps our 71-year old smartest-person-ever billionaire genius president has never grown up and is trapped in that 6-10 year age range? I can barely enjoy the marvels he bestows now, how will I be able to appreciate what will be on offer when he (if ever) matures?
1
In Obama, we already have the best and very nuanced model of masculinity. Trump is just the erstwhile model of a modern major general.
I weary of psychoanalyzing Donald Trump. The man has problems. He has some really serious problems. However, he's our problem for the time being. What more is there to say.
1
Will Trump don a military outfit with a slew of medals? Wouldn't surprise me. Amazing that GOP supports this.
"I'm not sure that any president over the past half century was as perversely insistent on his manhood."
This is the man that has to pay for sex. Not my idea of a manly man.
There are two reasons why trump "perversely insistent on his manhood".
1. He really isn't a manly man and he has a very insecure opinion of himself.
2. He has to present a manly image to his base.
I cannot ever imagine considering the trump a manly man. And he would be at the bottom of my list in someone I desired.
1
Looks like he has recovered from his bone spur problems and now is ready to take on wrongdoers, and even without a weapon. Right on Don.
Unfortunately, the worst part is that Trump is a reflection of what so many Americans want.
2
Is masculinity more important to men than feminity to women? It would appear so by the size of your postbag comments My goodness one stands back aghast all those tough Noo Yoikers telling us what masculinity is not
(Donald Trump)
One could argue about Trump that there is such a thing as hegemonic masculinity where we witness ongoing gender performance, virility needs to be performed continually, Trump is uber at that and some argue this leads to a flight from masculinity.
One of my snooty English friends, yes he, in the fedora hat and the linen suit, the garb of conservative masculinity, asks what I am doing, writing a comment to the New York Times I tell him, 'oh that' he poohs poohs...'those comments are so low brow.'
When this friend speaks he is quite eloquent, but real masculinity I think, the real man is incapable of eloquence for he is the uber bread winner, he is Capitalism's cog, something your vociferous comments men might bear in mind.
Donald's 'reputation for ...fearlessness...selflessness' is derived from Donald's true strength - self-promotion. His actions and words can be best understood in the context of that which will be benefit Donald. Not his family, not his community, not his country, and certainly not democracy. Donald. Like a grown, un-parented Veruca Salt (Willy Wonka...), Donald has succeeded though bullying and tyrannical behavior, hardly the model for anyone.
Better male models abound; look no further than one U.S. President and VP ago.
2
Trump wants a parade so give it to him. Don't give him the parade he wants though, give him the one he deserves.
1
I pray that a future generation of men -- led by those young boys who are standing up to the NRA -- step up to their roles as "husbands" in all the good senses of the word. To "husband," as a verb, is to care for (as in animal and land husbandry). I see Trump and his generation of insecure, gun-totin' manly-men as dinosaurs who are raging against the dying of the light. It's a pathetic thing to see.
1
and grope the objects of their affection...not affection--lust maybe and definitely "objects" he thinks he can control--As many studies have shown, rape and other forms of violence against women is really about control and power.
GW Bush in a flight suit on a carrier: "Mission Accomplished" (not really)
DJ Trump: "I would have rushed in to Parkland even I didn't have a weapon a weapon" (not really.
These are examples of what the GOP offers up as "Real men".
We must vote these dangerous clowns out of office.
'Nuff said.
2
When the Republicans win seats in even more seats In October instead of a blue wave THEN do we mumble that we were ripped off Again?
The elections are rigged now it's our enemy rigging it.
Hardly an example of a he-man or man's man in my book. All bluff and no substance or spine.
1
When the German movie director Werner Herzog was shooting "Fitzcarraldo" in the Brasilian jungle he had 2000 Indios towing a real 110 ft ship over a real mountain (rejecting Hollywoods idea of a plastic model in studio landscape).
The film crew regularly had to endure fits of rage that starring actor Klaus Kinksy would deliver, screaming like mad for as long as 10 minutes. Herzog knew that Kinsky would be extra sharp in acting just after these attacks and went through it.
When the shooting was almost done, the Indios talked to Herzog, admitting how scared they were - not of the screaming Kinsky, but of Herzog; because he remained completely calm and silent …
(They even offered Herzog to kill Kinsky, which he politely turned down "I need him!".)
Trump seems to think that he's as tough as Dirty Harry played by Clint Eastwood. "Dirty Donald" does have a ring to it. Apparently the only people that he is tough with are the most vulnerable people in our country.
Trump does have a knack for saying things that can't be proven. Most likely he will never be in a situation where he gets to try to take out a gunman with an assault weapon.
Here are a few things that Trump show his toughness:
- He refuses to show tax his returns.
- He apparently refuses to learn about and uphold the constituion.
- He apparently refuses to utilize the expertise of a huge number of federal workers.
The most telling evidence of Trump's cowardice is his deliberate refusal to affirm Article 5 of the UN Charter to the rest of the world recently--that's the collective defense provision says that says we mutually defend our friends against attacks on them.
And, as he regularly throws his staff under the bus, I have no doubt that, faced with a gunman and children, others would be a human shield. A person who has no courage, spine, brains or integrity is the last thing most of us would call masculine. Moreover, those qualities are not masculine, they are what most of us would call decency. The man is indecent.
2
Growing up in the South 50 years ago, I was taught that calling out yourself as “classy” meant you weren’t. The truly classy - well, they are too classy to say so. In today’s brassier, wear-it-all-on-your-sleeve style (or logo), such subtleties are lost, and, even if they aren’t, almost no one cares.
But the underlying theme - if you know you’ve got “it”, no need to brag about - is a lesson that has shown itself to be true throughout my life.
Every day Trump proves this to be true. He constantly brags about himself in ways that reveal what he honestly is not - brave, strong, manly, honorable, trustworthy, fearless. All that braggadocio simply proves how weak and fearful he is - and how exposed and compromised America is.
1
Donald Trump is very brave about risking other people’s money in foolish business deals and other people’s sons and daughters in ill-conceived military adventures.
Trump becomes a puppy when having to deal face-to-face, one-on-one with men whom he sees as strong, authoritarian leaders.
But Donald Trump has figured it out. All he needs is his own military parade with lots of tanks.
Roll model.
2
The photo of Trump under an umbrella as he climbs the stairs into AF1, and Barron trailing behind him without a jacket or an umbrella, is the best depiction of his true character. It is clearly all about him, all of the time. Frankly, I wouldn't be all that shocked if he tried to duck behind his son if there were a shooter aiming for him. That's the kind of "man" he his.
This article highlights only one of many reasons why anybody with a whit of objectivity understands that Trump just ain’t right.
If this is too nuanced, the pathological lying should do the trick.
And, if not that, the coif?
1
In redefining the definition of a "man" all of history is cast aside.
Blood and guts, wars, and all sorts of obstacles were conquered and endured by men.
Can one say that our Silicone Valley mentality will continue forever? Will technology and government forever continue to protect us. Will the Poles stop melting, and volcanoes and wars cease to be?
Living in a rainbow of delusion modern America is denying history.
I realize the Brute is scary but when the time comes and it will come, the Brute is the one called upon to clean up the mess, remember 9/11
Please remember that the Brute is the one that also makes the mess.
There's a role for everyone of sound mind and character, heart and competence. Unfortunately, the type of 50s manhood the current occupant and his pals are displaying is none of that.
Clean up 9/11? How did that work out for you, Mr. Bush?
What will poor Donald and the Republicans do when they find out that the true "tough" guys are actually girls. We now have many former Navy and Marine Corp officers running as Democrats for Congress. Among them are Mikie Stevens, Amy McGrath and Elaine Luria. Each is also a USNA grad. They are not "warriors". Rather they are "defenders." They are truly tough minded. For all the right reasons. It is not about them. They are servant leaders. They are patriots. The only thing that Trump displays more than they do is make-up. Literally and figuratively.
11
I am not renowned, but I am, for what it’s worth, a psychiatist with 36 years of experience working with people. When trump started with his public strutting and bullying, I found myself imagining him reduced to a snot-covered, blubbering heap if faced with a mortal threat. I don’t mean to belittle him; it’s simply that his words and conduct were consistent with his overcompensating for a deep sense of inadequacy and vulnerability.
In a critical self-assessment I found myself unable to empathize with him, empathy being a bedrock of my work with patients. Though that might suggests a shortcoming on my part, it also is the case that a feature of certain personality disorders is the way they effect people emotionally when they are interacting
18
Frank, Please keep your eye on developments for Trump's Veterans' Day parade. It will presumably take days to amass the military hardware and organize the troops that will be put on display. Meanwhile, the mid-term elections will have been held a scant few days before the parade. Yes, it may seem paranoid--I hope it is--but are we looking at a "Seven Days in May" scenario? This parade might not be about indulging a childish fetish. It could be about a military coup in the making.
If Democrats regain control of the House, Trump will surely be impeached. By then Mueller will have amassed a mountain of evidence alleging treason by the president. For Trump, this is not a political issue, it's an existential one. Benedict Donald could care less about losing the White House, but he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in the Big House.
Amassing a vast array of military might in our nation's capital as the mid-term elections are playing out is his insurance policy against an electoral rout. He may be counting on the Russian meddling that he's shown no interest in stopping to keep Republicans in power. If this fails, he'll produce "trumped" up charges of election fraud to declare the results invalid. And, as luck would have it, the military will be on hand to quell any uprising of outraged citizens.
It can happen here as long as we think it can't. We're going to need all the intelligence, diligence and vigilance we can muster if we want to save our democracy.
7
Real men don't live in a constant state of fear that someone is going to break into their house and rob them so they need an arsenal of weapons for "protection." Then they are afraid that the government is going to knock on their door and confiscate their beloved weapons. Afraid, afraid, afraid.
10
One wonders, had Trump been the gritty he-man with dirt under his finger nails he seems to admire, would any of his three trophy wives have given him a second glance? Had it not been for the money conveyed to him by his father could he have been anything more than one of those desperate, vengeful and baffled men who could vote for the likes of him? He is truly the empty man devoid of all qualities but those those of greed, insecurity and stunted emotional development. Certainly, his life reflects the very opposite of what it means to be a responsible, "manly" human being. As John Wayne portrayed heroic soldiers while he evaded military service, as Reagan sat out World War II making training films in Hollywood, as "W" defended Alabama against the Vietcong, so Trump struts and postures in a vain attempt to conceal his basic emptiness. God save us all!
14
Frank, your recent article about struggling with partial blindness is the epitome of the definition of masculinity. To admit a frailty and then have the bravery to describe how it impacted you was powerful. I suffered a physical blow last year but the psychological damage it caused far exceeded and outlasted the injury. I am trying to regain myself and your words helped me no end. Thank you
10
Donald Trump did a huge favor to China by scrapping the TPP trade partnership - now the US has much less influence in Asia. Way to go, Don!
6
I know exactly what our Donald would have done: he would have said he could not run into that school because of heel spurs.
6
Trump is a real man.
A sorry example of a real man, but a man nonetheless.
Now, can we talk about mass transit, air pollution, or, rising interest rates?
Often, the best way to deal with attention-wanting people is to ignore them.
4
@ Johnny
The time to have ignored trump was when he declared himself a candidate. His behavior at the debates cried for ignoring, but people were so astounded by his audacity and meanness, that he just got more publicity.
We cannot ignore his behavior now because (1) he has the nuclear codes, (2) has the Rep Congressional leaders whipped and (3) is President. This wannabe Mussolini should not be allowed a parade. I shudder to think of him in the reviewing stand jutting his jaw out.
The picture of him getting on to Air Force One holding an umbrella and poor Barron walking beyond him, in the rain, says it all.
I ignored him then, and trust that "this too" shall pass. He got elected because too many unhappy people paid too much attention to his hateful rants - and his "Gee, I wish I coulda grabbed that cheerleader too..." word vomit... If it takes a tRump now and then to remind voters in a Democracy to take things seriously and not give in to their "inner jerk" then so be it. A few west coast cities unlivable for several decades or centuries? Meh. It's not like "they" weren't warned - the "voters" - and the people living in the current Nuke zone. "Yuge louuuseeers...." Sorry, can't do anything about this now except wait while many others, "learn and do better." tRump? What's he, that old man, got to worry about? That he can't date his daughter? Roman-empire first world problems...
That's a great survey, a column to keep along with the NYT compendium of Trump's lies. This listing is possibly the more interesting and revealing of the two, because a lie is a lie is a lie, but these different examples of phony manliness are like pieces of a mental jigsaw puzzle.
It's odd, but the picture we see gradually emerging in the puzzle is one that has been on display all along. Many people saw it whole in the twinkling of an eye, the first time they -- we -- watched and listened to a Trump performance. Many others apparently still don't see it, even in the new puzzle pieces.
That's possibly the most staggering form of social polarization that has come to the fore in the Trump era: the completely separate worlds inhabited by people who see Donald Trump as a fine figure of a man and an impeccable president, and people who see him as a sorry excuse for a man and an unthinkable president.
This means, unfortunately, that national unity is not possible in our time. When worlds collide on future election days, the Trump-abhorring world must have enough mass to send the Trump-besotted world careering off into outer darkness.
http://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.jp/2018/01/the-voyage-to-restoration.html
4
Exactly. As Matthew wrote in his gospel, 8:12: "But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” That's what they deserve, and that's what they'll get. Matthew is so taken by this image of rejection and torture that he repeats is SIX times in his Gospel. Luke concurs, modestly only once, 13:28.
1
My four-year-old grandson is obsessed with superheroes, every day he is dressed as a superhero, in one of his many costumes.
But he is more mature and much nicer than Trump.
12
A real hero wouldn't let a little bone-spur in his foot keep him from proving his mettle in the Vietnam war. The commander-in-chief received five deferrals.
Trump's attitude: Let's you and him fight.
5
That this man Donald Trump is not a good person is self evident. I do not want to read more of the same opinion pieces stating the same truth in so many colors. The man is bad.
We must focus on explaining the American people how flawed his policies are and how it endangers the American democracy and way of live. For example, people like the bigger paycheck the get since the tax cuts and are willing to look beyond the man's badness. What they need to understand is that the paycheck increase will ultimately be destructive to America.
3
I suppose that all Presidents share a belief that their place in history is secure, but more than most I believe that Trump has attained the pinnacle of remembrance: he has become an adjective, an icon, one who upon mention of his name immediately arouses thoughts of dubious traits such as arrogance, pomposity, egotism. I think that as Machiavelli has come to be definitive, so will Trump. I think his greatest impact upon history will be as a base of comparison for rudeness as a leadership strategy. I think he has come to embody the sight and sound of Kruschev pounding his shoe at the United Nations.
5
While justifiably mocking Trump's phony feigned machismo, we must be careful not to mock those who, unlike Trump, may face mortal danger every day even while carrying weapons as part of the duties of their work, be they part of the military or law enforcement. Of course, such people include ever more women, many of them wives and mothers as well. And when it comes to pure courage, above and beyond the call of duty, where has that been more dramatically and selflessly exhibited than by the unarmed teachers and administrators, both male and female, who gave their lives trying to protect their students, in Parkland, Fl., Newtown, Ct., Littleton, Co., and so many other places?
4
Let's face it. The man who holds our highest office does not have one redeeming quality.
8
Out of all "evil" eventually comes some "good". In this case what that means is, our eyes will be opened a little more to the difference between social good and evil. If failure is the path to success - the future sure looks bright with this "president" in office.
3
"When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same" said Donald Trump about himself. The danger being that "....boys between the ages of 6 and 10 “get fascinated with Superman and all these powerful figures because of their own puniness". Then there is the British Independent's analysis of Trump's first year speeches that conclude he has the language skills and vocabulary of an 8 year old. Donald Trump doesn't belong in the Oval Office. He belongs in elementary school.
5
Trump is about to meet a "manly man" in the form of Robert Mueller. Throughout his life Mueller has apparently (I only know from reading about him, never having met him) has done the honorable thing back as far as high school. He would not allow people to "bully" someone who was not present.
With his family background, he was able to attend the best schools. Wanting to be a doctor, he ran into the brick wall of organic chemistry (a real killer in science). He recognized his weakness and moved on.
After school he could have had bone spurs but instead volunteered for Viet Nam and served above and beyond the call of duty putting his life at risk to save others, and coming home never discussing it but friends recognizing he was a changed man.
A cushy job in law was dumped to go after the "bad guys" with the same tenacity he showed in Viet Nam. Leadership from the front. Never asking for anything in return except a job done right.
Two men from similar eras and money. One became the man he should be and one remains locked at 14 years of age dreaming of being a tough guy with broads attached to him because he is a tough guy.
Trump will be meeting a real honest man and as every bully recognizes, he is well in over his head. The bigger question will the American public recognize the hero in this melodrama? Our lives do depend upon it
10
Let bone spurs be damned, I'm going in! The war cry of Trump at the scene of a tragedy.
Someone that brags about their braveness is usually not a hero.
Someone that brags about their wealth may not be able to prove it. They may hide their tax forms from view.
Someone that brags about their sexual powers. may be hiding an inadequacy.
8
> we’re struggling right now to forge a healthier sexual dynamic between men and women and to stop young men from exploding violently.
So what does Mr. Bruni write about?
Donald Trump, of course. And of course he has his own political reasons for doing so.
But really, if "young men exploding" are the problem, wouldn't it make more sense to look at some of them and figure out what the problems are and what might be done to steer them off the self-destructive path they are on?
Beyond, of course, providing a suitable "role model"? (Note to Mr. Bruni: There are actually more men available in the media to emulate than President Trump)
Maybe instead try and figure out why these individuals feel angry, alienated, frustrated, etc. and whether there are any steps that can be taken to identify these individuals and help them deal with their problems before "they explode".
And Trump, who never met a neo-Nazi White Supremacist carrying a tiki torch that he couldn't like, Trump, who cut the funding for critical mental health services, is gonna be the guy to deal with angry or depressed or psychotic or drug addled men in Kentucky, New Hampshire, Las Vegas, Florida, Texas?
He won't take away their access to weapons of Yuge destruction. Won't even allow suspected terrorists on a no-fly list be denied access. Dementia? Give that man a glock. Schizophrenia? AR 15!
Trump just signed a tax bill to insure that billionaire stock holders get a big raise and ordinary struggling working folk remain very ordinary and surely struggling.
So?
5
P.S. Most mass shootings and random shootings do not involve persons with mental illness. Anger and hate ginned up by people like Donald, the NRA, right wing evangelicals sending pro-lifers to shoot up clinics, etc - accidents where toddlers get guns, fights over money, drugs, power, you name it.
GUNS are the singularly common thread in all of it.
The guns that Donald the idiot wants to insert into our schools.
1
1950's and 60's comic books and Playboy and John Wayne in Green Beret and Charles Bronson in almost everything were and are poor role models. But characters played by actors like Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant remain fine models of manhood. Even John Wayne and Clint Eastwood characters have their moments of doubt and always, always, evidence core values of honor, honesty, and respect. Tough guys in the past could at least be relied upon if they said, "My word is my bond." The current President? Please.
But that doesn't mean that hating thoughtlessly on the Patriarchy is the way to go. All of the characters played by the men mentioned in the preceding paragraph, except for the President and Charles Bronson, could have remained in character and supported #meToo (minority and LGBTQ rights not so much). Classic male virtues like physical bravery, decisiveness and competence remain important to our society and significant in (many...most... all?) relationship dynamics, regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation.
My 21 year old daughter is a strong, independent, adventurous, Hillary-voting, Woman's Marching woman. She had a boyfriend who was utterly nice and politically correct. He didn't understand the appeal of Clay Matthews (linebacker who looks like an angry Norse god) and railed against the Patriarchy. He cried on occasion.
He's no longer her boyfriend.
1
Sad, but this is what makes him so dangerous. In the end, after the indictments come, he will not go quietly into the night. He will attempt to do as much damage as possible as he is pushed toward the door. That's his DNA. We are the ones to pay the price for our apathy. Get out and vote in November.
10
Trump reminds me so much of those tin pot dictators from third world countries that wear some fancy uniform with a chest full of useless irrelevant medals. I bet if he thought he could pull it off, he would do it. He is a lot like candidates that make their obligatory election year photo op to our youth outdoor events. They show up in shiny new gear, brand new boots, equipment with barely a scratch and profess to love conservation, natural resources and the outdoors, but after 20 minutes afield, even our 14 year olds can see the candidate is a pure phony. Trump is a lot like that.
3
trump said he wants a parade like the one in France - so the military should invite marching bands and soldiers from all US allies. In France British troops led the parade in 2017 and there were contingents from all of the EU countries.
1
Why is it that most members of the military, especially those who have served in combat, seldom brag about their exploits? The mostly don't say anything, and if they do, especially if they experience the shock and brutality and the loss of war, they mourn their fellow combatants who died or were wounded and deflect attention from themselves.
Brave, fearless soldiers are all about duty to one's country and to their squad or unit. That's always been our tradition. It isn't about glory or medals. It's always been about keeping their buddies safe on the battlefield.
Trump purportedly went to a military school. He clearly learned nothing about duty, courage and camaraderie. He is a small, small man consumed by his self-vision of personal grandeur.
5
Who and what this President is was always on display long before he was campaigning, won, and inaugurated. Yet here we stand gawking in amazement. What does that tell us about this nation, and a substantial portion of our citizenry?
4
Memorial Day has morphed from a day of solemn remembrance into the start of summer weekends and barbecues.
Recognizing the sacrifices made daily by those that serve would be best demonstrated by a more tangible effort than a parade.
Fix the VA medical system and extend their services to ensure these men and women are given the respect they deserve,
13
Not so deep down (because he isn’t very deep), this guy Trump knows the truth about himself, and it scares the daylights out of him. He knows for certain what he is and what he has been for a very long time. I suspect he tries to cover up his self loathing with braggadocio and lies.
Deep down, this guy knows that he’s a nothing, a coward.
24
He's an open book. Much like the mirror in the fairy tale, he's telling us what he sees in others but detests in himself, which means he has the capacity for redemption, but not enough time to pull it off.
Whenever the reality of Trump starts to really get to me, which is most every day, I just stop and ponder what he must look like in the shower with his hair wet. Then I can go on.
90
I'm not a fan of making fun of people's appearances (unlike my pres) ..... HOWEVER, in my pres' case, I make a joyous exception.
Haha, so do I, although it is an image designed to gag a goat. I puzzle out the mapping of his hair; I decided that on one side it must hang down to his jawline or lower.
Sorry Frank. Disgusting title, because is suggests Trump really is these things when he's not. Underneath that thin-skinned veneer is a scared, cowardly sociopath.
65
Too bad you didn’t catch the sarcasm and irony of the title. The last sentence of the column really sums it up. Great column, Frank!
Sarcasm. It's called sarcasm. The phrase "manly he-man" is a hint.
Reporters and columnists don’t write the headlines: Editors do. It’s not Franks fault plus it’s time tongue-in-cheek.
I agree that Trump is no hero, but one phrase from the article bothered me. My father came to this country as a 12 year old from Scotland and his family settled in Appalachia, like so many other Scots-Irish. After high school, my father worked for over 10 years in the West Virginia coal mines before moving to western NY. Please be assured that coal mining is very dangerous, and I have relatives that died in the mines and others that were crippled for life. As a youth, I visited a coal mine. Once was enough.
27
From the time I was 10 years old, I knew coal mining was very dangerous. In the early 50s, in southern Illinois, there was a coal mine disaster that claimed well over 100 miner victims. Then there were many more through out the years. I don't think Trump's romancing the coal mining industry truly convinces the miners that they really "love" mining coal.
14
I don't think that Mr. Bruni meant his phrase about coal miners to be a putdown of them, but rather another example of an occupation which Trump would be incapable of performing because it would involve getting his hands dirty, while performing actual physical labor.
His obsession with coal mining has always been politically motivated. First of all, coal miners are overwhelmingly white. Secondly, the coal mining industry contributed very heavily to his campaign. And, apparently, it was money well spent. Trump and the EPA are granting everything on that industry's wish-list. Of course, Trump and the Republicans don't give a flip about the miners' safety or health, the people doing the heavy lifting. They only care about the industry being kept safe from prosecution, and making healthy profits.
My father and my uncle came over from Ireland in the 30's. He found work as a fireman, and his brother worked in the subway. (The other two main careers for the Irish at that time were policeman or priest.) He sustained a heart attack while rescuing people when he was 31. He was decorated by Mayor LaGuardia with the highest honor that New York could bestow upon him.
He didn't want any of his seven sons to become a fireman.
14
You are missing the point. Trimp makes those guys more important to the economy simply because the toughness of the job
Why do we need a "model of masculinity" new or old? It seems rather infantile to me. Children need heroes but one hopes they grow out of it. To have heroes or role models is to be disappointed. There are plenty of admirable men from whom to take inspiration. None of them is perfect but none of us is. Most of the men I know are good people. They seem to have gotten that way all on their own.
17
Richard Chapman, bravo!
And the point is very much on target. But too wise for this kind of "opinion" column. Who in his right mind ever took Trump as a potential "model" for anything? But the writer Frank Bruni has to create this big artificial theme of a "need" for a new "model of masculinity", to gives him a perfect pretext for another essay to savage, tear to bits, and farcically vilipend once again at leisure, with sagacious profundity, and undeniable wit his obsessive image of Trump.
Mr. Bruni has good intentions but he misses a serious mark. The usual human despotism doesn't discriminate. And what makes him think that young people are thinking more than they're feeling? The same abstract pedantry incorrectly rationalizes that children have the ability to understand the psychology of Shakespeare and Dostoevsky. We need to stop being sexist altogether and forget about masculinity. It's less interesting than what Homer has written. What we need to do is rethink femininity as an example for all: qualities of compassion, self-denial, courage, and geniality -- virtues women have been upholding in the shadows of humanity. Us men have had our chance many times over; and look what has become. We must come together this time and discontinue ideas which separate us.
14
Would we be having this conversation without Trump. I think not. He may very well be the best thing that has happened to us. We just have to survive the next few years.
13
Men from my grandfather's generation (born in the 1920's) worked with their hands and supported their families through famine and misfortune. Though not perfect, those men knew hardship and knew what had to be done, and mostly didn't hesitate to lead. To emphasize their strong moral standards: some committed suicide because medical conditions prevented them from volunteering to fight the Nazis. Those who were able to fight, and somehow survived that nightmare, returned home to raise families and contribute to a post-war economy. Later, I met some of these men and listened to their stories.
Now, my grandfather, his brothers, and many of his friends are long gone; some died due to complications from a life of manual labor and minimal safety regulations. Some lived to old age. But their legacy and actions remain. Their wives and sisters outlived them, and remember them fondly for their deeds and commitments.
By contrast, Trump's actions are without grace, substance or relevance. His personality is as empty as his contributions to our society are. My grandfather would laugh him to dust.
65
Perhaps he's the last gasp of the toxic male in our society. He's the living caricature of masculinity gone vapid. Maybe that's the best thing for our future definition of what men should aspire to: he isn't fooling the next generation of men. They see through him as though through a diaphanous veil.
To find an example of what men could aspire to, look to the last president. A man of grace and wisdom, educated, yet accessible. A loving family man. Articulate, real, full of good humor and yet serious all at once. Genuine. Gentle. Playful. Yet knowing when firmness is required. Able to make mistakes and not lose his seat. Able to apologize when he's wrong. It's a hard act to follow.
114
We had one. He was confident, articulate, respected women, and wasn't afraid to show emotion. We will remember. Cartoon masculinity is short lived, but presidential legacy is long... and the inevitable comparisons will endure long after we're all gone. Our posterity will know; history is watching.
95
"Don't be like Donald Trump" is the refrain I have used often, over the past year, with my now 9 year-old son. There has not be one time when I felt I could use Trump as an example of anything good, moral, decent or "manly."
48
That needs to go viral!
Trump, Reagan and G.W. Bush aside, let’s not forget George H.W. Bush, who actually flew combat missions from an aircraft carrier in service of his country.
27
Volunteered. Youngest pilot at the time I believe. Different era. Of course we have not had a "real" war since that time- meaning one wherein we attacked and fought back.
George H.W. Bush, who was the youngest Naval Aviator to win his wings in Naval Aviation history up to that time. He flew combat missions in WW 2, for God's sake.
He later ran for President and got elected. Somehow, with his patrician manner and mannerisms, he had to dispel what the media called the "wimp factor." Poppy didn't need to prove anything about his manliness due to his WW 2 record.
This from a Democrat who voted for Bill Clinton twice.
And John Kerry volunteered to fight in The Nam and was combat wounded but that didn't stop the gop from attacking his Patriotism to help AWOL Bush and War Deferments Cheney.
Heck JFK is a died in the wool hero but rank and file republics hate him and love Reagan who never left Culver City California where he developed film for the army.
JFK's enemy was the Japanese Navy.
Reagan's enemy was light seeping under a door ruining the film je was developing.
1
I wonder what Mr. Trump would say if we proposed a modern version of the debtor's prison, jail time, for all those claiming bankruptcy.
"Get tough on debtors who are wrecking our economy!
Real men pay their bills!"
Yes, I don't think he'll get behind that measure anytime soon.
32
We do have debtors prisons- but they are for poor people who cannot pay fines for misdemeanor crimes- not rich hucksters who steal or lose millions (billions? et tu, Jared?) and walk away after the shell game redistribution of debt and settlements for pennies on the dollar.
1
"We sorely need a better and more nuanced model of masculinity."
We already have one -- Barack Obama: smart, hard-working, committed, loves kids, loves his wife and daughters, supports women and treats them with respect, not afraid to show his feelings, doesn't panic under pressure, athletic, tough moral fiber, articulate and can speak the King's English, unlike
our last two Republican Presidents.
You know, the one who was referred to as one of the "pajama boys" by Sebastian Gorka, self-proclaimed "alpha male."
As far as I'm concerned, the Obamas were what we only thought the Kennedys were.
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I take exception to the implied criticism of G W Bush. He respected women, said the hardest job in the world was being a single mom, wept in public on at least one occasion, was athletic and had tough moral fibre. His foreign policy decisions were debatable to say the least but as a human being he outranks Trump by far on the real man scale.
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Started a WAR on false pretense, thousands dead or maimed forever. Not a good guy, period. Sad to say still better than Trump.
Well said, thank you--
I miss the real deal, President Barack Obama. Will be glad when the current accident that gamed the office (and demeans it every day) is relieved of his duties.
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The electorate must demand real and significant gun law reform and insist that any person running for political office on any level must stand first and foremost upon that platform. The media has a role to play in keeping the public focused on the goal and in moving public opinion toward that direction. The electorate must not be distracted from the machinations of the powerful influences who feel otherwise.
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An absolute pre-requisite for that to happen is for the Republicans to lose their majorities in the House and Senate. Republican party delenda est.
For a manly he-man, Trump wears a lot of orange foundation and hair spray.
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What is up with his two handed sippy cup routine? I know he's lost object permanence, but has he also lost stereo vision?
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Yes, we should mock men who wear make-up and use hair spray.
Everyone is so mad about Trump, his election over Hiliary, his hair and his straightforward manner of telling you who he is. He is President.
BO was such a girly man. I felt the same way about him as you feel about Trump, Frankie. Trump is a man compared to that nanny pamby BO. He won a peace prize for what?
The best thing about a Trump is that he is not BO or Hiliary.
Get over it, check your stock account for the Trump effect! I'll bet you don't hate that!
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I don't own stocks and would never sell my vote for a tax cut in any case. Trump certainly does tell you who he is; he's a bigot, a sexist, a xenophobe and an Islamophobe and his own statements have made that abundantly clear. But I'm sure YOU'RE not a racist You merely voted for one.
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I’m one of the working people that Donald promised to help with better and more affordable health care. With higher paying jobs. With lower taxes. Everything was going to be better. I can’t afford stocks. The tax law gave me nothing. My health care costs more. My wage has not increased. Stocks?
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Tell me how the Trump effect on the stock market is going to be any different than it was in 2008.
Pogo, you might be one of the top 1% who came out on top in that avalanche of disaster but most of us saw our portfolios plummet, the value of our houses go over a cliff, and many lost their jobs and homes.
People who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. Unfortunately long known for long-term memory problems, Americans supporting the same thing all over again, just showed dangerous short-term memory problems as well.
If you don't remember what happens when you stick your hand in the fire, you will not be long for this world.
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"Donald Trump, Manly He-Man"
Stop! What are you doing? This man is a joke! He's pathetic! And the guy to his right in camos is a bigger one! I can hear him yelling HOO RAH now.
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It is called sarcasm.
"He thrills to violence — at least from a distance."
Yes, a very safe one. Tonight I saw a clip of something I'd missed last year, whereby somebody brings an American bald eagle into the Oval Office and Trump swats at it, practically diving under the (very, almost too too clean) desk.
It was the mirror image of when somebody rushed the stage at a rally and the Secret Service carried Trump off--or did he actually jump into their arms? You, know I can't totally remember, but the essence of strength wasn't it.
So yeah, I'm sure Donald Trump would have raced into the school to shoot (or gun-less, jump) the killer. In his mind only.
The harsher, meaner, and more violent his words, the more I'm sure he's simply shaking inside. Yes, he's all about power, but when nobody is praising that power, he feels bereft.
It's why he constantly seeks the roar of the (adoring) crowds, not the sneering ones.
Strong men don't need adulation. Strong men aren't easily embarrassed.
Trump turned beet red being laughed at during the 2011 Foreign Correspondents' dinner, likely decided then and there to run for president to "show Barack who's boss" and the world has never been the same.
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I have the clip. Very funny, and Trump looks very scared at the eagle. Very appropriate illustration for this kind of article. But he never was "practically diving under the desk." You're letting your imagination take over.
Brilliant, Mr. Bruni !!! Trump needs constant affirmation and we all need to focus more on the crowd that empowers him. They are the ones who gave us Trumpistan. The parades are for the purpose of securing them ever more tightly to him. The more we criticize Trump the more vehemently they defend him. But let's talk about them directly and challenge them to defend their positions. Politico had a great video of interviews with people at the CPAC conference last week and we heard the inanities coming out of their mouths about what a conservative is. Daily quotes from these people and we will oblige with comments on them. But thanks for your column, Mr Bruni. It is so true it makes one want to cry.
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The example of modern, compassionate American manliness was elected President in 2008 and served two terms.
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Vain, self absorbed, unthinking, unrealistic Donald Trump will never make America great again... but he could still get the country headed in the right direction again by resigning.
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But then we'd be stuck with Pence.
Another commenter noticed the time a man charged a stage where Trump was making a campaign speech, and Trump grabbed an agent and put that agent's body between him and the man who had charged the edge of the stage. Without a second's hesitation. Instinctively. I could not believe my eyes. It told me all I needed to know about Trump's character.
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Same way he shoved that national leader out of his way at the NATO Conference after taking the golf cart rather than walking and talking with them. He uses people like props and breastworks, too!
I think "lumbering" in would be more correct than "running" in...also the trump family came into this country after grandpa trump was thrown out of his own country because he refused military service--anyone know how papa trump avoided service?
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More than 90 trips to golf courses, thus far, but not a single visit to U.S. troops serving in an active combat theater--something his predecessors back to Reagan did during their first year in office--or first year in office during which our troops were involved in combat. For the five-times deferred president, nothing has changed.
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We need to keep the image of our last president in our minds to assure us that men do exist who think deeply, respect women, and show compassion to others. Unlike those who are so insecure and frightened that they must constantly puff themselves up and denigrate others, and so unsubstantial that they seem to have no real core beliefs, Obama was a model of self-control and reflection. At the same hetime was not afraid to shed a tear or to show tenderness toward children. I am thankful that he was our president for eight years, and I miss him greatly.
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Ms Miller:
We all do, greatly.
One can't imagine him running up more than 3 steps, nor down a hall of more than ten feet. And he'd have to be driven in a golf cart up to that point!
I seriously wonder if he can run even 10 yards without heavy breathing.
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as always, Mr. Bruni is extraordinarily on target describing in living colors, laced with a gifted and sharp pen - "the present occupier of the WH".
which makes one wonder : after ALL that has been written and said ( at least publicly ) about trump - what else can be added to the tall bill of praise ?!
maybe the time has come for some more serious reflections needed badly on the part of our elected officials. reflection of what is NOT being done to ensure that high school students and their teachers don't get killed regularly, and more such happy occasions. reflections on the chutzpah ( lots of nerve) that those elected officials are continuing to accept money from the NRA for voting as told, and totally ignoring the outcry of the masses. similar scenarios in other countries would long end with the resignation of such officials. not in DC. WHY ?!
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Who would have thought that someday we'd look back fondly on "I'm the President of the United States and I don't have to eat broccoli if I don't want to" as proto-feminist.
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