Nothing interesting in this article. Fear is a tool like all others tools. Trump knows how to use it.The big fear for America is to loose its supremacy on the world stage. And Trump is the right président to prevent it. Dealing with China, Russia and European Union will not be easy in the future. Everyone wants to be the Superpower. With 3% of the world population America cannot to the Math.
1
Overlooked in most of these comments is that there is a 24/7 pro-Trump propaganda machine on TV viewed by a huge portion of this country. These people literally do not see what is really happening.
13
Trump is a pathetic fraud. He's dangerous because of the powers that are inherent in the office he holds, but for the most part he has no idea how to effectively wield power.
Two years in office have made some things amply clear. First, Trump is the worst judge of character and competence in the history of the presidency. Trump, himself, is extraordinarily shallow and insecure. His sole criterion for choosing appointees is will they be loyal to him. His cabinet meetings are embarrassing to watch as one groveling secretary after another lavishes bizarre praise on a man who deserves none of it.
Second, Trump is the most dishonest person ever to be America's president. His dishonesty was apparent before he took office, but since January 2017, he has set a standard for lying that will likely never be matched.
Third, despite ridiculous claims of his own brilliance, Trump is obviously quite stupid. Some of that is his complete lack of curiosity coupled with unparalleled laziness, but there is an ample share of just plain stupidity.
It is rational to fear Trump because his multiple serious personality disorders, lack of intelligence, absence of integrity, and complete lack of political skill make it more likely for him to resort to extreme actions that could lead to war and are already causing untold environmental destruction.
As a political opponent Trump is a joke. As a political leader he is a danger to a free and open society. As a human being he is a disgrace.
20
The "only tool" in the toolbox for Trump is the Lie.
Even a child could figure that out. He cannot tell the truth.
He should fear the wised-up American people.
11
I think Trump still has the ability to instill fear. He has the power to start an armed conflict, e.g., attack Iran on the grounds it can't be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Political opponents would be branded un-American for failing to support the troops and anti-Israel for failing to protect an American ally. People in general would be peppered with day-to-day warnings about terrorist retributions.
The recent moves by Trump to place U.S. troops in Iraq to "watch" Iran must be scrutinized carefully by Congress!
1
Trump is a fraud, a bully, a grifter and a con man who is likely going to end up in prison. Why Republicans enable his corrupt, ignorant, dangerous, presidency is beyond me.
8
I try hard to remind myself that not everything in this country that is trite, hackneyed, clichéd, platitudinous, vapid and ridden-with-lies is Trump's fault, but then a speech like the one we are about to hear tonight comes along and convinces me otherwise.
5
“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox,” Mr. Beschloss said.
Exactly. Trump is a one-trick pony, with that trick being intimidation. To the extent that trick has worked, it is because his father continually bailed him out, giving him the resources to contest suits from the people he was cheating. Trump has never been accountable to anyone, so he never learned empathy, flexibility, compromise, and a panoply of other lessons most of us absorb in childhood.
Trump’s complete ignorance of how government works became clear to me during one of the debates, when he blamed Hillary for not fixing something (forget what) during her time in office as a senator. His taunts suggested he believed that a single senator from NY could dictate policy. I’ve never seen any commentator mention that moment, but to me it stood out as clear evidence of his faulty mental model; he thought the presidency worked like a family-owned business. She didn’t call him on his comment, probably because it would have looked like she was making excuses, but I kind of wish she had. It would have exposed his twisted understanding of how a democracy works.
8
For years I have tried to be a nice person. It is not always easy, sometimes very hard. You see someone struggling on the street, a distressed relative, even a Facebook friend having a hard time, someone you have never met. Do you walk away, or help? A basic question of every minute in our lives. Donald Trump does not have a kind or nice bone in his body, the facts speak for themselves..He is totally non-empathatic, no soul, no sympathy, especially for those whom he has injured. Good news though! He's half way through his tenure, with only two more to go. All bad things also come to an end!
7
Nixon wasn't alone. George W. Bush and Richard Cheney exploited the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 to scare the "s" out of us with "the mushroom cloud". WMD, ricin, and anthrax. The spokespersons were Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice. Afghanistan wasn't enough and we invaded Iraq on false fears of Saddam. A man I worked with would not enter the workplace because he saw a postal delivery truck in the parking lot. The Patriot Act was only one result of their fear-mongering. The signatories of the PNAC - Progress for the New American Cenntury - document, most of them cohorts of Bush and Cheney, told us we'd fall in battle if we did not astronomically increase our defense budget. Donald Trump is merely extending the base fascist philosophy of the entire Republican party for most of the last 20 years.
5
Trump is a bully. Like all bullies, he backs down in the face of strength. Pelosi knows this. So do all the other leaders of the world. Republicans, not so much. But they're all bullies, too, so what do you expect?
8
Fear and stark bribery and corruption. Pretty unpalatable.
5
Trump is a classic demagogue with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. A demagogue is popular leader, a leader of a mob, a leader, a rabble-rouser in a Democracy who gains popularity exploiting prejudice and ignorance among the common people, whipping up passions of the crowd and shutting down reasoned deliberation. Demagogues overturn established customs of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so. Demagogues usually advocate immediate, forceful action to address a national crisis, real or created (The border wall), while accusing moderate and thoughtful opponents of weakness or disloyalty. Demagogues have appeared in democracies since ancient Athens. They exploit a weakness in democracy: because ultimate power is held by the people, it is possible for the people to give that power to someone who appeals to the lowest common denominator of a large segment of the population.
NPD is indicated by five or more of the following symptoms:
Exaggerates own importance
Is preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, beauty, intelligence or ideal romance
Believes he or she is special and can only be understood by other special people or institutions
Requires constant attention and admiration from others
Has unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment
Takes advantage of others to reach his or her own goals
Disregards the feelings of others, lacks empathy
Is often envious of others or believes other people are envious of him or her
Shows arrogant behaviors and attitudes
2
Professional negotiators from any field wouldn't come anywhere near Trump. Negotiation is a voluntary arrangement to achieve a mutual goal, and the best negotiators are the most knowledgeable about their own goals and their opponents; and Trump is just stupid.
4
He has never installed fear, he installed facts and reality in America. Liberals and many Republicans dont want to accept facts about the failure of our country's Constitution!
It appears that neither of Trump's parents ever read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," to Trump when he was a kid. If they had, he'd know that screaming danger over and over will backfire on him.
5
Trump was elected by angry people, manufacturing jobs lost, disempowered by cheaper labor in China and Mexico and from India, disrespected and insulted by the candidate of their former party and losing the opportunities their parents had. They weren't driven by fear, Trump was their weapon. Just look at what Fox and Trump's base push Trump to do. The Deplorables got conned into making the rich richer while they lost on healthcare.
Trump's fear-mongering works on Republican politicians, his hate-mongering is what works on his base. They will eventually be tired of all the "winning" that makes things worse.
6
I often tire of the tap dance writers in the media feel they must perform in order to avoid lawsuits resulting from what they write. I'd retort to Mr. Beschloss: it isn't "almost" as if trump only has one tool in his toolbox ... trump has repeatedly demonstrated that his toolbox is pretty much empty ... like his threats. Or his boasts about his deal-making abilities.
It is a challenge to find enough disparaging remarks to be made about trump. He invites disdain through his own lack of respect for ~ or knowledge of ~ the laws and institutions of our government. And through his "willful ignorance" of national security concerns, among other subjects of importance.
Given the recent reports of his daily schedule where 60% of his time is spent doing nothing to earn either the salary he collects or the respect of the majority of the electorate, it is no surprise his ratings are in the toilet with everyone but his base. (A perfect homograph for his constituency.) What a lazy slug he is ... except, perhaps, when pursuing infidelities or golf.
While I have empathy for the fears of those poor folk who still support him, I cannot believe that we, as a nation, will continue on the disastrous course that slug has set for us. We are not a nation born of fear ... rather, this country was born with the courage to chart a new course ... one which embraces diversity, pursues those actions which lead to liberty and justice for all, and creates a more perfect union in the process.
12
Trump does not negotiate: he seeks to dominate. If that fails, he has no recourse. Because he can't conceive of others having legitimate needs or desires, he can't imagine that addressing those needs or desires might benefit him. No wonder he's a nonstarter as a negotiator.
7
“People react to fear, not love; they don’t teach that in Sunday school, but it’s true.”
"And of these three, the greatest is love."
How did the Evangelicals come to back Trump?!
4
"Trump Once Said Power Was About Instilling Fear. In That Case, He Should Be Worried"
The republicans need to accept the simple fact that Trump is a crashing failure:
* he has 6 bankruptcies of his businesses;
* he has put out a land slide of executive orders as he thought he had the power and the federal courts have proved him wrong;
* his call for and support for a republican health care law to replace "Obama Care" crashed and burned;
* from all we have seen and heard of the thousand and plus civil suits against Trump and his businesses, whatever money he has made by cheating, deceiving and outright fraud as with his Trump U.
A simple question to ask republicans is why do they fear such a failure? If it is because of the core of Trump supporters, are they not a minority of voters? Can't republicans appeal to the majority of voters with an appealing message?
80
(46-1) will have support forever and ever from those who post bumper stickers on their cars reading "My kid beat up your honor student."
We just need to overwhelm them, like Ralphie did to neighborhood bully Scut Farkas in the film "A Christmas Story" when he'd finally had enough.
Easier said then done. But this is a must-win.
2
Our 45th president saying that "Real power is...fear" frightens all lovers of democracy. Trump is holding all the fear cards in his and his party's hands. The greatest threat to democracy for the first time in American history is our elected president. Trump's braggardry, narcissism and racist bigotry have put America into the most dangerous hands since 1930s nationalistic "America Firsters".
Since 2016, Trump has dissed our allies (Canada, Germany, Britain), admired our enemies (Putin, Duterte, Salman, etc.) for being "strong" men, and whistled down the wind to his red-meat base who elected him. He has used fear, intimidation and bullying in his two years as our president. Enough of Trump's chaotic government is too much.
Our president is being investigated. He is the target of democratic lawmakers who want him removed -- somehow -- from our presidency. Tonight we will witness his State of the Union Address to Cnngress under the eagle eye of our Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Will Donald Trump continue to preach his way or the highway to America?
2
Afraid? Of this president? Not possible.
But, please stop praising him as an even competent business person. He is not. Nor is he a leader.
Nor is he a "strong, able character". He simply does not possess those personality traits.
That leaves us a president who is a mean, sniveling bully who acts like a spoiled child when he is thwarted.
Most grown-ups know how to deal with this kind of behavior. Fortunately most world and business leader do. As well as any marginally competent parents.
Our politicians are coming around, except for some of those unfortunate few who are scared. Their prospects don't look good.
Elections coming soon!
5
Centralists of the republican party, have through their silence, demonstrated they are smaller than the position to which they have been elected ...
Now is the time for leftist democrats to propose new and dynamic ideas ... the gop can't no longer claim that a balanced budget is their motivation for denying people their basic and moral rights ...
6
Am afraid Trump is going into his private meetings with zip drives full of classified codes, directories, software, schedules and other info for his handler/boss. He is setting America up for takedown.
3
You've left out 1/2 of the equation: IGNORANCE
Trump's control is based on FEAR & IGNORANCE, but he is not the first. - Many of his hard core base have chosen to remain ignorant; call it 'fake news', Fox TV, or too many hours watching sitcoms.
Education over the last few decades was defunded in many parts of the country as taxes were cut. An idea became popular; help students learn something so they can 'get a job'. Who needs civics or a survey of American literature?
America became complacent in the 80's and we did not make long term investments in new industry which would provide future employment. 'Vision' extended to the next few quarters. Big oil and big pharma lobbyists made sure that congress did their bidding.
For contrast, look at the interstate highway system which spanned decades and administrations of both parties. It generated road building, the auto industry, and single family home construction.
Oh, and the republicans. Fear worked for them but they were far from ignorant. During the primaries they saw Trump's 'passionate' support and never criticized him for the ugly things he did and said. His presidency saw the same cowardice.
And, for all their faults, the dems are no longer afraid.
2
Fear is the big motivator for the President. Fear that his inadequacy will be exposed. Stop worrying, it is already exposed, and has been for two years. One can change, but you have to want to change.
1
Donald Trump does not have the franchise on fear mongering,
not by a long shot
Democrats have been engaging in it since he became president. Collusion with the Russians...still no evidence.
Fear mongering of the first degree in the media, both print and electronic...
2
Let me get this straight. We cast off King George III by force of arms, so we could be ruled thereafter by fear?
Trump is no believer in our system of government. By all evidence, he is entirely ignorant of practically everything there is to know about it. He does not share our love of liberty, or demand for the rule of law. Such a man has no business being anywhere near the levers of power.
I have never understood why anyone "fears" this semi-literate clown. He wields no power beyond that which others grant him. Scratch a bully, find a coward, goes the saying.
If anyone should be living in fear, it is Trump himself. He is a fraud, and the multiple investigations underway will eventually show everyone what he already knows to be true.
9
Of course Trump only has one tool in his toolbox. He is a conman and a grifter not a business genius. He inherited 300,000,000$ from his dad then proceeded to run multiple businesses into the ground. Refusing to pay contractors doesn't make you a master negotiator.
5
'power corrupts and absolute corrupts absolutely'
In years gone by Emperors executed anyone that voiced an alternative vision
These days they just get trolled out of site by a government controlled apparatus
Trump is a typical bully, who’s been a successful bully all his life. He truly doesn’t understand that bullying only works with those who can be cowed. That doesn’t include China, or Russia, or Europe.
Up close, the only way to deal with a bully is to stand up to him. Nancy Pelosi understands this very well.
4
“It’s as if he only has one tool in his toolbox.”
Touché, NYT.
1
Fear is a great engine but a terrible GPS.
4
The boogey man - commander in chief should be feared, not immigrants or anyone else. Raw evil sits in the highest seat in our government poisoning every country, every government, crushed the peace and comfort of the human race across the globe spreading hate for fellow man, destroying our atmosphere with the goal of making it unihabitable, separating parents and children, dropping bombs, starving entire countries through sanctions and siding with our country's true enemies - all orchestrated for him and his family to gain more riches.
3
One-trick pony, this one.
Before and when he first entered the Oval Office, I feared what he would do. But as time goes by it's become pretty clear that his fearsomeness is little more than a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying next to nothing. The new NAFTA treaty? By no means whatsoever the great victory he made it out to be. The "Tariff Man" schtick? It's like he learned a new word, the meaning he had a vague understanding of (ditto for "collusion"), yet he spouts it as many ways to Sunday as he possibly can with little benefit to our nation or his presidency. His confidence-building exercise with North Korea? He's going to end up flat on his back with a nasty headache, not understanding how he got there.
And then there's the shutdown. Trying to sound "tough" by saying that he would gladly accept responsibility, then blaming everyone else once it actually came to pass, and then pulling a Grand El Foldo when it became clear that his tantrum wasn't going to get him what he needed and was diminishing his popularity, even with his base, to boot.
No one in this country, nor in the whole wide world, should be afraid of him and his grandiose schemes to build literal and figurative monuments to his alleged greatness that will stand for multiple millennia, which is more likely than not what he really wants out of his presidency. He's little more than a cartoon brought to life and, in a weird plot twist, placed in charge of what used to be a great nation.
4
Mr Trump has established a new norm of governing based on fear. It will take another decade to change the norms of governing with long term objective and a focus on unity.
1
Our local school district was planning two construction projects. The rising cost of materials due to trump's tariffs has forced them to defer one. That means less work for area construction workers and less money spent in the local economy. This is a Republican dominated village and the projects were approved in a referendum.
4
He is not only a bully, he is a fraud on a massive scale, and probably a criminal in his business enterprises. He has gotten by pretending to be a successful businessman, a multi-billionaire, only because he has managed to keep his business and tax records secret, he buys off those he can't intimidate, and he partners with other criminals. He became president through a confluence of luck, his opponent's missteps, media fascination with his hucksterism, and, to his credit as a natural politician, his recognition of the immense anxiety among middle class white voters. The corruption of the Republican party helped, too. But, it will all come crashing down, his political power and his business, when all of the investigations reveal the extent of his personal corruption and perfidy.
10
The one thing trump should be afraid of is the republicans in the senate turning on him. If he starts to take money away from the Department of Defense to build the wall/fence he will lose them. I am sure there is not a sane person in the White House who can get him to understand that the impeachment trial is held in the senate. They should explain that the republican senators told Nixon they could not save him before he resigned.
4
This presidency is unofficially over. We the people are the government and we need to act like it before it’s too late.
5
"Even on one of the most prominent issues that has provoked his threats — the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico — Mr. Trump did not walk away with anything close to a windfall."
This is wrong. Trump hasn't walked away with anything because nothing has changed. NAFTA is still the law of the land. So much for informing the people. Get your facts straight.
2
@rls The article clearly states, "Congress has yet to vote on that pact." The previous paragraph also clearly indicated that the negotiations resulted in little change. I don't think the article deserves your criticism.
5
"Richard M. Nixon once said, 'People react to fear, not love; they don’t teach that in Sunday school, but it’s true.' "
That simply isn't true, in any constructive, happy, optimistic, smart, mutually beneficial relationship. It tells us a lot, however, about folks like Nixon and Trump who espouse such notions. The fear comes with the lies and the racism. No good can ever come from putting somebody like Trump in a position of power and responsibility.
2
Yes, Trump is being revealed as the carnival barking con-man that he is - all molars and no morals. I'm still amazed that a failed business clown such as him could ever become POTUS but then again, it's just a sad comment on the state of the American union - a nation of television babies raised on PR pablum and the politics of fear and paranoia. Sad. No, really - it's a very sad thing. Believe me, I know sad and this is sad - sadder than anything - the saddest thing ever.
5
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Too bad our conservative citizens don't understand that anymore, and now seem to exist solely to instill fear as the means of achieving their agenda (and apparently live in a permanent state of fear-based agitation). Trump just telegraphs and escalates that message of fear without any of the platitudes with which previous Republicans gilded their fear mongering. The Republicans have made fear their number one rhetorical message and reason to be elected. They can't negotiate or compromise because they've convinced their gullible base that half the country is out to get them. Democrats should heed this lesson and focus on a positive vision for the country that eschews using fear as the primary motivator.
3
I you have something of value to offer, something that will benefit the other party as well as you, you don't need fear. That is leadership. You only need fear when you have nothing to offer. Fear is the only tool Trump has left. Or ever had. And that is dictatorial and totalitarian.
It is not American.
1
"“Mr. Trump, given his background as a deal-making real estate developer with close relationships with politicians..."
Trump is a deal making real estate developer who declared bankruptcy multiple times. Give me his daddy's money and I could have done that.
5
Real power instills curiosity, inquiry and a sense of wonder in my book. All former presidents were mere men but they inspired love of country, humanity and personal commitment in their citizens. Not 45.
1
The thing about bullies is they only have a short life span, once people figure out their bluster and bravado is just that, they turn on them. As a kid, bullies stayed in power because they were allied with other bullies, and worse, schools and the like had this idiotic notion that bullies were the victim and would mete out worse punishments on the victims who fought back then the bullies themselves; With Trump, it is we are told that we should understand his supporters, how they are good people in a bad way, they aren't bad people.....the GOP went along with Trump because they saw they could get their main agenda, extreme right wing judges and corporate hegonomy, while doing nothing for the base.
The problem is that I think many people have woken up to Trump and now the GOP is afraid. The big money donors, seeing the instability Trump has caused with his wacky foreign policy and trade stances, his threat to the courts and to the Fed, are not happy, and the stolid suburban GOP voters got hit with the 'tax fairness' act, and all realize that his base is not most Americans, they represent a minority that only has power because of election laws, and there is little to fear there.
3
That's why the NATO nations just agreed to drastically up their defense budgets? Oh well, never mind. In the mean time record employment, record receipts to US Treasury, record domestic energy production, revitalized military spending, trade agreements re-negotiated to benefit US workers, a tax overhaul that has worked for American industry and workers, wage increases far out striping inflation. The only conclusion we in fly over country can come to is the NY Times and Dems in general do not want a successful America under President Trump. Sad really.
“The next question is when does he really realize that for what it is, and I think the answer for that is he never will,” Mr. O’Brien said, “because it would admit either defeat or acknowledgment of his inadequacies, and he will just never do that.”
Of course not. If he did, he would never have run for office. He's Mickey Mouse in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and the water is at his knees.
“I believe the threats remain,” McConnell said “ISIS and Al Qaeda have yet to be defeated, and American national security interests require continued commitment to our mission there.” Let's talk about the your endless, unwinnable War on Terrorism, Mitch.
Heinous as terrorist attacks are, they create a stunning social and economic global overreaction among politicians and citizens - overreactions that belie the actual risk of death by terrorist.
According to the Global Terrorism Index, there were a total of 18,814 deaths by terrorism in 2017, or .0000024 of the planet's 7.7 billion residents (by comparison, 88,000 Americans die annually from alcohol consumption). 84% of those deaths by terrorism occurred in 10 ME/North African countries, meaning there were 3,010 total terrorism deaths in the rest of the world. From 2002-2017 there were only 280 terrorism deaths in North America - fewer than 19 people/year, on average, with less than half of those being ISIL-related deaths.
Yet we spend hundreds of billions of dollars and uncounted hours, disrupt our social and business lives, waste enormous amounts of energy and angst over fear of something that is less likely to kill us than are dogs or by falling out of bed.
Politicians are ever willing to manipulate citizens through overblown, unreasonable fears. All the better to control uninformed voters and put money in the pockets of the MIC political donors.
1
Trump does not possess our Trust or Respect. Therefore there cannot be any fear from the gutter.
2
Our mistake: we're making him the center of the universe. Let's all ignore him. It excites when we all pay attention to him. If he read or choose to read he would love it. Oh, the power and time we give him.
1
After two-plus years in office, people have finally caught on that Trump's bluster is just that, and we need not pay any attention "to the man behind the curtain." He is nothing but hot air, lies, smoke and mirrors. Who has time to waste on that? No one. Ignore him and move on to what's true and important.
3
Answer "fear-mongering" with truth: "The Power of Nightmares";
"In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares. Adam Curtis explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organized terrorist network is an illusion. It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, security services and international media. At the heart of the story are two groups: American neo-conservatives and tradical Islamists. Together they created today's nightmare vision of an organized terror network, a fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. Those with the darkest fears became the most powerful."
1
When you only have one tool, and that tool is “fear”, you will ultimately lose.
Think about it. We all have fears, mostly personal and mostly about the future. Most of these fears never come true.
And that has isolated Trump, or rather, that is how he has isolated himself. That he refuses to read and heed the advice of his experts adds to the isolation.
He is already a lame duck president. And I won’t be surprised to see someone like Jeff Flake challenge him in 2020.
3
@HeyJoe
Given Jeff Flake's record of backing down at the last minute, if he actually challenged Trump, it would be surprising indeed.
1
Fear is used by dictators to keep people in line. Why should an American president have to use fear to rule a democratic nation? Is trump planning to announce dictatorship or to dissolve the Congress or at least House?
He will gladly claim another shutdown to try to get his base to revolt against democrats & elected officials who are not republican.
America should not stand for a leader who uses bribery, blackmail, fear & hate to lead a country. Oust the dictator before he destroys what is left of America.
1
It's Trump himself that reacts to and believes in fear as the primary motivation for behavior, not love.
In his life, Trump has not only bullied and terrorized strangers and associates, but privately and publicly brutalized his former wives, friends, relatives and friends.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump famously threatened, stalked, bullied and tried to terrorize Hillary Clinton.
She didn't fall for it.
Trump tried to use fear to cow Hillary Clinton and make her snivel and cower from him.
He failed.
When Trump wanted a divorce from his first wife, Ivana, he savaged her in the New York press, day after day for weeks. This is when his children were young. He was willing to inflict enormous pain on their mother - in public - to gain a financial advantage in their divorce negotiations. And possibly just because he enjoyed the power of doing it.
This is entirely Trump's problem and an aspect of his personality that most people don't share.
The average person isn't committed to using threats, rage, humiliation and fear to gain an advantage.
That's what sociopaths do.
Most of society functions quite well with people finding healthier ways to get things done, settle differences, resolve their confusion and pain.
The people who don't do that - lots of them are locked up and making grilled cheese sandwiches on the radiator.
Trump may join them there someday.
The Republican Party is the party of the "Strict Father" contingent of the United States. George Lakoff has laid out the appeal of this style of fathering as head of the family/country. Trump sold himself as the father who could save us, the one who knows best; but unfortunately he has proven himself to be nothing but an insecure child/tyrant. If we fear him it is because we think he is insane, or suffering from age-related mental issues, or both.
Now Lindsay Graham is taking up the Trump playbook by sending a warning to any Republican who critiques Trump’s declaration of a National Emergency to get a wall. And this is the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Wow.
“Any Republican who denies the president the ability to act as commander-in-chief, you’re going to create a real problem within the party," Graham said.
2
By suggesting that President Trump has only one tool in his deal-making toolbox, Mr. Beschloss is being far too kind.
2
What Trump is not:
Curious
Intelligent
Generous
Creative
Resourceful
Empathetic
Because Trump is very lazy, he relies on his limited set of tools:
Lies
Cheating
Repetition
And, of course, using fear.
Through enough fear around and it can:
Distract
Confuse
Change the subject
Fear is an easy and useful tool. People scare easily and “easy” is all Trump can do. Fear is convenient. He can pull it out of his hat instantly with no thought whatsoever. It always gets attention.
Remember “American Carnage”? Two years later, here it is courtesy of Mr. Trump.
Fear is all he has. Like the Wizard of OZ, there is nothing more to Trump.
3
More than once I've dealt with bullies such as trump in both management and co workers. It has always come to a head with me inviting them off company property to settle things. They always demurred and afterwards would attempt to be "friends". I continued to treat them for what they were, a unnecessary obstacle of me just trying to do my job.
2
Real power - and everyone knows this, at the core of their being - is the Marshall Plan, not the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
1
This isn't fear of Trump from the GOP. It's dread at realizing what they allowed to happen, and the cost to them that they have a lying, reckless megalomaniac as the face, voice, and spirit of their party. They got away with spectacular hypocrisy with the amiable Reagan at the helm, and with historic failure when Bush II was there. Trump has none of the charm they need, and certainly none of the seasoning they'd want from someone in the White House. And they can't say it. He'll do to them what he did to Flake and Corker.
1
I fear the so-called president.
I fear his irrational behavior and his white nationalism and the shortage of those who can AND will act to stop him.
I fear his secret conversations with Putin.
I fear his amorality coupled with his self-serving use of power.
I fear every single one of his corrupt hires weakening and looting our country.
I fear he'll find a way to be re-elected and then destroy our democracy to stay in power.
I fear he won't be re-elected and will destroy our democracy to stay in power.
I do fear the so-called president and what he has done and could do to my country and her democracy.
2
Fear is a powerful emotion.
Fearmongering is a great way to cover up one's inadequacies and failings.
Using fear to control others has to be immoral but what do people like trump and other authoritarians know or care about morality?
It's really up to us to take fear and an tell the mongerers where to stick it.
1
''Oderint dum metuant'' said the Emperor Caligula. It translates, roughly, as ''let them hate me as long as they fear me.'' The only people who fear Trump - actually, who fear his base rather than his person - are the Republicans in Congress.
Other world leaders laugh at him, former employees turn on him, and the rest of us just wish he'd go away.
3
One of the great things about the Middle Ages was the colorful names given to their leaders, e.g. Dionysius Exiguus (i.e. 'The Little'), Æthelred the Unready, Pepin the Short.... What name can we attach to our current president? Donald the Bully? the Paper Tiger? the Gasbag? The possibilities are endless!
3
Fear as a motivator comes from the fight or flight response to a perceived treat. Eventually the true believers will tire of it and descend upon him in anger. This will be a bad day! Very bad for this country, cathartic and violent. We have yet to see the end game of this mad man.
I fear the worst, how about you?
If Trump has only one tool in his toolbox, it's lies. He lies and then lies about lies. Fear only works if there is consistency in follow through. Trump lies and then lies about his lies. Sure I'm afraid he is going to do something crazy because that is what crazies do, irrespective of what say or threaten.
3
“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox,” Mr. Beschloss said.
After all given that he "alone can fix it" why should he need, or have, another tool? And as the saying goes, when the only tool you have is a hammer the entire world looks like a nail.
Perhaps he should try out - experiment(?) - his claim that he can shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and would not lose a vote.
Sad!
1
I don't think the GOP politicians fear Trump. I think Trump is their useful idiot. They have set the agenda because Trump is bereft of policy, nuance and knowledge. All he has going for himself are threats and bluster. All hat and no cattle as his base should be saying.
Trump as a tough guy always makes me laugh. He would flinch if you did that old thing where you move your hand quickly to scratch your head.
2
“The beatings will continue until moral improves.”
Lock Him Up. Or Twenty Fifth! Should he the Democratic Parties chant to Trump tonight. Loud and unified. So no more respect to Trimp than Addison "Joe" Wilson Sr. Showed to President Obama screeching out YOU LIE. Hmmm talking about liars.
Democrats have always been too nice. Get along. Make compromises. No more. The radical left wing of the Democratic Party is the anti tea party. Stick it to him. Investigate, hound, convict him and all of his corrupt followers.
And pass a law that states “no Federal or State Building, facility, bridge, airport, highway, park or mountain can be named for a living person. That’ll hurt.
3
What we don't talk about when we talk about Trump.
Sigh, once more I've gotten sucked into a NYT fluff piece on Trump that - in putting his endlessly talked about ____________ [epithet of your choice] personality front and center - fails to talk about the degree to which:
a) this President is entirely representative of modern radical Republican Party thought and belligerence (both the Party and its electorate); and
b) the degree to which his radical right politics are entirely consistent with what a 'traditional establishment' figure like Pence would be doing - and what McConnell and Co. would be green lighting - right now.
Hunting for cracks between the Executive and the Legislative branches of govt. is fruitless and a distractor from figuring out the Democrat's role in making it possible for yet another right wing politician to be elected.
Why would any Democrat or independent ever be scared of Trump, a man with very little political skill, elected by a minority of the voting public and never supported much beyond his die hard groupies?
2
Four-fifths of Republican approve of bigoted, loud-mouthed and ignorant bully. That's useful information about Republican values, isn't it?
1
Teddy Roosevelt famously said "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Donald Trump's mantra is more like: "Scream lies that stroke your base loudly and often."
Eventually, the fear mongering loses its' impact when there is no real evidence to support it. As each day,agonizingly,passes in the Trump administration we see how ineffective and unempathetic a person he his. The few potentially good polices he may have are being implemented in a short sighted and ham fisted manner (see China). He has no vision other than the bottom line cost and can't appreciate the impact of time on his "policies".
Unfortunately, as pointed out in the article, the only group that continues to be impacted by his tactics is the Republican party. Sadly,they are essential to any reckoning of his behavior and policies. It is unlikely that,absent any incontrovertible illegal activity, they will demonstrate the fortitude necessary to see that justice is achieved. What is worse is that the forces that helped create this situation have been strengthened by many of his judicial appointments which will pay them the long term "dividends" they have sought.
T.R. was a progressive republican and a visionary with the welfare of the American citizenry as his ultimate goal. There are no such republicans out there. The battles waged by T.R. against the powerful Trusts and Corporations are a thing of the past. Trump and the modern Republican party are the supplicants of the ubiquitous Corporate interests.
71
@RT
Trump was elected by angry people, manufacturing jobs lost, disempowered by cheaper labor in China and Mexico and from India, disrespected and insulted by the candidate of their former party and losing the opportunities their parents had. They weren't driven by fear, Trump was their weapon. Just look at what Fox and Trump's base push Trump to do. The Deplorables got conned into making the rich richer while they lost on healthcare.
Trump's fear-mongering works on Republican politicians, his hate-mongering is what works on his base. They will eventually be tired of all the "winning" that makes things worse.
12
Jon Meacham, in his book THE SOUL OF AMERICA; THE BATTLE FOR OUR BETTER ANGELS, described historical periods of fear and hope. He quoted Lincoln in his 1st Inaugural: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies." Meacham concluded that America's greatness has come from hope dominating fear. Trump has chosen to employ fear as his mantra. It is wearing thin, as an increasing number of our allies, citizens, (and even congressional Republicans) are growing tired of his fear mongering and staccato bullying.
Were Trump a reader, I would recommend the story of the three little pigs. When the wolf came to huff and puff, two of the pigs were intimidated. Finally they fled to the brick house of the third pig. "Now when they all were safe inside. But the bricks hurt wolf's pride. So, he slid down the chimney and, oh by Jiminey, in a fire he was fried."
Mueller, Pelosi, and now even McConnell resist Trump's fear mongering, who continues to huff and puff against America's better angels. As an historian, I am confident that hope ultimately will trump fear.
51
Trump is a classic bully and anyone who has had to deal with a bully discovers that it's far better to stand up to that individual and risk suffering whatever is threatened than to live in fear. Then the bully fades like snow on warm ground because their nasty behavior is intended to scare away that which frightens them.
Trump's base are people who have felt that our country has disregarded their needs and taken away what they have found comforting in their lives. They have given up on liberal democracy as the main cause of their discontent. Instead, a strong leader who will give them what they want seems to be their way to their promised land. Trump understands them very well, even though he has little empathy, and uses them to achieve the acclaim and high office which he has wanted to have if not so much the responsibilities which go with it. Frankly, this third of the country is not ready to accept the difficulties of living in a free country and they are still ready to turn it in for one where they call all the shots.
54
@Casual Observer
When people are asked why they voted for Trump, many said it was because he was a businessman and a deal maker. I doubt all of them were so ignorant that they didn't know that when you're making a deal, you almost always have to give a little and get a little. They probably would have understood of Trump made deals that moved the needle some of, if not all, the way. Trump's "my way or the highway" attitude is not deal making and suggests that he thinks that the presidency is the same as being an emperor, where his command is supposed to be law.
7
@Casual Observer
"Trump's base are people who have felt that our country has disregarded their needs and taken away what they have found comforting in their lives. They have given up on liberal democracy as the main cause of their discontent. Instead, a strong leader who will give them what they want seems to be their way to their promised land."
But, has Trump even delivered on what those people want? Just seems that Trump has promised and not delivered a thing.
Oh, but the Tax cut! The republican tax cut is for the rich and big business. So far the tax cuts for the little guy are no where near as promised and they run out for the little guys without legislation that the split congress is unlikely to pass to make them permanent.
5
Racism is one of the hard right's most used hate tool. Their latest attacks - on democrats Virginia Governor Latham and the lieutenant - were meant to ramp up the media hysteria it did and put the republican Virginia speaker in power.
The Seattle P.I. (online only) ran another article today that gets to the background of this hate propaganda tool by the hard right.
One doctor who went to school with Governor Northam said he had first-hand knowledge of yearbook entries being changed without the subject's knowledge.
It also says most graduates don't even read it - it's published in the fall after they graduate and they're busy moving on with their lives.
It's worth a read. This was over 35 years ago. They were young men with little life experience - their social consciences grew as they got out into the world. Some people change when they grow up.
WE THE PEOPLE must be fully aware of this kind of propaganda and call it out immediately - especially OUR media.
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/education/article/Racist-yearbook-photo-went-unnoticed-by-busy-med-13591054.php
7
RE: “People react to fear, not love; ”
Fear. A favorite tools of tyrants and dictators time immemorial. It is no wonder that fear is also favored by Nixon and Trump. Trump loves to admire tyrants and dictators who get to wield unfettered and unmitigated use of fear.
It seems that they all use the "you must love me" tactic, but when they don't receive all the adoration and capitulation they feel they deserve than the fear is implemented to force the love they crave.
8
“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox,” But few think it's a hammer.
So far he's hit his thumb with it, scattering trash all over.
Has he never realized others have hammers too?
10
The one thing trump should be afraid of is the republicans in the senate turning on him. If he starts to take money away from the Department of Defense to build the wall/fence he will lose them. I am sure there is not a sane person in the White House who can get him to understand that the impeachment trial is held in the senate. They should explain that the republican senators told Nixon they could not save him before he resigned.
7
Time will tell. History will either prove him to be ahead of his time or a despot.
4
@CK Trump is a Despot. He will only be a hero in history books if he destroys the World and becomes Emperor Of Earth. The winners get to write the history books. Ray Sipe
2
@CK What is often not realized is the tension underneath. Democracy is a series of 'virtual wars' that keeps the peace because in a close match, there is no winner in a real war.
However, when the validity of the democratic process starts to break down, real civil wars do happen (not just in our country).
Republicans have been playing fast and loose for too long undermining democracy because it does not favor them. Eventually the damage becomes too great and bad things happen.
1
I like Australia's system: voting day is a holiday, voting is mandatory by law, and ranked-choice. Things are changing - fast. The distance between the way it was and the way it needs to be is growing, drawing the conservative and liberal base populations further from each other. Unless we want to, say, have a scenario where only Republicans are allowed to vote, or only Democrats, or if you vote for someone other than Dear Leader Elected for Life you're tossed in prison, we really need to figure out a way to keep extremists from deciding who gets into the federal government.
8
I live in Australia. Voting day isn’t a holiday, but it’s always a Saturday; for those who have to work, there are many early voting sites. And voting is mandatory. That’s the key — you have to vote or pay a fine. Gets rid of all the voter-suppression antics.
Fear no longer works? The NYT would do the nation a great service by sharing that revelation with members of the GOP Congress.
5
@Misterbianco In the article, they did point to that exception. Apparently fear (and hate) really resonate in the GOP. There are parts of this country sufficiently conservative that even in a 'sweep', the GOP will retain some power to influence.
Of course I enjoyed this article (and almost all the comments). But isn't it an "opinion" piece? And as such, what is it doing on the news page? This encourage the others to cry " liberal press" and ignore the real news (Syria, global warming, etc.).
is a bad practice. Worse, for me, it gives away too much and too early, allowing for counter measures. I'd rather see the info here used to build a case.
I disagree. Trump was elected to the presidency. He is the most powerful person in the world. Those are facts. Fear has worked perfectly for him. Fear has worked brilliantly. An obvious psychopath, he is immune to normal critique and so his opponents cannot land a glove on him. With a republican base this gullible, and a GOP this cowardly, there has been nothing to stop him and little appearing on the horizon of 2020. He will label any serious and respectable challenger such as Kasich, Flake, or Romney as "losers" from the establishment and they'll be toast. He has demolished his adversaries in both parties, and retains his grip on almost one-half of the population. He'll lose the popular vote but win the electoral college in a rout. And so, in 2020, we will remove all doubt and cement our international reputation as a nation of fools. Fools.
@Matt Doomsday Scenario.I prefer to think the GOP will back Trump; but;the economy will fail in a major way. Trump will get pummeled in the election of 2020. Trump's kids will go to jail in New York State(no pardons). Trump will declare a major victory and move to a tropical island owned by his rich buddies. Ray Sipe
@Matt
While my cynicism about the American people matches yours, I wouldn't be so sure. Trumps electoral college win over Hillary was not a landslide, and more importantly, his electoral majority was based on like a total of 100,000 votes in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida and a couple of others, and he is vulnerable in places like Arizona. Plus as congressional elections showed, suburban GOP voters in some of the states that went Trump could throw it to the Democrats. It looks like the Democrats are tacking away from Trump and also the Clinton campaign of "I am here to be crowned",I suspect that the Democratic candidate is not going to be establishment or bland.
1
Fear Trump? The man is a buffoon. I have never been able to take him seriously when ever he rambles on. What I fear is his staff (and family) not having the intelligence to put a stop to Trump, should he ever completely lose grip on reality and want to push the button....
9
This Liar In Chief is quite insecure. These are the ones who yell, scream, fear monger, are bullies. I had heard a youngster who has the dreadful last name Trump who has been bullied, home schooled, will be in attendance at this despicable President's State of The Union this eve. What an oxymoron, a bully pulpit imbecile of a President trying to endear himself to an innocent kid, thus making the public at large feel bad for both him and the youngster? These antics of being rude, obnoxious, lying have gotten very old, we can see his act. No sympathy for a devilish fake President.
Get him off the stage.2020 approaching quickly. We need a more credible leader, one with real character, integrity, empathy, kindness, the opposite of the crude man now in the White House.
8
Pffft, I've been afraid for America ever since the 1970s, if not as a kid in the 1960s.
We are still too violent, too stupid, too warrior loving, too wasteful, too misogynist, too drugged up, too infotained, too fat and too gullible.
14
@Maggie - Yeah, where are we going and what are we doing in this handbasket?
Actually, with all due respect, Mr. Beschloss, Trump has two tools in his toolbox; fear and lying. And, both are showing significant signs of aging.
9
A leader listens to what other people think, to plot a course for leadership.
A manager reads the data to know how to maintain course.
A diplomat uses several different strategies to negotiate, generally giving something to get something else they need.
By all measures, Trump is not much of a leader, a poor manager, and an extremely poor diplomat.
6
I don't think McConnell and company were ever afraid of him. They laughed at him behind his back, and were thrilled to get their obscene tax cuts and Supreme Court seats. But anyway, Mitch had already gone rogue while Obama was in office, and was clearly gleeful at the new President having even fewer moral scruples than he did himself. The Kochs approved of the tax windfall. Mrs. McConnell works for Trump. The racism of Trump clearly bothers no one in the GOP on Capitol Hill, including the Kentucky Senator; in fact, many of the southern politicians are more than comfortable with it.
Now that the Mueller probe is looking bad, the shutdown a fiasco, and there are dangerous foreign policy mistakes, McConnell might be deciding he's gotten about all he can out of Trump, and that it's time to reign him in before he gets everybody blown up. Politicians in red states do have to pretend they fear Trump, but again - they make use of him, as needed. There are only a handful, from the looks of it, who seem to actually admire him - and I guess they might truly fear his disapproval.
The rest of the world sees that there are two sets of foreign policies coming out of the U.S., and stopped fearing Trump months ago - although people everywhere do seem to worry about his slavish devotion to Putin, and other dictators, and whether or not he can continue to be contained indefinitely. But there's no doubt the majority of the planet will heave a sigh of relief when that madman is out of office.
16
Fear is only effective with trumps base, people used to the manipulation of facts on FOX and under educated. Nancy Pelosi certainly isn't afraid, she sent trump off whimpering and name calling and twittering. As the article points out experienced world leaders hardly take trump seriously. He lacks the knowledge and political skills to successfully negotiate with any of these people. Even the Rocket Man has embarrassed trump and pushed him aside.
The real power is not fear but money. Wall Street bankers rule. Most politicians are beholding to them and afraid of them. They control the money supply, they can financially reward themselves as they see fit. They can abuse people including politicians as they see fit. They are the most dangerous people on the planet as evidenced by the weak regulation of their business practices and huge campaign contributions. They are certainly not cowered by trump as evidenced by the fact that they wont lend him money.
4
Instilling fear... Why would anyone vote for that?
Seriously? This is our President!
4
“One tool in the toolbox”, incoherent blustering and not much else. Can someone please explain his fist salute that he’s been using lately? Creepy.
The only fear trump instills is in his lenders.
6
When oh when is this president going to be arrested? His crimes seem to know no bounds and yet there he sits in the Oval Office still feeling mostly smug, safe, and powerful.
C'mon Mr. Mueller when are going to see those silver bracelets around trump's wrist? When Mr. Mueller, when?
3
All it takes is one brave Republican to call Trump out and stand up to the twitter abuse and others will follow. Take your party back GOP.
8
Businesses have to change their formats to stay in the game. His style was novel and fresh when it first appeared on the political scene but it's getting a bit stale now. If you just keep repeating the same old, same old, no one listens to you anymore. It's a bit like that fable about the boy who cried, wolf.
1
The only voice reflected in this article of arguably less credibility than Donald Trump's is Ari Fleischer's.
2
In the end, Trump will be exposed as the paper tiger he really is.
3
For the survival of any democracy, it is necessary to understand the mindset of people who succumb to fear--easily.
So, help US, Experts ( & God too? ) !
I'm so tried of wining; please get rid of him. One day, the people will rise up and throw off the yoke of dictatorship. See - I made it nice; I added the tater.
1
The article mentions Trump's lack of experience. I would say it's more a lack of intelligence.
3
Trump put on tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum saying Canada is a security threat.The US borders Canada and Mexico and Trump has never visited either country as president and never will as he is not welcome.
4
Use of fear by GOP is not new to Trump. After 9/11 former president Cheney (sorry, president Bush II) used fear of Iraqi WMDs falling into the hands of terrorists to promote their illegal war.
6
To trump, everything is a nail.
3
I first read this sentence: "Mr. Trump has found that his lack of experience in politics and diplomacy..." as "his lack of experience in politics and DEMOCRACY."
Which would also be an accurate description of Trump. He wishes he were a strongman in some floundering nation, but instead he has come up against the institutional strength of the United States. The only hope (and Ari Fleischer, Mitch McConnell, and the rest of the enabling Republicans should be shamed and ostracized till their dying days for the playing with this possibility) is that our democratic institutions continue to hold against this conman huckster who plays to people's basest fears while being, at his heart, a coward, a wimp, and a purveyor of both empty threats and promises.
4
“Real power is — I don’t even want to use the word — fear.”
That's the essence of a bully - using fear to intimidate people and thinking it's real power.
We've got news for you Trump: #NoMoreBully
1
Trump is a one trick pony. All he ever needed to know he didn’t learn in kindergarten. Trump is the tantrum-ing Lyin’ King! Respect is a much more powerful motivator and Trump commands neither. We all remember the immortal words of Rex Tillerson on his way out the door. Trump’s incompetence and ineffectiveness are the most salient characteristics of his, so called, presidency. Think Wizard of Oz after Toto went behind the curtain. Trump is engendering nothing but pushback as he looks to re-election. The question is whether he can fool ‘enough of the people enough of the time.’ He doesn’t have the guts to end militarism nor start WW III. He doesn’t have the band width to comprehend what the People want and need. He is just a hood ornament tasked with overseeing the continued decline of American pre-eminence. But, now he has a record to “defend.” Those supporters who still don’t have jobs, healthcare, or enough to eat might be more concerned about their immediate well being rather than his fear mongering dog-and-pony show. Fool me once. Fool me twice, and I probably deserve it. However, an awakened citizenry cannot be frightened or intimidated by a charlatan.
3
I'm not particularly worried right now. We will see Trump's support erode, and that right quickly.
Don't forget, he got what he was supposed to get: he got a solidly anti-choice Supreme Court. That was what it was all about; that's what it was always all about. The anti-abortion zealots, so passionate on his behalf, will fall away, sated, their work done.
Win or lose in 2020, idiot or genius, illiterate or brilliant, Trump was and will be a truly successful president because his influence will reverberate down generations.
Thus you see our petulant Pres. pouting in his chair, arms crossed, red/orange in the face, alone, disrespected, friendless and surrounded by sycophants and false piety practitioners.
Sounds about right for his voters too.
5
Republicans were complacent for two years while they controlled the Hill. They gave Trump everything he wanted.
They sat by while Trump committed one outrage after another and did nothing. They confirmed all his dreadful appointments.The results of this was bound to catch up with them, which finally occurred when the Democrats won and took over the House of Reps.
Now the Republicans do not have leverage they once enjoyed and in many cases abused. They appear to be seeing more
"reason".
Now the Democrats need to take over the Senate as well. No more Gorsuch and Kavanaugh!
4
Trump was never a great negotiator. He was able to bully people into doing what he wanted because of his father's connections, power, and money. He's a great huckster, er, salesman, and that's why he has such a loyal fan base. They bought into the image he believes in with his whole heart and they don't want to admit they got suckered.
3
I think Trump is a very defective human being. One might wonder how he survived infancy given the apparent absence of a heart and a brain. But, then again, given that his brain seems limited to the brainstem and cerebellum combined with his need to sit under sunning lamps every morning to get going, I propose he is more reptilian than human. It would explain much.
4
Ahhh.....King Midas with a curse.
All that King Midas touches goes in reverse.
For he who never wishes to learn and wears a frown.
Will certainly go into the history books as one lying clown.
With a world that now seems upside-down.
I think what people have failed to understand is that trump started with the authority of the president of the United States and because he has unfortunately abused it by using that as a way to legitimate his attitude and decisions, the erosion of the US credibility and alliances is slow but steady.
That is what has been happening since November 2016 , countries throughout the world knew very well what kind of man was entering the White House and with all the decisions trump has taken like pulling out of treaties or questioning trade agreements, the world is slowly adjusting and starting to organize itself without the US as a decision maker.
No one trust trump , no important overseas leaders and let’s be honest, no US political leaders either.
4
As long as the Republicans in the House and Senate continue to support the acts of the president, I would say that fear is still working. The wall nobody wants, the ban on Muslim travel, the running down of federal law enforcement, eradicating the accomplishments of the last administration have all been issues that have been propped-up with tacit approval by our elected conservative officials. These officials seem openly fearful of being on the receiving end of the presidents taunts and name calling and are content to carry his water.
I have heard that the GOP stopped backing Nixon when they understood that they no longer had anything to gain from him. I have been curious to see what it will take for GOP legislators to stop backing the president and have come to the conclusion that nothing can stop them from supporting him. His poll numbers are toxic and every day is met with a new low being reached in constructive dialogue and common civility. There have been too many events that are unacceptable, in the most basic sense, and the GOP simply looks the other way.
I still have faith in the common decency of the electorate even if I have lost faith in elected officials. My suspicion is that the GOP base will stop backing their elected officials before the elected officials ever stop backing the president. I hope and feel that there will be a sea change in the next election, there is so much work to do.
3
Shorter Ari Fleischer: I kowtow to anyone who can influence my income.
"Instead, most trade experts said the revised trade accord included modest substantive changes that will benefit the United States, and others said the biggest difference may be symbolic: a change in the name, to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement."
In an outcome that is sure to infuriate Trump, even if the new agreement is ratified by the Senate, EVERYONE will continue to call it "NAFTA" because "USMCA" is unpronounceable.
1
"If Trump is successful, this will be a better country and a better world for it.”
And if I grew wings, I'd save a lot of money on airfare.
2
Maybe in the business world power is enough. But I doubt it.
Certainly in politics you want/need INFLUENCE not just power. And to be influential you must be recognized as smart and cool. Then, power helps, but isn't essential.
Of course, fear doesn't work in the long term. Just ask any teacher who has been out there working for years. People in general do much better with positive reinforcement, not fear. Knowing we are doing something that will help in the long run and make our lives better and the world better can move mountains in a classroom. The problem with corporate America and Trump comes from that area, is that they use fear to get things done, but that creates no loyalty or hope.
The American oligarchs of today, like Trump, don't want to see average people succeed, but cower in fear of losing their jobs or, like Trump, threatening the working classes with another government shut down. So, now congress must use their power to stop a sitting president from causing job losses due to a government shutdown. He has hurt the power of the presidency here and but he was too much of a blustering figure to realize that his fear tactics would eventually be countered by congress who is tired of his antics. Trump's presidency will shrink presidential power in the future, of that I am sure.
1
No, Donald, real power is shown by the restraint of the use of power.
1
Trump ran a family company and never even had a board of directors.. he has no experience being accountable at all. Not that he's much interested in being accountable! He's in over his head, just as we always knew.
3
We don't hire politicians to be afraid. They represent us--they need to stand up, regardless of the consequences.
I'm sick of 'tough guy' Republicans afraid to stand up to the president, or any of their presidents--Bush II and Reagan pushed them around pretty good too. Say what you will about Democrats, I've never seen them cowed the way Republicans have been (LBJ was elected by a landslide and he was probably the toughest president of the last half century; Democrats had no trouble criticizing him).
The Republicans better ask themselves whether they are more afraid of Trump or of us. And they better get the answer right. Trump used to dominate our conversations, but his ratings have definitely declined. He hasn't 'jumped the shark' yet, but he's only a few episodes away from that.
We can never forgive (forgiveness is not ours to offer), and we must never forget, what he did to our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico, to federal workers trying to support their families, and to children on our southern border. They are still suffering.
4
Trump's one tool is a very dull saw with a broken handle. I'm shocked that anyone with any autonomy takes him seriously. I can't stand to see or hear him for one second, and I don't. Luckily there are newspapers to keep up with the latest imbecilities.
1
Fear mongering can work for a very long time if the person using fear is competent. In the case of Trump, his lack of competency is revealed almost daily. At some point, Americans will no longer pay attention to the fear mongering when they understand that his incompetence cannot successfully address the very things Trumps claims people should fear.
In other words, Trump either has to competently put to rest those dangers he constantly speaks of, or people will finally figure out those things were never worthy of the fear he claimed in the first place.
1
One of the easiest ways to deal with fear mongers is to call them out.
The House oversight committees should subpoena Cabinet Members to testify. Having them refute the President's lies would help build a case for Republicans to deal with Trump or face political consequences.
Time to take the gloves off and have an honest discussion about why Republicans cower in the face of a lying President.
3
Trump's base seems to be somewhere around 25 to 35 percent of the US population and, as he once predicted, they will stay with him no matter what he does. This is one of the few truths he has spoken.
Despite the demonstrable lies he spews daily, the increasing awareness that his image as a successful businessman is a fraud, that his intellect is low and that his morals are corrupt they cling to him. Why? Are they also as devoid of integrity as this man? Maybe, maybe not. I suggest it is because the majority of his "base" are anti-government, anti-establishment, anti-anything and everything they don't have and are delighted to see the damage that he is doing to the institutions in America. Ironically, it is those very institutions that make America great.
3
All during his business career and up until the present, Trump has been involved in over 4000 lawsuits, all done, of course, to accentuate fear against his business rivals so none of this should be surprising to anyone, this is all he has ever known.
The problem is, he still does not recognize, that much like his own situation, the reality of politics and ultimately policy are pre-eminent in the lives of other leaders around the world. With few exceptions, Trump is extremely politically toxic to those leaders and when it comes to attempting to "make nice" with Trump or NOT get re-elected, what choice do you think they are ultimately going to make?
Like it or not, for the majority of the world, Trump is looked upon as a "buffoon" who is incapable of being trusted or making decisions that are worth the paper they are written on. It is strictly now a waiting game of when the time comes that he is out of office and is replaced by someone who resembles an "adult'.
2
Trump's use of fear may be failing, but fear of Trump is motivating!
The fascinating thing about Trump's support is that people, apparently even Ari Fleischer, believe he was/is a successful businessman. He is a complete fraud. This isn't about what works in private business versus what works in government. It's just a con-man's bluster.
2
Fear as a motivator becomes less effective as time goes on. People become accommodated to it. George Bush tried it with fear of terrorists, fear of the abortionists, fear of gays. After a while it becomes counter-productive to the goals of the fear-monger. Trump has reached this stage and he has no other leadership skills. I suspect he recognizes this and in the future, will crank it up higher in an attempt to avoid ending up behind a wall of his own. The kind with bars on the windows.
3
“One tool in his toolbox”. His tool is the child’s play bench with the round and square pegs. Guess he flunked that one in preschool. How does the saying go? You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time? But Don, ya can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
16
Let us not forget that, while Trump is failing to deliver on pan national issues, he is delivering on micro issues. Consider racism, xenophobia, anti-liberalism, anti-abortion, etc.
If you are a one-issue voter, ie, anti abortion, you will forgive Trump the government shutdown that left you temporarily unemployed. If you are a xenophobic racist midwestern farmer, you will forgive him the trade war that may cost you your farm. And so on.
25
When it comes to using fear, we should not forget that though Trump's base "loves" him, and he plays off that, he's also adept at making people around him fear him. The man's modus operandi in his political relationships seems to be to try to make everyone--advisors, senators, journalists--fearful of him. In this respect, his insistence on abject loyalty from his advisors, his disgusting attempts to intimidate Hillary Clinton during the debates, and his insulting tweets are all the same.
Trump is too stupid to have ever read Machiavelli's The Prince, or know its most famous passage about whether it's better for a ruler to be loved than feared or feared than loved--but he sure is following it:
"One should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved.”
13
@Emile
Along with distorting reality, cult leaders galvanize their power by constantly accentuating fear and those that continue to follow Trump are just members of a cult.
1
" But Mr. Trump has shown little inclination to modulate his style".
Moderation? That is a word that the spelling challenged insecure, temper-tantrum throwing man-child in the Oval Office can't even spell.
13
The Evangelical Party loves using hate and fear; you can hear it in their sermons every Sunday in the slave states of the South.
Be afraid of brown people, they are all drug dealers and members of MS 13; they bring diseases to our country.
Hate African Americans and the Democratic Party that finally pushed through Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts under the traitor to the Old South, LBJ.
Evangelicals are not a religion; they are the Old South's politics dressed up as a religion, and Trump found common cause with them in his own 'Birther' fantasy world.
Let's put an end to the Culture War - it's time to finish Reconstruction.
30
@UTBG
The fringe left does the same thing and uses the same tactics. Rinse, repeat for 50 years. The center is no longer holding and cannot save the charlatan christers or the hypocritical socialists.
1
Actually, for the amount of pain they inflict by spying out racism and hatred, I believe they are much closer aligned to sadists
“As the vilest writer hath his readers, so the greatest liar hath his believers: and it often happens, that if a lie be believed only for an hour, it hath done its work.”
Johnathan Swift
1710
20
It's a very simple matter. When you stand up to a bully the bully usually backs down. The bully is one that has no spine, no guts, no courage and no smarts. And unfortunately for America this is what our commander in chief is.
24
“Politicians don’t operate the way he does,” Mr. Fleischer said.
Yeah, no duh. But let's be honest: Xi Jinping is in his Beijing office lol'ing with his colleagues at Fleischer's dumb analysis of the trade war that's not working.
5
The mafia also uses fear as did El Chapo. Welcome to the animal kingdom.
10
Dictatorships and autocratic governments are built on fear. So, look what happened to all of them eventually in modern times -- Venezuela, Nazi Gernany, Fascist Spain and Italy, the Soviet Union, Uganda, Cambodia, Uruguay, Iran, etc. Even the Chinese power structure had to modify its policies, pretty significantly when compared to Maoist times. (North Korea seems to be the exception, maybe because it is so small but strategically important?) All their leaders stayed in power for a good while but that power could not be sustained. Trump, no student of history, is clueless.
7
Democrats tonight should just laugh at his speech. Especially when he mentions all that he has accomplished. Just like the speech at the United Nations, laughter will send a clear message of what a clown (he is orange with white eyes) Trump realy is.
22
You can fool some of the people all of the time - Trump supporters. And Trump supporters also get to vote down ballot. Poor, poor GOP being forced to support an unfit president. They will pay the price and it will be nice.
13
"It's almost as if he has one tool in his toolbox" - heck, I don't think he even has a toolbox!
9
Rise up United States and cast down this charlatan, this traitor, this lying stealing cruel bully.
18
Does it really matter whether Trump is evil, ignorant, stubborn or autocratic? His administration is foundering. A failed presidency.
13
@Occupy Government
Pretty much all America's had since 2000.
This idiot we have for a President thinks the tactics he used to bully electrical subcontractors his entire life works the same as bullying other nations. Elect a clown, expect a circus.
16
I guess Trump never saw the movie, “A Bronx Tale.” Cologero admired a mobster, Sony, because people “love Sony.” Cologero’s father, Lorenzo, corrected his son by telling him, “People don’t love Sony, they fear him.” Lorenzo did not fear Sony and rejected his ways.
People reach a point that they are tired of fear and no longer fear the prospect of harm because they are too exhausted by threats that simply become white noise.
People no longer fear Trump and he will soon find, there is no love for him either. He will then realize how powerless he is.
11
Trump's bullying only works with his diminished base. The rest of us now what he is all about.
10
Fear failed Cesare Borgia and it will fail Trump.
10
Trump's fear-mongering only works on those who are most apt to believe his lies, his base. To the vast majority of sensible Americans, the president's propensity for using fear as political motivator is the most obvious evidence that he is a weak and ineffective leader.
11
"They’ve been successful against all odds, built something huge, and when they declare it so they expect everybody around them to make it so."
Well....... I guess if you want to call taking a fortune from his father, and turning it into so many bankruptcies that Banks wouldn't even lens to him anymore, being a business success........ and having to take a turn at reality television to bail himself out, before being able to become a grifter president........ Well....hmmm....
6
Listen to Timothy O’Brien and reflect on everything Trump as done since January 20, 2017.
3
As Robert Di Niro said while playing Bob Mueller on SNL to the character of Trump Jr., "The worse thing your dad ever did was run for president."
Now, all of Trump's dirty secrets and cowardly bullying are food for public fodder and his name will never be worth a dime once he's out of office.
If anyone is afraid, it should be Trump.
18
Trump spent his business career lying, trolling, threatening & suing people. Yet despite his supposed "toughness" he declared bankruptcy 5 times & eventually U.S. banks refused to deal w/ him & cut him off.
His presidential campaign was notably ugly for his use of fear, lies, intimidation & ugliness. From using racial epithets to slandering Ted Cruz's family, commenting gun enthusiasts might shoot Hillary & stalking her around a debate stage, it was the meanest, ugliest, most demagogic campaign in U.S. history.
It's a tragedy Trump was elected.
Reportedly Kim Jong Un won't meet with Trump's associates, including Secretary Pompeo. He'll meet only with Trump - because Kim's taken the measure of Trump & believes Trump is weak & Kim can "play" him. Trump saying he & Kim "fell in love" is evidence Kim manipulates Trump.
Trump's obsequiousness before Putin at Helsinki is further evidence Trump isn't "tough." Trump groveled in front of Putin in public. Trump's relationship with Putin is built on Putin calling him "a genius." If he says great things about me, I'll say great things about him." Craven!
Trump doesn't realize Putin & Kim are playing him.
Every relationship Trump has is based on whether he believes the other person likes or shows 'respect' for Trump.
Trump's an embarrassingly insecure person, motivated by his personal neediness - not what's productive for the United States.
It will be a great day when this miserable crippled administration is over.
25
There is an old saying that perfectly describes Donald Trump:
"He only talks to hear his head rattle."
11
Every news outlet in this nation needs to stop giving this occupant of the White House free media time. They should not use his name, should not publish his image, should not post copies of his senseless tweets, should not allow any type of announcement other than something issued by the actual White House communications office to be quoted. This person can only be stopped by cutting off the air to his contorted and truthless rantings.
10
He's a braggart and a phony, and everybody knows it. What he's been able to do is harness the racism, insecurity and nihilism that now define the modern GOP. But it's all an act, like his reality TV show. The guy has no vision, scruples, interest in policy or empathy. Instead, the presidency is now just a prop to help him attract the attention he so desperately craves. The guy is about nothing but himself, if you don't count grubbing for money and philandering. As such, trump is not only manifestly unfit for the job, he's also a clear and present danger to the nation.
18
I continue to be amazed by the number of people who call into CSPAN and vociferously repeat Trump lies, even those that Trump himself “disowned” (Obama’s birth).
The other day a caller was corrected for saying the shutdown was only 2 weeks. Another caller spews the false tale that Mueller was involved in a court case that the judge has formally and publicly written is untrue. The list goes on and on.
Like Trump the base base will not be swayed and it’s futile to waste time and energy to debunk or dissuade them of the fear Trump has instilled.
My fear is that if the Democrats don’t put forth a candidate that the teetering Republican defectors can vote for then Trump will win a second term.
The strategy in the next election should be both psychological and political. The Democrats should hire the “best” (not in Trump terms) psychologists/psychiatrists in the country to manage the campaign on equal ground as the political strategists.
A candidate, even if it is one that people will vote for while holding their noses, is who the Democrats need to put on the presidential ballot.
2020 is not the election to get mired in abstractions and distractions.
I fear that the Democrats won’t wake up in time to get this so-called self-proclaimed disaster of a president deposed.
This is a fear Trump has over me.
10
@Agent 99
"Reasoning will never make a man correct an ill opinion, which by reasoning he never acquired."
Johnathan Swift 1720
When Trump was largely dismissed as "Unqualified to be President", this is exactly what was meant. Picture a T.V. repairman visiting your house, and the only tool in his repair box was a hammer. Be afraid...
6
Be it in the schoolyard, the sports field, or our business careers, haven't we all intersected with someone of similar ilk? Try as many do to find nuance or complexity beneath the surface, on occasion people are exactly who and what they appear to be. It has taken time, but the bullying, bravado, and bluster can only take you so far. Our President has taken it well beyond what any reasonable person could have deemed possible, but it is becoming increasingly evident to most that the emperor has no clothes.
7
I fear Trump, which is why I think he should be impeached.
5
This article is too kind to Trump. You would think he is a perfectly normal person, which he is not.
8
Needed to be said. Thanks Michael and Maggie.
After the fear wears thin, people begin to think again. And then they act. We are at that point, but dependent on Republicans in the Senate that hold the cards. Will they see the light?
7
Trump's business failures lead to one failure after another, and eventualy even the banks would not deal with him. Is anyone shocked to see the same methods failing at governing?
6
“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox,” Mr. Beschloss said.
I believe it's been well documented at this point that his one tool is his tv remote. Yet, even with that, I do wonder who actually is pushing its buttons.
5
The thing about "fear" is if left ungrounded, it starts to lose its effect. Even for a president who has the tendency to make up his own facts in order to justify it.
And by now most Americans have come to realize that Donald Trump has no real clue about what it means to hold the highest elected office in the land; much less what to do with it, and that may in part explain his infatuation with all the political strongmen and autocrats of the world, and his preferred choice of using fear to legislate.
It speaks volumes that some Republicans are beginning to back away from this tactic -- and him, as it becomes clear that Mr. Trump's approach to his presidency and both foreign and domestic policy has been to bludgeon and intimidate.
Apparently they are the only ones to recognize the concept of the "Carrot and Stick" approach only works when one has a carrot.
3
“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox,” Mr. Beschloss said.
Yes, his tool may be fear. But it's fear of what his lunacy might wrought on the rest of us! I don't think that's the kind of fear Nixon (or Trump) is talking about?
1
The school yard bully only goes so far before someone stands up to him. Maybe this is just what we are see and reporting on now. We will see if his cumupence is benign and domestic. A skirmish or new arms race is the worry.
3
Trump's a one trick pony. We've seen the trick so many times that we know what's coming.
3
Trump is like any other dictator. Division and hatred of the the "other" is the basis of his supposed power.
This doesn't work in a democracy.
The con is up!
4
I think the president’s juvenile, blustering and bullying character has been on full display since the 2016 debates - and his insecurity since the fabrication of his inaugural crowd. He is at root a weak and needy and vindictive creature, something Speaker Pelosi and many others have always seen and most recently exploited by crushing the President in the shutdown at the OK Corral.
4
Trump wants us to unify - behind him. I've got better things to do than listen to his vainglorious rants and fear mongering. Americans are better than him.
4
“What happened? [To the Roman Empire]
It shows that however complex and solid it seems, it is actually quite fragile. It can be destroyed.
What are its enemies?
Well, first of all fear — fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague and famine, that make it simply not worthwhile constructing things, or planting trees or even planning next year’s crops. And fear of the supernatural, which means that you daren’t question anything or change anything.
Of course, civilisation requires a modicum of material prosperity. What civilization needs:
confidence in the society in which one lives, belief in its philosophy, belief in its laws, and confidence in one’s own mental powers. The way in which the stones of the Pont du Gard are laid is not only a triumph of technical skill, but shows a vigorous belief in law and discipline.
Vigour, energy, vitality: all the civilisations—or civilising epochs—have had a weight of energy behind them.
People sometimes think that civilisation consists in fine sensibilities and good conversations and all that. These can be among the agreeable results of civilisation, but they are not what make a civilisation, and a society can have these amenities and yet be dead and rigid.”
― Kenneth Clark, Civilisation
1
And everyone, other nations and our own citizens know, the lame duck period for an unpopular, outgoing president isn’t far off. Maybe it begins sooner when it becomes clear even his own party won’t reelect him.
2
"Built something huge"? Yes, a huge crime syndicate. His business is the McDonald's of high-end nothingness, and he is Ronald McDonald.
2
So people finally figured out that the way to deal with a bully is to stand up to him.
3
Trump reflects his base, and his base still supports him. This fact should not be lost on anyone. He has done the nation a service by revealing its dark insides, its twisted and angry biome.
Even after his is flushed down the plumbing of history, his voters will still be there...Americans all, and deserving of acknowledgement.
6
I'm pretty sure they teach fear in Sunday school, Nixon. It's part and parcel to Christianity.
You can only cry “MS13!” so many times before it loses its impact. The longer people go without getting raped or murdered by roving bands of Guatemalan women and children, the less they care about Trump’s fearmongering.
And as far as GOP members of congress are concerned, sure, they are some of the most cowardly people on the planet, but after the midterms and the shutdown, I believe they are more afraid of being pro-Trump than anti-Trump.
7
The tool appears in his mirror, not in the toolbox.
10
I am definitely afraid of this man and it's not just because he's a schoolyard bully in a 72-year-old man's body. I fear him because we as a nation have allowed our president to become king. Sure, we can fight him here and fight him there, but if you have the power of audacity on your side you can always up the ante. I sit here now waiting for Trump to proclaim a national emergency for a non-national emergency because he can. He just sent 3,700 more troops to the border to fight a non-existent enemy. It's all make- believe and who knows what scenarios this mush-brained weasel can think of next. After this national nightmare is over we must reform the presidency, replace it with a presidential commission, abolish it, whatever. Just get rid of the American king forever. I'm done with the office of the presidency.
7
@Jojojo And with the Supreme Court too. Republicans are next.
Any person or nation who was ever afraid of this malignant sociopath should be ashamed.
He is just hot air. Toxic gas.
The best way to defeat any bully?
Just confront them.
5
No need for elaborate analyses of The Donald.
He's a liar and a schoolyard bully, and - like them - there is no substance behind the aggressive swagger and the lies.
The rest of the column merely fills in the details.
5
Fear Not.
3
As time goes on I am left wondering why it is we spend so much time on this idiot. He is obviously unqualified to do the job, obviously possesses the wrong demeanor, obviously is poorly educated and ill-informed on so many different subjects and aspects of the job, obviously has no qualms hurting other people and even children, etc. And yet day after day how many words are written, how many hours of television programming, how many countless hours on countless radio stations are spent arguing points that do not deserve to be argued. He is worse than anyone previously could imagine to be the leader of this country despite his defenders who are completely unaware of how a democracy works.
Every non-partisan news outlet (and for the most part most main stream outlets are) should for the good of the country, for the good of our economy, for the good of the public declare him to be inadequate for the job and demand a change take place. If the Republican party cared even the slightest for their constituents they would force him out. In fact, they never should have allowed him to run as a Republican but they were afraid if he ran as an independent he would have ensured a democrat victory. They need to be exposed for the unscrupulous frauds they are and it time the Times starts.
8
All you need to know about Trump can be learned from Vera Coking's story in Atlantic City. Trump wanted her house, and she wouldn't give it to him. A 90 year old grandmother (at the time of her court case) who described Trump as “a maggot, a cockroach and a crumb.”
Her home's roof was set on fire. Windows smashed. Parts of her home illegally demolished.
Isn't this an exact metaphor for what Trump is doing to the US?
8
The only tool Trump has is ..
1
My only fear is that Trump is so unfit to be president that he will use a deflection, such as a war, to unravel his incompetency.
FDR said the only thing to fear is fear itself.
Countries that fall into incompetent hands for leadership end badly, for instance Germany in the hands of Hitler, Italy in the hands of Mussolini. We now have to fear that Trump will turn our democracy into a plutocracy, which is happening all over the world.
Income inequality brought about by starving the beast (government) will lead to war after war, such as the French and Russian revolutions. If we have a revolution in America from within, we will be reduced to a Third World power. As an example, you wouldn't put a 747 airplane in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to fly, because the end is predictable: it will crash.
Trump's presidency will leave a dark mark on our democracy for many years to come. And that's a real fear.
6
Trump's use of fear to get his way is proving that he and his base have cow flops for brains. Richard Nixon used the same tactic until he looked behind him and saw he had no supporters behind him. Then it was so-long, Dickie.
2
Fear. It only works until everyone sees the Emperor is naked. Pelosi shoved poor Donald out into the Rose Garden without skiviez for all world to see.
3
The whole world is a nail to POTUS. He has only one tool.
5
Mr. Trump. I think you are beginning to understand what fear really is.
You are about to reap the whirlwind that you instigated with your lies and your hated and your bigotry and your gross ignorance and stupidity. Your loyalty is not with this country, but primarily with the Russians, and other autocrats and despots around the world.
Your days as President, are hopefully, numbered.
The sooner you leave, the better for the country and the world. You have failed miserably as President. You sir, are a tragic and very pathetic joke.
Leave now, or be thrown out. It's your choice.
9
Donald Trump is no mystery. He was a spoiled, pampered, child who was given immense sums of money so his father could avoid taxes. He never worked, others did it for him. He grew into a spoiled, pampered, adult who surrounded himself with people who served him because he threw money at them. They solved the problems he created so he has never been accountable for his actions. He has no morals, empathy, or sense of right and wrong.
He is not strong. Were he put in a situation where he, and he alone, was threatened, with no help, he would fold like a cheap suit and pee his pants. Had he been in the situation John McCain was, given the opportunity to leave the prison because of who he was, he would have taken it in a heartbeat.
He’s a bully through and through who hides behind others to look strong. He never had to learn to actually get along with people, or to respect other people, because of his upbringing. People were there to be used for his ends. They were disposable and still are.
And this is the man we are trusting to lead our country, deal respectfully with other countries, and look out for our best interests.
10
Oh, come on NYT, call it as you see it.
He's a congenital liar and corrupt as the day is long.
Also he's a morally bankrupt buffoon that should be nowhere near the White House.
A pox on all those that voted for and continue to prop up this pathetically weak and inane little, little man baby.
6
At this point most people realize their job was taken by the boss in the corner office NOT some central American at the border.
On another note could the Times investigater who is organizing these alleged “caravans” ?
3
@Casey: go out, and get out of NYC and actually TALK TO carpenters, construction workers, roofers, former meatpackers (in a UNION) -- Americans who absolutely did lose their jobs to illegals from Mexico and Central America.
Trump doesn't have the intellect to back up his bluster. He is easy to ignore as a clueless buffoon. All hat and no cattle.
5
Trump was never and never will be a negotiator. He is a fear and hate president with no redeeming qualities. He calls what he does negotiating but you can't negotiate if you want all the marbles for yourself. The wall is a good example of a Trump negotiation. You can propose anything you want but my wall must be fully funded. This approach should not work in our federal government and when tried, it seems successful at destroying only the good. The art of the deal is based on lies, fear and aggression, not rational cooperation with a clear goal for both sides in mind. The state of the Union tonight will likely be written for him. But no matter, he does not hold to such written trash even if he sticks to it. He knows better than anyone that he is the best president this country has ever had or will have. Cooperation be damned. It's Trump's way or the highway. Let's not make a deal.
3
Arguably, the most powerful president of the last century was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who famously said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
2
Trump should be, and will be impeached. What is of deeper concern is the Republican party. For the most part they have surrendered there responsibilities to the country, trading it for their allegiance to Trump.
Two contributing factors leading up to this is Citizens United and Gerrymandering. In the movie "Wall Street", Gordon Geiko, played by Kirk Douglas, declared "Greed is good". We as a nation seem to have adopted that motto.
I will be the first to cheer when Trump is impeached. However, I also recognize that Trump is like the torch in a coal mine. When the torch starts to flicker and go out it is time to take corrective action or all the miners will perish.
5
During Mr Trump's life he attributed all his wealth to his great intellect and negotiating prowess. A long time ago he managed to dismiss the basis of his wealth on the (in today's dollars) the multi billion dollar fortune and political influence his father bequeathed him. He is certainly not likely to acknowledge it now, so is condemed to repeating his mistakes in an ever more damaging way. The increasing damage continues to impact both himself and our country.
4
Fear tactics, whether they are conscious or not, only work with Republicans because they are more threat sensitive than anyone else on the political spectrum. They were born this way which means it is a remnant of evolution. Ten thousand years ago, it was an asset for survival, but in today's world it can be irrational. It is the root cause why conservatives think the way they do, and can be a big advantage at getting their voters to the polls. All you have to do is say "Ebola" and they race out to vote while Democrats just shrug their shoulders.
3
To successfully use fear to get what you want, you have to understand what inspires fear in your opponents. It doesn't seem that President Trump has made the effort to do that. His only success seems to be provoking fear of immigrants in some, but far short of a majority, of the population. He didn't inspire fear in former senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake. They just decided that dealing with him as U.S. senators was not worth the stress, and that they could live satisfactory lives in the private sector. Other members of Congress might make the same decision in the future.
4
Well, I'm shocked that most polls taken after the government shutdown showed an uptick in his popularity. I guess we're incapable of learning.
3
@Mike
That totally depends on which polls you're looking at.
3
Trumps actions against Chinas trade policies and intellectual theft have had a significant effect on their economy. Same as tough sanctions, unleashing US energy production have hurt Russia...chastising Europe to increase defence spending was also successful as was encouraging Europe not to be over dependent on Russian energy.
1
@Lane The US was a net energy exporter before Trump. His moves against China have hurt US companies and farmers. We haven't seen increased defense spending in Europe, just promises (which other presidents had received, too).
3
What I find so ironic is that so many times, on both sides of the political aisle, candidates run on the platform of being an outsider or businessperson. Look what we've got this time: an undereducated man whose intellect is questionable and who has absolutely no diplomacy or tactful skill in this toolkit. Maybe we should actually look at his/her experience - in whatever field - and decide on their empirical, real-life experiences to determine for whom to vote?
3
Fear only motivates the less informed. Trump's political base is, alas, largely uninformed on many issues, but they bought into his racist fears. But now people are figuring him out.
Politicians of both parties understood that he was a paper tiger in many ways, and they use that to their advantage. Foreign leaders understood his ignorance of global politics and economic from the beginning, thus they pay him little mind.
Putin, a partner in fear mongering, plays Trump like a fiddle. He pretends to be Trump's kindred spirit and ally, but he's only in it for himself.
6
If fear was an effective leadership method of leadership, America would be Great Again.
2
It's interesting to see how the GOP is helpless against Trump. For decades they took advantage of the least informed in our society. Now, that group is solidly for Mr Trump, and since they are so poorly informed, they really can't be reasoned with by the rest of the GOP.
5
“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his [sandbox]”
The only tiny exception I can take to this superb column is omission of the fact that Trump's childish bully demeanor is obviously because of serious reading, or learning, and memory disorders together with pathological narcissism. He is driven primarily by emotional gut responses simply because he has no comprehension of alternate points of view. It isn't totally because he doesn't want to, it is because he can't.
The epitome of his failings is the non-changes in NAFTA. Other than minor details, as stated, the name change is the primary difference. Yet Trump clearly doesn't know and can't read the two documents to even tell that there is no significant change. So he just doesn't know that his rants were for nothing. He doesn't lie about it, he simply doesn't know.
3
Two years ago, when Angela Merkel was bringing maps to meetings with Trump to illustrate the need for international alliances, when Macron was bromancing Trump, when Theresa May invited Trump on a State Visit to London, little John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, took off his whig bestowing authority over Commons, and announced that that it was disgraceful that May was willing to bestow one of the greatest honors the UK can on a leader who was patently racialist and that he would oppose any invitation allowing Trump to enter the House of Commons while he remained Speaker.
At the time, I thought why are these others so intimidated by Trump's despotic tactics--introducing fear into every conversation, bullying those with a different point of view to agreement, embracing Border Patrol agents in what I think he believes is his private army ready to build his wall with other people's money--that they don't just back him into a corner? Don't they understand the power they have? The same thing happened with the GOP establishment during the 2015-16 primaries: except a few of his opponents, none were willing to take Trump on.
What Bercow knew, what everyone who's ever stood up to a bully and a despot knows, is that they cave at the first sign of real and continued punch-back. At heart, bullies are cowards with big egos and big mouths who crater when someone, like Bercow, stands up to them. Notice, too, Trump has not appeared yet in the House of Commons.
3
Only one thing to add to this excellent column: not long ago Mr. Trump said that: in his experience "as a deal-making real estate developer" he learned that if the other party walked out happy of a business deal this meant that something has not been done well enough!
2
I fear the president. I fear what he may do out of pique or accidentally. My fear is exacerbated by congress's inability to function in the interest of the whole country.
4
@Dona Dunsmore
Congress has become significantly less fearsome since the checks and balances system has been restored with Democrats back in control of the House.
1
Mueller’s mills grind slowly, but exceedingly fine.
--- With apologies to Longfellow.
2
Trump may be the most powerful man in the world now, but one of his favorite tricks is no longer available to him: moving on when he is found out.
2
People don't want to believe in politicians, but this president shows the problem of electing people to the presidency without political experience. Mr. Trumps business experience is suspect as well considering his history of bankruptcies and issue's obtaining financing for his various companies that are in the public record. So the idea that "If Trump is successful, this will be a better country and a better world for it." is a peculiar idea at this point in Mr. Trumps presidency. When world leaders who are allies doubt the seriousness of the president while enemies of our country play him, there cannot be success.
1
I suspect that the rest of our friends in the world hope that this is a temporary aberration from which we will recover in two years. If so, they might be delaying as many substantive decisions regarding the United States as they can until they have the answer.
Meanwhile, I suspect our enemies are licking their chops and waiting to pounce on any perceived weakness to improve their position at our expense.
If this were a ball game, 2018 was halftime, and 2020 is the last quarter. If we lose in 2020, we will not be able to reverse the damage.
1
Oh, fear is working just fine. All you have to do is ask anyone wearing a MAGA hat what will happen when Trump is forced to leave office; his supporters live is abject fear of the day that happens. That's why Trump's approval rating is pretty steady.
1
"They’ve been successful against all odds, built something huge,..."
In what world does this remotely describe Trump's path to riches? He was handed hundreds of millions, he has failed in almost every business he touched, he never faced or overcame any adversity. Oh, except bone spurs of course.
5
As a child, in my home corporal punishment was de rigueur. My Grandfather was a retired barber and his razor strap was the tool of discipline. You couldn't sit for several days after a strapping. At one point, just seeing our parents bring out the strap was enough to throw us into tears and penance.
We grew up and ultimately, we confronted our parents and the whippings stopped.
The Nation and the Global community has grown up. Our career servants presented their testimony at the Intelligence Community hearings, telling the panel their grave concerns without worrying about the razor strap.
Further, the Intel group spoke declaring trump "willfully ignorant" when it comes to national security. Most of the comments posted here and others shared abroad believe that trump is a national security risk. It is no doubt, what was shared behind closed Senate doors during the confidential closed session portion of the testimony.
The security risk is not a partisan issue, it's an issue that impacts all of us in the US, even his base is at risk. The man has proved himself incompetent, forces illiteracy on his team, is getting paid to do a full time job which he executes 40% of the time, and is using his position to coerce his own nation.
This is the hour when the Republican Party can show the nation and our allies that party has no boundary when it comes to removing an incompetent man from office.
4
Speaking of fear, what is Speaker Pelosi afraid her new joint Border Security conference committee will discover, the facts?
1
It was predictable that Trump’s power schtick would diminish in a more or less straight line from his inauguration. He is completely ineffective as an executive, his bullying projects weakness and he is the undercutter-in-chief of his own stated positions. Plus, he has been a congenital liar for his entire adult life. What is regrettable is that two years ago, when he took office, many people were cowed. The stock market bowed to him and many CEO’s ran to Washington to placate him. There were many commentators who actually took him seriously. Now, it’s become easier to buck him and eventually the Republicans in Congress will throw him under the bus if his public approval ratings slip. But too many lacked the courage to call a spade a spade in the early days.
3
The flaw in the fear-based leadership model is that human beings have a visceral resentment of being made afraid. They don't like it; it feels humiliating. And they remember that resentment and humiliation and will always be on the lookout for an opportunity to hit back at the person that made them afraid.
Trump is a simple enough mechanism so that he believes that making people afraid of him is an effective operating strategy. But in order for people to fear you, you have to be able to hurt them somehow. Scaring a plumbing contractor from Queens is pretty easy if you're in Trump's former position - you have enough money to lawyer him into bankruptcy - but the same doesn't hold true for the leaders of countries. Or leaders of the opposition political party in America. The leverage isn't there and they are not buying the bully boy bluster.
The guy really is a one trick pony and after two years everybody around the world knows that. While I think America still commands respect around the world, for various reasons, I don't think Trump does at all. He's a clown and everybody knows it. They know that there are no real chops behind the haircut from Mars and all the tough guy bluster.
2
He has a history . And it is repeating itself.
Aggressive, bullying tactics to push his way toward what he wants.
Problems, people hurt, things start to fall apart.
Donald walks away from a mess he created.
4
Trump has "sharpened his attacks on her (Nancy Pelosi) and said her obstinacy on the border wall was damaging the country." How laughable. The majority of Americans do not want this wall. It would be ridiculously costly, ineffective and environmentally damaging. Does Trump believe that Americans have such short term memories that we will forget he promised that Mexico, and not the US taxpayer, would pay for this wall? We have so many other pressing considerations, starting with improving the infrastructure of our country. Let's just ignore Trump's blather and bombast and focus instead on uniting our great country.
3
The Republican Party in the United States: the only people in the world who think making the rich richer makes the poor richer, keeps basic health care from people, thinks women cannot govern their own bodies, deny climate change and cower to donald trump.
2
Its the oldest lesson in the world, one that many pre-schoolers already know - bullies never win. When it comes to fear and behavior change, grown ups know, it has a very short shelf life
3
The only fear we should have is fear of Trump.
1
Trump's a little boy who's cried wolf too often.
What has anyone to fear from him? Slimy tweets? Made up insults? Bleeding, if a woman, weak if a man? Big deal.
He could start a war somewhere, true, if the joint chiefs, the intelligence community and defense department couldn't stop him.
But the ill-informed lunatic that he is probably couldn't find a really suitable target if he tried for 18 hours of executive nap time.
He thinks the middle east is probably Milwaukee. He only knows from Afghanistan what Putin lately told him. ISIS is gone, who knows where?
We're in trade wars with really big trading partners which could cause economic downturn. We haven't had a GOP recession since W, after all.
His shutdown cost big money that could have been used for other things, like infrastructure maybe. Remember infrastructure? Remember how he was going to fix the cost of healthcare? How he was going to end the opioid crisis?
Meanwhile he tells us we're invaded by non-Norwegian brown folk from south of the border, many now apparently irretrievably lost in the system, who knows where. That's really great border security.
Tired of winning yet?
6
FDR….”There is nothing to fear but fear itself”
The POTUS intimidation tactics can only go so far and will inevitably fail. A good majority of Americans are angry and tired of hearing the fear rhetoric from this con man and will never succumb to his tactics. Rather than surrendering to the fear tactics, Americans will fight back at whatever the costs; the POTUS fails to understand this. He has a great talent for attacking the weak and the defenseless; he has a great talent for creating division and hate by communicating lies and fabricated threats to the country. The greatest talent he is lacking is running the country as the POTUS.
The greatest fears we have in this country are not the immigrants, terrorists and other countries around the world but the con man residing in the White House.
1
The use of impairment?
Would motivate pity if it were not for the presidency.
1
Last year, Mrs. Trump said she is the “most bullied person” in the world.
The Donald should start treating his wife better.
2
History is full of fear-mongers and bullies. Often we tolerate them as their rhetoric and bravado come handy when we are (or, we are persuaded to be) facing fierce enemies. Problems start when we put fear-mongers on pedestals, allowing them to become our leaders.
Sooner than later, our fear-monger is going to run into another fear-monger on the other side. Each threaten the other side and, to show that their threats are not empty and they are ready to fight, they start poking each other.
And, as we do not care to learn sensitivities (i.e. the culture) of our enemies, in no time we are going to go too far, crossing one of their invisible read lines. Then bombs start to drop and missiles start to fly and we become convinced that things our "brave leader" was warning us about were not fear-mongering but they were all based on fact or reality!
117
I miss President Obama. I am not old enough to remember Franklin Roosevelt, but I miss him, too.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - FDR
3
In Kohlberg's theory of moral development, he is stuck between Stage One (obedience and punishment driven) and Stage Two (self-interest driven), that is to say he is cognitively and morally under-developed in relation to his peers. Stage Three requires social consensus. The highest stage in Kohlberg's model is Six in which universal ethical principles prevail and the person engages in abstract moral reasoning.
6
I suggest that Mr. Fleisher's comment aluding to fear as a "..common trait among those who ran privately held corporations" is misleading. Most family held companies which have lasted more than 2 generations have done so by sharing a comon sense of purpose with a focus the welfare of its employees and its customers. Family companies in Europe and Asia whose average age is probably close to 200+ years (with some in their 30+ generation) do not reflect the same fear and insensitivity that we see in the Trump example. In the US companies like SC Johnson & Comany reflect the same ethos as their Europen/Asia colleagues.
8
Fear-anger-hate-Lies,Lies,Lies - death-destruction- WAR - rape-pillage-plunder.
That is all bullies know how to do. That is all demented, insatiably greedy, morally/ethically bankrupt, socially unconscious inherited/stolen wealth Robber Barons know.
They are only 0.01% of OUR world population. 42 people. They are all just human beings, like the rest of us, but with no sense of humanity.
Masters of the universe? NO. Masters of the road to hell. Their reign of terror must be stopped NOW and WE THE PEOPLE are the only ones who can/will/MUST stop them.
15
Bullies also yell a lot, demonize their opponents, and in some cases, try to whip up a mob.
A cautionary note.
So do some social activists, Robert, but they do it to build - not destroy.
1
Multiple psychological and neurophysiological studies indicate that conservatives have an enhanced fear response to various stimuli when compared to the average person. Trump has parlayed that to be the leader of the more fearful portion of our population.
FDR was right.
18
Yes, Mr. Riggs, one of the things that gave me the courage to buck tradition were FDR's famous words, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
It is true now more than ever since WWII.
7
May I ask you to cite these many, many studies and reports? Otherwise, they’re going in the mental file I’ve labelled, “People Are Saying.”
If Trump was able to deliver on his promises, no matter how vile his use of fear, conjured up through hatred, lies and half-truths, he would be powerful. He might achieve his ideal of dictatorship.
The GOP has been delighted to go along and has gotten many of their heart's desires, the chief one being the tax cut, and many of the others clustered in regulatory change.
There isn't much more they can get out of him. His promises to the "base" of soaring income and increase in manufacturing jobs have proven to be lies. So they will turn on him - unless he is able to convince them that their problems are really from a mass of "illegal aliens" or from Democrats or "deep government" thwarting him.
The boss who thrived on discord in his business, and who expected total subserviency is not going to change after 50+ years.
I'm among those who fear his willingness to begin a hot war somewhere to divert attention from his failures -
350
@cheryl
"There isn't much more they can get out of him. His promises to the "base" of soaring income and increase in manufacturing jobs have proven to be lies. So they will turn on him."
But cheryl, Republicans always pedal their economic snake oil that tax cuts for the rich will fuel the economy and jobs...and in their universe, these claims are never "proven to be lies."
This particular Republican President serves longstanding right wing goals - 'fraid I see no abandonment in the offing...
32
@cheryl. Yes, Trump could be dangerous if he had half a brain.
18
and, there's always the safe fallback tactics of abortion, conservative judicial appointments, and guns, togther with the appeal to the supposed war on the rightful place of white Christians in America. Trump and his gang still have many proven arrows in their quiver and the loudmouths on conservative media to use them. have a blessed day.
30
FDR: "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."
Trump: "Be afraid."
The border wall fiasco affirms for us why FDR was the real leader. If news reports and polls are to be believed, the further people are from the southern border, the more fearful they are of the 'hordes' Mr. Trump falsely claims are massing there to invade. Yet those who live along the border, who can see with their own eyes, are not remotely concerned. Not close enough to look under the proverbial bed for the monsters of their imagination, from upstate New York, to the Iron Range of Minnesota, fearing fear itself, they chant "build the wall" and the President, knowing smile on his lips, takes a bow. FDR in the midst of a very real crisis, had the courage to ask us to confront our fears. Donald Trump, cynical coward that he is, stokes those fears for his own purposes. The difference between a real leader and a phony, in the light of day, is just as plain.
433
@G. James--Totally agree with your comment and want to thank you for the history lesson…Until today I had mistakenly credited the quote to Winston Churchill to give increase the resolve of his nation during WW II.
18
@G. James The reason people in Texas are not concerned about incoming aliens is because available jobs are able to be filled with an ample supply of current and previous immigrants and their offspring. In my Dallas operation I have some workers from Mexico who were hired around 35 years ago. Their US born children have been well educated and both generations are as American as anyone else. But new personnel are still in demand. Newly arrived border crossing men and women know to head to northern states where their services are desperately needed. Instead of a wall we need border job placement and transportation services to places all over the country to fill current vacancies. In fact, I don't know anyone who isn't from immigrant origin. My family came from England (on my father's side) and Ireland (on my mother's) in the 1700's. From England the family forefather mustered out of King George III's army and settled in New York, from Ireland they went to Louisiana. Thank goodness we had open borders back then. I'm all for freedom in immigration.
26
@G. James
Not all of us in upstate New York think much of Mr. Trump. As his administration (I use the term advisedly) rants and creaks along, we are heartened by knowing that soon it will also be over.
18
It’s said that money is the root of all evil, but the reality is simpler: It’s fear. Even the love of money is more about deep feelings of fear (not just the basics like food and shelter, but feeling loved and appreciated—why else does anyone need to be a billionaire except to look big and powerful amongst his/her peers?). DJT obviously wasn’t truly loved by his parents (and perhaps others around him), and it shows in everything he says and does today.
But far more important than impugning DJT personally, what bothers me is the ~40% of the populace that STILL supports him and STILL thinks he’s doing a great job. His fear-driven base will still be with us long after he’s gone—ready for the next charismatic demagogue to steal their hearts along with their wallets, just like DJT has done.
7
Trump's supporters look to him to save them from the frightening world of the present and the future, sometimes represented by Hillary or other avatars.
2
“Mr. Trump has held an iron grip on the Republican base, making it difficult for fellow party members, who also rely on those core voters, to oppose him.”
CONGRESSIONAL TERM LIMITS.
They were one of Trump’s campaign promises.
6
Congressional term limits only make K Street stronger because lobbyists have no such restrictions. Much more important is ending gerrymandering so that there are fewer “safe” seats on both sides, forcing everyone to move to the middle.
2
When I saw him use the escalator instead of the stairs,
I knew he wasn’t fit.
18
Fear as a motivator is what managers and tyrants use. A real leader respects people, values their input and comes to a conclusion with input. People follow real leaders because they know their leader will have their back.
9
Wishful thinking. Two words: "American carnage." Ever think you'd hear that in an inaugural?
7
As a means of rationalizing Trumps approach in politics Ari Fleischer contends businesses people (like Donald) have "...been successful against all odds, built something huge, and when they declare it so they expect everybody around them to make it so".
The problem with Ari's assessment is that Trump has never really been successful in business--certainly not "against all odds"...he had his daddy business and daddy dollars to build and protect him through multiple bigly failures.
On the back of his daddy, The Donald created a persona and did -against all odds-- win the presidency with a little help from his Russian friends. In the end, however he is nothing more than the character Professor Harold Hill (Music Man) a flim-flam man and his comeuppance is close at hand.
19
@Rkbrands5 Why would one expect the truth from the likes of Ari Fleischer? He may not tell as many lies as Trump (who does?) but he has certainly told us plenty.
3
The one fear we should all share is the destruction of the planet, something *45 is not concerned about at all.
15
Yes, Trump has but one tool in that big roll-around toolbox.
And as any good carpenter or mechanic will tell you, you have to be smarter than the tool you are using, even if it is but the lowly hammer.
7
Well let's forget about his supposed skill at being a deal maker since that was always a complete fiction. Not only do empty threats not work in the political arena, but like many bullies, his statements have more to do with self-aggrandisement than any conviction based reasoning can be the basis of discussion and eventual consensus. What makes it so much worse is the dearth of experienced and capable people on his staff combined with his ego driven belief that he knows more than anyone else. This situation is getting increasingly dangerous. He has to go!
9
People who rely on fear to get what they want are weak, not strong.
8
Fear fatigue. And recognizing he's all bluster, sound and fury signifying nothing. But he sure does a lot of unnecessary damage in his wake.
9
“Their way is the only way. Their will gets it done. They’ve been successful against all odds, built something huge, and when they declare it so they expect everybody around them to make it so. - Ari Fleischer
I guess Trump supporters ignore the fact that Trump has gone bankrupt 6 times. If that happens to the USA just once we will no longer be the leader of the world, falling into more of a second-tier country. Now that is something we should all be afraid of under Trump, not a southern border invasion.
8
@Barney Feinberg When i pointed his going bankrupt to a trump supporter 6 times, He said" what he did was legal just using the system."
These people who believe in him AREN'T going to see anything he does as wrong. That's very disturbing>
Getting out the vote is the only way to get rid of this pestilence that's in office.
Sarah Sanders? Don't get us started on this lying person!
1
The main reason against pursuing impeachment is the fact that Trump is a one trick pony, and it is becoming clear to swing voters and those among the Republicans who can actually reason that Trump's race baiting and fear mongering are not the way to govern. His campaign lies (expanding health care and taxing the rich) are coming home to roost and the more indictments that come out of the Mueller investigation, he looks more like the sleaze we know he is. Impeachment will not defeat Trumpism. Only defeat at the polls.
8
Michelle, the problem with looking for "defeat at the polls" as a solution is that Republicans in recent history have not accepted that election have consequences, unless they won.
3
“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox.”
That about sums up Trump; he's a 1-trick phony that has succeeded in the past by presenting a forceful, demanding and bullying facade with a depth of character exceeded by the thickness of his credit card.
I'm surprised a column like this wasn't written in 2017. Maybe the country should have listened more closely to New Yorkers' warning about Trump in 2016. America elected a President that lost his home state's vote and got only 3% of the Manhattan vote. The people that knew him best expressed their collective opinion of their Native Son.
14
Two trick pony! Chaos and steam roller. I still don't know whether to put that all on him or his seemingly single minded decision making which always brings him back to his "base". He has on a number of occasions cast out a reasonable position on an issue only to walk it back after Ann Coulter and others in that camp go ballistic.
4
The use of 'Fear' for purposes of control is called 'Terrorism' if correct labels are to be applied, and the USA has used terrorism against indigent peoples protesting the rape of their Nations.
Now Terrorism is used to describe what we previously called Freedom Fighters since the tactics that our own CIA taught them: the use of bombs, infiltration and the pressure of fear on large populaces are the tactics of poor people who have been abused by the rich for generations, and are trying to change thing.
We revolted against England, and were considered terrorists them by the Crown, who used fear, cannon and occupation to instill fear in the populace.
Trump using fear in his manner is no better than King George we revolted against then, and no better than the Taliban, in reality.
And Trump seems intent on terrorizing the entire world, largely though ignorance of the realities on the ground, and his ego thinking he does, and then his pique when he finds he 'may have been mistaken'.
He has been worried since before day 1 as he knows he has stepped into a spotlight like none other, and yet was blindsided by the fact that becoming a Public Figure also came with such deep and intensive scrutiny of his past.
He is in for some Very Harsh Surprises yet.
6
Sadly, this is the creed of capitalism and every corporate executive.
4
Doris Kearns Goodwin describes the qualities and styles of 4 Presidential leaders. The lists are long and vary from one to the other.
No where does she mention the use of fear as a "leadership tool". In fact it was just the opposite - each of the 4 Presidents worked to quell and abate the fear circumstances had engendered in people.
186
@John Which is one of the myriad of reasons why dt is absolutely not 'leader' material. His psychological instability and unfitness is primary.
4
If people believe what Trump says about China and the southern border and NATO and NAFTA and nearly everything else he rants about then they are fools. The only people who had anything to fear were republican politicians because Trump stole their racist base by being overt and over the top with the hate rhetoric.
He is clearly delusional about reality. He has never had any real success at anything meaningful. His big thing was that he was a good fake business mogul on a very dull and dimwitted TV show.
In some ways he did us a favor in that he exposed just how gullible a great swath of the American public are. Anyone who actually thinks he is smart and capable is lacking in the ability to judge reality. He is clearly a fool, and a cruel and childish one at that.
As a child I feared adults because they told me things that were crazy. It seemed to me that everyone was out of their minds. They pushed religion and many other crazy and delusional beliefs. As an adult I think we are beginning to make progress. We no longer accuse people of being witches or evil just because they don't believe the garbage coming from one of the cults. However, I still see the lunacy.
If you can truly believe in a religion then you are susceptible to the propaganda of Trump, or some other false leader. To me, it is incredible that supposed adults can be so cowed by such demonstrably false reality.
10
“Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.”
― Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life
6
This national embarrassment, this "Extortionist" and his mini-me, Pence, whom We the People did not elect, is proof that the the electoral college has become a dictator, overruling the Will of The People. again !
The electoral college has become a tool of Traitors. It is the nations evil master.
Our sisters and brothers died to bring democracy to others. We should care as much for ourselves.
6
The Peter Principle is on full display in the White House.
9
@Stella Blue
Catch-22 ?
1
I believe worse than Trump's reliance on fear are his encouragement of stupidity and the view that the USA has all the answers. The world and issues are complex. Solving problems requires effort, persistence, skills, partnership and humility. Trump's message is he has all the answers and he discourages his base to do any independent thinking. He mocks science and expertise. He is willing to put the USA into complete isolation rather than admit the need of others. The republican party does nothing to stop these reckless falsehoods and in fact encourages them in their "party over country" mindset.
12
Donald Trump doesn’t intimidate me.
8
Trump's use of fear belies his own fear that he really is a tiny tiny man. It's been a huge embarassment to watch the USA's credibility squandered by this man with his empty threats. And then he's on eggshells every time Vlad Putin is present - yuck. He can't be gone soon enough.
11
This is the guy who stated in a intelligence briefing that "Nipple" and "Button" ( Trump's words) are part of India. None of the intelligence officers had the guts to tell him that Nepal and Bhutan are independent countries.
12
No one fears Trump except, possibly, Lindsey Graham. Mitch McConnel and other Congressional Republicans seem to be finally growing a spine. Our European allies dismiss Trump as a narcissistic buffoon. Our Asian allies are casting their lot with China. Putin, Xi and Kim Jong-un wrap him around their little fingers while laughing behind his back. And Israel and Saudi Arabia flatter him while using his sappy son-in-law and the neocons in charge of his foreign policy his to undermine Iranian influence in the Middle East.
12
Journalists at the NYTimes and many of their erudite readers keep waiting for that much deserved comeuppance, that final perp-walk out of the oval office, that final straw that will cause people to wake up and realize what they've elected into office.
That's a pipe dream. It just isn't going to happen.
About half of the people in the US actually approve of the Cheeto Satan. Other despots in history have been portrayed as fools or clowns, yet they've stayed in power because just enough people are more than willing to accept the bullying, the fear-mongering and the pathological lies. Why are we any different?
9
The last sentence says it all: there IS only one tool in his toolbox.
3
" he only has one tool in his toolbox ". Sure. And WE have one FOOL in our Oval Office. Thanks, GOP. YOU own Him.
12
Ralph Waldo Emerson's "fear always springs from ignorance" sums up the president, the go along mob in Congress, and his wooden-headed base.
8
While the overall thrust of this article is correct, you once again promote the falsehood that Trump was successful in the private sector. As the NYT's own reporting has shown, Trump essentially got a large fortune from his father, and made it smaller.
He is a great self-promoter and demagog--one of his first triumphs in this realm was getting the NYT to fawn over him as a Prince of the City and breathlessly cover his exploits as he strutted around NYC with the latest model blond on his arm. (And then getting the NYT to give him a pass from any serious interrogation as a presidential candidate, while the Times dismissed the Russian connection and tormented Hillary Clinton over innocuous emails and her perfectly legitimate charitable foundation.)
But has Trump ever been someone who knows how to build a business? A great negotiator? Never.
11
Trump is a criminal and a crackpot who should be immediately impeached. The Congress is failing the USA and democracy every day they allow him to stay in power.
5
This strategy works well with many Republicans. Which makes sense since they seem to be afraid of everything. They are afraid of gay people since they will destroy your marriage, which seems only a possibility if you are a closeted gay person. They are afraid of blacks, shoot first, stand your ground, barricade the door, ask questions later, if ever. Afraid of Latinos, even the ones simply fleeing with small children from horrible situations, as they are coming to take your job away.
It goes on and on but it is very clear they are afraid of nearly anything that is different and they are a very easily manipulated bunch.
11
People are tired of the constant trump lies - He tries to manipulate people by stoking hate and fear, and people are sick and tired of it.
The SOTU address will be more lies, more hate, and more fear - And, most likely, more patting himself on the back for a job poorly done.
Why would anyone watch this nonsense- it’s fiction.
6
Trump has used his inherited wealth to snipe from his penthouse and be 100% bully for years.
He spends an inordinate amount of time trolling most of America from the bowels of the White House, his base eating it up because they think it's strong to "own the libs."
But NOW things are looking bad:
the Mueller investigation closing in, no more "promises" being kept, historically low approval ratings, no one left to blame but him.
Trump wants to get on TV tonight and appeal to us for "unity" and tell us how he's really a nice guy and he's not abusive but just making the hard decisions no one else will make because he's doing it for our own good!
So NOW Trump wishes we could all just get along?
That's one scenario for tonight.
Either that or he attempts to double down on the Mussolini act and go full dictator.
Because he doesn't want to make nice with all of us who see through him.
He needs to keep his Branch Donaldians in the compound by still fooling him that he's a tough guy.
2
Once a fear-monger, always a fear-monger!
1
Democrats will take up the slack.
trump's use of fear has been effectively offset by his display of ignorance and his demonstrable lack of interest in correcting the stupidity. Indifference, and perhaps mockery, are the only reasonable responses to his threats.
4
Trump's a punk, loud mouth, cradled since birth. The same narcissistic, fat bully we all knew in High school that someone finally punches in the faces who then runs home to his mommy (Putin)
Our big tough bone Spur in chief.
It's all so pathetic it's really hard to comprehend.
6
this is the most accurate depiction of trump ever to appear in the New York Times. bravo Steve
1
The Nixon/Watergate crutch is unbecoming a reporter of this caliber.
Very much like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, Donald Trump is a small, weak man.
3
Disappointed with his overall performance in office and the ease with which he lies. The White House stood for everything great and honourable about the US. Now it houses a scoundrel, a liar and a selfish lout.
7
I never understood this aura of deal maker. In the building industry deal making neans lube the politicians that can help you, be as rough as you can with the various contractors and buy at any cost the land cheap. Where is the dealing there? Buying another property? His loyers did it for him. He was playing gold badly as his body size shows.
2
Trump's primary use of fear is to capture and sustain public attention. The fear does not have to be fear of Trump himself. It can, for example, be fear of an imaginary invasion from the south. He is becoming the little boy who cried wolf one too many times. His imaginary threats are no longer working. People aren't paying attention to them. And they are starting to ignore him.
7
"He could well face a challenge for the Republican nomination in 2020"
Come on. The GOP is the party of Trump. There is no way any Republican is going to challenge him. They're terrified of his cultists. They're stuck with him.
3
In many ways, politically obtuse and naive. A blessing for long suffering Trump opponents.
2
So trump is playing a role not unlike that of "The Apprentice". I'll take the writer's word for, I never once watched that program. Unfortunately, this particular role "The Apprentice President" is way beyond the capabilities of this particular actor. It is time this poorly executed bit of reality TV was cancelled, so if I may use terminology trump might understand: donald "pack up your knives and go", "you are the weakest link", "you're fired." I think I'll watch this instead: The Road To 2020.
3
"It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox,” The many-time bankrupted deal-maker has one tool. Himself. A flawed tool.Flawed inaccurate awareness. Imprecise perceiving. In meticulous thinking. Out of the box. Around the walled-in, above and under the walled-out box. In emotions beyond twittered anger and harrowing helplessness. Judgments alt-fact-fantasied; not fact-generalizable. Decisions which are not weighed with reasonable implications and outcomes considered. Time and time again. No consultations with experienced and knowledgable others- who understand! And all of this within a dynamic framework of personal unaccountability; accolades when not merited. No learning from each done-deed so as to "fail better," the next time, when the plan doesn't pan out. When the deal is a dud. Taking personal responsibility and blame when appropriate. And all of this with much needed personal graciousness in a divided MAGA of diverse people. Where are any of these ordinary, day to day, human tools in his harmful words and deeds? Daily! Where is Trump's toolbox as he verbally boxes with others; boxing himself in nationally and globally? As he desecrates the American presidency, turning the White House into a House of Hustlers? As his doings and his "agents" fill American prisons. Devalue democratic values. Neutralize menschlich norms. Demanding loyalty while he may be guilty of disloyalty to his own homeland. The great "kidnapper" of separated children. Shamelessness enabled!
3
The country would be better served by requiring a comprehensive psychological evaluation for all presidential candidates versus releasing 10 years of tax returns.
3
Meanwhile, the Census Bureau projects the U.S. population to reach 404 million by 2060, with virtually all of the net growth resulting from immigration. And no one finds that frightening.
Nope.
Worshipping rich people is the ruination of the world. Hearing someone with power state that fear is power, simply proves the first sentence.
It is all mediocrity and the 4th estate is complicit.
3
The paper tiger has spent the last 5 or 6 decades bullying his way in and out of "deals." Unfortunately, he has met with a good deal of success employing this tactic. But now the question is: can he bully the entire United States, its judicial system and the citizenry. I say it's about time the schoolyard bully faces reality.
5
Foreign leaders have now seen the truth writ large. This emperor has no clothes. Keep in mind that in his entire career Donald Trump has never reported to any other boss then his father, and only that for a few years. Since then he has seen the world in terms of his empire versus everybody. Within the Trump Organization his word is law. On The Apprentice the climactic moment of each episode is the 'You're Fired!', to the delight and amusement of his audience. ( Don't you wish you could fire just anybody where you work?)
His success and his survival have both been based on lies, evasions including tax evasions, and bullying current and former business partners whenever it suited his need or whim. That is why many of us see him as behaving like a 5 year old. But in the end he does not have and never actually had any real power except the money he got from his father. That was enough to be the school yard bully. Do you imagine that Putin and Xi and even Kim do not know that? So it is that they are playing the president of the United States like a violin. Pelosi has him figured out, but so do Macron and Merkel and Mohammed bin Salman.
6
Duh. He’s what millions of us knew he was and sadly enough other millions didn’t or didn’t care. It says more about the public than him. He had no real qualifications or proven track record and millions liked that. It’s as if the wanted a roofer to do their dad’s heart surgery cause outside the box perspective and don’t get why dad died.
5
I see a silent cheering committee in the Republican caucuses of both houses of Congress rooting for Chuck and Nancy in their battles against the current bully in the Oval Office. It's only a matter of weeks before someone finally yells that the Emperor has no clothes. It will be those wimps who continue to cower in the face of Trump's continued high approval rating among base Republican voters who will lose their seats in the 2020 election.
5
He calls them "Chuck and Nancy" to belittle them. Especially Speaker Pelosi, who frightens him.
1
Unfortunately for Trump but fortunately for the rest of us, this President, in spite of his fear tactics and bullying (or because of them), has now become a bore, a true bore. The audacious wrecking ball now seems effective only when it comes to making people roll their eyes and shrug. It's also becoming clear that his enablers and supporters realize he is hopeless at his job.
1
While it's obvious as to how well the "fear factor" worked--it helped get him elected, the only thing some of his base now fear is they were duped; hoodwinked; flim-flanked; lied to; and taken for the suckers, it arguably turns out, were just that all along.
But one can only hope that inwardly, Trump may be starting to have fears of his own; and not necessarily the findings of the Mueller investigation; but, that his slowly eroding flock of the downtrodden, forgotten but still quite naive, are starting to wise up.
Nothing serves as that metaphorical slap in the face, than that one has been scammed.
Even if Trump could deliver on a promise of delivering the moon and stars, he still wouldn't do so; remember his promises to disclose his tax returns?
You say he imposed a new NAFTA on Canada but neither the US nor Canada has ratified it yet. There is an election in Canada in November and Trudeau will be thrown out. A year after that Trump will be sent packing to Florida to work on his tan. It ain’t over til it’s over. Americans will need to resort to putting Canadian flags on their suitcases and backpacks again because nobody, I mean NOBODY, likes them or wants them in their country.
5
It’s amazing how little Individual 1 has accomplished while in office. He wasn’t able to pass any substantial legislation with a mostly-supplicant Congress other than a massive theft from future generations. He could never find a way to cajole just a few Democratic senators to support any legislation. And now he thinks that insulting the opposition party will get them to prostrate themselves before him. The strategy may make his white nationalist base feel good, but it’s not a strategy for actual accomplishments.
5
I think what is often overlooked is that Trump is not a successful businessman who built an empire out of his sheer will and determination. He was given loads of money from his father, filed bankruptcy six times and continued getting bailouts from dad well into his career. He has a record of not paying contractors and not paying taxes. This false narrative of Trump the successful businessman not understanding politics is nonsense.
4
In the same way we are desensitized to Trump's lies, racism, laziness, insults, nicknames, and lack of curiosity, it's no surprise America has grown tired of the daily fear-mongering on this scripted realty sitcom, and has changed the channel.
1
The more Trump tweets, the less we fear and the more we pity this confused buffoon.
Now we find out he spends 60% of his POTUS daily schedule to "create"?
Well, of course. At least 2 hours of his "executive time" is required for him to "create" his elaborate lacquered comb-over.
4
During several discussions on the news yesterday, of trump's approach to intelligence and diplomacy, the term "Willful Ignorance" popped up repeatedly. It then struck me that the term personifies the loyalty of trump's base. The willful ignorance that drives him, drives his base. They will not be deterred by facts and opposing views. They fear them. Hence they take comfort in the willful ignorance of their president. In essence trump relies on the fear factor to motivate his base. It fits.
5
@John Warnock:
GWB was the same. His supporters were proud to mis-pronunce Iraq and blame it for 9/11. It was an article of faith for them.
1
To all my fellow Democrats and to Indies of Good Will. Suppor the candidate of your choice in the primaries. D not let yourself be angered against others Blues by GOP or ussian propaganda. Unite behind the nominee.
We have to win the White House and hopefully the Senate too in 2020- and hold the House, of course.
1
Ahem, "GOP" is itself a propaganda tool, remember?
1
There is nothing about Trump that can't be explained by narcissistic personality disorder. It really is as simple as that.
4
Nixon's legacy. That criminal was a "comedy of errors", a disaster for the country.
Trump on the other hand, although he is also a criminal, has committed and continues to commit treason.( There are those that assert Nixon also committed treason by undermining peace talks for the Vietnam war to improve his chances to get elected, but that is a subject for another day.).
Both guys did that which the had to do in attempting to avoid justice, their actions were the only course left to them under the circumstances they created.
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
1
One of the many reasons I reject Donald Trump is that I refuse to live in fear.
2
Trump will go down as the worst president in history. He defrauded the voters in order to get elected (with numerous examples) and continues to try to pull the wool over the eyes of the cowed base. But, luckily 57% of voters have had enough and he’ll be a one-termer— lesson learned!
7
Now the fear is his.
3
Fear is the strongest immediate motivator. It is the most emphatic short-term power. It is not a good source of stable power. To assert so is a gross and obvious misunderstanding of the human condition.
Great nations are not built on fear. Cohesive societies are not made of cowering, intimidated peons. Fear prevents vision, destroys internal motivation, limits growth. You can build pyramids, or a thousand-mile border wall, with an army of the enslaved, but to what end? Monuments to vanity, with no greater purpose, benefitting few to none.
Respect, intelligence, intention, cooperation - these are the sources of long-term power. We didn't get astronauts to the moon because our engineers were afraid. The Allies won the War in spite of fear. Our nation won its independence in pursuit of self-determination and higher principles.
If you understand power as the animal ability to make someone with fewer resources than you do something they don't want to do, then yes, fear is powerful. It's a great tool for a sociopathic leader with no ability to see beyond their own nose.
293
@Dan
Why does this man feel is not the president of all people? The president should be working for all people not just wealthy & white people. Those in the rust belt he has forgotten & left behind but he is still their leader. They only represent 35 to 40% of the country. The rest of us are without a leader.
3
@Dan I really enjoyed reading your thoughtful comment. It was a very insightful analysis on the shortcomings of our current leader, but also a reminder about what inspires greatness in our country.
3
The President could learn from the childhood story, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". This, simple tale of a boy who seeks attention by sounding the alarm that wolves are attacking the towns sheep, again and again, until, when the wolves finally do attack, and he sounds the alarm once again, nobody comes. Donald Trump made his political fortune by coming up with one outrageous alarm after another, starting, grotesquely, with the invasion of Mexican rapists, captivating and luring the established Media into covering his every utterance and cheering throngs, like a drug addict desperately seeking their next fix. What this act requires, however, is a steady flow of new claims, or hit tunes if you will, new outrages that grab at the deepest fears of his base, while the Media covers it all as in a dazed thrall. He thought he had a sure thing with his caravan of zombie mutants, shambling toward America, but it didn't play well as film and stories showed us tired mothers and children struggling to reach freedom. Donald Trump has cried wolf hundreds, maybe thousands of times, in as many variations as his overheated brain could imagine, and fewer and fewer Americans are responding to the alarm.
194
@Michael
A 72 year old boy crying wolf.
18
@Michael
" The Emperor Has No Clothes"
16
@Michael You don't watch Fox News, do you? For decades they have been stoking fear after fear which never materializes the way they foretell but their audience never grows tired or suspect of the latest claim. They have learned the formula of spin so that any outrageous claim can be forgotten in a minute if necessary. And again there is never any consequence for their lies so why not repeat them and create a steady stream of new ones.
15
In contrast to Trump's nationalizing of Scott Walker's "divide and conquer" politics, please consider Wisconsin Governor Tony Ēvers's recent, thoughtful address:
"Fixing our economy remains a priority. . . .
But there is more to an economy than counting job creation. And the state of our state is more than just our unemployment rate.
The opportunity we have to offer is not just the number of jobs we create; it’s counted, too, by the number of workers who will work forty hours each week and still won’t make enough to keep their family out of poverty.
The strength of our success is not found solely in fiscal surplus; it’s defined, too, by the number of our kids who will go to school hungry tomorrow.
The metric for our posterity is not just what we keep in the coffers for a rainy day; it’s measured, too, by the quality of the natural resources we’re leaving behind for our kids and their kids after them.
. . . It’s about seeing the connection between how lack of access to affordable housing affects kids in the classroom. It’s about seeing the connection between drug and alcohol addiction and our burgeoning criminal justice system. It’s about seeing the connection between a budding entrepreneur who wants to start their own business and how the rising costs of health insurance might push that dream out of reach.
The budget that I’ll be introducing in the coming weeks is about connecting those dots. And to no one’s surprise, it begins—as it always has for me—with education."
30
This president is unusual in one way. He is a primal man. His instincts are primitive. He is not thoughtful. He is reactive. He threatens and coerces. He plays, not so much to win, but to make others lose, thereby claiming victory for himself.
It is this primal man that the president's "base" admires and respects, the unvarnished man's man, who disdains convention and the intellectual pretense of the "elites". He is the vengeful leader of the pack that Republican politicians treat with abject deference.
But the world knows too well the empty bluster of the bully. Dictators and autocrats use fear as a tool of repression, but democracy is the cure for the sickness of fear. Our primal leader's chest thumping displays are devoid of moral authority, reactive rather than strategic. Democracy is slowly deconstructing his facade, revealing the emptiness that lies beneath.
664
He is the "Cunning Man" as seen in Terry Pratchett's satire, "I Shall Wear Midnight."
Here is Tiffany Aching's assessment of him as she uses his own ignorance to destroy him:
"‘You never learn, do you?’ she said. ‘You don’t understand that other people think too. Of course
you wouldn’t run into the fire; but in your arrogance you never realized that the fire would run to you.’
Your power is only rumour and lies, she thought. You bore your way into people when they are
uncertain and weak and worried and frightened, and they think their enemy is other people when their
enemy is, and always will be, you – the master of lies. Outside, you are fearsome; inside, you are
nothing but weakness."
84
@Reed Erskine
Primal man had a club.
Trump has a button
35
Thank you for this thought provoking commentary. One must not lose hope that democracy will prevail and this destructive administration will be described in history books as an aberration on our system of governance and an example of how close we came to destroying it.
35
JFK won with a message of optimism. In some ways, so did Reagan. Barack Obama's message was hope, and he won. Meanwhile, behind the messaging, Americans have become increasingly powerless in the face of entrenched business interests, which have become less interested in satisfying their customers than their investors. We have incrementally become more frightened by our loss of control over our own lives. This is not always a conscious fear, but it is no less real, and it is expressed in often inappropriate directions. The Trump phenomenon has shown us the way that fear can be weaponized to create a cult like "base" that gives expression to these fears in one direction. Sadly, Democrats have been complicit in getting us to where we are now. With the best intentions (I hope) they believed that the corporate/financial juggernaut that has overwhelmed us would be amenable to compromise and behave reasonably. We see now that the appearance of reasonableness is just one more tool in the corporate toolbox. Donald Trump's lack of political sophistication, combined with his grandiosity, has made him one more of those tools. But the law of unintended consequences is at work, we are starting to look behind the bombast and asking, "qui bono?"
It may be that we are in the vanguard of a political gotterdammerung, where fear is diminished and human values emerge triumphant.
Or not.
159
@michaeltide That is exactly the right question to ask ("Who benefits?"). The answer is: the insatiable corporate greed for ever larger piles of gold and Mitch McConnel-style political dominance. These interests, via the embarrassing Citizens United Supreme Court decision (pushed by the conservative justices), are allowing unencumbered mountains of dark money to run our country's future straight into the ground. As such, most politicians no longer care about serving the long-term goals of the nation or their constituents. They only care about getting enough campaign funds to stay in power, and the corrupting, dirtiest corporations are happy to supply it as long as they continue to get their back scratched by these bought and paid for political stooges. The GOP has been pursuing this trajectory for more than a hundred years, and they are "winning." American democracy is dead and too few seemed to have noticed.
9
@michaeltide
Very well said. We should not forget how our own collective hypocrisies played a role in this madman getting "elected".
7
@michaeltide - "Obama's message was hope, and he won."
But not all bought the hope message. To this day I remember the scorn heaped upon him for his "hope" message by conservatives. It seemed that conservatives are/were pessimists by nature. Hope was nothing but an anathema to their core belief system so to speak of hope you might as well been speaking in tongues. The only thing I can remember a Republican conservative hoping for was that they would get richer, or hoping that other people would be hurt, or hoping that others would suffer.
2
"People react to fear, not love..." might be amended to say "Sometimes people react to fear, some times to love. Its all about trust."
But to the extent we do react to fear, we are usually afraid of the wrong things, like taking care to hop over a puddle and not seeing the oncoming bus.
Remember when we were afraid of running out of oil? Now we know that if we pump it all out of the ground, much of the planet will be cooked, drowned or destroyed by super storms and fires.
Back in 1932, in his First Inaugural Address. FDR said “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”. He was of course, talking about the terrible deprivation brought by the Great Depression.
But what we should have been more afraid of then and tried very hard to ignore throughout the 1930s was the rise of the Nazis and Imperial Japan, which led to WWII and the deaths of up to 85 million people and destruction of most of the world's economy, leading to more decades of suffering.
Today we can't even agree on the problems, much less the solutions. Most of us should be able to see that transferring the fruits of our labor to a tiny group of the ultra wealthy, so that they can buy the government that will keep the malignancy growing, is a very bad idea that has been tried many times before.
It never ends well. And no, Sarah Sanders, God did not choose Donald Trump.
597
@Look Ahead
Well said. By now, we should all know we reap what we sow. If we should fear anything, it should be that.
65
@Look Ahead
Sarah Sanders stupidity is just beyond words.
58
@JRM
My personal belief is that we've been put on this earth to learn the "lessons of life".
For those of us who fail, we may be sent back, born again into a new life to experience the struggles of people we shunned.
9
Anybody familiar with the fable of the Scorpion and Frog should know how to treat Trump:
A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, they would both drown. Considering this, the frog agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asks the scorpion why, the scorpion replies that it was in its nature to do so.
Trump is not to be feared if you do not do his bidding. It is when you do as he asks that you face loss of respect and livelihood.
Ask Cohen, Flynn, Manafort what it is like to carry Trump.
He would sting his own sons if it came to that.
731
@Tom I don't think he'd sting Don Jr. or Ivanka. But Eric... sure, 100%. Probably Baron and Tiffany too, if he ever remembers that the two of them exist.
49
@sam
Maybe, but I don't think I would put money on it. If push comes to shove, I think Don Jr. is toast.
48
@Tom, what surprises me the most is that these people havn't figured out that they will be used and discarded in the worst way. I think I have less respect for them than anyone.
35
I think fear is working. I have always been an active participant in government. I attend school board and city council meetings, and am a regular voter. I became an activist after Trump was elected. I don’t plan on stopping. I hope Trump’s election and corruption along with the Republican party’s complicity may give progressives an opportunity to make real political and social changes that benefit all citizens of this country.
789
@TW
With regard to human nature Niccolo Machiavelli got it right in " The Prince".
And Charles Darwin got it right in the " On the Origin of Species" with respect to our vertebrate mammal nature.
Fear and greed are more in accord with our African primate ape nature quest for fat, salt, sugar, habitat, water, sex and kin by any means necessary including conflict and cooperation.
3
@TWreread article. Fear works best reactively. But not in the long run. Humans do learn as we go. Progress.
7
I want to get back to the days, not so long ago, where people's true personalities/views were kept to themselves and only shared with their closest family and friends. I want to get back to the days, not so long ago, where people smiled at one another and were polite. Kumbaya doesn't work in America. Distant but polite is safe in America.
5
"But as his presidency enters its third year, a less convenient truth is emerging: Few outside the Republican Party are afraid of him, and they may be less intimidated after the disastrous government shutdown."
Yes. I've been wondering about this, and I wonder where the GOP has been receiving funding from. Puppets, puppets, puppets.
21
Mr. Trump is "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" come to life. The only question is what happens when America is faced with a true crisis, not a "truthful hyperbole" crisis.
21
Let us all remember that Love is of God and Fear is of the Ego and all its demons.
It has also being said that there are only two emotions: Love and Fear. Projections of fear begets us only pain and suffering, for pain and suffering are Fear’s nourishing rewards. Moreover, fear never leaves it home where it boils and coils like a snake ready to strike again at any moment.
Nixon and Trump were correct when they said that fear is our main motivator on this earth. However, they never mentioned that Fear only gives us to more fear, and chaos.
The main objective of fear is annihilation and total chaos. And, it is all I need to know to understand the madness of king Trump.
5
My pop psychology diagnosis is that Trump is a sensitive bully. He wants his way, uses intimidation to increase the chances he will and reacts with anger when he doesn’t get it. It can be an effective short-term method in business if the bully has intellectual credibility. It also usually gets people fired in the long run because the act gets old. We can hold out hope.
3
Our real fear should be that, as bad as Trump is, the next Republican won't be any better.
26
@dave
Alas, it's not just the GOP. I voted blue to help elect a Dem governor and congress. Guess what they're working on? Protecting fracking and TAX BREAKS for the RICH!
1
An old adage from work: If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I'm not surprised the Republicans have fallen in line with Trump. Honestly, there is not much positive about the Republicans. For all their talk of religion, their God is the vengeful God of the Old Testament full of wrath and fury. Their God smites, and they respect that.
There is not much love, or kindness, or compassion in Republican quarters. They may talk about 'Compassionate Conservatism, but that was a marketing ploy trying to sell a bait and switch.
Trump lies like breathing, and Republicans use smears, bear false witness and lie for political advantage.
Trump is everything the rest of the Republicans aspire to be - and the organization chart says he's in charge. So they follow.
48
Trump is, at heart, a miserable human being and after two years in office, the majority of the American public is getting wise to him and his act. In a recent poll, 56% said that they were against him being re-elected. Unfortunately, they should have come to this realization two years earlier.
31
@Publius
After 2 years, you would think it would be much much more than 56%
7
In "The Prince" Macchivelli had a section on "Whether it is better for a Prince to be feared or be loved?" Trump obviously chose fear. But I don't think it was conscious, because he lacks the literacy to have read "The Prince"
14
The election primary system with its control by the ideological bullies on each end of the political spectrum combined with the high cost of campaigns has killed comity and pragmatism.
There will be no viable solutions to our big problems until one side or the other "wins" the needed majorities to move policy forward.
Because 50% of the country will be unhappy about the unilateral approach of the other side, failure and disruption will be baked in.
Apologies for being so negative. There is an answer: ranked voting and campaign finance reform. Its worth a try!
24
@Patricia J. And sensible redistricting.
13
@Gary Alexander
Gerrymandering will become less effective if ranked voting is implemented.
1
Well fear worked pretty well against Canada and Mexico. Fear of Trump forced Mexico to betray Canada and strike a unilateral deal with Trump. Canada was then scared and ran to come back to the table to avoid being left behind. So we got USMCA - not a complete gamechanger but an improvement on NAFTA in various substantial ways.
2
@Jay Lincoln Yeah? And the deal Trump negotiated was about the same as the deal President Obama negotiated.... except that President Obama's deal also included China etc. Other countries are benefiting, and America is being left behind because Mr. Trump is incompetent.
5
At what cost to everything in the future with our closest allies?
2
@Jay Lincoln
I look at this differently. Canada & Mexico overcame their fear of US unreliability to strike a self-interest deal.
Besides we have not signed it yet and it certainly could have been achieved w/o the acrimony of Trump's administration.
1
Trump has shown that his only motivator is fear. Fear of "others", fear of "change", fear of "the future". Trump has never articulated any vision or plan that does not include some object of fear. I expect we will hear a lot of Trump's fear mongering in the State of the Union tonight in support of his wall. I like Donald Sutherland’s quote as Snow from the “Hunger Games” movie. “Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear.” I certainly hope that we only have two more fear filled State of the Union Addresses from Trump.
17
That Nixon quote is pretty well-known. But to judge how well that really works, let's just look at what happened to Nixon.
22
@Larry Esser
And may it also happen to Trump too. I can't imagine him resigning from office however because that is to admit you are not the best president who ever held this office and he will never admit to wrongdoing. Someday, I hope, the Mueller report will become public. And when that happens we will be in for some interesting times given what we think might be in the report. Hate to think of Pence waiting in the wings however.
4
If I thought trump had anything worthwhile to say I would watch the State of The Union speech tonight. I think Angela Merkel sums it up best....he is not a serious person to talk with (or listen to). Fortunately his base still likes his limited political accomplishments given their limited ability to understand he is outgunned by politicians around the world who have given years to accomplishing what trumps TV career never was able to do. America is still a strong country even with this lightweight sadly attempting to know what he is doing.
21
Trump does use his fear, his school yard bully tactics, to intimidate others, and, at times it does work.
However, his stoking the fires of fear among his most loyal supporters has been quite successful.
However, among his peers and those he needs to prop up his, well, policies, that fear appears to be ignored, unless one is a career politician in a Trump-leaning state. And that is one root of the problems this country now faces-the lack of sound policy over one's fear of losing their job-Trump over country.
7
If I had to choose one word to describe President Trump's political relationships, I would say "outclassed." I mean that in more ways than one as well.
We're talking about checking boxes. Trump is high school junior varsity playing in the professional league. He can't keep up but he won't admit his own inadequacy. He's a light weight competing in the heavyweight class. Team United States is getting hurt as a result.
He's also outclassed in the sense that Trump is not a sophisticated individual. Classy people can speak intelligently on a variety of subjects and maneuver comfortably in a variety of situations. Trump is a dim brute by comparison. Calling him a one trick pony is too kind by far. Ponies at least have grace.
I imagine this reality has been dogging Trump his entire life. His inadequacies help explain his multiple personality disorders. All the chintz and glamour is camouflage for the fact that Trump doesn't belong. If not for inherited wealth, Trump is a nobody. He's not even a likable nobody either.
He can't forget it. Apparently he won't let us forget it either.
88
@Andy The emperor has no clothes.
2
@Andy: All well said. However, whenever I hear anyone -- and I'm not referring to you here -- use the word "classy" to describe something, I immediately know that it and the speaker are exactly the opposite.
For an old but still hilariously and sadly accurate look at that illusory word in American culture, read CLASS by Paul Fussell.
5
@BldrHouse
"...taste, values, ideas, style and behavior are indispensable criteria of class, regardless of money or occupation."
2
If only these defects of character and leadership could have been foreseen.
11
@Dan R
They WERE foreseen by over half the voting public.
4
New Yorkers saw through him for years. He was seen here as gaudy and not to be trusted. We laughed at him.
3
@Dan R Are you kidding here? His defects were obvious to many of us but, unfortunately, too many of us stood by in amazement that it was not clear to all as the 2016 election results poured in.
2
Why is "BUILDING the Wall" so important to Trump? Take a deep dive look at the president's (and family members) links to specific companies that will bid on construction of the wall.
14
@Todd Bellanca And his almighty "base." They need their symbol, a monument to keeping out all those "criminals" who are the cause of everything that is wrong with "America." Yes, the ones in diapers are especially dangerous, an INVASION. He has to deliver to his superior white america. Graham said he is dead without his wall, now Trump firmly believes this. And the investigation is tightening. Methinks the fear has now invaded the White House.
1
Yes, the understanding of the motivation of both his party members and the opposition is missing. He could not push things when GOP had total control. Democrats and Pelosi have no reason to fear him as their base will never blame them. Presidents have used threats of Veto and direct appeal to Congress in public forum as tactics to put pressure. The way Trump talks about Pelosi and Schumer and others will never work them into submission. There is also a lot of Me, Myself and I which does not inspire people around him. He does not have an A team to advise him, he and the alleged deep state’ does not know how to work together. Lesson for the future Presidents.
8
Reporters who write about evangelicals say that they fear political oppression and think that they need Trump to protect them. Normal religious believers ( Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, etc) have no such paranoia. This is an example of Trump instilling fear and exploiting it for his benefit, but the article didn't mention it.
38
@Charlesbalpha
It's always fascinating to me that the people who know without any doubt whatsoever that their god is almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent, the everlasting ruler of the universe, the alpha and the omega, and their best buddy besides are always so filled with fear. Fear of things that, for the most part, don't even exist.
6
@Paul
Not "always". Just evangelicals. As I said, normal religious believers have no such paranoia. I know because I work for a normal church.
1
My wife and I are listening to "Lincoln: Team of Rivals" about the political genius of Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It demonstrates how an effective president -- the first Republican -- led his cabinet and country through our greatest crisis. He did not use fear and duplicity but rather sympathy and honesty. Too bad the current president can't keep his mouth shut and study Goodwin's splendid book. He might learn to lead.
30
@Larry Yates No chance of that unless aides can distill the Kearns' book down to a couple of pages of bullet points.
14
@Nelle
One page
3
With pictures.
"Richard M. Nixon once said, 'People react to fear, not love; they don’t teach that in Sunday school, but it’s true.'” So, Nixon read Machiavelli, and learned that for the Prince, "It is better to be feared than loved." But, as Michael Beschloss points out, Nixon read Machiavelli more deeply than that, and found that the Florentine had a lot more to say about politics than merely touting the efficacy of fear.
But Donald Trump doesn't read. Machiavelli or anyone else. The copy of "Mein Kampf" said to have languished on Trump's nightstand for years was just for show. What Trump learned about fear he learned from the New York real estate and construction business, and from the denizens of organized crime that inevitably involves.
In any case, as the Congressional Republicans endlessly show, fear is always more effective if one threatens abject cowards.
32
@Dr. O. Ralph Raymond
Laugh - wondered if anyone would point out N's statement as a rather plagiaristic gloss on Machiavelli's well-known view that "since it is difficult for a ruler to be both feared and loved, it is much safer to be feared than loved."
But where thinking about Nixon political 'style' is concerned, the quote is off point, since, if he 'learned' anything from Machiavelli, it was about a politics unshackled from ethics: "It is necessary for a [ruler] wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong"...
...an unscrupulousness which is the real point of resemblance between Nixon and Trump.
2
"...almost as if..." ??
Trump the fool has exactly one tool in his toolbox: gaslight everyone around you to try and get your way. Truth is relative and facts are irrelevant. And frankly, so are human lives.
I hope the response to his State of the Union is simply, "He lies. Constantly. Why would we listen to him at all?"
42
@Flotsam
Mary McCarthy put it best: “Every word is a lie, including ‘and,’ and ‘the.’”
2
In some hidden place in his brain, Trump knows he's a fake; a charlatan; a failure, as it relates to his own father. His multiple bankruptcies, his bailouts, his career-long business mistakes, his lack of ownership of actual property, his general lack of competence, his lack of credibility with respected American business people, his bluster, his daily lying and reinvention of facts...all these things, and more, must play a part on Trump's image of himself and the truth that he keeps covered up as the deepest secret of all, the truth he least can deal with, the truth that simply will not go away.
Yes, on some level he equates money with success but there's always that voice constantly whispering in his consciousness that he cheated and cheating is as un-American as it gets when it comes admiring someone's achievements. He knows that and we know that.
Whoever his political opponent is in 2020, that person should have ample opportunity to make Trump's head explode just by reminding him (in debate and in public) of his deepest secret, the deepest truth of himself: He's the fake, not the people. It's tough to live with, day in and day out.
All his purported anger and need to "get even" is really directed at himself. His self-hatred must be excruciating.
95
@Bob Burns Well said, Mr. Burns. Very well said.
9
@Bob Burns
I agree with your assessment of Trump's Achilles heel. He has been "faking it" all his life. He thought he could continue the fabrication in the Oval Office. Obviously, we are witnessing his failure in this also. I think we must be patient. He is not the devil. He will eventually become so disillusioned by his own lies that he will simply quit the scene and leave us alone.
12
@Bob Burns His very hypocrisy, hatred, resentment and 6th grade bullying is what appeals so much to "the base"--largely filled with high-school educated, religious people who resent everything that is not what they are or have. This base represents over 1/3 of the electorate. The more Trump says, the more he lies, the more they adore and support him. He is the leader of the belief-based Republican party. As a malignant narcissist, Trump basks in their adoration, and keeps feeding them the lies and distortions they crave--just like their delusional religious beliefs.
12
Trump's one tool is a hammer. Many use it to build, he uses his to destroy.
12
It seems to me one of the major reasons that Trump's base never wavers is because the majority of his ardent constituents remain ill informed or completely in the dark. When your only sources of news are Fox or internet spam, how do you learn that the barrage of fear mongering news stories are nothing more than bluster? The rest of us see his so called strength as buffoonery and refuse to buy into his incessant lies.
25
@Bill Buechel It dawns on me that it’s perfectly reasonable for these folks to believe that “liberals” are crazy - if we actually behaved in the way that these “sources” describe, I would think we’re crazy too.
That’s the power of narrative for ya. How do we solve it?
2
Incapable of inspiring love, he is left only fear. With this limitation, he can only take the trade-off that Machiavelli pointed out: "From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved more than feared, or feared more than loved. The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting." - Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch. 17, as translated by Luigi Ricci (1903).
6
@Thomas I don't think that's quite what Machiavelli meant. Not that many people are afraid OF Donald Trump, which is the context in which Machiavelli uses the idea of fear. When he says "it is safer to be feared" he means that people should be afraid of YOU personally, because that is how a Prince ruled in the 1500s. Donald Trump uses a different sort of fear to manipulate people, fear of "the other" while he convinces him that only he can alleviate that fear.
11
Absent his father's fortune, do we know that Trump would have been a successful businessman? His reliance on the rhetoric of fear, his incessant bullying tactics, mask his failures, his inability to succeed on his own, independent of the Trump name and fortune. We know that money can get you to the White House, but it's not clear that it helps you once you are there.
As for his mighty fearsome image: Some, like Pelosi, have exposed it for the blustering it is, while others simply ignore it and bide their time. Do we really think Foxcomm will build that manufacturing plant in Wisconsin? I suspect that business leaders have figured out that if they play along, and appear to go along, Trump will forget about them. They can simply bide their time knowing that his power is time limited.
And as for the Republican Party fearing him: The truth is that behind the big fool of a President is a well oiled machine that is putting into place the agenda of the far right. Their work will have a longer lasting impact and is why most Republicans officials are willing to go along with the charade that is their leader.
26
@historyprof
Absent his father's fortune Trump would be sitting in a boiler room cold-calling elderly widows to pitch penny stocks. The true powers in this country are using him to advance their agenda, while Putin and Xi do the same, while the Trump base, like other scam victims, refuse to believe they've been taken and double down.
14
@historyprof Very easy to tell, actually, since he was unable to succeed with a Casino, which when run at honest, normal house advantage should give more than enough profit for anyone, it will just be at a steady pace and one has to pay their workers.
Trump could not wait for Steady, so he increased the odds in the House favor, meaning fewer people won. If there are fewer than normal wins, people will take their money elsewhere, and they started to. That along with a lackluster, unhappy and underpaid staff, there was less glitz and glamor with the not-as-bright attitudes of the workers.
When Trump noticed the loss in income, he hit the odds again, and lost the rest of his customer base other than the real suckers, leaned on his workers even harder and his Casino went bottom up.
Of course he managed to stiff everybody in Bankruptcy court as well.
2
@historyprof
" The truth is that behind the big fool of a President is a well oiled machine that is putting into place the agenda of the far right. Their work will have a longer lasting impact and is why most Republicans officials are willing to go along with the charade that is their leader. "
Watch the federal judiciary
This could be stated shorter. But I like the showing of why Trump is so weak. And why he is such a bad negotiator. In my younger days I have been part of a Union's negotiation team. Not high stakes on the national level but even I could see in the blow up on camera when Trump tried to humiliate the speaker (a big no no for negotiation) she hint she was open to negotiation. Trump completely failed to read her correct. The guy is giving away the store in international negotiations but his hard core supporters are too dense to even realize it.
10
The use of fear is failing? Amazing. Everything else he has done in his whole life has worked out so well.
4
Even business leaders need to cultivate the back door approach. Really a shame that the Republican base has been so rhapsodic about pure bluster.
3
Machiavelli said: “It is better to be feared than loved.”
Trump’s biggest unspoken insecurity: “My biggest fear is not being loved.”
Trump’s working life philosophy: “If you can’t be feared or loved, it doesn’t much matter so long as you take as much money as you can.”
8
Trump uses big talk to stun his opponents, who don't know how to respond to his outrageous claims, obvious lies and personal insults.
Trump uses big talk to goad his followers to do his dirty work without him having to ask directly, so if it works he won't owe a favor, and if it doesn't work he has someone to blame.
Trump uses big talk to goad opponents into saying or doing something extreme so he can criticize their response, making them less credible in future skirmishes.
Finally, Trump uses big talk to try and bluff his opponents, so they will yield to his desires without him having to actually do anything.
These tactics only work in the short term, because people figure out what's going on. Most have figured out he talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk, so they've learned to ignore him.
The only people paying attention are people who get paid to (staff, media), people who want to use him to advance their own agenda, and fanatics who have abandoned independent thought.
8
Honestly, who even takes Trump seriously anymore? He's lied himself into irrelevance.
49
@Alan Wahs
Iknowright?! And yet tonight we'll all be expected to listen to his every revolting word. He will misrepresent, he will mislead, he will pretend he gives a hoot about this country and he will outright lie. Congress will be required to clap and put serious expressions on their faces when in reality they're watching a clown saying clown like things. They should serve popcorn and have balloons.
1
“there’s not a lot behind the facade.”
Those who voted for Trump were voting out of hatred for Hillary, or hatred of the political status quo, or in response to some other powerful negative emotion. This is the worst and most wrong reason to ‘give’ a candidate a vote; Trump has no positives to his name.
The Republicans have soiled themselves utterly with their Faustian bargain with this demonstrable business failure, morally bankrupt lecher, and liar - someone who is indeed nothing more than a phony, a facade. And the Republican Party actively bamboozled gullible voters with their nominee, and used their computer-generated gerrymanders, to squeak out a technical victory. The popular vote would not have elected Trump.
Like the tale of the scorpion and frog, anyone with any sense realized, and realizes, that Trump doesn’t have any attributes that could make him a suitable president. The office of the presidency is ‘seda vacante.’
The country is effectively being led by McConnell and Pelosi, although it is not being led effectively.
This mess is on the Republican’s heads, and they should pay the full political price for their misdeeds. It wouldn’t bother me one bit to see them lose nationally as they have lost in California. It’s high time for our lame two-party system to evolve into something the likes of which prevent ever having another Trump-like nominee. The Republican Party needs to be gone.
44
Trump will serve a purpose when hindsight hits the 20/20 moment- the low water mark for any leader in the White House or the GOP. His time is the apex for a party that has lead for years by creating fear of the other to develop a base who would blame their neighbor (pick any descriptor you care to) for their situation. However you spin the numbers Trump’s base is not the majority. It amazes me that people continue to see this GOP as viable- it hasn’t been grand for decades and is a festering pool of fear driven ideology and actions. One of most painful political periods for our country, 2016 showed the genuine havoc a political fool can wreak Trump is a fool, the GOP the biggest fool of all.
The DNC has its own issues to be sure, thank goodness for the capable and steely Speaker Pelosi to steer the ship to right.
l am hopeful she will continue that trend in 2020. It’s coming.
11
Try being more afraid of him in 2016. It's too late now.
3
If he read nothing else but the Times A-Section every day he would know something, quite a lot actually. But he doesn't even read the back of a cereal box in the morning. He watches television news, which is not news and of course almost entirely about him and on which he mostly sees and hears people talking about what is in The Times and opining about it while nearby, apparently, every day sits, unopened, his daily intelligence brief and who knows what other reports and state papers he does only one thing with from time when he scrawls a signature across one of them.
Trump is ignorant by choice and an ignoramus as a result.
20
Fox News controls the nation. They have a team of psychologists and market strategists working around the clock on programming specifically targeting Trump. There is only one real viewer that matters who is easily manipulated by flattery.
7
In every democracy, politicians instill fear when they want. When FDR wanted to get elected president he would bring gear and when he wanted to govern during world II, he said there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Trump got elected by firing up his base partly with fear of the porous borders, poorly vetted terrorists and criminals entering the country and partly with job and a more robust economy while the press, pundits and lefty professors were fear mongering.
I think the biggest fear right now for the dysfunctional democrats is that they do not have a candidate to stand up to Trump. If they are smart they will quickly rally behind Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for president before the socialist wing of the party takes over and wrecks any chances that they may have putting a democrat in the white house.
Obamacare is the worst thing in the world........Bill Clinton in 2016. Medicare for all is the clarion call of many democrat presidential hopeful and the health insurance companies are loving it because that will mean more business for them. Taken together the democrats are saying Obamacare is flawed and not a feather in the caps of democrats to run on. What issue do the democrats have that would appeal to average Americans? The fear of Trump and faith in Mueller has no longer any traction. Mueller has not left any Stone unturned so far in indicting all the presidents men and there is no water gate there.
Trump has demonstrated that fear is powerful sometimes.
2
@Girish Kotwal And yet KY has given us Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and themselves Matt Bevin so how can anyone take someone from KY seriously?
When I live in KY everyone was a Democrat but the GOP race baiting changed that which just illustrates the mindset there.
3
..'It's almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox'. Yes, and the printed warning on the hammer reads: 'To be used under adult supervision.'
6
@david Frankly, for Trump a hammer has too many moving parts...
Autocratic control isn’t effective in organizational life, whether in politics or business. Even in the military, command and control isn’t what it was once thought to be. There is just too much information, too much uncertainty, too many changing conditions for that approach to work. March and Simon said this decades ago and it is still true. Those who refuse to adapt become obsolete — like so many who are hanging onto a mid-20th century style of masculine leadership. That style leads to disaster: environmental, military, diplomatic, and financial. Trump is illustrating this dynamic very well and will be a text-book case of failed leadership.
22
@Skier
Actually I think a lot of "business" runs on making employees afraid that they are going to be fired.
7
@Charlesbalpha
So depressing, because so true. For at least 8 hours every workday (if you're lucky), most Americans operate in a dictatorship, and are then expected to believe we live in a democracy. The Thing's miscalculation was to carry that autocratic model into politics, the one place in American life where at least a semblance of democracy exists (see 2018 midterms).
3
These are the things needed to defeat Trump by the democrats in 2020 assuming he is still around.
1-Call him out for being an ego maniac demagogue and a threat to democracy among other things but don't dwell on it.
2-Address some of the issues he demagogued like wars, trade agreements, blue collar job loses with innovative approaches not useless talk like Trump or the opposite like Hillary did, basically ignoring them and dwelling on identity politics.
3-Following up on the last sentence, lobby for progressive issues that a majority of Americans can agree upon, number one being a national, quality, affordable health policy. Don't obsess on far left wing social engineering, identity obsessed politics.
5
The emperor has no clothes. That's been apparent from the beginning.
And yet the Senate GOP continues to permit that the nation be held hostage by 'the base.'
It's a disgrace that won't be soon forgotten.
27
The “base” is Trump’s power base. Look at the polls; listen to his supporters. The problem the Republicans have is that the base turn out for the primaries. Trump’s political instincts may be primitive, but he instinctively has understood this. He keeps playing to this group and as long as they continue to support him, the Republicans will not openly oppose Trump - at least not on those issues that count.
3
It's the same kind of fear that 9/11 brought, it was unknown to what extent the catastrophe was taking. It's the same kind of fear but it's been there for over two years now, with the people who are supposed to be protecting us looking the other way. I think when this is over people will be stunned, not like Watergate where Nixon was a crook, but still loved the country, he was our crook. Trump will be an operative of another country, the kind of guy during the cold war we were warned about, only we all know what he is and no one is doing anything about it. I will not be watching the State of the Union live tonight, the networks giving free time to a traitor who does nothing more than divide us all.
13
Making life worse for everyone, even those relative few making money out of it.
8
I continue to have major issues with articles like this, which paint Trump as a rational human being, when in fact the man is as far from rational as a person can get without the relatives seeking a court order to have him hauled in for a hearing on whether he's a threat to himself and others. Clearly, Trump is a threat to others, and I would argue, to himself.
Saying that Trump has "tactics" presumes that Trump is capable of sitting around and creating an overall battle plan. This is not what is happening. He watches television to get ideas, and then impulsively acts on them -- without being stopped by any sane individual in the WH (of which there now appear to be none). Time and again, Trump has exhibited pathological, not rational, behaviors. And his pathological behaviors cannot be changed, which is why our country has fallen to its current depths.
35
Um, why would you be afraid of Donald Trump? Donald Trump? The guy who drove six businesses into bankruptcy?
One of the few people on the planet to lose money running a casino?
The guy who blew through $400 million his daddy gave him?
The person who feels required to tell people "I'm like a smart person" and "I'm a very stable genius?"
The macho man who spends an hour each day styling his hair, then several hours watching TV?
We're supposed to be afraid of that guy?
34
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
6
@Pat- Is that the one, single tool in that toolbox mentioned in the piece? Quick - re-record the Beatles's song "Maxwell's Hammer" and call it "Donald's Silver Hammer". It even scans. Bang. Bang.
Mr. Trump is driven by fear: that is, his own. For all his bullying bluster, he is quite possibly the most fearful commander in chief we’ve ever had. He is afraid we will see his real hair, afraid we will see his lack of ability to read long documents, afraid of Putin, afraid of China, afraid of the mythic strangers at his borders, afraid of strong women, afraid of being exposed as a fraud. The list goes on. As an educator, I have always taught children that the bully is really the most fearful person in the room. It doesn’t make it much easier to be in the room with that bully, but it does return to the others a measure of power and calm to know that the bully is really the most afraid.
20
@Pam,
Absolutely! This is exactly how I feel about those who express the need to be armed - frightened people seeking a way to demonstrate some power (which they confuse with control). Poor things - they, including Trump, need to get out more.
4
When a large part of your business is licensing the use of your name, it's hard not to "win". You've invested nothing and so have little to lose.
Many of Trump's actual investments have lost money, including six bankruptcies. And he was able to cut his expenses by stiffing his contractors, who didn't push back because Trump could field an army of lawyers.
But he's now dealing with seasoned professionals with plenty of lawyers. They know that, if they bow to his bully boy tactics on anything, they'll have established a precedent and they don't want that to become the new normal.
Bullies are only brave when they have an insurmountable advantage. The Republicans have already lost the House and they're starting to think for themselves.
30
If Trump only used fear it would be one thing, but he also adds hatred of others when he talks.
Roosevelt was right when he said that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
We need to educate ourselves more about the issues because once you have knowledge you have power and with power you loose your fears.
20
I doubt too many officeholders in the Republican Party are genuinely afraid of Trump. They rally behind him to show solidarity to their supporters and the world, knowing with a unified front they can push the country hard right: appoint right-wing judges, cut taxes for the rich, end abortion rights, etc. It is the ultimate Faustian bargain. That they defy Trump in matters of true national security proves this.
Those who left – such as Flake and Corker – did so because they were the few who were not able to tolerate the immoral, unethical, criminal in the White House. They continued to vote the party line.
The fear we must grapple with is among those who voted for him: will they be fearful of admitting they were wrong, and double down on their support of this, in every sense of the word, predator?
51
The President has created fear by putting at risk the fiscal health of our economy, undermining the protection of our economy, bringing in temporary underlings who do his bidding, actively supporting removals of protection of our environment, attacking our system of justice, challenging freedom of the press and very much more.
Whether any of this benefits Donald Trump's negotiation prowess or his standing as a politician is secondary to the damage he is causing, by a long shot.
I'm very afraid.
16
[Mr. Trump has found that his lack of experience in politics and diplomacy, which require policy knowledge, team building and nuanced negotiating ability, has left him at a decided disadvantage despite his boasts about his deal-making prowess.]
Pelosi figured Trump out early: call his bluff and he will fold every time.
25
Trump's only ability that I've been able to identify is attention-hogging that translates to a certain kind of gross celebrity. Many presidents have remarked that no one knows what the job of POTUS is unless you've done it. For two years, Trump had one of the most remarkable opportunities for growth and self-education any person can have. He has had access to a wealth of information and carefully built reports from experts. He might have acquired the knowledge needed to exercise true domestic and international political power if he had bothered to learn anything. Instead he thinks he can govern by watching television (mainly Fox News) and movies ("Sicario," it seems). It's pathetic, and it inspires neither awe nor fear.
Politics is a profession, and I hope this presidency forever puts to rest the notion that you don't need expertise and knowledge to do it well.
103
I could not agree more. I don’t think anyone would get on a jet plane with a pilot who has never flown before, but somehow we elected a president with zero public service, military or political experience! I will never ever understand that. It is way past time for Trump to go. His inexperience and fear mongering have done far more harm than good, and our country will have a long road back to democracy and decency once he is ousted.
23
@C Wolfe
Both parties should implement testing for all candidates seeking party support, to determine their competence. At least give them the same tests that are given immigrants seeking citizenship. This would have filtered out Trump.
19
@Charlesbalpha I agree, make them pass a "So you think you are smarter than a Naturalized Immigrant" test and that Certainly would have filtered out Trump who has not even the Schoolhouse Rock versions of Civics lessons in his reportoire, let alone the real thing.
9
Fear extracts support and compliance only up to a point, and perhaps once, beyond that as the people adjust to this reality, it loses its hold as the master fear monger Trump is experiencing painfully, fearing about his own prospects now.
28
If you are not constantly provoking fear, and threats in people’s faces all the time, they cease to work. And they tune you out ....of course the fear mongers then start raising the fear level until it is unsustainable..people tire of it and see thru it
We are nearing or at that point now.
It stops working. Trump has no plan B . Neither does the trump party, not looking good old white men Nope , not at all.
6
In Spanish, there is a sayin: “Perro que ladra, no muerde” [roughly, “a dog that barks, do not bite”]. That has been mr. Trump’s style, too much barking, not much biting. Since the beginning of his campaign, there was nothing but a lot of fear monger, not even a plan on how to manage that fear. No strategy, no real negotiation, just talking of what he can do and doing not much. His lack of strategy and ideological purpose is dangerous. A child running with scissors.
86
@DAT
What happens when the dog actually does bite is important.
A barking dog can bully other dogs until the point where one of the dogs stands up. If they can beat down that challenger, then their barking continues to be effective. If they can't . . .
6
The people I admire are objective, frank, soft spoken, fair minded, caring, unbiased, intelligent, self-effacing, self sacrificing, unselfish, humorous, energetic, focused and independent thinkers. Snake oil salesmen need not apply.
162
@R. Anderson: You just described Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) MN who is my first pick for Democratic nominee in 2020.
What a wonderful president she will make!
3
@R. Anderson - with that criteria your list of people must be awful short.
Trump does not understand the difference between governing and business gets down to incentives. In a business transaction, the incentive is money/ownership. It is relatively easy to manipulate the other side by making it clear they will not get what they want. But in governing, the incentive is power, and being in opposition can bring with it a lot of power. Power is constructed of identity, group cohesion and the ability to achieve the most important items on one's agenda in a public way (in other words, perception of power is also a form of power). In many ways, Trump is undone by the fact that earmarks were abolished years ago. With the ability to bestow taxpayer-funded gifts upon certain Congressional districts, Trump could have used "you won't get what you want" as leverage, but he no longer has that ability because there are no earmarks. The only tool available to President Trump is the ability to build a coalition and work it, but he has proved himself incapable of it -- particularly when a woman is on the other side of the table.
23
@Brian Prioleau Actually, Trump doesn't understand business either. Maybe a little better than he did 3 decades ago, after multiple failures to produce financially successful real estate ventures, one or two bailouts from his father, and four or five bankruptcies. What he does seem to have learned, he learned from his TV show producers. Namely, with the right lighting, good makeup, well crafted sound bites, frequent advertisements aggressively marketed, a complete do-nothing can, for a few minutes a week, create the appearance of power and success, and will convince a sizable share of population that fiction is truth.
47
Trump clearly has Robert Mueller scared, afraid he will be fired or worse like so many others. Oh, wait, never mind, it is Trump who is so scared of Mueller he can only flounder and insult in response.
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
23
@ Allfolks Equal:
nice quotation from ‘Dune’
If I am ever afraid, I recite that very mantra.
5
@Allfolks Equal Thank you for the Frank Herbert 'Dune' quote of the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear.
I have been likening our Trump to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, although, truthfully he is a lot more like his Nephew Glossau Rabban who has all of the crude brutality, but none of the actual brains. Vladimir Putin, however, has more of the brains of the Baron.
1
Almost 90 years ago we Americans were taught not to fear fear itself. In the last two years, we've further learned to despise fear itself.
Being pushed around all the time in every way by Trump has made us fighting mad. We detest him for it. We will not stand for it. America is where fear dies. In America, the soil of human endeavor is sweetened by the ashes of bullies.
54
Trump uses fear because that is how cruel, heartless people move through the world. The full range of human motivations is not available to person of Trump's stilted emotional development.
I am fortunate. In my personal life, I have encountered almost nobody who is as thin skinned, shallow, and crude as Donald Trump. But, after a lifetime of reading murder mysteries, he certainly fits the profile of the worst "bad guys" in the best novels.
95
@Nancy Braus
After a lifetime of reading mysteries, supplemented by having majored in history and including history and biography in my reading, I recognize not only the "bad guy" but the megalomaniac dictator. May we be spared the full flowering of the autocratic leader.
I'm lucky, like you, never to have actually met such a person. The thought of being at a gathering with him gives me the creeps.
9
Wonderful report the years of smooth talking has come to end,hard hitting words work wonders, but will these convert support for president will be known in 2020 elections
5
This article overestimates Trump's intelligence, as well as his capabilities. Contrary to Ari Fleisher's comments, Trump has not succeeded at anything or built anything of substance. He is Daddy's boy whose father bailed him out constantly, who inherited his wealth, and who has still managed to be an abysmal failure as a businessman. There is no question that he has managed to damage the US standing in the world. The fact that Americans could, with their eyes open, vote such a man into the highest office in the land says worrying things about American stability and the political maturity of the American people. The NAFTA negotiations were a wake-up call for Canada. Even if Trump got very little in the end, he still managed to damage the Canadian economy and US tariffs against Canadian aluminum and steel continue. His constant attacks on our Prime Minister and his efforts to intimidate us will not soon be forgotten. Trump's inability to understand the basics of economics has also put the US on a pointless and damaging trade war with China. The attack on China is more about the desire to break China as an economic and technological competitor. However, Trump seems to genuinely believe that the US - the prime beneficiary of globalization - has been "mistreated" by the rest of the world. This belief displays a level of ignorance and delusion that is truly disturbing.
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@Shaun Narine
The first and last business life decision Trump made was his selection of a New York City real estate baron father.
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@Shaun Narine You wrote:
"The fact that Americans could, with their eyes open, vote such a man into the highest office in the land says worrying things about American stability and the political maturity of the American people."
Please keep the faith. Three MILLION more people voted for Hilary Clinton that for Trump. He lost the popular vote by a lot. Our archaic electoral college and it's outdated usefulness is why Trump in is office.
He lost 40 seats in the House of Representatives this past November. The biggest defeat for a party since Nixon and Watergate.
Again, keep the faith. Many of us live in a day-to-day state of fear and embarrassment. Trump is not us. Not the majority of us anyway.
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trump has always used fear (and its friends 'intimidation and threats') to get what he wanted. What do you think the 4,000 lawsuits were about? I look at/listen to trump and I see a mob boss or drug lord. Kinda says something about his style of capitalism, doesn't it?
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Trump often unconsciously engages in projection. Perhaps when he says that fear works, he is thinking, not just about his own use of fear, but also of his relationship with Putin. His slavish support of Putin, his pursuit of foreign policy that benefits Putin and not the U.S., and his secret, unwitnessed meetings with the former master KGB agent, all smell of fear. What does Putin have on him?
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He holds his debt! If he calls it in, the Trump “business Empire” collapses.
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@J.
Decades of money laundering through all of the Russian oligarchs. Enough to put him in prison for life, and probably Jr.too.
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“If Trump is successful, this will be a better country and a better world for it.”
This from Ari Fleischer, press secretary to George W. Bush. In what ways and for whom “better”? Such as W. left the country, in a protracted war in Iraq sold by peddling lies to the American public? For whom was that a better world? Or the Great Recession, the gift W. left for Obama to clean up? Or the use of torture, the establishment of Guantanamo? The Vile One would agree, but not anyone with a moral compass.
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“It is a common trait among those who ran privately held corporations. Their way is the only way. Their will gets it done. They’ve been successful against all odds, built something huge, and when they declare it so they expect everybody around them to make it so."
It is a common trait among those who run bureaucracy in government too. It served Donald Trump well and it served J. Edgar Hoover well too.
The checks and balances in our constitutional government give elected officials independent power that corporate officers and government lack. Trump is learning that in order to negotiate with elected officials he must accept that members of Congress have independent power and take the time to learn about the limits of their power. Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan succeeded because they respected and understood the independent power held by members of Congress. Donald Trump is failing because he lacks respect for the independent power of his opponents and allies in Congress.
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When people like Fleisher compare trump to a businessman they are tapping into one of his own lies - he has nothing in common with successful businesspeople - he has lost or bankrupted every business he started with inherited money then other peoples´ money. That is why we are in this fix - he was bought by Russian money. He is like a mob boss, the one who loses.
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When you are a hammer, all things look like nails. One tool toolbox, indeed.
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“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox,” Mr. Beschloss said.
The wall as the lonely tool. Only one tool. Only one goal. Even if he wins his wall, it would be with Executive Powers. One wall. Lots of grief and court day for the WH.
I will monitor GOP leader's expressions tonight as they listen to their boss talking about the wall and they think about the emergency aid funds gone and private property of their voters in Eminent Domain.
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We proved in 2018 with focus and grass roots organization there’s no need to fear Trump or his minority.
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@Chris Mchale
The mighty "Republican primary voter" creates fear, raw, naked, unrelenting fear among would be moderate Republican candidates. Because these candidates will never get past the Republican primary due to the Trumpers. They Trumper candidates will get to the general election where they will be defeated (in most cases ) by moderate or sometimes even liberal Democrats.
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Trump's failure of leadership and shortcomings as a President is no better illustrated in his dealings with North Korea and Israel.
The main policy objective of NK (othr than regime survival) is legitimacy on the World stage. Trump handed it to them on a plate. And got nothing in return. Literally nothing.
Israel's main policy objective was to get global recognition for Jerusalem as the capital.
Trump handed it to them on a plate. And America got nothing in return. Literally nothing.
Any proper leader could have leveraged that golden prize to make a huge breakthrough in Middle East peace.
Trump got some 'campaign finance' contributions. Kushner presumably got a condo.
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@Colm Nugent ...and don't forget Russia. They were a regional power during the Obama administration. Trump handed them a global relevance they didn't previously have, as well.
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@Colm Nugent
Love FDR, but when it came to granting asylum for those fleeing Nazi extermination, he was sorely lacking.
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My first perceptions of Mr. Trump in the 1980's were that he was a man who was "on the make and on the take!" It has not changed. He waltzes into every situation thinking his power and his phony charm will win him the prize. People of character are revolted by him. Frightened people who feel powerless perceive his blustering and lying as positive. I will never understand those people. The test of time shows him to be as weak, vain and corrupt as I thought in my 30's. I will breath a sigh of relief when he is out of office. We are all at risk until then.
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@Realist
I also remember himself in the '80's. I was revolted and amused by him at the same time. Whenever he was on the Howard Stern show or others I couldn't listen to his voice as I cannot now. It still gives me the creeps.
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Well, his voice charmed enough Republicans and crossovers, not to mention politicians like Mitch McConnell, so that he was elected president.
Oh, Trump had help -- from the Russians, Wikileaks, James Comey, Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, and Hillary Clinton herself. But lots of Americans, still wearing their MAGA hats, love him.
Trump still has a few tricks to pull.
He nauseates me. I cannot listen to that unctuous voice of his.
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@Realist
"People of character are revolted by him."
That!! It should be the Democrats tag line in 2020...
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What I think is strange it how afraid the Republicans in Congress are of "the Base". They are willing to sacrifice so much of our country to appease a group of people with questionable judgement.
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@Celeste
Maybe "afraid" isn't the right word. The favor of the Base allows the Repubs to stay in power, where the money is. So maybe "accommodating" is more accurate.
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@Celeste
"a group of people with *terrible* judgement."
Fixed it for you! :)
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Agreed. Since when does the rest of yhe electorate, the majority, been ignored so badly.
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Sadly, Republicans in Congress have sold their souls for the fickle promise of political longevity. Fear of their base drives them to stay loyal to a man they know to be incompetent and dangerous. Dozens more should speak truth to power and in the process try to lead the base rather than blindly following it. In the long arc of history, failing to win re-election is a small price to pay for being on the moral high ground.
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@Joel Sanders. Not necessarily personal political longevity, but the opportunity to cast in stone some very enduring policies they have pursued with little luck for generations.
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@Donia
Good point. For some, the judicial appointments alone are worth whatever harm is otherwise done to the country.
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Great article. Thanks to the authors.
Fear is tricky. One set of people I would have given more emphasis to in this article would have been Trump’s base. These are people who are surrounded by small groups of likeminded thinkers. They are unexposed to and unaccepting of critically processed ideas, all while being barraged by naked propaganda. The tangential, negative and very powerful force of fear should not be underestimated with these folks. There is still a lot of inertia to his movement.
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@Joe S.
You are right. The key word is unexposed and, I would add, uneducated. We did a tour of America (Route 66) a couple of years ago and met many folks who lived just over our border who had no idea we had a Prime Minister, not a President, how many provinces we had, nor that we even produced more oil and beef than they do! Nothing will change until their public schools become the bastions of EQUAL education that ours and Europe's are. (I never met a European who did not speak at least 2-3 languages and had a good knowledge of the world). They also still think that the rest of the world is wrong and they are right on Universal health care. How can anyone stand in such uneducated isolation and keep voting against their own best interests? No wonder they vote for Trump. They are not left behind, as they claim, they made themselves uneducated and unaware and they have no wish to change or fill their narrow minds.
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What I fear is that, in an impulsive and defensive response to this article, as on the mark as it may be, Trump will do something vindictive, destructive, and potentially dangerous for the nation and world just to show the New York Times and his base how tough he is. He has given ample proof that his need to "win" at any cost far outweighs any rational interest in responsible governance.
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@BC...I agree. Trump will be cornered, and, if it happens while he’s still in office, he just may do something truly disastrous.
Although there have been too many comparisons of Trump/Hitler, the fuhrers last days may be revealing. Cornered, and knowing that his end was near, Hitler wanted to destroy Germany...his own people , because , in his own words, “they didn’t derserve” him.
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@BC Don't worry, Trump doesn't read, especially the NY Times. And his staff will keep word of this from him, they have he same fears that you have.
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@Patrick alexander: And there were still German people standing on the rubble of their buildings saying Hitler was the best and would never leave him. I fear that 30% who will never leave him.
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Information is a valuable currency in Washington along with relationships.Trump comes up short on both.If Trump wanted to learn how to move politicians to do his bidding , he should have read any of the excellent books written about Lyndon Johnson.The skills to be effective as a politician are learned while being a politician, not as an entertainer(Reagan was governor of California)or as a one man builder of properties.Being an effective politician means hours of work every day and weekends-Trump's schedule indicates that he falls fall short here.
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He seems to believe it's valuable to insult people and make enemies. He does not realize all those GOP guys who kowtow to him would turn on him in an instant if he's no longer useful to him.
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A life based on fear. Intimidation. Untruths. People treated badly. Secret failures, resulting in secret loans and obligations. Resentment, anger, loathing, are the result.
History will take the measure of the man. He won’t measure much.
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Anyone who has spent decades in the workplace and/or watching the fall and rise of despotic world leaders has observed a certain pattern of behavior. People fear bullies until they don't. Then they pile on in a fury.
Looking forward to seeing Trump reap what he has sown from his fellow Republicans.
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@Carson Drew He will reap what he's sown, alright, but not from Republicans. To the extent that they remain viable at all, they are complicit.
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When things go bad for despots, they go bad in a hurry: Nicolae Ceaușescu.
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The problem, at least with this president, is that the less he can intimidate and instill fear the more his ego suffers and the more his ego suffers the more dangerous he becomes. Think the Bolton's of the world don't know that? Think they don't know how to pluck the right strings to get him to sing the tunes they want?
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He is the epitome of a playground bully, period. His growth ended in middle school. More and more people are beginning to see it, and call if for what it is...hopefully, to the point of continuing to call him out, as Pelosi has done.
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Barron is too young to understand, but the adult Trump children all quietly know that their father’s Financial Empire” is a Potemkin Village built upon lies, deceit, loans and braggadocio: after two years of a disastrous Presidency, the association of the “Trump Brand” with “Quality” has been destroyed amongst all but the provincial and, after the lawsuits, the foreclosures & the lawyers fees, there will little, if anything, for this next generation to inherit.
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What myself and billions of others are afraid of is the climate crisis. I can't even get a good night's rest most nights because of it. When Obama and Clinton became Cheney's fracking salespeople they created both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Sanders is the only one of those four worth supporting, socialist or not, because he's not lying about the climate crisis, or accelerating it by dumping loads of methane into the atmosphere. The economy depends on the environment not the other way around.
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Fear is used by bullies to compensate for their own fear.
Sooner or later even his base will realize that the emperor has no clothes.
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@CMS . Let's hope that sooner comes before years of suffering and depredations. When the realization happens it may be too late .... for all of us. We should not give in to fear, but we are in grave danger, nevertheless.
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His base will never admit they were wrong. The best we can hope for is their disillusionment will keep them from voting Republican ever again.
To visit her family, my wife leaves town for over a week, twice a year. I have learned the hard way that the house had better be clean when she returns. Yes, fear is indeed a good motivator!
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@James
However, voters are not married to Trump; all they have to do is "change the locks", and the he is out for good.
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@James
Keeping the house clean while a spouse is away is a sign of appreciation and respect. My husband learned that over the years, and it wasn't hard. Fear shouldn't play into respecting a spouse, and it especially shouldn't play a part in national leadership. That's how totalitarianism operates.
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“Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.”
— Albert Einstein
Unfortunately, stupidity, fear and greed are also the heart and soul of the Trumpublican party.
Remember in 2020.
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@Socrates
Trump is a genius. He unified the three great forces.
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Yes, Stefan K --- three cheers for the forces of darkness and evil !
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The three poisons, as they are known in Buddhism, were well known long before Einstein.
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It seemed pretty obvious from the beginning that Individual 1 was long on bluster and short on skill when it came to dealing with others. Even a cursory look at his Twitter feed gave it away. Yet, Americans obsessed with celebrity and seeking simple answers to complex questions pulled the lever. Politicians have a long way to go to earn the common man's trust yet, the results of their tug of war usually lands us in the middle ground on a given issue where most people are. Trump and his base view compromise as anathema. That is no way to run a democratic process and it will fail. Its failing now.
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Foreign leaders are running circles around Trump, who is completely out of his depth, and few of them even take him seriously.
We're starting to get a glimpse of how the history of this "presidency" is going to be written.
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Certainly the Saudis don’t, no matter how closely he cozies up to them—they’re playing him in a way he will never even be able to comprehend.
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“...because it would admit either defeat or acknowledgment of his inadequacies, and he will just never do that.”
I agree. This coupled with his do-it-alone posturing and sum-zero philosophy translates into rigid positions and an inability to be flexible and adjust to a dynamic world.
Lets hope the next 24 months go quickly and without significant incidents.
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What will get old is that people get tired of being afraid and then become annoyed with the agent that seeks to frighten them. Trump fatigue is setting in in all but his core base which may never change. His scare tactics are becoming static to the rest of us. Even republicans roll their eyes as his act becomes one of self-parody. His failure at intimidating Pelosi and Schumer are a good indicator about how he plays internationally. The only one who really appears to be afraid of Trump now is Lindsay Graham. As Mueller continues and the 2020 election nears, defections from Senate and House republicans are likely to increase.
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How can we not fear what our bold president has done - and may do next? He has nearly ended our alliances with Western Europe - or perhaps the final straw was ending the agreement with Russia to not have midrange nuclear weapons.
Trump has moved troops around in the Middle East, ignoring military advice.
He has announced that he may send troops to Venezuela, apparently without prior discussion with our military leaders or Congress.
Etc.
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I don't believe he is feared. But politicians know that by antagonizing Trump, they are also antagonizing Trump base voters within their constituency. This fear, of course, will wane and eventually dissipate as more and more of those Trump base voters come to their senses.
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@TommyTuna
It does not seem likely that his base will ever come to their senses. They would have done it by now if it was at all possible.
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@TommyTuna True, but more and more Republican poiliticians are realizing that 'the base' isn't the key to their own re-election.
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If you remember the "40 year plan to seize and hold power" there doesn't need to be a base or even any constituents - just strict adherence to the party line. If you want to keep your job, no exceptions. Vote as told.
When parents keep using false fears to get kids to do what they want them to do, kids figure it out. They don’t respect parents anymore and the kids don’t trust the parents - about anything.
Sound familiar, country?
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@MIMA Yes, I believe the establishment and lying media has about 13% credibility rating.
However, I would hardly call them parents...they don't know what's best for the country...they are trying to control it. They have a track record of deceit and failure - which is why we have President Trump. He is a rebuke.
@Fantasy Dude
You picked an excellent moniker. Kudos.
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The problem with 'Winning Through Intimidation' is that you have to be holding at least some cards. Sooner or later someone calls your bluff, then you're done.
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It was always clear he wasn’t working with a full deck. Now we know he has no cards at all. Not even a trump card.
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@Dana Charbonneau
If you read Winning Through I tindatuon, it is all about defying expectations in a way that puts the counterparty in a position that it is unable to deploy or use the defenses they prepared.
Trump telegraphs his tactics, attitudes and weaknesses from miles away. Counterparties have come to expect bellicose obnoxiousness disguising severe ignorance and a pathological need for affirmation and can prepare easy responses to knock it back on its heels (see Pelosi, Nancy).
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@TAL @Dana Charbonneau And ... that's exactly what Nancy Pelosi knows about Trump! He never really anticipated her strengths nor was he "fearful" of her. Wrong #45!
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