Watching a Man Unhinged

“It is impossible to predict how Trump is going to act because he hasn’t actually thought it through.” George Soros.

Thinking? What thinking? Thinking requires you to consider the pros and the cons, the repercussions, the implications. Too much thinking and you finish up like Hamlet in the mire of your own verbiage.

 Trump is the antithesis of Hamlet. He doesn’t do big words. He sticks to basics like, good and bad, like Napoleon, George Orwell’s Napoleon that is. Putin good, TPP bad.  Short and incisive. Twitter was custom-made for the likes of Trump.

In the age of electronic media, image is all and Trump has devoted his life to it. Observe the confident posture, the hair, the fake tan, the aura of success, the barbie-doll women around him. The message is clear: I am rich, successful, virile. I'm a winner.  In front of the cameras his lips pout, his hands spin  silken threads, his words promise you the world, his eyes even more.

Like Silvio Berlusconi who preceded him, he is a showman, an illusionist. Soros says he’s a con-man. Rudolph Giuliani famously called him a genius… for avoiding taxes!  He may be both.

 When the beauty pageant celebrity announced he was running for President, we laughed and mocked. Who Trump, the douche bag? The glitzy showman? The bigot? You gotta be kidding! 

 He ran his campaign like no other candidate. Not for him the smarmy, politician smiling vacuously to con the voters. Trump spoke his mind. He hurled abuse at his rivals, attacked the establishment, spat venom, bullied and threatened the press and attacked even the CIA. He said odious things about women. Any other candidate would have been crucified. Not Trump, nothing stuck, on the contrary people responded to his directness. He gave voice to their anger and frustrations. They overlooked his faults. His vices made him more human.

So, come the night of the elections and there he stood, larger than ever, President of the United States. He defied all pundits, took revenge on the mockers, crushed the opponents.There is definitely some mad genius working in him. Will he use it for good or evil? History will tell. One thing is certain, Trump will not be boring, he will put his stamp on his term in office.  His monumental ego demands it.

  What makes Trump's situation unique is that he ran on a ticket of anti-establishment, in defiance of his party. Like that other volatile septuagenarian, Duterte of the Philippines, Trump has little time for party politics or ideology. He is his own man, arguably a political free spirit. For those who voted for him he is a breath of fresh air in the stale world of diplomacy and political correctness. They see him as a positive game changer, a reformer, a strong leader. For most of us he is a potential train wreck.

 Just days into his Presidency he has antagonized the Mexicans and the Palestinians, not to speak of the Moslems. He has destabilized the Pacific region, alienated the European allies and threatened China . We are watching a man unhinged, a loose cannon. Given the extent of his power, there is no telling where it’s all heading. The omens are not good.