Donald J. Trump: Petulant Man-Child

The Current White House Occupant – Donald J. Trump – is blatant.

He acts as if he tells something openly and very publicly, that it can’t be wrong, unethical, immoral, or illegal. Thus, he has a habit of “doubling down” when any allegation of wrong-doing is made against him. We saw that when allegations of him paying hush money through his now-Federally-convicted lawyer/”fixer” Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, aka “Stormy Daniels,” and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal to conceal the fact that he had sex with them, when he and his campaign became concerned that public knowledge of his affairs with them would harm his public approval ratings.

Put simply, his tactic is deny, deny, deny, deny… and then, when denial doesn’t seem to work, embrace the wrong, then unashamedly publicly state the wrong behavior as if it’s A-Okay to do the act, and justify it using faulty rationale… like “everybody does it,” or falsely claiming some absurdity that “it’s a common practice.”

And that is why, in response to the question by a reporter among the gaggle outside the White House on October 3, 2019, “What exactly did you hope Zelensky would do about the Bidens after your phone call?”, Trump publicly stated that,

“Well I would think if they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens. Because how does a company newly formed and all these companies — by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens. Because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine. So I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens. Because nobody has any doubt that they weren’t crooked. That was a crooked deal, 100%. He had no knowledge about energy, didn’t know the first thing about it, all of a sudden he’s getting $50,000 a month, plus a lot of other things. Nobody has any doubt. And they got rid of a very tough prosecutor. Now they’re trying to make it the opposite way, but they got rid of him. So if I were the president of Ukraine I would certainly recommend that.”

– President Donald J. Trump, to reporters assembled on the White House lawn, October 3, 2019

But on a broader scope, his efforts are nothing more than a misguided attempt to launch “pre-emptive” election strike against the former Vice President, who is a Democratic Party candidate to be the party’s nominee for President.

If one were unscrupulous – which Trump assuredly is – then “anything goes” is the determinative and operative phrase. So, asking foreign governments to investigate your political opponent is simply par for the Trump course. But, that doesn’t make his actions legal, ethical, moral, or good. And that is why, what he did in that regard, is but one impeachable offense.

And now, after rumblings that Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, and former Texas Governor, will be exiting the office to which Trump appointed him, perhaps no later than December, Trump is “throwing him under the bus,” which is to say, that Trump is betraying his own so-called “loyalty” to Perry exclusively for his own selfish gain.

By claiming that Secretary Perry prompted, or even cajoled Trump into making a phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about a Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) plant, Trump is attempting to claim some degree of plausible deniability (aka “it’s not my fault” because the Devil – or in this case, Rick Perry – made me do it), or at the very least, attempt to play stupid and claim ignorance. It’s a tactic that a child would use: Refuse to accept responsibility by denying, then when denial doesn’t work, cast blame upon someone else. But because he’s the POTUS, he is privy to top-level secrets not available to any other without a need to know, gets daily security briefings and regular reports from cabinet-level secretaries, and thus does know. So a claim of ignorance simply won’t hold water.

His behavior is quite literally, demonstration of childish, puerile, even infantile behavior… which then in turn begs these questions:
• Where – at what stage of life – did Trump stop growing emotionally, and why?
• What was his childhood like?
• What were his parents like?
• How did he become this way?

If we have learned anything about Trump, it’s that he is NO wheedled or cajoled into doing anything for anyone for any reason, other than for his own selfish, self-centered desires.

But moreover, it is precisely because he had ZERO experience in governing before being elected POTUS (he literally had NO experience in any aspect of public service, neither any volunteer, nor elected, nor as public servant or employee of any governmental agency or office – not even as dog catcher), he remains unfit for the Office of President.

“Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”

–– Donald J. Trump, July 21, 2016, Republican National Convention, presidential nominee acceptance speech, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

Quite simply, folks who have fallen for his grandiose New York City shtick, or carnival barker spiel, who earnestly believe that he will – like Superman, single-handedly “fix it,” aka Make America Great Again – are simple minded, with a penchant for authoritarianism, who need others to tell them what to do, because they can’t or won’t practice independent self-governance.

Contrary to what he asserts, Trump is NOT a “one-man shop.” He CANNOT do it alone. No one can. That’s why we have a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

And in this case, the lunatics are running the asylum.