I think it’s a good idea to read extensive Trump interviews with serious journalists once in a while, whether they be from a liberal paper like the New York Times or a conservative one like the Journal. Why? Because they immediately dispel any notion of Trump as the master puppeteer choreographing a complex dance of political distraction.
There’s a line of thought, fairly popular at the moment, that Trump is some evil mastermind who makes outrageous comments to drag our attention away from his insidious plans, which are supposedly unfolding as we waste time parsing his tweets.
The truth is quite the opposite: Donald Trump is just not very coherent, and he lies a lot.
Read this interview and/or earlier ones with the New York Times, and then tell me this man is capable of orchestrating complex, CIA-style disinformation campaign designed to intentionally focus the public’s attention on a controversial but relatively unimportant matter while simultaneously manifesting his evil plans behind the scenes.
That’s the stuff of genius. Trump is merely the stuff of untreated learning disabilities and personality disorders stuffed into an immature bully rich kid.
If Trump were a genius, he would’ve figured out how to get his party to overturn ObamaCare, not suffer an embarrassing defeat on the issue. He would’ve had his staff craft an immigration restriction order that wasn’t immediately overturned by a federal court. He would have the Congress churning along on tax reform. He would have approval ratings above 38%. He would make a convincing case that he has no important connections to Russia.
But he can’t do any of these things, because he’s is completely lacking in the skills, temperament, and perhaps even intelligence to be a successful president.
So instead, he simply does what he’s done his entire life. He brags about himself and insults opponent, lying profusely in both endeavors.
Don’t expect anything else. It’s all he can bring himself to do.
And the next time someone tells you not to pay attention to his horrible behavior because it’s distracting you from the real issues, tell that person you’re quite capable of critiquing the president’s boorish behaviors while still keeping track of the unfolding Russia investigation and major political developments of the day, thank you very much. You can even cook dinner while you’re at it.
Because this isn’t nearly as complex as some would have you believe. Rather, it’s just Trump being Trump, and becoming ever Trumpier as his presidency begins to flush down the drain.