Marble Falls When it comes to Trump these days, it’s hard to pick which moral from a children’s tale best fits how domestically and internationally he is seen and heard these days. Is it the boy who keeps crying wolf so often that no one listens to his bellowing anymore, so that he can’t be heard even when there’s a real wolf at the door? Or, is it the crowd watching the king go by and laughing at the fact that rather than his royal raiment’s, he’s naked as a jay bird? He’s used the bully pulpit so much that people don’t hear the gospel, just the bullying. Other countries aren’t laughing to his face, but they are no longer quaking in their boots, as they were in the early days of his reign. It’s tragic that this same disregard extends to all of America, not just Trump and the damage he has done to the country’s reputation and standing.
The big reason is certainly the bluff and bluster around Iran, where, thankfully, he did not follow through with all of his threats for a wider war. We have to have mixed feelings about this, because, as polls have demonstrated, few of us wanted a war with Iran. The fact that Iran has established that there are limits to the US military might is the right lesson for us – and Trump — to learn, even if being taught in the wrong way. The fact that rouge and dangerous countries might take advantage now that they’ve also learned the level of America’s potency, sadly augurs for more trouble in various corners of the world to come, especially from North Korea, although hopefully not China.
Other reasons include the way the courts have pushed back on tariffs and even the occasional and too infrequent backbone we have seen in the US Congress. Where tariffs were sending European countries and others to virtual panic in the early days of Trump’s term, now they seem to be just shrugging their shoulders, even at the threats of 50% tariffs, and certainly at his most recent across the board efforts alleging a role for the US in battling child labor. His efforts domestically to mandate changes in electoral law from the White House, which has always constitutionally been the domain of the states has blocked his SAVE Act in the Senate and the courts have blocked his shenanigans with the postal service and mail ballots. Universally, observers describe his weakness with party divisions, his falling poll numbers, and his fears of a total ass whipping in the midterms as the reasons for his attempt to rig the coming elections anyway he can.
One former ambassador for Clinton and Bush, describing his negotiation postures, claimed he wouldn’t give Trump “money to go into a carpet bazaar,” which is a pretty low blow. The Wall Street line about TACO trades, standing for “Trump Always Chickens Out” are being applied more liberally to lots of his tirades on social media and beyond.
That doesn’t mean he’s not still dangerous, especially domestically. The chaos monkeys around him are brutalizing the poor, immigrants, women, and more. He still has a base, even if it is shrinking. He still has institutional power, even as he fritters it away, take for example the way he’s brining US Attorney Jeanne Pirro to the whipping post for refusing to maintain the charade that his botched reflecting pool mess was because of his no-bid, overpriced contractor rather than a conspiracy.
Will he learn from his and modify his behavior? No way! Will the rest of us learn? Let’s hope so. The cleanup of this mess for the United States is going to take a long, long time though.