For foreign observers, watching the Republican and Democratic nominating conventions over the past two weeks, disbelief or dyspepsia must have been among the reactions. In Cleveland, Ohio, none of the Republican grandees appeared including ex-presidents, ex-vice presidents and ex-nominees for president. Nor did Republican Governor John Kasich, an unsuccessful rival for the nomination make an appearance
in his home state.
To complete the perfect storm, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, in a zero sum bet on his political future, refused to endorse the nominee pleading with his colleagues to “vote your conscience.” And then of course the nominee Donald J Trump delivered a 70-minute plus rambling valedictory that was part-yelling fire in a crowded theatre over the dangers to the nation, and a highly narcissistic tirade of why “I alone” can save the country.
While the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia last week got off to a bad start with Senator Bernie Sanders’ supporters threatening a revolt, that convention took the form of a Hollywood directed spectacle replete with ex and current presidents, celebrities galore and a bevy of retired admirals and generals headed by a four star marine praising Hillary Clinton, and touting her as the only candidate worthy of becoming commander-in-chief.
Given that Clinton has been in the public’s eye for a quarter of a century and as a politician, Trump is relatively a rookie, Clinton’s performance was predictable. Whether that will affect voters remains to be seen. However, what about Trump and his idiosyncratic personality?
During the run-up to the second Gulf War in 2003, a well-known Washington, D.C. psychiatrist who did personality evaluations for the CIA faced losing his licence for his analysis of Saddam Hussein’s mental state. The association of psychiatrists or whatever it was called claimed it was malpractice to diagnosis someone without a physical examination. Fortunately, that nonsense
was short-lived.
Not being a psychiatrist, however, offers one the opportunity to comment freely on what may or may not motivate people and their personalities without fear of debarment. Indeed, perhaps the American who has spent more time on “the couch” as it were psychoanalysed by his fellow countryman is Trump. And every passing day, more and more people are wondering just what causes Trump to get away with the outrageous things he says.
The most current brouhaha is the firestorm over whether Trump’s plea for Russia to uncover Clinton’s missing 30,000 e-mails is incitement to commit treason and encourage espionage by Vladimir Putin, aka the thug in charge in Moscow. Actually, Americans need to calm down. Either Trump was positioning himself to take over Saturday Night Live or Bill Maher’s Real Time after he loses the election as a full-time comedian. Or, what he meant to say was not coupled with what he did say.
One would hope that Trump was making a bad joke. However, in today’s politically correct environment, no matter what one says on virtually anything, it is easy to take offence. The other so-called e-mail scandal threatening Clinton’s march to the presidency — the hacking and release of material from the Democratic National Committee’s servers — was overblown. The allegation that the unbiased DNC was covertly supporting Clinton over Sanders was as shocking as gambling at Rick’s bar in Casablanca.
Of course, the DNC had to favour Clinton. Sanders’ nomination almost certainly would have given the White House to Trump. Even on his best day, who would want a 70-something Democratic Socialist as president? About 25 percent of the electorate — and that is not enough to
elect Superman.
There is a sounder explanation for the reason Trump makes such bizarre and often weird unsolicited comments aside from a narcissistic personality disorder. Recall that during his 75-minute rambling acceptance speech in Cleveland, referring to the crisis facing America, the host of The Apprentice claimed “I alone” could fix these problems. What he no doubt meant was that he was the only choice in the competition with Clinton. But he did not say that.
My unanalytical appraisal is that Trump is a bit unhinged in that what he thinks upstairs in his brain is not easily translated a few inches to his tongue in what he says. Further evidence is that Trump almost makes George W Bush seem like a polished linguist in using English. Trump rambles in disjointed and incomplete sentences possibly because he has become so addicted to using twitter and 140 characters he now speaks in Twitterese and not proper English.
If you give Trump the benefit of the doubt, which is a colossally huge assumption, and parse carefully what he might have meant, some of his more delusional comments could be made to seem more rational. Take Russia and Putin.
Probably since Stalin ended the misguided myth of the workers’ paradise envisaged in the Soviet Union decades ago, Americans have turned their wrath against Russia as seemingly rejected suitors left standing at the altar. The Soviet Union was the enemy, period. From Truman to Reagan, presidents promised to deter and contain the number one threat to democracy — and did. When the Soviet Union exploded and the Russians elected Boris Yeltsin, American expectations rose. Russia would be a little America. But the boorish, drunken clown was a bad joke. And democracy, American-style never had and never will or should flourish in Russia. Similarly, over the course of a decade plus, the US managed to rile Putin, beginning with unilaterally abrogating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001 to invading Iraq in 2003, and expanding NATO without considering how Russia would ultimately react.
None of this history should be taken to excuse Putin’s actions in Ukraine or elsewhere. But to dismiss Russia and not encourage a more serious dialogue is madness on our part. We did so during the Cold War when the Soviet Union could have turned America into a radioactive wasteland.
Perhaps what Trump means is that jaw-jaw is better than war-war. But who knows?
The writer is UPI’s Arnaud de Borchgrave Distinguished Columnist. He serves as Senior Advisor for Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the Atlantic Council and Business Executives for National Security and chairs two private companies. His last book is A Handful of Bullets: How the Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand Still Menaces the Peace. His next book due out next year is Anatomy of Failure: Why America Loses Wars It Starts