Donald Trump’s latest rash of blunders — attacks on a Gold Star family, ignorance about Russia being in Ukraine, an invitation to Vladimir Putin to meddle in our elections — should dissipate some of the fog that enveloped Republicans after watching him take the GOP presidential nomination. They’ve been selling themselves and other Republicans a bill of goods. Let’s look at five of them: 1) He’s brilliant (he won the nomination, didn’t he?); 2) He’ll have first-rate help; 3) He knows what information to trust; 4) He’s an international businessman savvy in foreign affairs; and 5) He’s got his adult kids to guide him and impress voters.
For starters, there is no plan; he’s no wily genius. There is no conceivable benefit in attacking the parents of a dead war hero. There’s no angle he’s playing or group with whom he’d ingratiate himself by keeping this up. He simply lacks any and all self-control. His monstrous ego, coupled with an inability to tolerate criticism (a familiar combination for narcissists), causes him to lash out at the family of late Army Capt. Humayun Khan and at fellow Republicans (still), the former mayor of New York, former British prime minister David Cameron and popular former Ohio governor John Kasich (while the convention was going on, to boot). On one day Fox News can be “terrific” and the next “so bad” or “losing ratings.” Trump may love Vladimir Putin because Putin embodies the brutal authoritarianism to which Trump aspires or because his advisers are joined at the hip with Russian oligarchs; it is, however, just as likely that he loves Putin because he thinks Putin likes him. After all, he said they have a good “relationship” because Putin has said nice things about him. (This is childish, magical thinking: He compliments me, therefore we are friends.)
Second, we see just how ludicrous is the idea, propagated by desperate Republicans (Hugh Hewitt, most especially), that all of his problems would be solved by selecting top-flight Cabinet members. In more than a year, Trump has attracted no advisers of quality, no one whom he has allowed to tell him about current events, let alone basic policy concepts. To be helped by excellent advisers requires two things: excellent advisers willing to work with you, and your willingness to listen to them. There is zero evidence of either in Trump’s case.
And that brings us to yet another problem. In lieu of actual facts and sound analysis, Trump relies on innuendo, gossip, urban myths and TV to confirm his preexisting biases and wrongheaded ideas. He trusts the National Enquirer — or pretends he does — since it provides fodder to smear a political opponent. He still insists that American Muslims widely celebrated 9/11. Other sources of information — independent analysts, the Congressional Budget Office, video evidence — are disregarded if they contradict his convictions.
Fourth, Trump’s business acumen has not made him a sophisticated observer of international events. He may go to Scotland, for example, but he is wholly focused on his own business and delights in the potential that Brexit will make him a rich man. He didn’t learn what the nuclear triad is, what Article V means, why Putin cannot be our pal, why protectionism is a loser, and hundreds of other widely known facts about national security and the world at large. Trump’s wide-flung holdings, alas, have not made him any less small-minded or self-involved.
Finally, his family really isn’t helping him. They apparently know as little about policy issues as he — or he doesn’t listen to them, either. They are a constant reminder that money and privilege do not give one wisdom or empathy. Eric Trump on Monday tastelessly blamed Hillary Clinton for Capt. Khan’s death, running interference for his father. Ivanka Trump tells us he is great to women — although we know he regularly has insulted women in grotesque terms and left a string of allegedly mistreated female employees in his wake. Trump even attacks the women who complained about Fox’s Roger Ailes, who was fired after a raft of sexual harassment victims stepped forward. They’re loyal to their father (and who wouldn’t be, after achieving their lifestyles by virtue of their last name?); they’re not beacons of honesty, decency or policy smarts.
Republicans who attributed all sort of assets to Trump (he’s a genius, can get expert help, is an international mogul, has kids as convincing surrogates, etc.) were kidding themselves all along. It’s getting harder to keep up the pretense that he has redeeming features or an adequate support system to make the prospect of a Trump presidency palatable. He doesn’t. It’s just him — a narcissist, an ignoramus, a bigot who lacks any measure of self-control. Just what you never want in a president of the United States.