Jon Tyson, Unsplash
To the editor:
For the time being President Trump has replaced the “Russia pivot” with the Europe pivot. Donald Trump has no fixed loyalty—to any person or country; no fixed ideology, apart from that of his perceived self-interests. He targets Canada, Greenland, Ukraine et al for random abuse—and then moves on to greener pastures to fertilize with the contents of his fecund Imagination.
But Mister Trump is highly susceptible to flattery. Beyond power and wealth, what motivates the 47th American president is forcing friend or foe to their knees. He thrives on obeisance, humiliation and capitulation to his whims and impulses. Through a combination of on-and-off tariffs (or threats of tariffs); his conditional approach to NATO Article V; his divide and conquer strategy regarding the EU (Spain is currently in the doghouse); and his current charm offensive; President Trump is pivoting towards dominating European politics, security and markets. The price of admission for European leaders is the acceptance of Mr. Trump’s version of reality. The Gospels according to Donald, are shifting sands, but—god-like, he creates his own facts as they suit his narrative. In his telling, he ended the war between Israel and Iran in 12 days and “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program in a stroke—despite a conflicting DIA assessment (NYT). If you want to remain in his favor, there is no gainsaying the god-man. Last week he was calling upon Iran to surrender and for millions of Teheran residents to flee their homes. This week he hopes to negotiate the surrender of Harvard University.
With Donald Trump one must always ask, “why?”—what motivates his immediate action and how does it serve his long term agenda?
As NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte found—when all else fails, just call Mr. Trump, “Daddy”—which is straight up creepy.
We are living inside the revenge-power-porn fantasy of Donald Trump; the twisted fantasy of a would-be absolute ruler.
To quote the maxim of the Holy Island village in Danny Boyle’s sublime “28 Years Later:”
“We May Fail/Go We Must.”
While there is no certain outcome in the years that lie ahead, we must act as though our future selves were watching us from beyond the horizon.
Eric Radack, Santa Fe
