President Donald James Trump Is A Living Greek Tragedy

First the Gods build you up, then they strike you down. The protagonist in a Greek tragedy rises and then fails through a combination of external circumstances and self-frailties. The protagonist in a Greek Tragedy succeeds by his strengths, and then self-destructs by the same frailties which are his strengths. Donald Trump won election four years ago because he was a fighter, a boisterous, in your face, insulting, shoot from the hip, non-politician who doesn’t watch carefully the nuance of every word. Nothing polished, subtle or nuanced about Donald Trump. He said “I love to counterpunch.” He doesn’t know when not to counter punch, temper the counterpunch, or stop counterpunching. He also sulks. His inner Trump cost the Republicans two Senate seats in Georgia and control of the Senate. He identified the complaints of ordinary Americans, who have been left behind by globalization, the Americans in flyover country between the two coasts. MAGA, Make America Great Again - a phrase derided by the elites, but well understood by Americans. Donald Trump calls it as he sees it. He is quick with an often derogatory insult. We were cautioned by a law professor at the University of San Francisco (1967-1970) that you don’t run against a sitting judge unless you expect to win. Judges are a “fraternity.” (there were very few women judges 5 decades ago). If you lose then the judiciary will consistently rule against you. Candidate Trump in 2016 trashed federal District Judge Gonzalo Curiel because he was a Mexican American, or simply a Mexican. Judge Curiel was sitting on cases involving Trump University, not one of Trump’s best investments. He said “We have a very hostile judge because he “had an absolute conflict” in the litigation because he is “of Mexican heritage” and a member of a Latino lawyers association. The alleged conflict was the President pushing construction of a wall on the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration. Judge Curiel was born in Indiana to naturalized Mexican Americans. He is a citizen and his parents are citizens justifiably proud of their son’s success in the United States. Federal district judges, especially in the Ninth Circuit started enjoining many of his administrations acts always on the merits but also in solidarity with Judge Curiel. The external circumstance for Trump’s Greek Tragedy is the coronavirus. He acted early and decisively, cutting off air travel from China. Speaker Pelosi pushed impeachment at the time. Vice President Biden said the China travel ban was “xenophobic.” Yet the President told Bob Woodward that he wanted to avoid panic by downplaying the virus’ threat. Covid-19 was raging through America on November 3. He did not lose reelection on November 3, 2020. He lost reelection on September 29, 2020, the first of the Presidential Debates. The American public was deeply concerned about Covid and the economic collapse. They needed solutions and reassurance. President Trump could have assuaged many Americans. Instead when he realized moderator Chris Wallace, a never-Trumper at Fox, was joining Vice President Biden in attacking him, he resorted to his inner Trump, the aggressive, bullying, braggadocio, defensive Trump. His bluster was self-destructive. Even his supporters were stunned by his performance. He lost that night. Then he cancelled the second debate. Another rule of life is be nice to those you pass on the way up; you may see them again on the way down. People in politics should not be thin skinned. Donald Trump is thin skinned. He cannot take criticism without striking back, sometimes very petulantly and petty. President Trump has been in two long-running feuds with Senators Mitt Romney and the late John McCain. The McCain-Trump has been damaging to the country. The Senator sent an aide to London to retrieve the Steele Dossier. He looked at it, and then turned it over to FBI Director James Comey, setting off the bogus Russia conspiracy and the two year Mueller Investigation. The Steele Dossier was an unpardonable sin to President Trump. He could never forgive Senator McCain. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was terminated because he had recused himself, thereby letting Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein appoint Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. Attorney General William Barr restored justice to the Justice Department, but he would not back the President on the fraudulent voting charges. He resigned on December 23 on his terms after several negative comments by President Trump. Real Estate Developer Donald Trump could summarily fire employees who crossed him or didn’t carry out his wishes. He could rant and rave and fire. The President of the United States needed friends, not enemies, in seeking reelection. He called Senator McCain a “loser,” saying “I like people who weren’t captured.” The Republican Congress was in the process of honoring its campaign pledge to repeal ObamaCare. The House had already acted. The failing Senator McCain flew in from Arizona to heroically cast the deciding vote to repeal the act. He promise to vote to repeal in his reelection campaign. He dramatically walked into the Senate and shockingly voted against repeal. Repeal was dead. ObamaCare survived. The Republicans were in bad shape going into the 2018 elections. Senator McCain’s vote was an in your face statement to President Trump. The Senator’s anger for the President trumped his view on the merits. A profile in courage it was not. President Trump did not learn from the vote. He could not control his rage. He still cannot control his rage He cannot control his rage, striking out at Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senators John Thune and John Cornyn. He needs them; they don’t need him. He suggested South Dakota Governor Kristi Noemrun against Senator Thune. He called Secretary Raffensperger “a child,” “a schmuck’” and “either dishonest or incompetent.” He then asked the Secretary to find 11,780 votes to change the Georgia election result! Not going to happen. He called General Jim Mattis the “world’s most overrated general.” The General said after yesterday’s storming of Capitol: “Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by President Trump. His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.” Attorney General William Barr left office on December 23 after receiving verbal abuse from the President. AG’s Barr was to dispute President Trump’s claims of voter fraud. AG Barr today said President Trump was a “betrayal of his office and supporters” by “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable.” President Trump called Senator Romney a “pompous ass.” The Senator voted to convict the President on one of the two impeachment counts. The Senator yesterday wants President Trump removed from office for inciting an insurrection: “What happened today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States.” Representative Maxime Walters wanted to impeach President trump from Day One. The President called her “an exceptionally low IQ person.” She wants to impeach him again. Some of President Trump’s other remarks were calling Dr. Fauci a “disaster,” and broadcaster Hugh Hewitt “a third-rate radio announcer.” The President is a narcissistic egotist. So is President Obama. The media covered up for President Obama. The President is slammed for excessive golfing. His predecessor was an avid golfer. ISIS beheaded American journalist James Foley, and then posted on August 19, 2014 a video of the murder. President Obama delivered a few remarks, saying he was “heartbroken” and vowed to be relentless. He then rushed to his favorite golf course on Martha’s Vineyard and proceeded to golf the rest of the day. Choosing the most outrageous insult by President Trump is difficult. High up on the list is this comment about then Fox News broadcaster Megyn Kelley in 2016: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her whatever.” White suburban women were repulsed by his vulgarity and misogamy, tilting suburbs to Vice President Biden. Braggadocio Trump and Covid-19: A Greek Tragedy.