Drama Queen

Last week I wrote about Donald Trump's deeply stupid proposed tariffs on Mexican goods (link here). In the last few days, Trump has "solved" this crisis he created with a "solution" that was already in the works months ago.

To this end, the New York Times published an excellent piece yesterday (link here) with the title "A Drama of Trump’s Own Making Ends With a Familiar Hero." Guess who the hero is.

Per the article: "Nine days in spring offered a case study in ... Trump’s approach to some of the most daunting issues confronting him and the nation: When the goal seems frustratingly out of reach through traditional means, threaten drastic action, set a deadline, demand concessions, cut a deal — real or imagined — avert the dire outcome and declare victory."

And continuing: "If nothing else, he forces attention on the issue at hand. Whether the approach yields sustainable results seem less certain. These are often dramas of his own making, with him naturally the hero. He stakes out maximalist positions and issues brutal ultimatums to compel action, arguing that extreme problems demand extreme tactics. At times, though, it can seem like little more than smoke and mirrors substituting for serious policymaking, a way of pretending to make progress without actually solving the underlying problem."

Further in the article, a former high-level government official on the National Security Council staff is quoted as saying: "The president manufactures a crisis, galvanizes his base around the challenge, leaves the definition of success undefined, pretends to play hardball and, lo and behold, finds a solution that entails little more than window-dressing, if that.... The loser tends to be the American people, oftentimes Trump’s base first and foremost."

Teddy Roosevelt famously said an effective leader should "speak softly and carry a big stick." For Trump, the opposite approach is true: "speak loudly and boastfully and incessantly but give away the stick."