
President Biden’s recent accomplishments are noteworthy. They include: the largest economic package since Roosevelt, the largest infrastructure plan since Eisenhower, the most judges appointed since Kennedy, the second largest health bill since Johnson, and the largest climate change bill in history. To keep things balanced Former President Trump had many successes as well although he wasn’t prepared for dealing with the Covid virus. His toxic personality overshadowed everything that he did do to help the nation. Right now, President Biden is struggling to bring down inflation largely caused by the aftermath of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and his perceived failure with his extricating people from Afghanistan in a way that was chaotic at best. Biden’ personality has not been an issue as he was gracious in most circumstances particularly as comforter in chief regarding various deaths that have occurred during his administration.
So, what made the difference between Biden’s mindset and the mindset of former President Trump for at one level you could say that Trump had a temporary mindset of a different kind than Biden. Biden didn’t depend on external affirmation for what he accomplished. He knew that his situation was not permanent and he could bring about change eventually. He never blamed things on Joe Manchin but encouraged his people to continue to work with him. As the big final bill was signed, he handed the pen to Manchin to communicate that he was grateful for his support. No Republican voted for the bill.
Biden’s personality didn’t force him to whine about his low ratings or perceived failure. He saw things as temporary as he moved through setback after setback. Trump, on the other hand as a narcissist, wanted credit for everything as was the embodiment of a whiner and innocent victim. It’s Trump’s personality among other things that gets in his way.
But Trump had a temporary mindset of a different kind. He considered people to be temporary. Martin Buber, the Jewish theologian, said it best when he described I/It relationships as opposed to I/Thou relationships. I/It relationships are where we see others only as a means to an end. The nature of that kind of relationship is transactional meaning it is what you can give me that is important. There are strings attached. In I/It relationships, we see others as objects such as the phrase sex object implies. Martin Buber saw the ideal as I/Thou relationships where you see the relationships with others as sacred and look to give as much in the relationship as you get with no strings account. Chris Christie received a call from Trump when he was in the hospital with Covid that he got at a super spreader event celebrating Amy Coney Barrett being elected to the Supreme Court. He writes in his biography that when he received a call from Trump, he thought that Trump had possibly changed until he got to the real reason that he called when Trump asked, “You aren’t going to blame this on me, are you?’ Christie was at a loss for words. He could merely shake his head.
Nobody that I have read can describe this phenomenon of I/IT relationships better than Mark Leibovich in his current best seller, Thank You For Your Servitude. Just as temporary mindset can help us to overcome challenges, Trump has temporary relationships that he uses usually to get him out of a tight fix and then simply discards people when they are of no further uses. This can be seen most graphically in the revolving door of those moving in and out of his administration. Some were fired with a tweet.
This is also seen in his strategy when caught doing something wrong. There is always someone nearby that can be the recipient of the blame. Michael Cohen had that role as well as everyone in Trump world. If a person is found guilty of anything that relates to him, his response is usually that he didn’t know that individual or had a passing relationship with the individual. Cohen was a nail until he saw what was occurring in Trump world, and is now a hammer.
During the January 6 Insurrection, Trump threw many people under the bus and still remains a free man when others are in prison.
You have to admit that he has a skill set that requires a lot of finesse and a lot of practice. People refer to his playbook. There have been few people like him. As soon as his chief servant countered his wish about stopping the calling of the role for the final political act that would declare Biden as president, he quickly turned -on Mike Pence for he wasn’t acting like a good servant. He too became disposable. He was like a temp in the office who quickly wasn’t needed anymore. But it was worse for he indicated that Pence was expendable in the most extreme sense and we saw the gallows on January 6 and heard the proclamation, “Hang Mike Pence!”
Trump was interested in people who would be a nail. Hence, the ongoing groveling now for his allies and the trips to his home base in Florida where folks can “kiss his ring.” He prefers to be a hammer. When he couldn’t relate to someone as such, out they went. Notice he interpreted that as disloyalty which is another manifestation of a transaction where a person can be disposable.
But let me get to the paradigm when you know that you are a temporary solution for someone else. In all the possibilities for a TV show that are out there he chose one that emphasized the temporary mindset of I/It relationships. People forget that Trump’s TV show was the “Apprentice.” What a perfect show for him. Keep in mind the gusto and joy that he got in shouting, “You’re fired!” That is the embodiment of the I/It relationship and seeing people as temporary in servitude to someone else. The show was really a foretaste of how Trump operates. People didn’t think about it. They saw it as reality tv. However, now we can see it as a foretaste of how Trump leads and escapes punishments by disposing people along the way to his narcissistic vision of what leadership should be, namely always about him. The show is set up so that people are fired or in servitude to him and what he can give them with strings attached. He has an uncanny ability to identify people and groups such as his allies who he knows that they lack the will to stand up against him. There may be a new book on its way. It won’t be Profiles in Courage. It will be Profiles in Cowardice. There is much to write about to fill those pages.
Leibovitz’s book is filled with humor that describes Trump in action. One could laugh uncontrollably if his actions weren’t so serious with the possibility of overturning our democracy.
Comentários