Donald Trump Will Screw You
…and I don’t care who you are. If there is one consistent aspect of this man’s behavior, it is that he will say or do anything to advance himself, with no regard for anyone else.
The first trait this behavior is a belief system that views nearly all of the human race with contempt. If you are his friend or ally, he sees you as a weak submissive. If you are his enemy or opponent, you are the subject of a pathological hatred. People move from one category to the other with every news cycle, and it doesn’t much matter where one is. The common denominator is his contempt for us all, friend or foe.
The second part of this belief system is a need for love, but not a mother’s love, or a lover’s. I think of it as akin to the love that the Japanese Emperor demanded of men who were willing to pilot a bomb-laden plane to their own death, all for the man who says he gives you everything, for a need to retain an imagined order, and the anonymous safety that a steep hierarchy grants the average person.
Psychoanalysis aside, can anyone name one principle that this man has held constant aside from his own grandiosity? Is there any business associate from his decades of alternating rapaciousness and bankruptcy who will step forward and honestly say that he actually made them money? What would his ex-wives and confidants say if not for fear of legal action?
Watching Trump’s rivals bend the knee and pay homage to this man, after the personal venom he spat at them without remorse, makes me think two things. First, politicians sense that they have to get behind power at all costs. Second, a lot of people, even smart, powerful people, can be made into lackeys by saying just the right thing, or offering just the right meager concession, however fleeting. He will say anything to get you on his side, and if you cannot be won, he will do anything to destroy you and salt the earth of your ambitions.
For me, watching the crowds view this man with such adulation isn’t about who is right or wrong. I see people who are being told exactly what they want to hear, regardless of the world’s hard truths, the known limits to power and economics that constrain us all. We will not reopen the coal mines. The oil fields of North Dakota were never going to last forever, and the immigrants will never go home. He only gave money to veterans once he was caught red-handed, months after he swore to do so. It’s not even an indifference to you, but a malevolent contempt.
I can’t speculate on where this election is headed. The one thing I am certain of is that, no matter who you are or what you believe, Donald Trump will screw you. If you are running for office and choose to side with the man, you will either go down with that ship, or be taken on a ride to places you do not want to go. If you are a voter and place your trust in this man, you will one day be sorely disappointed. Donald Trump will not help anyone’s campaign but his own. Donald Trump will not build a 2300 mile long wall at the Mexican border. Donald Trump will not get your good union job back. He will do none of these things not because they are impossible, but because there is no chance they will help him to acquire more power or fame in the long run, when words end and money must change hands.
