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Opinion: This is Trump in panic mode
This is Trump in panic mode
Story highlights
- Michael D'Antonio: President Trump's latest political blunders signal he is deeply conflicted about his own competence
- Trump has admired military men from a young age, so it makes sense that he trusts Gen. Kelly, D'Antonio writes
Michael D'Antonio is the author of the book "Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success" (St. Martin's Press). The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
(CNN)President
Trump's turn toward a general who radiates a calm sense of command
signals he is truly distressed. North Korea's missile tests, massive
legislative failures and record-low poll numbers would rattle anyone,
but must surely be worse for a man whose constant claims to confidence
and success suggest that he is, in fact, deeply conflicted about his own
competence.
In
addition, for a man who prizes loyalty and surrounds himself with family
instead of those with policy expertise, Donald Trump's elevation of
John Kelly to a position in which Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner will
report to him instead of directly to the President further speaks to a
sense of inner panic. A respected Marine Corps general, Kelly is
expected to bring order to a White House that is perhaps the most
chaotic and dysfunctional in history but is so burdened by infighting
and intrigue that officials generally avoid uttering obvious truths,
except when they leak to reporters.
Michael D'Antonio
Given
his limited public persona, on the other hand -- which consists of
little more than brags, insults and crude observations -- Donald
Trump's true moods and motives can be difficult to discern. Trump can
seem like a human sound system with the volume set so high every note
just sounds like noise.
With
so much dissonance, one bizarre week in the Trump presidency can blend
into another and eventually they all seem the same. They are not. Last
week stands apart: sexual innuendo in a speech to Boy Scouts, urging
police to rough up suspects, suddenly barring military service for
transgender Americans, revolving-door turmoil in the West Wing. It all
points to a President/performer who knows he is losing his audience and
can't figure out how to give them what they want.
When
pressed to the edge of panic, Trump will modify his behavior. In the
1990s, for example, he became a quieter, less braggadocious Trump when
his casinos went bankrupt and his airline business failed. The first
sign that Trump was in panic mode last week came as he brought Anthony
Scaramucci onto the stage, naming him White House communications chief.
In Italian theater, a scaramuccia is a menacing court jester who
inevitably falls from grace and Trump's jester fit the archetype
perfectly, ousting Sean Spicer and
Reince Priebus before -- in a stunning bit of political theater, "The
Mooch" and his profane, on-the-record tirade became a bigger
laughingstock than the men at whom he had aimed his blade.
Spicer
and Priebus were easy prey because the dramatist (read President) had
introduced them to us as characters who would inevitably be killed off.
As
Priebus and Spicer were humiliated and driven away, you could almost
hear the snickers in the audience. The dismissal of the preening
Scaramucci, on the other hand, came with the power of a lightning
strike. Then, as the smoke cleared, the world could see the figure of
John Kelly, the new chief of staff. The President's affection for
military men was noted during the 2016 campaign, when he talked about Gen. George "Blood and Guts" Patton
as if he were a perfect hero and not the troublesome brute whom
Eisenhower called a "problem child." However, the President's
fascination with strong military men goes back much further and is far more primal.
As
an unruly boy, Trump was suddenly sent away by his father to attend a
military school renowned for its harsh discipline. (As he told me, it
was the kind of place where the grown men in uniforms "smacked you
around.") At the academy, Trump adopted a barking World War II veteran
named Theodore Dobias as a substitute father. As Dobias once recalled
for me, Trump was "the most manipulative" boy he ever encountered and
through his wheedling and pleasing, got everything he wanted. Before he
was finished, Trump was marching down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, sun
glistening off the brass of his uniform, at the head of the corps
marching in the Columbus Day parade.
Although
young Trump escaped serving through a series of academic and medical
deferments, the President was so enamored of the military style that 50
years later, he would speak lovingly to me of Brasso polish and
spit-shined shoes. As Kelly takes charge, he doesn't need to show up in a
uniform bedecked with medals to keep the President's admiration and
support. As Trump accepted Kelly's demand that his buddy Scaramucci be dismissed,
he demonstrated he is willing to give the general what he wants,
including respect -- and, perhaps the obedience of his own children, in
exchange for his leadership.
As
he sets to work, Kelly for his part will undoubtedly seek to end the
deception and bumbling that have characterized the White House under a
President whose impulse is to deny and distort whatever facts displease
him. Kelly no doubt considers this work an act of public service for a
country which, under President Trump, is fast losing credibility around
the world.
His biggest challenge
resides in the fact that most of the turmoil can be traced to a
President who is, himself, undisciplined. The good news is that Trump
has allowed himself to be controlled by military men in the past.
However, any hope in this history must be tempered with the fact that
the panicking President does not wear integrity well and can be expected
to revert to chaos as soon as he feels comfortable again.
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