President Trump has learned during his many years as a businessman that taking risks are part of the game. That makes many of his decisions unpredictable and keeps his competitors guessing about his next move. But no businessman is always right, no matter how shrewd or unpredictable. And when Trump was wrong during his business career it could blow up in his face, as during his ill-timed attempt to establish a flourishing casino in Atlantic City, a dying city and a losing bet. With hindsight, of course, it’s easy to say Atlantic City was never going to be another Las Vegas. In fact, New York City high-rollers were always more likely to fly to Vegas than Atlantic City. So Trump’s casino fell into bankruptcy.
But Trump always knew taking big risks can yield huge success. Trump Tower is a symbol of that philosophy. So are all the buildings, hotels, and golf clubs labelled with the “TRUMP” brand. In fact, creating a real estate brand proves Trump’s genius as a marketer.
Being a real-estate mogul is also a rough-and-tumble game. Trump knows first-hand–as he details in The Art of the Deal—that competing for real estate deals usually requires down-and-dirty, backroom fights with politicians.
It’s no wonder the blonde bomber can be pushy, crude, obnoxious, and offensive. It’s part of his make-up and a big part of his success. On the other hand, such aggressiveness is bound to make enemies. And Trump wouldn’t be Trump without them.
Truth is, every president has a long list of enemies. It’s just that Trump’s are louder, more threatening, and control the media, academia, and Hollywood.
Making Unnecessary Enemies
Trump’s personality excesses and inflated ego can blind him to sound advice. As an executive he is terribly undisciplined, often—according to his departing Chief of Staff John F. Kelly—making “gut” decisions, rather than carefully informed ones.
No doubt being an undisciplined executive is a carry-over from his days as CEO of his real estate organization. Because he never had government experience as a senator or governor, or even mayor, he simply operates as he has always done. This is undoubtedly why he seems to jump into situations without thinking them through. It also accounts for his often awkward and much too frequent tweets, that he or others on his staff, have to walk back or “explain.”
Furthermore, Trump sometimes goes out of his way to make enemies. Why, for example, did he say, during the primary campaign, that George W. lied about Iraq having WMD’s? Perhaps he believed it, but it was precisely what the Democrats said for their own political reasons. Many leading Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, were for the war, before they were against it.
It seemed like political suicide for Trump to alienate the Bushes—father and son—as well as all Republicans who supported the Bushes. It certainly alienated him from support he might need, not only to win the nomination, but also the election.
And yet he won.
During the primaries, Trump also—gratuitously—called Senator John McCain a coward. His feeble explanation was that he admired soldiers who were not captured by the enemy. But there’s no logic to that explanation. Was it just personal animus? Or was he purposely trying to separate himself from the Bushes and McCain?
Whatever it was, Trump paid a price. The late George H.W. Bush, according to reports, voted for Hillary Clinton for president, and George W didn’t vote for president. It also caused Senator McCain to vote against and defeat the Republicans’ attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare. Furthermore, McCain’s revenge may have caused suburban women to vote against their Republican congressional incumbents in the midterms, because they didn’t replace Obamacare with a viable substitute.
Childish Behavior & Quixotic Decision-Making
In a recent TV interview, Rex Tillerson, Trump’s first Secretary of State, accused his ex-boss of being “undisciplined,” often requesting actions Tillerson considered illegal. Trump fired back, calling Tillerson “dumb as a rock.” If so, why did Trump hire him?
What the president failed to realize was that his shoot-from-the-hip tweet reflected badly on his own judgment in hiring Tillerson.
The problem with so many of Trump’s tweets is that he insists on punching back at every criticism. And every Trump counter-punch becomes magnified by a media marinated in left-wing propaganda.
No question, there is something childish in Trump’s temperament. He revealed that during the primary campaign when he started calling his opponents names—“Little Marco,” “Lyin’ Ted,” “Low-energy Jeb”—as if the primaries were nothing but a third-grade rock-throwing contest. His revealing facial expressions were also a dead giveaway to his internal feelings.
Yet Trump’s base decided that, childish or not, he was a candidate with the guts to fight back.
Who’s to Blame for the Stock Market Slide?
Trump’s oversize ego causes him to blame someone else when things go sour—even someone he respects, like Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Now Trump is blaming Powell for the steep slide in the stock market, because of rising interest rates. And it’s true, the market does not know whether Powell will continue raising rates in 2019. So the market is spooked, and Trump needs a fall guy, because he was so loud in taking credit for the rising market since his election.
Unpredictability Is Part of Trump’s DNA
On top of a falling stock market, key Trump appointees are departing, including Kelly, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, both of whom have left their posts criticizing the president. In addition, Trump has suddenly decided to pull American troops out of Syria and Afghanistan stating, we’ve defeated ISIS.
Meanwhile, a quarter of the Federal government remains closed until a funding deal can be resolved between Congress and the president. Trump, not unreasonably, wants enough funds to “build the wall.”
Uncertainty reigns, as the negotiator-in-chief reaches deep into his deal-making bag of tricks. But, remember, unpredictability is a Trump trademark.
How to Deal with a Democrat House
Will the next two years be more stable? Not likely. Despite Trump’s major accomplishments—the tax cut, defeating ISIS, or at least taking away its territorial gains, increasing the contributions from NATO members, moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and acknowledging Jerusalem as the capital of Israel—losing the House to Democrats creates more chaos.
Democrats will investigate every aspect of Trump’s life and try, in vain, to pass giveaway programs the government can’t afford.
How should Mr. Trump deal with the Democrat onslaught? Instead of tweeting up a storm of negative responses, he should campaign for policies that make sense to the American people. He should counter their pie-in-the-sky, socialistic programs with policies that promote growth and security. He should answer their slurs by being presidential: That’s his ace in the hole.
Responding to every cockamamie Democrat charge is a fool’s game that drags the responder down to the level of the accuser. In fact, sometimes, it pays to keep your mouth shut.
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