The Monster Our Society Created

 

Whoever ends up writing the history of this period of time in the American experiment is going to have a difficult time making sense of the decisions made during this period. Of course, I’m not only assuming that a form of national sanity returns to the United States but that there’s a human civilization about a century from now. Something that with all the unaddressed global problems we face I have doubts will exist.

It doesn’t take a PhD in political science or history to pick out the one individual at the center of the chaos. Donald Trump.

His rise to power is the culmination of a series of systemic failures in our society. The first being that he was born into wealth and influence. Had Trump been born middle class- or lower- in my hometown, a small blue collar place kept alive by a huge paper mill and steel mill, at best he would have ended up as a sleazy used car salesman or insurance agent.

The second failure that allowed Trump to thrive was society’s inability to reign in his excesses. For decades it was known that Trump did not play well with others or obey the rules common folks have to follow. But he was flashy, had money, and knew the right people so the rules for him were just suggestions he could ignore.

This bleeds over into the media promoting him on television. His goddamn reality show “The Apprentice” made him look like a savvy businessman even though Trump somehow found a way to bankrupt a fucking casino. That was just one of his six bankruptcies.

And I’m resisting the urge to go off on a tangent about how people like Joe Fucking Scarborough gave Trump access to his morning news show allowing him to seem knowledgeable about current affairs. My hate for Scarborough runs deep because I believe the rumors that he tried to get trump to pick him for Vice President during the 2016 run.

With these and several other factors Trump was able to play society’s weaknesses to become the President of the United States. Here’s where things get messy.

While Trump carefully cultivated the illusion of an artistic businessman able to make the most “most beautiful deals” Trump’s reason for existence is to get revenge on anyone he feels wronged him.

A while back fellow billionaire, Richard Branson was interviewed once about a conversation he had with Trump. Branson said that while he tried to talk business with the Tangerine Hitler, all he wanted to talk about were the people he wanted revenge on. Taking into account what other people have said about Trump, long with his own words, his reason to exist is based solely on destroying others.

Sure, Trump wants his personal wealth to grow and he wants to be seen around beautiful and smart people. But his main drive are the grievances he carries around in his head.

But the job of being president means interacting with other, and at times, compromising on issues. Trump’s one talent is being a bully and that has been reinforced over his lifetime because of the money and influence at his disposal. The problem with being one of the lead actors of the world stage is that there are others who play the near the same level. Given Trump’s child-like understanding of economics he has almost overnight wrecked the global trading system. Oh yes, he’s pulled back at times and declared some sort of victory while our trading partners and allies look on in fear of his lunacy. But that’s the least of my worries.

When it comes to dealing with Putin of Russia and Xi of China, Trump’s unhinged admiration of their authoritarian power should give any normal person nightmares. Trump is seeking a form of camaraderie with those dictators because such a friendship feeds his ego.

I would bet money I don’t have that both Putin and Xi at best see Trump as a fool. A fool that would undermine his own country’s economic and military position in an effort to look as powerful and respected- in his mind- as Putin and Xi.

Where things become unglued is if Trump ever loses face on the global stage, I have no doubt that like the spoiled child he is, Trump wouldn’t hesitate to attack both of those countries.

Whether here in the United States or globally, Trump would rather burn everything down and rule over the ashes than lose.