So like everyone else in the known universe, I’m sort of still reeling from the revelations that are coming out in Bob Woodward’s book about Donald Trump. The fact that 45 said, on tape, that he underplayed Covid and lied to the American people is a bit of a shock no matter how you look at it.
But I want to draw attention to another of 45’s statements—to wit, when he said that “…my fucking generals are a bunch of pussies. They care more about their alliances than they do about trade deals.”
In a word, whoa. That’s an amazing statement, and not just because he is insulting men and women who have dedicated their lives to defending the nation, who have been through combat, and who are anything but “pussies,” by which Trump, of course, means cowards and weaklings. As though Trump would know much about courage.
Not "losers," not "suckers," not "pussies"
But, the other half of that comment is equally remarkable, that is, when Trump says (disgustedly) that his military men and women “care more about their alliances than they do about trade deals.”
Well, of course they care more about alliances than trade deals. That’s what military people have to do. Alliances are part of keeping the nation safe.
But trade deals? No. Those are important, but mostly they are a businessman’s concern. And it shows where Trump’s head is, and always has been. For him, if it doesn’t involve making a short term profit…and chiefly for himself…then it isn’t worth thinking about. It is, indeed, an affair for “pussies.”
Now, don’t get me wrong. International commerce — trade deals—do serve the national interest. They can keep us prosperous. But they’re not everything. And the fact that Trump sees them as superior to defense is very concerning. Indeed, it is terrifying. It suggests that Trump would sell out the nation if there was a profit to be made. After all, it would be in perfect keeping with Globalism and the sacred teachings of Ayn Rand. There are no nations. Only economic interests. His own interests, in particular.
There are no nations. Only economic interests.
But there is one small silver lining in all this, or rather two. First, it teaches us more about Trump, and gives us yet more reasons to reject him. And, second, perhaps more importantly, it forces us to confront our national values.
For decades, now, maybe for centuries, we have privileged business and business professionals. We have judged the banker and the MBA higher than the Ph.D., the artist, the soldier, the scientist, the writer, the historian, the educator, the nurse, the social worker, even the doctor who may save our life (think of Dr. Fauci, whose warnings about Covid were rejected as being insufficiently pro-business).
We have said, repeatedly, that government needs to be run “like a business.”
But government isn’t a business. It must do a great many more things than a business, including things that do not necessarily make a profit but which are necessary for anyone to make a profit, like build roads and deliver the mail, and defend the nation against attack and foreign conquest.
Not a business. A nation.
And when we rebuild America, after Trump is gone, and we address the damage he has wrought, then we need to keep that distinction in mind. We need to remember that we are a country and a community.
And a community does many, many things…
Even things that have everything to do with Generals, and international Alliances, and which may or may have anything at all to do with trade deals…
No matter how much such deals might be admired in the hallowed halls of the Harvard Business School, and Galt’s Gulch, and…
Trump Tower.
Copyright©2020 Michael Jay Tucker