Donald J. Trump portrays himself as The Big Winner.
He won the presidency, didn’t he? That’s big.
In gambling terms: at first he was a lone wolf hustler who won the big stakes with his call to white tribalism. Now, he is trying to run the table again, and all the Republican squares in the casino who think he’s a political Rodney Dangerfield, only with bad jokes, have come to think he’s on a lucky streak, and hey, they want to win too; so they’re willing to bet with Trump.
In political terms: he’s got this rabid, loyal, white fan base that will back his bad decisions and his gross, disgusting behavior, even if they saw him shoot somebody in the middle of New York’s Fifth Avenue.
He’s The Big Winner. He thinks he’s Bad. He’s just a bully.
Donald J. Trump’s lucky winning streak must come to an end one day soon. They all do. Furthermore, he’s not Bad. Sooner or later, someone is going to call his bluff.
See, Trump is just an actor who knows he can bully most of the people in any situation in which he finds himself. And, so he does. He’s a bully. He’s good at it.
In gambling terms, he’s got the hot hand. But in political terms, he’s in over his head. He’s nothing but a bully, shoving the bully pulpit around. Trump would be King. Trump would be President For Life.
The “bully pulpit” expression has been around since President Theodore Roosevelt, the un-Trump Republican who served two terms in the White House. Roosevelt, from a distinguished family of wealthy patricians, was a wounded military war hero and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. He referred to his office as a “bully pulpit,” by which he meant a terrific platform from which to advocate an agenda.
Trump, on the other hand, is a “my way or the highway” kind of bully with a military exemption because of paid-for “bone spurs.” It’s all about him “winning,” though — winning it all! Trump’s not an advocate of an agenda in any democratic society ruled by merit and right, and justice and freedom, in a marketplace of ideas, by fair-minded people. Oh, no.
The politics and the gamble converge. Just about everyone in the Republican universe is now intellectually coming to terms with Trump’s objectionable appeals to KKK-style hate, among his hateful brood of white, armed thugs inside the military, the police forces and “the bikers for Trump,” who are armed and willing to go to war if Trump loses. Willing to fight the slovenly, unmotivated masses if Dude loses anything at all — the Mueller report, his tax returns (all illegal schemes, by the way, to steal his presidency).
Team Trump is now saying, “The laws don’t apply to Trump.” “The president’s authority must not be challenged.” The Bully has spoken. The Bully must rule.
The Republican Party (because most are now beginning to come around to appreciate the way Trump “wins,” and want to win themselves and line their pockets too, even if it means doing so “In the Name of Whiteness”) is on board: Team Trump, all the way. They’ve got the courts, the corporations. They’re suppressing the votes of those who might chase them out of office. They’re winning with Trump. By 2020, they’ll be all-in.
Meanwhile Trump is full of glee because by the time those masses discover that he’s a bully and would-be dictator, who’s not “Bad” and might not win all the time, it will already be too late to stop him from cheating to win, like declaring a national emergency and suspending the Constitution and ruling by proclamations and sanctions.
He’s a bully. He would most certainly take it that far. Trust me. Watch him.
Thanks, very good article.