We are watching scenes from the movie "The Godfather." There is power in capricious cruelty. It shows who is boss and who must be feared.
Powerful people and powerful nations need not be constantly employing violence and war. Indeed, a mafia Don needing actually to do murder or a nation to send armies is proof that one's power is being tested, and maybe found weak. Better is to have power so awesome and overwhelming that it is not challenged.
 |
| Neo-con journal: The National Interest |
Presidential candidates echo Teddy Roosevelt's "Speak softly but carry a big stick." It is was a common thread in the GOP primary candidates, that America must be so powerful that no one would challenge us, that the way to peace was by having overwhelming power at our command. Every candidate said it. Conservative journals packaged Trump's rally comments about a huge military into a "doctrine", treated as previously undiscovered, and attributed it to him personally: The Trump Doctrine. Peace through strength.
Trump carries this out at the personal level as well: the power of capricious cruelty. It is the nature of politicians to want to be liked. We hear the phrases "reach out" and "build bridges" and "common ground." Voters want "reconciliation." Can't we all get along?
 |
| First Humiliate |
Indeed, Democrats at this very moment are busy working out areas of common ground with Trump on infrastructure and trade. The blog post here yesterday said this was a potentially fruitful strategy for Democrats since Trump's policy positions on infrastructure and trade are closer to the Sanders positions than they are the traditional GOP/Chamber of Commerce positions. Trump is voicing big-government big-spending deficit-growing put Americans to work policies that Republicans opposed when Obama suggested them. Democrats said he was temperamentally unfit, they didn't say he was wrong on protecting Americans from bad trade deals. Republicans had been the low-deficit, free trade party. Let them oppose Trump--if they dare.
 |
| Then discard as trash |
They will go along. Why? Because Trump scares them. Trump knows how to use fear. Trump humiliates the vanquished before he--perhaps--rescues them.
Trump openly humiliated a series of rivals using the tools of modern media as he dominated the debate. Trump understood he could brand Weak Jeb and Little Marco and Lyin' Ted and Crooked Hillary and the idea would stick. Between Twitter and Facebook shares and his domination of the news his frame would set the arena for the debate. No, I am not weak, said Jeb. My hands are big and yours are little, said Rubio. I am TrusTED, Cruz said. I am not guilty, Hillary said. Trump won the frame.
Part of the theater and optics of power is cruelty and the willingness to dangle and offer or withdraw salvation and demonstrate that the supplicate is weak and at the mercy of the victor. Here is where Trump excels. He is showing Republicans how to be the Godfather, how to frighten, how to use "peace through strength." He humiliated Chris Christie, who served Trump but with insufficient loyalty after the pussy-grab tapes. Christie was good, but not perfect. He hesitated.
 |
| The Godfather knew how to punish |
Christie had humbled himself standing behind Trump in midsummer then served this fall as his transition chief. Then was conspicuously fired. Christie had been a law and order prosecutor but had the bad luck to prosecute Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner's father, and when Trump had the pussy-gate mess Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich stepped up and Christie stepped back a moment.
Trump noticed.
 |
| Cruz came calling |
A series of aspirants are coming to Trump Tower. Their very presence demonstrates Trump's power. Men he insulted, men who called him unfit, are now coming to pay respects and make nice. The meeting creates media speculation. Could Trump offer Cruz a cabinet position? What does Cruz want, what will Trump grant, what must Cruz have said to explain away his previous comments?
What about Cruz's fury at Trump's suggestion that Cruz's father was part of the Kennedy assassination? What about the open insult of Heidi Cruz? Will Ted Cruz swallow every insult?
Cruz statement: "Senator Cruz is pleased to have the opportunity to speak with President-elect Trump today. . . . The Senator looks forward to assisting the Trump administration. . . "
 |
| Romney comes to Trump |
This summer Mitt Romney called Trump a phony, a con man, a fraud, and totally morally unfit to be president. Trump called him a loser who "choked like a dog."
Now Mitt Romney comes calling. The optics of this are inevitable: Romney is the supplicant. Trump need not make nice. Trump need not take anything back. Romney has gone to Trump Tower.
Whether offered some position or rebuffed, Trump wins. Either he hires the loser dog in some capacity, confirming his own seniority, or he rebuffs him, confirming his own seniority. Trump chooses, and rivals humble themselves. Trump has the power to save or discard. Look at Christie.
 |
| Demand respect. |
The final scene of Godfather I shows the succession of Don Corleone to son Michael to be complete. The "family business" of killing off rivals outside and within the family is complete. Michael is the Don. Men from former rivals come to pay respects, to bow and kiss the Godfather's ring. Better to bow, kiss the ring, have a future within the party than to have betrayed the man in power. Chris Christie was an example. Not of disloyalty but of hesitation amid a bad patch for Trump.
No comments:
Post a Comment