There appears to be a competition to aptly describe the persona of the man who happens to be 45th president of the United States. His own secretary of state chose the word “moron.” No less a conservative luminary than columnist George F. Will called him a “bloviating ignoramus.” Like other prolific efforts to characterize the buffoonery that constitutes Donald Trump, they are doomed to failure. They represent attempts at relieving frustration at being unable to abide or cope with a totally unique and discombobulating phenomenon: Mr. Trump has executed the ultimate con of actually becoming president of the United States.
Inauguration was the ultimate goal and validating factor for his particular form of egotism. And he luxuriates in the comfort of knowing he is on “top of the world” for four years. What he says and does, no matter how juvenile or unsavory, is “presidential.” He has no real interest in governing. He is reveling in a form of insouciant yo-yo playing since the game is already won.
But underlying it all is the fact that Mr. Trump not only has but is a “nuclear weapon.” And like Kim Jong Un and North Korea, he can’t be destroyed and is impervious to verbal attacks, however accurate. He can only be contained.
There remains only a patient resistance by principled and rational people, both within the corridors of power and those of us who had the common sense to recognize the perpetrating of a fraud. Prayer also might be a way of coping for those who believe in its efficacy.
ROBERT JEDRZEJEWSKI
Tarentum
