Any conservative, regardless how objectionable he or she finds Donald Trump , is going to have to concede that he occasionally gets something right. The latest example is the signing of peace agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers for the two Arab nations came to the White House for a signing ceremony, and it was a fitting event. Certainly, it was the culmination of a lot of communication and heavy lifting among the parties actually agreeing to peace, but it happened on Trump's watch and he signed off on anything having to do with the US role in orchestrating the deals. If one doesn't acknowledge that, one is far too invested in narrative.
That said, the question must be asked, why isn't this dominating the current news cycle?
It's not too hard to figure out. The guy is his own worst enemy. He consistently poisons the well, fouls his own nest. I've long said that there's been a cycle to his presidency. One laudable move, followed by three or four embarrassing or downright rotten utterings or stunts.
The ABC town hall was full of cringeworthy moments, but perhaps the most glaring was when he was asked why he didn't level with the American people about the severity of the coronavirus threat. There's no question that he did so. Bob Woodward has it on tape. Well, he answered the question by saying, "I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it [which isn't even an actual word], in terms of action. My action was very strong."
That must be why a country with 4 percent of the world's population has 20 percent of its COVID cases.
Speaking of mangled language at the town hall, at one point, he said that eventually society will develop "like a herd mentality" to fend off the virus.
At a rally in Michigan, in the course of talking about keeping the American people "calm," he said that, when London was being bombed by Germany in the early 1940s, Winston Churchill would frequently go up to a roof to give speeches. No, Mr. President, that was CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow, and they were news reports. Churchill gave speeches in Parliament, but they were bracing messages to the British people to be prepared for very hard times.
Then there was the rally in Nevada at which he made it clear he doesn't give a flying you-know-what about no stinkin' Constitution:
During a rally in Minden, Nevada, Trump predicted he would win reelection and carry Nevada, a state he lost narrowly in 2016.
“After that,” Trump said, “we’ll negotiate,” asserting that he’s “probably entitled to another four after that” based on “the way we were treated.”
The comments echo ones Trump made during a rally in Wisconsin in August, in which he stated he would win four more years and “go for another four years” because “they spied on my campaign,” likely referencing his unproven “Obamagate” theory.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer-turned prolific critic, has argued that Trump’s comments should not be disregarded as humor, instead asserting that Trump believes he should be the “ruler” or “dictator” of the U.S. and wants to “change the Constitution.”
Cohen predicted that, were Trump to win reelection, “he is going to automatically day number one start thinking how he can change the Constitution for a third term, and then a fourth term.”
This is just in the last few days. Of course, we could go back further to the revelations in Woodward's book about his man-crushes on the world's autocrats and dictators, and his contempt for the US military's generals, or Trump's ordering Attorney General Bob Barr to come up with a list of "anarchist jurisdictions" to be denied federal funds already allocated to them.
This self-sabotage may be the most compelling argument for the Very Stable Genius's fundamental unfitness to be president. He's incapable of a coherent thought process, and if there's any job in the world for which that's an imperative quality, it's his.
Which is not to downplay the particulars enumerated above.
The bottom line is that the sum total of it grossly outweighs good moves like yesterday's signing ceremony. It's not worth it to put the country through this other stuff.
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