Missing quality leadership
Trump bestowed his magical presence on CPAC yesterday, to tell them how awesome he is and how lucky they are to have him.
The Post gives us an enlightening bit of background:
The speech marked the fifth time Trump has addressed the conference hosted by the American Conservative Union, which is showcasing how he has pushed the Republican Party and the conservative movement toward an “America first” nationalism that has long existed on the fringes.
Trump’s first appearance in 2011 offered clues to his political ambitions.
“America today is missing quality leadership, and foreign countries have quickly realized this,” he said six years ago.
“[The] theory of a very successful person running for office is rarely tested because most successful people don’t want to be scrutinized or abused,” he said. “This is the kind of person that the country needs and we need it now.”
Ah “successful” – he thinks he’s successful. He’s right in a sense, of course – he’s filthy rich and he’s stayed out of jail. But that’s all he’d succeeded at: piling up cash and evading prosecution. It’s a very narrow understanding of “success.” A better word for what he’s talking about would be “self-enriching” – but that sounds quite different in terms of running for office, doesn’t it. “The theory of a very self-enriching person running for office is rarely tested because most self-enriching people don’t want to be scrutinized or abused. This is the kind of person that the country needs and we need it now.” It doesn’t convey the same thing, does it. Self-enriching people don’t want to be scrutinized because they want to stay out of jail. More to the point, self-enriching people seem quite unlikely to have any skills that would transfer to public office. Self-enrichment is rather obviously the opposite of public service, and in tension with it.
Thank you, Ophelia.
‘Self-enriching’ is the perfect description of the man (along with ‘self-promoting’, ‘self-aggrandising’, and ‘self-protecting’). Somehow the people who could have stopped him have instead installed the most selfish person of all in a position which needs someone prepared to be the ultimate civil servant, not someone who has ambitions to be king.
He does seem to think in all sincerity that his piled-up cash conclusively demonstrates how brilliant and skilled and good at everything he is – that he is “successful” as a character trait, successful in everything he puts his hand to. Which is hilarious-tragic, when he is so strikingly, indeed astonishingly, UNskilled in almost every way that matters.
“Self-promoting” is probably a more accurate description of Trump, because he hasn’t been especially successful at self-enriching. It’s been pointed out–someone here will remember where, I don’t–that had he put the money he started with (loans and credit from his rich daddy) into interest-bearing accounts from the start, he’d be doing as well as or better, financially, than he is now.
Sefl-fellating.
Holms, if his tiny hands are any indication then I’d say that self-fellation is not an option. It’s also an image I didn’t really want in my head.