Madman theory gives Trump too much credit

Re Trump aping Nixon’s ‘madman theory’, Walkom, May 8 I think Thomas Walkom is giving U.S. President Donald Trump way too much credit when he contends that Trump has actually planned some sort of strategy “deliberately designed to keep everyone guessing as to what he might do.”

I don’t think Trump does any planning. He just says whatever comes to mind at that moment. Trump and thinking are diametrically opposed. Just look at his Twitter comments. Joe Lefkowitz, Toronto Thomas Walkom suggests Trump is crazy like a fox because he keeps people guessing as to what his next move will be. But Trump is no longer a reality TV sensation who needs to garner publicity. As president of the United States, his intended or non-intended practice of keeping people guessing is not particularly appropriate because he was elected to office based on specific positions held and promised as a Republican candidate.

Sadly, Trump will never stop playing a game and that’s only part of the problem with his presidency. If he spent more time on true leadership and governance, rather than “mixing it up,” he might have achieved something in his first 100 days. Margaret Mercer, Oakville Thomas Walkom, like many others, is trying to normalize Donald Trump. Walkom sees Trump as “crazy like a fox,” deliberately designing actions to keep everyone guessing as to what he might do.

Walkom is wrong. Trump should be taken literally. He does not speak in metaphors. Most often he speaks the random thoughts of the last person to whom he speaks at any given moment.

When he says “trade relations with Ottawa need only be tweaked,” Trump does mean it because he has no idea of what NAFTA is or what changes to it would mean. Gary Ralph, Toronto