Cowboy act will backfire on Trump

Old-fashioned Westerns notwithstanding, sometimes acting like the baddest cowboy in the saloon (Trump) doesn’t actually work out so well. As these same movies tell us, sometimes a young, no-name upstart wants to try his hand up against the legendary troublemaker and establish his own reputation. Sometimes the normally sheepish townsfolk don’t actually cower, but form an informal militia to re-establish law and order . ... And, of course, you can never forget about possible run-ins with “wild” (read — proud, fearless, and independent) Native Americans.

Case in point, Iran. What a cowboy response they had to Trump’s latest warning. “We don’t need the permission of President Trump to defend the national interests of Iran.” Perhaps these people who cheer on Trump’s tough guy antics can’t even imagine that the citizens and leaders of other nations can be just as nationalistic ... as any American in a “Make America Great Again” cap can be. You do not have to have seen more than a couple of old Westerns to be pretty certain that probably more than one national leader is going to take Trump’s blustering bravado as an invitation to see just how much they can taunt and humiliate him by stepping across the “line in the sand.”

... So maybe Trump will go down in history as the “Dances with Wolves” president. While watching these Wild West dramas of international one-upmanship unfold, you just kinda can’t help pulling for the Native Americans. TOM MALONE, SNELLVILLE