TRUMP AND HIS SEVEN DEADLY SINS
The president is failing not because he is a Republican but because of who he is
Trumpland is a crazy disaster. The president has thanked the Boy Scouts for votes they didn’t cast and told them about a hot cocktail party, attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions for refusing to obstruct justice, and confirmed the existence of a covert CIA program on Twitter before tweeting out a new military policy without telling the Pentagon. With all those earnest policy-driven lobbying efforts, it’s a complete shocker his health care bill somehow didn’t pass.
This should be of concern to both Republicans and Democrats. A President Rubio or Romney would be taking full advantage of a Republican House and Senate to make sweeping change. President Trump is failing not because he’s a Republican but because of who he is — the walking embodiment of the seven deadly sins that he cannot control.
Pride: Trump has been consistently inconsistent when it comes to policy ideas, but his commitment to Donald Trump is absolute. He made the Boy Scouts speech about himself rather than about serving others. He couldn’t handle Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s vote against the GOP health bill, so he threatened all of Alaska. After he held a rally in Ohio and left the chanting multitudes, he tweeted about crowd size — the 252nd time he has done so. (For comparison, he has tweeted only 36 times about Afghanistan.)
Wrath: When Trump’s temper flares, he is his own worst enemy. He relentlessly attacked Sessions, alienating his base in the process. He attacked the acting FBI director, an unwise move for someone being investigated. Trump sanctioned a public attack by his communications director on his chief of staff. And his early insult against Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for being captured in Vietnam, came back to haunt him as the GOP health bill failed by one unexpected vote — McCain’s.
Sloth: A President Rubio or Romney could have gotten a health care bill passed. Trump didn’t do the necessary work. Despite claiming that he has very little time to watch TV, aides say he is fixated on cable news programs. He told lawmakers they shouldn’t leave Washington until they passed a health care bill, then he left for a weekend of golf. After slamming President Obama dozens of times about golf habits, Trump has spent 22% of his days as president at his golf properties.
Gluttony, or the lack of self-control: Trump loves KFC, well-done steak with ketchup and “beautiful” chocolate cake for when he’s bombing Syria. But Trump’s main sin in this realm is his inability to control his impulses. He won’t listen to lawyers. He won’t listen to his wife’s anti-cyberbullying initiative. The more he lets his impulses rule, the less he governs effectively.
Lust: From his Playboy past to boasting that he’d date his daughter if she weren’t a relative, Trump sells an image that has gotten him into trouble, with the
Access Hollywood tape the most damaging blow. Those lustful failings and his casual misogyny have made him unpopular with women. Just over two in 10 American women approve of Trump. Given how crucial women are to victory in swing elections, this is undercutting his ability to pressure wavering members of Congress on hard votes.
Envy: Trump’s Twitter tantrums expose a jealousy for his rivals and a constant attempt to measure up to them. He is obsessed with the fact that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. In response, he launched a bogus voter fraud commission that is backfiring. He falsely claims that millions voted illegally. When polls show him in a negative light, he calls them fake. And his impulse to compare himself to Obama or Clinton prompts him to go off message, ranting rather than talking about “Infrastructure Week” or “Energy Week.”
Greed: “I don’t do it for the money,” Trump claims in his book The Art of the Deal. “I do it to do it.” Every evidence contradicts that claim. Trump cares about money. A lot. His greed is damaging his presidency as lawsuits and ethics violations rack up. Trump faces an emoluments lawsuit. The head of the independent federal Office of Government Ethics resigned after clashes with Trump over his failure to divest from his businesses. And his past business dealings could come back to haunt him as special counsel Bob Mueller probes for financial crimes.
American presidents all have failings. We are all human. But Trump departs from all presidents since Richard Nixon in that he is unable to control his impulses and manage his sins. For the past six months, they have undermined the Republican agenda. Last week — which ended, post-health care, with a major staff shake-up and Trump encouraging cops to rough up suspects — was no exception.
It’s hard to imagine anything changing, because Trump has shown no signs of changing.