Trump’s weakness for instant gratification
Chess vs. checkers is standard shorthand for suggesting a president is either smart, or not. President Trump’s forte is the simpler game without all the strategic forethought. Who could have guessed that would be the wrong game for a president.
The consequences have run a narrow gamut from bad to disastrous. With Charlottesville, Va., his impulsive short-termism now threatens the values, identity and character, indeed the very exceptionalism, of a nation.
Whether it’s our heritage or our economy, peering around corners is not something Trump does. His quick end to U.S. participation in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, covering 40% of the world economy, fulfilled a campaign pledge. But he abandoned it without an alternate plan in place for trade.
Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey was checkers writ gigantic. It was inevitable that someone, a special counsel or a conscience-stricken congressional committee, would continue the Russia investigation. So why take a chance it would fall into the hands of a highly accomplished special counsel like, say, former FBI director Robert Mueller?
The escalating feud with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — like Trump, a Republican — is another mystery explained only by the checkers analogy. Do you really want to offend and anger the senator who would be key to impeaching you? And that’s just the tip of the Congress iceberg. Trump has publicly insulted or pressured countless senators and House members of his own party, setting the stage for them to feel less than loyal.
Trump’s latest less than logical indulgences are cozying up to his white nationalist supporters after their “Unite the Right” show of force in Charlottesville — and then firing their man in the White House, chief strategist Steve Bannon. He was either unaware or uncaring that his embrace of the white supremacist crowd would alienate so many and provoke mass desertions by the business community. Firing Bannon won’t turn back that clock. All it will do is enrage one of Trump’s last pillars of support. This is not chess.
Of course, the most egregious act of checkers was Trump’s presidential candidacy itself. It’s clear he did not think through what might happen if he won.
Why does Trump insist on playing the short game? Perhaps it’s because Trump has never paid a real price for his reckless pursuit of instant gratification. It’s not for lack of attempts by others to make him pay — women who say he attacked them; customers and business associates he allegedly cheated; and Hillary Clinton, who had Trump’s number and said so throughout the 2016 campaign. Instead, he has been rewarded all his life with business success, beautiful wives and, now, the presidency.
The stakes are infinitely higher now, but Trump might finally face accountability. He could finally recognize that he should have been playing chess.