Things are worse than they seem
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” — Edmund Burke.
Maybe Edmund Burke was mistaken. It is clear that evil also triumphs when men of ignorance attempt to do too much. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
The world’s most powerful nation, the nation to whom other nations look for leadership and support, is presently headed by a man with only a little knowledge of the events of modern history and only a foggy understanding of how things work between nations and international organizations. He seems buffaloed by the intricacies of the Game of Thrones as it’s played by actual nations both great and small.
To watch this man undergo a press conference a week ago was to see a man completely out of his depth, a farcically un-presidential Forrest Gump figure issuing banalities and bromides. “The world is a terrible, terrible place but I’m pretty sure that when I’m through all those problems will be solved. The world will be a better place to live in when I'm done.” Seeing this disastrous display one can’t help but notice the shallowness of this man’s understanding and the emptiness of his head. Or his apparent narcissism. But we must not avert our eyes. Things are even worse than they seem.
We’ve already seen one of the rockiest, most disorganized 100 days of any presidency in modern times. This man has presided over numerous domestic administrative disasters, the Muslim travel ban and the failure of his “health care plan” being two of the most obvious. But we mustn’t forget the Flynn appointment and dismissal, with its taint of Russian involvement in the election campaign, or the Sean Spicer misinformation sideshow, or the Ivanka/Kushner nepotism circus, or the weekend trips to the winter White House in Florida, which already, after only three months, cost taxpayers more than the eight years of president Obama’s vacations did — more than $100 million so far, and another $46 to $53 million per year to protect Melania and Barron while they stay in New York. His approval ratings hover somewhere between 35 to 42 per cent, the lowest in all of American history. (This last detail, is, for me at least, the one good development of the past few months.)
Troubling as all this may be, there are other reasons to fear the shallowness of this man. His reaction to the Syrian chemical attack on innocent people was understandable and appropriate. It was clearly an inexcusably monstrous act, made all the more horrific by the almost immediate uncensored media coverage showing gasping victims, including children and babies. No one could fail to be shocked and angered by these scenes.
But thinking people wonder, “Doesn’t he know that this war has been going on for seven years and that more than 400,000 people have died at the hands of Assad? Doesn’t he know that more than 175 documented instances of the use of poison gas on civilians exist in this war? Hasn’t he been told of the horrors of crude barrel bombs dropped from government helicopters on villagers in rebel held territories?” Watching his reaction, one wonders, “Where has this man been?” This single attack on unsuspecting and innocent villagers was his “aha’ moment, his epiphany! He seems to have had no idea until now that these things were happening!
Within days he ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airfield, accomplishing two things. One, he showed he was more decisive than Obama had been. Two, he suddenly had a significant increase in voter popularity. His act of bravado made him a ‘winner’ again.
It did not, however, change anything in Syria. Chemical weapons still exist. They will be used again, as will the deadly shower of barrel bombs. While Russia, for a variety of reasons, continues to support Assad, nothing will change and the horror for the Syrian people will continue. This impulsive and ill-considered response is nothing more than a temper tantrum with side benefits for Mr. Trump.
One can see the wheels turning. “Hey, my relatively meaningless show of force got me some positive attention! Maybe I’ll just push my luck a little and move an aircraft carrier group into Korean waters. Let’s see what comes up.”
In both cases, Syria and North Korea, what was missing was a thoughtful, careful course of action guided by an overarching plan for desired outcomes. Trumpian foreign policy seems instead to be driven by impulsiveness.
Unlike the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, where two leaders, Kennedy and Khrushchev, clearly recognized there can never be a winner in a nuclear confrontation, we now have one impulsive and unpredictable leader facing off against an even more impulsive and erratic warlord. Both are bereft of imagination. Would any of us be here today had Mr. Trump been president in 1962? Will we still be here next year?
Peter Mueller is a long-time resident of Medicine Hat who, in spite of all the evidence, continues to believe we can build a better world.