The Wind and the Cryin' Lion

     Donald Trump suffered the whimsy of an elemental force: wind-driven rain.
     "...I was standing under the wing of Air Force One [important to mention his luxurious ride] doing a news conference early this morning, a very unfortunate news conference.  And the wind was blowing and the rain, and I was soaking wet, and that's what I ended up with today [meaning his hair's appearance]..."
     Saying this at a Future Farmers of America conference in Indianapolis, he continued, "I said, 'Maybe I should cancel this arrangement because I have a bad hair day, and the bad news, somebody said, 'Actually it looks better more than it usually does.'"
     That morning, an anti-Semitic creep with guns murdered eleven people in a Pittsburgh synagogue.  Six were wounded, including four cops, who practice a profession that Trump likes to praise every chance he gets, but his near-cancellation of the Indianapolis event had more to do, apparently, with the condition of his hair.
     I don't find it necessary to give examples of Trump's psychopathic personality, his inability to empathize (which should be disqualifying for his position, but is actually a common trait shared by many CEOs, politicians, corporate lawyers, and serial killers), but when he's trying to be funny in relation to a situation in which he stood in the rain answering questions from reporters wanting to know his thoughts about mass murder in Pittsburgh, as well as the would-be bomber Trump super-fan arrested in Florida who sent pipe bombs to Obama and the Clintons, plus several other prominent Democrats, his severe moral imbalance stands out.
     Just a few weeks ago, Trump was prevaricating about the leader of Saudi Arabia, who has obviously had one of his journalist opponents tortured and murdered.  Trump's talking points were identical to those of Mohammad Bin Salman al-Saud's, who not only probably ordered the hit, but condemned the killing after ordering an investigation.  Yes, I remember when Charles Manson was allowed to investigate the Tate-LaBianca murders--no, that didn't happen, because that would've been insane.
     Trump and MBS (as he's often referred to--I guess it means Muslim Bullshitter) both used the word "rogue" to describe the hit.  The Saudi authorities produced a report concluding that the journalist died, accidentally, in a "fistfight" that concluded with a "chokehold" that must've been held a second or two too long.  Manslaughter in the midst of some good old-fashioned fisticuffs.
     When Trump talks about trivial matters, it may be a defense on his part, since he doesn't know how to express himself; human terms that aren't scripted for him don't come readily to his limited vocabulary.  Even more limited--and let's recall that even the inarticulate Quasimodo, Victor Hugo's Hunchback, does have a heart--is Trump's ability to read situations, to say the right thing at the right time.
     Newscasters on non-Fox cable news programs played montages of past presidents making speeches intended to unite the country after tragedies or national stressors.  Obama's Newtown Elementary School shooting speech, George W. Bush's megaphone speech at the World Trade Center wreckage, Clinton talking about the Oklahoma City bombing, Reagan's Space Shuttle Challenger disaster speech.  The journalists didn't mention that the above presidents didn't write those speeches--we have no one of Lincoln's caliber, the man who wrote the Gettysburg Address on the train on the way to the battlefield.  But our modern presidents deliver the speeches well, usually.  Trump, we must now realize, is weak when it comes to giving speeches.  Since he has no inner core of morality, no ethical foundation except that of figuring out sleazy ways to make money, our president shouldn't be expected to act like he cares about one more mass shooting, one more organized terror attack (by a domestic terrorist would-be bomber who, not coincidentally, is an extreme Trump supporter).
     Trump, asked by reporters if he called Hillary and Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, or the other recipients of the bomb packages, to offer the solace, concern, and support a real leader would provide in such a situation--even to his political opponents--replied that no, he hadn't made any such calls.
     "...if they wanted me to," Trump said, "but I think we'll probably pass."
     Pass, as if if he's turning down an offer?  From whom?  He uses a business term but shows his mental and emotional deficiency by not making sense, a non sequitur applied to a reasonable question.
     One advantage to be had when a politician speaks the English language well can be detected in our ability to think through and feel their intent, whether the well-spoken politician is benign or malign, or a mixture of both.  Trump's use of language has been established by linguists and educators as being at the fourth grade level, but there are many nine and ten year olds who can articulate their thoughts and feelings and be readily understood.
     Trump seems like a nine year old who never had the advantage of interacting with other children or adults who were sensibly interested in his progress as a human being.  Instead, he grew up economically privileged, his father creative with financial manipulation.  Trump, by the time he was eight, was a millionaire.  Unfortunately, for his character, and the world, he wasn't abducted like someone in a romantic nineteenth century adventure novel, put to sea on a merchant ship as a cabin boy, suffering a great deal, but emerging as a strong person.
     I don't advocate that this kind of thing be done to the children of the rich, but in Trump's case, he needed to get beaten up when he was young, to have his vanity pounded out of him.  Trump likes MBS and Kim Jong-Un because all three of them are children of privilege who never suffered from need or want, ruling over millions of subjects whose daily concerns are of no concern to them, nor have they ever had such concerns for populations they can't relate to.
     Trump, standing under the wing of his super-plane, getting wet and tempest-tossed, was only thinking of himself.  He knew he had to say a few things about the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting; his son-in-law and daughter, after all, are Jewish.  He knows that Israel runs much of American political thought and practice.
     But damn, that rain!  The hairdo is being assassinated!

                                                                              Vic Neptune