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Why Is Trump So Angry?
The president’s uncontrollable rage powers his ruthlessness—and his ineptitude.Donald Trump is upset. He’s not happy about America’s preoccupation with the “Russia narrative.” He’s angry that we’re bothered by the possible damning ties between his campaign and a hostile foreign power. He’s seething over the Senate Judiciary Committee’s insolent insistence on scrutinizing his people. “He would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe,” Politico reports, in a piece that characterizes the president as “enraged” and “fuming.” He has sent furious tweets. “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax,” he ranted during Sally Yates’ testimony on Monday. “When will this taxpayer funded charade end?”
That rage resulted in the most famous Trumpian act: a firing.
It is such an odd, ubiquitous detail—that Trump is “enraged.” He is apoplectic, incensed, irate, vexed, sore, peeved, tantrum-y, mad online, mad offline, mad in a boat, mad with a goat, mad in the rain, mad on a train. The president’s rage, his defining characteristic, is not of the contemporary political moment. It is something archaic, mythological, like the rage of Achilles. How can you be “enraged” about an investigation that has already found clear evidence of your team’s wrongdoing and yet that your allies have moved mountains to hinder? Why is it infuriating that the American people want to resolve the question of whether an authoritarian country meddled in their election? A man with nothing to hide would feel indignant, surely, but not this all-consuming rage; a man with secrets would presumably feel dread or guilt. But Trump’s wrath is not the response of a conventional politician. It is the lashing out of a mad king against the disobedience of his subjects.
On Tuesday, that rage resulted in the most famous Trumpian act: a firing. Citing a Justice Department memo that he commissioned, the president ejected James Comey from the driver’s seat of the FBI—the agency that has placed Trump’s campaign under a microscope. In Slate, Phillip Carter called the axing a “public execution” and argued that POTUS had declared “war on justice … there are no shoes left to drop.” Press secretary Sean Spicer, fumbling among the bushes on the darkened White House lawn, seemed about as prepared as one might expect (from a person hiding among bushes) to explain his boss’s decision and assuage the public’s concerns.
Trump’s circle thought Republicans and Democrats would all rejoice to see Comey go. The former FBI director was unpopular; Hillary Clinton’s supporters blamed him for handing Trump the presidency. With the ouster, the administration had anticipated a “win-win.”
That rage resulted in the most famous Trumpian act: a firing.
It is such an odd, ubiquitous detail—that Trump is “enraged.” He is apoplectic, incensed, irate, vexed, sore, peeved, tantrum-y, mad online, mad offline, mad in a boat, mad with a goat, mad in the rain, mad on a train. The president’s rage, his defining characteristic, is not of the contemporary political moment. It is something archaic, mythological, like the rage of Achilles. How can you be “enraged” about an investigation that has already found clear evidence of your team’s wrongdoing and yet that your allies have moved mountains to hinder? Why is it infuriating that the American people want to resolve the question of whether an authoritarian country meddled in their election? A man with nothing to hide would feel indignant, surely, but not this all-consuming rage; a man with secrets would presumably feel dread or guilt. But Trump’s wrath is not the response of a conventional politician. It is the lashing out of a mad king against the disobedience of his subjects.
On Tuesday, that rage resulted in the most famous Trumpian act: a firing. Citing a Justice Department memo that he commissioned, the president ejected James Comey from the driver’s seat of the FBI—the agency that has placed Trump’s campaign under a microscope. In Slate, Phillip Carter called the axing a “public execution” and argued that POTUS had declared “war on justice … there are no shoes left to drop.” Press secretary Sean Spicer, fumbling among the bushes on the darkened White House lawn, seemed about as prepared as one might expect (from a person hiding among bushes) to explain his boss’s decision and assuage the public’s concerns.
Trump’s circle thought Republicans and Democrats would all rejoice to see Comey go. The former FBI director was unpopular; Hillary Clinton’s supporters blamed him for handing Trump the presidency. With the ouster, the administration had anticipated a “win-win.”
https://redux.slate.com/cover-stories/2017/05/trumps-rage-powers-his-ruthlessness-and-his-ineptitude.html
23 replies
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Response to DetlefK (Reply #16)
The reason for the partying and building the original Trump Tower in Manhattan to running for the presidency all have their roots in his desire to be accepted; first in Manhattan and latter to the nation and the world. He can't get past the facts that he will never be respected my Manhattanites or for that matter by most people. This is why he is so compulsive about the popular vote. The Russian's were able to groom him because of his desire to be one of the great and powerful.
All this is scary. He has this penchant for firing people. Let's hope he doesn't fire all of us.
