Trump’s resumption of nuclear testing prompted worries about another cold war. I’d worry more about Trump triggering a nuclear crisis.
Many of Trump’s decisions are triggered by anger unrelated to the issue at hand or by revenge against those who he believes mistreated. Neither has anything to do with the issue at hand.
It took the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, to prevent Trump from misusing the country’s nuclear arsenal in the last month of his presidency, presumingly out of anger at losing the presidential election and not in reaction to a perceived threat. Milley received intelligence that China was worried about an attack. To avoid a crisis, he called the head of China’s military to assure him there was no such plan. Trump’s anger can flare up at anything, and there will be no Milley there to stop him next time. Only the sex-offending, alcoholic, unqualified Fox News co-host.
He sprung his 2017 tariffs on our allies out of outrage over Hope Hicks’ testimony regarding Russia’s election interference and the treatment of his son-in-law by his chief of staff. He gave no vetted explanations for the tariffs and had no plan to alert foreign trade partners or Congress. No one at the State, Treasury or Defense Departments were notified about the tariffs ahead of the announcement.
Trump was enraged at Barak Obama for mocking him at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ dinner. He sought revenge by trying to undo all Obama had accomplished, no matter how much the country would suffer.
He’s been on a mission to overturn Obamacare for years, not because it wasn’t good for Americans, but out of revenge. It would have lost 23.1 million Americans their health insurance and no one would be covered for preexisting conditions. Because he didn’t have the votes, he sabotaged it by cancelling a provision that lowered premiums and halved its enrollment period, and more than 2 million people including 700 children lost their insurance – done purely for revenge against Obama.
He exited the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement Obama negotiated with eleven Pacific rim countries that excluded China. It would have eliminated 18,000 tariffs on American exports and established stronger labor standards and environmental protections that would have put state-owned enterprises on a level playing field with U.S. businesses. After Trump pulled out, China stepped in and took our place. The result: Trump gifted one-third of global trade to China.
Trump’s obsession with revenge is ongoing. He’s had his Justice Department launch vindictive, spurious and unsuccessful prosecutions and investigations of at least ten respected and devoted public officials who served America well. His motive of retribution is why no career or appointed prosecutor had ever agreed to do his bidding.
The energy, fury and government resources Trump devotes to his retribution and their irrelevance to what’s best for America tragically misguide his decisions. His danger is unprecedented. Tragically, his subjugated Republicans in Congress tolerate and enable him.
