(This caricature of Donald Trump is by Jose Rodriguez Mota at El Periodico de Mexico.)Trump has a set of tools that allowed him to turn his inherited wealth into more wealth in the real estate industry. Those tools were lying, bullying, threatening, and bribery.
When he ran for president, he was sure that those same tools would allow him to be a great president. And he has tried them all.
He has lied incessantly (more than 1,000 times since January according to the Washington Post, who are keeping count). All it has gotten him is a majority of Americans thinking he is the most dishonest president in modern times.
He tried a silly bribe on Senator Capito (R-West Virginia) -- offering her a ride on Air Force One in exchange for a yes vote on the GOP health care bill. She turned him down, and voted against that bill.
He tried to blackmail Senator Murkowski (R-Alaska) -- threatening to cut off programs for Alaska unless she voted for the GOP health bill. She ignored his threat and voted against the bill.
He has also threatened other senators (Heller of Nevada and Flake of Arizona) with opposing them in the next election if they don't support what he wants.
And he has leveled a profane tirade at Majority Leader McConnell because he didn't get the health bill passed, and wouldn't stop the Russia investigation in the Senate (which is an attempt to obstruct justice). He has also had nothing but bad things to say about an American hero -- Senator McCain (R-Arizona).
The crazy thing is that those ridiculous attempts to force people to do his will were all aimed at members of his own party -- the people he needs to get any of his agenda accomplished. He has not even made an attempt to work with Democrats.
And he doesn't seem to have learned anything from his failures. He is now threatening to shut down the government if he doesn't get the money to build his silly (and unnecessary) border wall.
The tools Trump used while a business mogul, don't work for a president. A president needs to be a bridge-builder, not a bridge-burner. He needs to bring people together, which Trump seems utterly incapable of doing. In short, Trump doesn't understand how government works in a representative democracy -- and he doesn't want to learn. He still believes that lying, bullying, threatening, and bribery will work. He is wrong.
The only upside to Trump's amazing incompetence is that the country might be saved from his odious and hurtful agenda. At least, I hope so.
