The Pointless Pettiness of the POTUS
I genuinely cannot understand why Trump's being so wince-inducingly petty
about lowering the flag for John McCain. For far longer than I've been
alive, it's been bog-standard bipartisan courtesy that when a
quote-unquote "public servant" of his stature dies, you lower the US
flags for awhile to show respect and yadda yadda. And if you're the
sitting president, then you (or rather, your speechwriters) produce a
statement about how this is a sad day for America because blah blah blah
great loss to the nation.
(Yes, you can make a "that's hypocritical" argument, but I don't care
-- a certain level of polite dissembling and hypocrisy is necessary to
keep the gears of civilization greased.) What I specifically don't
understand about Trump's mindset is, it costs him nothing to lower the
flag, and he GAINS nothing by refusing to do so (until the American
Legion and others finally convinced him of it) -- seriously, what the
devil is he thinking here? Everything Trump does, he does because he
expects to personally benefit by it somehow -- what benefit did he hope
to get by being so petty in this instance?
A friend of mine suggested Trump hoped to get revenge for not being invited to McCain's funeral. Which may well be Trump's motivation, but that still inspires massive face-palming: what kind of American politico insults an American soldier solely for having become a POW, for fark's sake? (Don't get me wrong: the Vietnam War was stupid from the get-go, and had I been around then I'm certain I'd've protested it--but you still don't insult American POWs for having been POWs, for fark's sake.)
Even had there been no history of acrimony from Trump toward McCain, the McCain family would still be justified in not wanting Trump at the funeral due to Trump's tendency to simultaneously politicize events and make them about him: "Senator McCain's death was a sad day for America. SAD! Almost as sad as the FBI giving Crooked Hillary a pass! You know what wasn't sad, though? The day I was elected president by the hugest electoral landslide in all history!"
I'm thinking back to when I was in middle school or the higher elementary grades: academically I was "advanced for my age," but socially and emotionally I was arguably below par (in my defense, I had some pretty warped adult role models in you youngest days) -- plenty of things to make me cringe to recall them now -- but for all my terribly immature traits, I at least knew enough to TRY to "act like a grownup" in certain situations. Like, for ordinary Sunday church services I'd be fidgety and bored, but on those Sundays when I was assigned to be the "acolyte" (minister's assistant -- lighting and extinguishing the altar candles, passing out and collecting offering plates, and similar tasks), on THOSE days I made sure to behave "properly." Or -- again at church -- on those other Sundays when I didn't have to attend the sermon because I was instead put on "nursery duty" (helping to babysit the preschoolers who were far too young for the adult service) -- again, even as a 10 or 11-year-old I knew that when I was helping babysit little kids I had to act "like a grownup" in that instance.
Granted, I'm guessing any actual adult who observed me in such situations would've been very amused by some of my attempts at "grown-upness" -- but at least I was trying, and knew enough to try. And if my 10 to 12-year old self were somehow made to change places with President Trump today ... no doubt Young Me would've been just as clueless as Old Cheeto regarding economics and the like -- but I can say with absolute certainty that I'd've been orders of magnitude better than Trump at the diplomatic stuff. Because even as an immature 10-year-old I'd mastered such pathetically basic social skills as "You must at least PRETEND to be sad when someone dies," and more advanced concepts such as "If you're in a position of power -- like say the president of the United States -- comedian-types WILL sometimes fun of you, and you must accept this and NOT publicly get mad at them."
As a ten- or eleven-year-old in a position of semi-power over inmates at the church nursery, I knew better than to get angry and take it personally one morning when a certain tantrumy toddler called me a "doodoo brain." I've seen nothing to indicate Trump has that level of maturity even today. If anything, Trump's still wont to lash out with toddler-style rants ... except Trump would more likely say "shithead" than "doodoo brain." Because advanced insults are as close to emotional sophistication as Donald Trump seems to get, and his unbelievable pettiness over John McCain shows it.
A friend of mine suggested Trump hoped to get revenge for not being invited to McCain's funeral. Which may well be Trump's motivation, but that still inspires massive face-palming: what kind of American politico insults an American soldier solely for having become a POW, for fark's sake? (Don't get me wrong: the Vietnam War was stupid from the get-go, and had I been around then I'm certain I'd've protested it--but you still don't insult American POWs for having been POWs, for fark's sake.)
Even had there been no history of acrimony from Trump toward McCain, the McCain family would still be justified in not wanting Trump at the funeral due to Trump's tendency to simultaneously politicize events and make them about him: "Senator McCain's death was a sad day for America. SAD! Almost as sad as the FBI giving Crooked Hillary a pass! You know what wasn't sad, though? The day I was elected president by the hugest electoral landslide in all history!"
I'm thinking back to when I was in middle school or the higher elementary grades: academically I was "advanced for my age," but socially and emotionally I was arguably below par (in my defense, I had some pretty warped adult role models in you youngest days) -- plenty of things to make me cringe to recall them now -- but for all my terribly immature traits, I at least knew enough to TRY to "act like a grownup" in certain situations. Like, for ordinary Sunday church services I'd be fidgety and bored, but on those Sundays when I was assigned to be the "acolyte" (minister's assistant -- lighting and extinguishing the altar candles, passing out and collecting offering plates, and similar tasks), on THOSE days I made sure to behave "properly." Or -- again at church -- on those other Sundays when I didn't have to attend the sermon because I was instead put on "nursery duty" (helping to babysit the preschoolers who were far too young for the adult service) -- again, even as a 10 or 11-year-old I knew that when I was helping babysit little kids I had to act "like a grownup" in that instance.
Granted, I'm guessing any actual adult who observed me in such situations would've been very amused by some of my attempts at "grown-upness" -- but at least I was trying, and knew enough to try. And if my 10 to 12-year old self were somehow made to change places with President Trump today ... no doubt Young Me would've been just as clueless as Old Cheeto regarding economics and the like -- but I can say with absolute certainty that I'd've been orders of magnitude better than Trump at the diplomatic stuff. Because even as an immature 10-year-old I'd mastered such pathetically basic social skills as "You must at least PRETEND to be sad when someone dies," and more advanced concepts such as "If you're in a position of power -- like say the president of the United States -- comedian-types WILL sometimes fun of you, and you must accept this and NOT publicly get mad at them."
As a ten- or eleven-year-old in a position of semi-power over inmates at the church nursery, I knew better than to get angry and take it personally one morning when a certain tantrumy toddler called me a "doodoo brain." I've seen nothing to indicate Trump has that level of maturity even today. If anything, Trump's still wont to lash out with toddler-style rants ... except Trump would more likely say "shithead" than "doodoo brain." Because advanced insults are as close to emotional sophistication as Donald Trump seems to get, and his unbelievable pettiness over John McCain shows it.
posted by Jennifer Abel at 4:53 PM
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