There is a certain kind of commentator who makes a living trying to understand the mentality of Donald Trump.
asserted
who → be → Trump
They’re not necessarily his defenders.
asserted
They → ’re → ?
Some of them are even aware that he has long since left behind anything that would be recognizable as an ideology.
asserted
that → leave → ideology
But it’s a habit.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
They cannot live in a world where power is inexplicable, so they explain.
asserted
they → live → world
He’s a New York real estate guy, or his dad didn’t love him enough, or he only responds to strength, or whatever.
asserted
he → ’ → strength
All such explanations end in embarrassment.
asserted
explanations → end → embarrassment
Trump’s brain is a rotting jelly shot through with storms of electric stimuli.
asserted
brain → rot → stimuli
His administration has been defined by violent randomness.
asserted
administration → define → randomness
Nobody knows what the hell he’s going to do next.
asserted
he → know → hell
Nonetheless, a pattern is clarifying and it has huge tactical import for Europe and anyone else trying to live with and without America.
asserted
it → clarify → America
A playbook for the Trump Administration has emerged.
asserted
playbook → emerge → Administration
Put simply, it’s this: The Trump administration cannot play defence.
asserted
administration → put → defence
In the face of resistance, they have no strategy.
asserted
they → have → strategy
They can only choose delusion.
asserted
They → choose → delusion
A single man can upend industries in whatever country you happen to be in.
asserted
you → upend → country
He can use the largest military the world has ever known to blow up schools full of girls or boats full of unlucky fishermen.
asserted
world → use → fishermen
Michael Wolff, USA Today columnist and another close observer, has claimed that Donald Trump neither listens nor reads.
asserted
Trump → claim → ?
When such a mind has access to U.S. power it’s naturally scary.
asserted
it → have → power
Whatever flashes through his brain can kill people.
asserted
flashes → flash → people
But the world has been dealing with Trump’s rampages for a year and a half now, and what many countries have figured out, and many more are starting to appreciate is that, after the initial aggression, there is no plan.
asserted
more → deal → aggression
If things go south, if the original, vastly overreaching, objectives are not attained, if his overconfident attempt at assault doesn’t happen to pan out, he literally just doesn’t want to hear about it.
asserted
he → go → it
China countered his tariffs.
asserted
China → counter → tariffs
He went to war with Iran.
asserted
He → go → Iran
Canada refused to become his colony.
asserted
Canada → refuse → ?
He does not live in a world where actions have consequences, but ordinary Americans do.
asserted
Americans → live → consequences
Every day he’s in office, the country becomes markedly weaker.
asserted
country → ’ → office
Diesel is nearing $6.50 (U.S.) a gallon.
asserted
Diesel → near → 6.50
His popularity is sinking to the low thirties in polls.
asserted
popularity → sink → polls
The Trump administration is not capable of the type of organization and discipline that calibrated defensive actions require.
asserted
actions → calibrate → that
By this point, everyone surrounding him is an entertainment figure with little to no integrity, and often a substance abuse problem.
asserted
everyone → surround → integrity
They’re just not capable of an organized response, and increasingly, with the weakening of their institution, the institutions wouldn’t be capable of response anyway.
asserted
institutions → ’re → response
The USS Abraham Lincoln has limped home from the war in Iran, after eight suicide attempts, only to find itself with a fentanyl problem.
asserted
Lincoln → limp → problem
The FBI has been hacked.
asserted
FBI → hack → ?
Think about that: Criminals have decided that the FBI is so chaotic that they can take it on and win.
asserted
they → think → it
Don’t misunderstand me: As Trump enters the endgame of his political career, he will be incredibly dangerous.
asserted
he → misunderstand → career
His randomness is only increasing.
asserted
randomness → increase → ?
His taste for humiliation is widening.
asserted
taste → widen → humiliation
He will lash out and humiliate and degrade anyone he thinks he can, which is anyone who he’s made a deal with already.
asserted
he → lash → deal
The deal with Putin over diesel is all the evidence anyone needs that the United States is an enemy of democracy and rules.
asserted
States → need → democracy
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
