Monday, July 31, 2017

President Donald Drama Queen Roasted As "Weepy", "Unmanly" In WSJ Piece

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Above- Weepy Trump on Mt. Rushmore, accompanied Peggy Noonan's article 'Trump Is Woody Allen Without The Humor'

Every one over 60 surely recalls Woody Allen's assorted comedy characters which often portrayed a "Nebbish" over involved in his emotions (couldn't stop yapping about them), his resentments and needs. Often, apart from being a wimp, he came over as being overly invested in his needy emotions and grievances thereby coming over as basically passive, weepy and unmanly.  Interestingly, this is exactly the template WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan now asserts applies to Donald Trump.

I say "interestingly" because most of Trump's erratic, cultish base sees him as the exact opposite: some kind of macho man, a wheeler dealer of sorts, who "grabs pussies" and doesn't take any shit from "elites". But his outburst Saturday of 13 tweets attacking the GOP Senators ("they look like fools")  and others merely reinforces Noonan's point that we have an out of control 'drama queen' in the White House, not a manly man.

Don't take my word. Here are Ms. Noonan's own words from her column 'Trump Is Woody Allen Without The Humor' (July 29-30, p. A13):

"The president's primary problem as a leader is not that he is impetuous, brash or naïve.  It's not that he is inexperienced, crude and an outsider.  It's that he is weak and sniveling. It is that he undermines himself almost daily by ignoring traditional norms of American masculinity".

She goes on to clarify what she means (ibid.):

"He's not strong and self-controlled, not low key and determined: he's whiny, weepy and self-pitying . He throws himself sobbing on the body politic. He's a drama queen."

Ouch! Talk about speaking truth to power. For once, Ms. Noonan nails it. Trump isn't a picture or image of strength in office but of weepy, whiny petulance and grievance. He can't control his emotions even for a day but has to vent himself on twitter in "tweet storms" anytime something doesn't go his way.  And so this effeminate fool, like Woody Allen's forlorn characters, now believes Gen. Kelly will bring order to the White House? Hardly! Because that order must start at the top.

If the leader himself doesn't demonstrate the virtues of self-discipline, self-restraint and personal order, nothing Kelly tries to do will make a dime's worth of difference. In other words, if Kelly is to succeed at all the first thing he must do is get control of Trump's twitter account.  Cory Lewindowsky's claim that Kelly "must let Trump be Trump" - in other words, tweet, piss and moan to his heart's content, is simply a recipe for more disaster, more chaos.

But over and above the chaos factor was Noonan's assault on Trump's masculinity - which represents a new perspective we've not seen hitherto. Indeed, the WSJ columnist even invoked the senior Bush noting "he reminded everyone of their first husband".  But as for Trump?  "Trump must remind people of their first wife".

And the real spiker:

"Actually his wife, Melania, is tougher than he is with  her stoicism and grace, her self-discipline and desire to show the world respect by presenting herself with dignity."

The Donald? Not so much.

What about Trump's trademark tweets, such as he unleashed on Saturday? Noonan again:

"Half the president's tweets show utter weakness. They are primitive, shrill little cries - usually just after dawn, e.g.

'It's very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their president'

The brutes! Actually, they've been laboring to be loyal to him since inauguration day.

It's all whimpering accusation and finger pointing: Nobody's nice to me! Why don't they appreciate me?

In the case of his "brutalizing" of Sessions, his attorney general, Noonan strikes the real chord of the total lack of loyalty on the part of Trump, the unwillingness to stand by your people come thick or thin, and noting"

"A strong man does that. A weak one would unleash his resentments and derive sadistic pleasure from their unleashing"

The subtext, again, is that Trump's followers are mesmerized by exactly the wrong image of masculinity.  She expatiates on this"

"The way American men used to like seeing themselves ...was the strong, silent type celebrated in classic mid-20th century films - Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda.  In time, the style shifted and we wound up with the nervous and chattery."

Then citing as the epitome of that - Woody Allen - who "couldn't stop talking about his emotions". But as Noonan observes he had an excuse, he was a comic. "He wasn't putting it out there as a new template for maleness"

The only time Peggy stumbled in her piece was when she brought up Trump's speech to the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, last week. Somehow  at this point her perceptions became twisted as she wrote: "Luckily, Trump addressed the Boy Scout Jamboree where he represented to them masculinity and the moral life".

Hardly! After first disavowing a political speech to an audience of adolescent boys - there to celebrate their organization - he promptly - and emotionally  - waded into an inappropriate political harangue that had absolutely no place at that venue. It was so out of context and the norm that the head of the Boy Scouts of America had to apologize for it.  In this regard, Trump's Boy Scout address was as disordered, uncontrolled and yes, unmanly, as the tweets he unleashed Saturday. Especially as he invoked the Scout Law of loyalty ("we could use some more loyalty, I'll tell you that") but is unable to recognize his own lack of loyalty to those around him.

To her credit Noonan soon got back on track noting Trump's blustery claim at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, e.g. "it's so easy to act presidential but that's not gonna get it done" eliciting Noonan's response:

"That is the opposite of the truth. The truth six months in, is that he is not presidential and is not getting it done. His mad, blubbery petulance isn't working for him but against him. If he were presidential he'd be getting it done - building momentum, getting support. He'd be over 50 % not under 40 %."

And what about the "Mooch" brought it as the new communications chief? Well, let us say it takes one drama queen to recognize another, As Noonan puts it:

"He (Scaramucci) came across as just another drama queen for this warring, riven incontinent White House. As Scaramucci spoke,  the historian Joshua Zeitz observed: 'It's a team of rivals but for morons"

And the biggest moron may be Trump himself, who - in one Saturday tweet - failed to reveal basic knowledge of how the Senate works. He renewed his demand the Senate abolish the 60-vote rule for passage of most bills (in the wake of the ACA repeal failure) failing to process the filibuster had nada to do with the Reeps' failure. They had actually used budget reconciliation needing only 51 votes. This is the ignorant doofus the GOP is hostage to.

Will Trump's supporters eventually wake up to the fact they are backing an unmanly, hyper- emotional drama queen as opposed to a real man? Maybe, but I wouldn't make any bet on it in Vegas - or anywhere else.



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