DJT’s “Man Too Much in the Arena” Syndrome

Letter to Romans: Stephen A. says Trump was to blame for the GOP’s mid-term debacle because voters perceived him as having become “too DEtached”; nor can he admit his human faults. One can agree on the latter but suggest DJT’s biggest bugaboo is being “too Attached.”

It was in a Fox News piece that the ESPN commentator revisited his 40-minute, wide-ranging interview and criticized the president for being “immovable” on taking any blame for his party’s drubbing. Trump, after asking voters all campaign long to go to the polls “as if I’m on the ballot,” suddenly insisted the piled-on losses were a result of him NOT being on the ballot. Smith shook his head as he countered, “That makes no sense, Mr. President.” What arguably DOES make sense, however, is to consider that even citizens who like most of Trump’s policies and had voted for him in the past … got turned off by his seemingly control-freak control of EVERYTHING. Take the “50-state in 30 days” campaign style he blazed in October & November. After the WH press secretary’s departure, he even began conducting his own WH press conferences … whenever, wherever. Take the Iran War, in which Trump in daily impromptu social media posts & on the fly comments to reporters, waffled between promising an impending “deal” with the Iranian “lunatics” along with “soon plunging” gas prices, then assuring his military was “locked & loaded” to “finish the job.” Then, again, take the Russian-Ukraine War. Trump has perhaps one of the best Secretary of States ever in Marco Rubio, yet it’s No. 47 who we’re told is constantly brokering yet another “deal” with Putin & Zelensky.

Meanwhile, the voters with 30-second attention spans were told to be “patient” with inflation at the groceries & gas prices at the pump; the Trump-backed AI cookie monster swallowing up jobs & creating more security concerns than a Chinese spy in Nvidia CEO's bed; the Trump-backed data centers accused of swallowing up communities like a Covid virus; and the Trump-backed $5K taxpayer rebate IF the GOP retained control of Congress. Was it a stretch to think DJT would take the fall for this self-imposed “Weight of the World on One Man’s Shoulders” mantle? Jesus Christ already did it once divinely. But, who easier to blame in today’s sinful world than Teddy Roosevelt’s too attached “Man in the Arena”?

Davd Soul