I remember when he was stone-walling with his "what does "is" mean", and the like. He had a thinly veiled mask of contempt. I don't believe he ever thought he was doing anything wrong. I don't believe he considered himself bound by rules out of any respect for them, but only out of a minimal fear...which his natural assurance and egoistic sense of power would allow him to minimize or discount. In this regard he seems little different than a common thief in the night. Some of them have no notion of the possibility of being actually caught.
Juxtaposed with this almost pathological ability to rationalize, we have a brilliant mind with rare presentation skills. Even when his "foibles" were known, he retained a huge popularity, and he continued to be seen as a strong and powerful leader. His aplomb and self assurance gave many people the feeling that America was in competent hands, and that someone with big trousers was running the show--even if those trousers tended to slip off the odd time...
I often felt repulsed by his speeches by what I felt was insincerity and manipulation; but at the same time, I often felt a grudging admiration. His very real skills, combined with a rare conceit, allowed him to ride a very high horse.
Who could deny that he was manipulating and deceptive? But he had a sort of elan, apparent if not real. The response of many was to consider his "virility" as informing the power of his leadership. Even though his loins might be weak...his head and his hands were strong.
He apparently captained the country in directions desired by a lot of people, and that is what democracy is about. History will likely see him as embodying both success and failure. But right now he is aparently being assessed only by the heart, and not the reason.
People seem either to really hate him...or to really love him. As for me, I have some grudging admiration mixed with a fairly intense aversion. If life was only a game, then he was a master of it.
But life is not merely a game; it is something much more. In that respect, "winning" is not the only thing that counts; and in that particular he is a great deal less than what he might have been. |
