Trump’s glee over foe’s death shows just how broken and fragile he really is: columnist
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Former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies before a House Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Bourg
Zeteo reporter John Harwood took a deep dive into President Donald Trump's continued rage about former special counsel Robert Mueller, who died last weekend at 81.
Talking about the piece on X, Harwood asked, "Why are Trump's top aides so angry? Maybe because, like the monstrous narcissist they serve, they understand that they don't measure up in character or competence."
While most mothers teach children, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," Trump has different values.
"Donald Trump didn't surprise anyone by welcoming the death of Robert Mueller," Harwood wrote on Friday. "But the president's fresh demonstration of depravity underscored a defining characteristic of his presidency ... his anger. For all the wealth, fame and power he has accumulated, Trump is an angry man directing an angry administration."
Trump hated Mueller because he was everything that Trump was not. He was a decorated combat veteran and a respected lawyer who previously led the FBI. He worked quietly and methodically. He was calm and measured. In the end, he successfully prosecuted many of Trump's closest aides and allies. Trump is a con man and can't even manage to do it successfully enough to fool the world. "So, he uses his influence to menace them legally, politically, financially or physically," said Harwood.
He's also become a kind of tormentor to "subordinates," mandating that they humiliate themselves, often publicly, with fawning flattery. Most recently, several men in the Cabinet have been found wearing ill-fitting shoes that are far too big because Trump bought them.
It's a significant change from President George W. Bush's rebranding of the GOP's image with “compassionate conservatism.”
Harwood recalled former Bush aide Peter Wehner, who famously predicted, “If Mr. Trump heads the Republican Party, it will no longer be a conservative party; it will be an angry, bigoted, populist one.”
"But Trump seethes at anyone who spotlights his failures, investigates his crimes, or interferes with his self-aggrandizement," Harwood pointed out. "That includes partisan opponents ('radical left lunatics'), Supreme Court justices ('unpatriotic and disloyal'), journalists ('fake news'), and television comedians ('late night morons')."
Harwood noted that his supporters are also angry, and that they once connected that own rage to Trump's. The biggest problem now, however, is that their anger has turned on him as they learn they were lied to by easy promises that were easily cast aside.