"A very wise thing..."

 

     People think that the "madman theory" in geopolitics started with Richard Nixon and his failed negotiations with the North Vietnamese in 1971. It didn't. It had originated with Niccolò Machiavelli. But it was embraced, at least in spirit, by Nixon. What the author of The Prince said on the subject 505 years ago was that it was actually, “a very wise thing to simulate madness.”

     The supreme irony, however, is when a leader feigns madness then actually becomes mad, as Nixon was at the end of his presidency. In fact, as the rumor goes, in the first months of his presidency, Nixon had told Henry Kissinger and the Joint Chiefs to launch a nuclear strike on North Korea after they'd shot down one of our spy planes. Only a quick call by Kissinger to the Pentagon to wait until Nixon sobered up prevented us from using nukes for only the second time in US history.

     Donald Trump may have used this tactic. And, to listen to his pronouncements of late, he's still using that tactic. However, those of us with actual working synapses know that Donald Trump is completely insane and always will be. 

      Trump's unusual tilt has been the source of excited and even giddy speculation for years. While Trump's red-topped MAGAts may have fooled themselves into thinking that his bizarre, forward-tilting standing posture is a sign of sophistication, it's actually a sign of frontotemporal dementia. Trump may have and may still prefer to think his fellow autocrats fear him for his professed insanity but in fact, it's very real.

     Granted, this may be a violation of the so-called "Goldwater Rule". But, unlike Barry Goldwater, Trump actually occupied the White House for four years and, as such, we have 48 months of bizarre statements, behaviors and observations from which to judge. And four more years under Trump would be, for countless reasons, given the endless prolificity of his criminal behavior, the very end of democracy as we know it.

     And, as surely as past is prologue, Trump's recent pronouncements on Truth Social and in his latest self-absorbed hate rallies, it's obvious to even a medical layman that Trump is, neurologically speaking, not a well man. This is not snark or ridicule or political brownie points but a cold, calculated, objective statement of a self-evident fact. Donald Trump should not be trusted with the duties and responsibilities as the county dog catcher let alone the presidency of the United States and full control of the mightiest military on earth.

     Just pay attention to the lowlights of his last two rallies. He called Nancy Pelosi "an animal" because she's impeached him twice (She didn't. The House did) and that perhaps he'd have the right to attack her. He threatened to throw a lot of reporters in prison for something unspecified if God forbid he slid back into the White House. Not only that, he gets his jollies thinking about those imprisoned reporters getting raped. And he's already screaming about voter fraud in Maricopa County.

     Trump is a brutal, sadistic pig who glorifies violence as long as others do it on his behalf or if he knows he can inflict it on others with impunity. This bespeaks of someone with a puerile, immature mindset, at best. At worst, it's symptomatic of a sociopathic personality that's finally being wedded to frontotemporal dementia, which, to put it mildly, is a hideous combination.

     But it wasn't as if Trump was making offcolor jokes to a bemused crowd. He was getting laughter in the worst and cruelest standup routine of all time. His supporters want this. Because as Adam Serwer famously put it, "the cruelty is the point".

     Both history and current events tell us time and again that the very worst dictators in human history never had much of a problem getting millions to do their bidding and even enjoying something of a posthumous rehabilitation. Stalin got one, Mussolini got one, Pinochet got one and God knows Hitler is more popular in parts of the world than he ever was in life.

     And those people who still adore Donald Trump for ungodly and unknowable reasons obviously voted for him once, twice and are prepared to do so for a third time. These people also live in Congressional districts and vote for Senators and other down ballot races. 

     As fish rot from the head down, so does a people's moral rot originate with their leaders. And when they play the part of madmen, perhaps they have better insight into madness than most realize.