Donald Trump: Who's a Nice Guy?

 

I didn't actually want to write another blog post about DT so soon, but present events make it necessary. As we know, Trump's war against Iran has not gone according to plan, even though he does not admit it. Instead, he has followed the rule espoused by an old secondary school teacher of mine: "When in the wrong, attack!". Most offensive to most people, of course (i.e. all Roman Catholics), are Trump's denouncements of the first American Pope. DT has accused the pontiff of being "WEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy" in a long Truth Social post. He later said to reporters he was "not a big fan". He has been scathing of Keir Starmer and NATO over what he sees as lack of support for his undeclared war with Iran, His insult to British and NATO casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused considerable (and justified!) resentment. Even the Royal British Legion, not known for taking a critical stance in political matters, issued a critical missive refuting Trump' remarks. 457 British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, yet, according to Trump:

"They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan ...and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines".

In my previous post, I said that Trump would turn on his domestic critics in the US, should the war go against him. I was wrong. He is moving against them now. As "The Hill" reported, his first targets were the Democrat Party:

“The Radical Left Democrats, a Party that has completely lost its way, are complaining bitterly about the very necessary and important attack, by the United States and Israel, on Iran,” Trump wrote in a Monday evening Truth Social post.
“What most people understand is that they are only complaining BECAUSE I DID IT and, if I didn’t do it, they would be screaming — Why didn’t ‘TRUMP’ attack Iran, he should do it, IMMEDIATELY? There’s nothing surprising about this!” the president added.

Even former supporters have received the lash of his tongue. The BBC says here:

"In launching his attack on four conservative commentators who have been critical of the joint US-Israeli war against Iran, Donald Trump wrote that they were "stupid people" and that "nobody cares about them"...The US president singled out two former popular Fox News evening-programme hosts, Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, and right-wing conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and Candace Owens, for criticism".

US citizens who oppose the war should beware; DT's hostility is bound to get worse.

But no-one has noticed Trump's latest insult - this time to an American singer, long-venerated by fans of heavy metal, heavily disguised though it may be. He has been threatening Iran again. His war of choice has not gone his way, despite his blustering and absurd claims of victory. He has said:

"My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan - They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations," he writes on social media.
"We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran," he adds. Warning there will be "NO MORE MR NICE GUY" if talks fail, Trump says these bridges and power plants will "come down fast, they’ll come down easy".

Have you spotted the insult? The metal music reference was a clue. "No More Mr Nice Guy" is an old metal standard by that grand old stager, Alice Cooper. How he must feel being quoted by Trump is beyond imagination. Known to Rock history as "The Godfather of Shock Rock", Alice is 78 years old and unlikely to be fazed by any snide references by Donald Trump. As a lyrics writer myself, I wouldn't like one of my songs to be quoted by Trump. I do hope Alice replies, musically for preference.

Now, there has been a lot of speculation about Donald Trump's mental health. As Ariano Baio says in The Independent:

Ty Cobb, an attorney who served as White House counsel during President Donald Trump’s first term, once again raised alarm bells at the president’s cognitive decline, claiming it has “accelerated” and that Trump now shows signs of dementia. Cobb, who has repeatedly raised similar concerns about Trump, told MS NOW’s Ari Melber Thursday that Trump, 79, “is somebody who is just lost.”
“His vocabulary has shrunk, he’s resorted to profanity and threats, totally impulsive– suggestive of the absence of any frontal lobe controls,” Cobb said.

I am sure that is accurate, but. speaking personally, Trump remains an example of what can happen when the type of bloke that we in the UK would call "the pub loudmouth" is put in charge. This is the type, usually right-wing, usually racist, who stands at the bar and propounds all manner of evils that he could resolve at a stroke. I suppose a US version of the term would be "Barfly"? I am informed that DT is teetotal, but he's still the type. The pub loudmouth usually has a coterie of admirers who feed his ego and no criticism from any outsider is allowed. Does this not sound like Donald Trump, albeit on a smaller scale? 

I am well aware that some people will criticise me for treating what is a highly serious matter with a degree of levity. No levity is intended about a conflict that Donald Trump wanted and which has led to the deaths of thousands of people. Wikipedia reports up to 3, 636 dead in Iran alone. By no means am I seeking to trivialise this war, but I hope that one thing is clear: it is absurd for Donald Trump to speak of "No More, Mr Nice Guy", when his actions before and during this war prove him to be nothing of the kind.

Alice Cooper - will he be a nice guy to Trump?