Donald Trump is now under the control of an adviser who’s even more demented than he is
Now that Donald Trump is threatening nuclear war with North Korea, we’re not just longing for those five minutes last week where straitlaced General John Kelly had control over him. We’re even longing for the ten days where the chaotic Anthony Scaramucci had Trump settling for merely destroying his own underlings. Because as of today someone else on Trump’s staff has control over him, and that person is even more demented than he is.
When Trump made his threats against North Korea today, he appeared to be reading a prepared statement. Moreover he paraphrased a quote from Harry Truman that’s not widely in the modern popular vernacular. There is no chance that Trump was familiar with the Truman quote of his own accord, and based on his inherent laziness, no chance that he did his own research by looking it up. Someone on his staff wrote these words for Trump, and made a point of making it as reckless as possible.
The question is who. It’s clearly not General Kelly. Nor is it General H.R. McMaster or General James Mattis. Military leaders know that foreign policy matters cannot be successfully dealt with in this manner. For that matter it’s not anyone in his family; they’re sheltered and clueless, but they’re not psychotic. Instead, Trump’s words were written by someone who knows enough about history to be familiar with Truman’s words, and who is apocalyptic enough to invoke those words in such an inappropriate current context.
Truman publicly threatened to nuke Japan because he was trying to end World War II, and because he was planing to actually do it if Japan didn’t back down. This is a situation where Trump cannot launch a nuclear strike without starting World War III, and the mere public threat increases the odds of armageddon. So who on his staff is deranged enough to want armageddon? Is it Steve Bannon? Is it someone even worse than Bannon? As of today, someone new has control over Trump – and that person is even more demented than Trump is.
