Understanding the American president is a box of tricks that not even his own family has managed to crack open. It is often said by commentators he is in serious mental decline when caught repeating himself or slurring words. On the other hand, he can answer reporters' quickfire questions on all manner of subjects for an hour when standing up – which no other world leader dares to imitate.
Trump is a gifted orator when speaking to domestic audiences craving to hear the Make America Great Again slogan. He has taken clues from the 1930s when the America First Movement campaigned successfully for US isolationism, a grip only broken by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He shows some similarities with the rabble-rousing oratory of Adolf Hitler, especially the constant repeating of triumphant populist slogans, but Hitler was the result of an economic disorder whereas Trump is creating one.
The American president has skillfully used unpredictability to his advantage in many scenarios. It was assumed that his alleged sexual escapades and bribery would ruin his political career. Not so and bible thumpers adore him. He remains popular with the "moralistic" anti-abortion and anti-gay rights blocks in the Republican party. Trump claimed in the runup to the 2024 presidential election he would have no time for golf. Ugh! He successfully champions the poorer classes in America whilst indulging an eye-popping luxurious lifestyle.
If there is a key to Trump, it's likely his dyslexia which is obviously denied but is patent. He has no interest whatsoever in books or literature apart from praising his own ghost-written best seller. Many former staff members confirm his sources of information are charts, summaries, phone calls and conversations. Last month, Keith Starmer presented him with an invitation letter from King Charles. Trump was unable to scan it quickly and returned it to the British prime minister for the detail.
Being a slow reader is not a sin and a condition shared by many other influential people. But it leads to a lack of perspective on key issues when you are the so-called leader of the free world. Thus he quotes earlier examples of American tariffs 100 years ago, without any acknowledgement of the world recession which followed. He currently attacks Cambodia and Vietnam for cheating and robbing America without apparently appreciating that US planes bombed these countries almost to oblivion in the 1970s.
Donald Trump is a 20th century guy, in power in the 21st century but wanting to return his country to the 19th century. America then was isolationist, having recently kicked out the Brits, and tariffs on imports were indeed an alternative to federal income tax which was unknown before the American civil war. Trump's second term ends in under four years, assuming there is no palace coup to avoid his facing the electorate. As future British prime minister Winston Churchill said of Neville Chamberlain, "For now, he is somebody up with which we shall have to put."
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