Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald J. Trump at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan in 2019. The two share a self-aggrandizement and a disproportionate sense of grievance and rage at rejection. But time is another country. And Trump’s fanboy worship of the world’s strongmen — remember his “love affair” with Kim Jong-un? — has come back to haunt him at home as Putin’s war ravages Ukraine. *Photograph by Shealah Craighead/The White House.*

Putin and narcissism -- a cultural perspective

March 20, 2022

With the ground war raging in Ukraine having been played to a standstill — thank God, although the shelling continues — many have attempted to analyze its sole instigator, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have considered the so-called encroachment of NATO, a defensive organization that would probably not exist without Russian aggression; the supposed failure of American presidents to read the 800-pound gorilla in the room; the obliviousness of a Europe that reportedly saw Russia as nothing but a giant gas station with onion domes; the alleged corruption of the former Soviet satellites that Putin would seek to crush to corral — Chechnya, Crimea, Ukraine.

But as with any analysis of his former BFF, President Donald J. Trump, the political with Putin must begin with the personal. As with Trump, Putin is a narcissist. The difference is that while Trump is an ultimately ineffective narcissist — too intellectually lazy and disorganized to be Machiavellian — Putin is the worst kind of narcissist, a wily malignant nihilist.

The company Trump and others keep

July 12, 2019

So Sir Kim Darroch, British ambassador to the United States, has resigned after his remarks about the Trump Administration’s dysfunction — made in private to his own government — were leaked and President Donald J. Trump proclaimed himself “not a fan.”

Everyone but particularly an ambassador should have the right to express his opinion in privacy without fear of reprisals. But in the age of 24/7 social media and Brexit — of which Darroch was apparently not a fan — it was perhaps inevitable that he should be done in. I guess we’ll have to go back to communicating the old-fashioned way — face to face.

“Not a fan”: Darroch should have those words emblazoned on a T-shirt and wear it proudly. Remember, El Presidente wasn’t a fan of the late Sen. John McCain. So Darroch is in good company.

And The Donald had been a former fan of some who are now in the hot seat, including Jeffrey Epstein, who has been charged in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York with sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.

Russian hacking as reversal of fortune

December 14, 2016

If you’re a lover of storytelling – as any writer is – the Russian hacking scandal is a great story.

And like any great story, it’s filled with conflict, complexity, intrigue and ambiguity. Just about the only thing everyone agrees on – sort of – is that the Democrats were hacked by the Russians. This is not news. We heard about it all during the campaign, when Donald Trump alternately debunked or doubted it.

What is new is that the CIA has concluded that the Russians did this deliberately to aid Trump. Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham have vowed to investigate, because if there’s one thing Congress hates – even more than cooperating with President Barack Obama, who has called for a full investigation – is Ruskies, especially Ruskies led by Vladimir “Rootin’ Tootin’” Putin. ...