Trump picks a piece of “dandruff” off Macron's suit jacket. Image by CBS News.
Dr. Ronny Jackson’s decision to withdraw his nomination as Veterans Affairs secretary raises a number of issues – about drinking on the job, playing fast and loose with prescriptions and contemplating job opportunities to which you are not suited. But not the least of the rippling effects is the role of lookism in the Trump Administration, which says something important about power.
President Donald J. Trumpet holds Jackson in esteem, because he looks the part of a rear admiral and Navy doc, is blandly attractive and flattered the president’s physique in his report on his health. Indeed, the president said he would like to be Jackson, referring to his looks. This coincided with the state visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, during which Trumpet reached over and picked a piece of “dandruff” off his suit jacket. I have never seen another American president invade a foreign leader’s personal space in this manner, and you have to ask yourself, Why? Was the hulking Trumpet trying to show dominion over the more diminutive Macron, as my friend Ann suggested? Or was he merely showing off his friendship, acting cute? Whatever the reason, it was certainly bizarre – which is saying something in an administration for which the bar for normalcy has been set at subterranean.
And it doesn’t discount a fixation on other men’s looks that you rarely encounter in heterosexual men. I’m not suggesting that Trump is secretly gay or swings from both sides of the plate. Rather, I think his obsession with the looks of others, male and female, is an extension of his narcissism, you know, I’m great, my taste is unerring so I get to pass judgment on others.
Macron gave a nervous laugh but really what could he do? He’s playing for much higher stakes, trying to salvage the Iran nuclear deal. By now it’s pretty clear that Europe decided that he and Angela Merkel, next in the White House queue, were going to take two for the team, good copping and then bad copping Donnie Two Scoops. (You can bet Angie won’t be getting parading colonials and a state dinner. But then, I doubt The Donald would dare brush a speck of lint off one of her pantsuits.)
Much has been made recently of James Comey going Donald on The Donald in his new book, “A Higher Loyalty,” describing Trumpet’s physical appearance. Why the fuss? Writers regularly do such things. It’s called damning with the facts. Plus, Donnie Two Scoops has made his looks fair game by attacking those of others.
Hey, Donnie, instead of noticing the speck in your neighbor’s eye, why not try removing the plank from your own?