Like the man who divorces his wife but keeps showing up for dinner night after night, President Donald J. Trump just can’t quit his opponents. No sooner had he announced that he was forsaking New York as his primary domicile for Florida than he was back in the Big Apple, not once but twice. The second time was for the 100th anniversary of New York’s Veterans Day Parade, at which he talked about New York’s daring and defiance, which the city demonstrated by protesting him. LOL, you just can’t make this stuff up.
But then, that’s how narcissists roll. They always suck up to the people who show them contempt or indifference. It’s a large part of the reason Trump hosted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the White House. How else to explain why he would possibly receive a man who has gotten the better of him in Syria and rubbed his nose in it?
It’s not just that Trump’s actions make America look weak; it’s that he’s defying Congress, which has been bipartisan in its outrage of Trump pulling troops out of northern Syria, thus abandoning our Kurdish allies to the antagonistic Turks and Turkey’s new best friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin. But then defying Congress may have been Trump’s strategy, a response to the current impeachment hearings. (Indeed, it was fascinating to see Sen. Mitch McConnell’s pique at this. I’m of two minds here.. I agree with McConnell’s outrage at us abandoning the Kurds. But I also remember McConnell’s appalling treatment of President Barack Obama, the way he stymied him at every turn. Now he has a president of his own party whom he can’t control.)
Or maybe Trumpet isn’t trying to get under Mitchie’s skin. It could simply be that Erdoğan’s coolness is catnip to El Presidente, who must be loved.
Hey, a narcissist’s gotta due what a narcissist’s got to do.