What a brat.
That may be the sole derisory noun left in my arsenal, having long ago depleted my repository. Nevertheless, the word is fitting. When an aggrieved loser holds up economic relief for tens of millions of suffering Americans – holding them hostage out of spite, just to keep our attention focused on him – that, to me, is the very definition of a brat.
What was the purpose of Donald Trump’s four-day sulk, his refusal – until last night – to sign the long-overdue Covid relief bill, a bipartisan package painstakingly negotiated with major input from Trump’s own Treasury secretary? Anyone who can’t answer that question has not been paying a scintilla of attention these past four years.
You don’t need to be a credentialed shrink to have a degree in human nature. If you simply consult a psychiatric website, you’ll see this definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder: “A long-standing pattern of grandiosity (either in fantasy or actual behavior), an overwhelming need for admiration, and usually a complete lack of empathy toward others. People with this disorder often believe they are of primary importance in everybody’s life…”
A sociopath with PSD is emotionally incapable of believing that his insatiable need for admiration will no longer be met, and that his place of importance in people’s lives is fading with each tick of the clock. For a sick puppy like that, the only recourse is to lash out at reality and blame everybody who refuses to join him in the bunker.
Americans desperately needed emergency relief? So what. He was pissed at the Republican leaders who’d acknowledged Joe Biden’s solid victory, therefore his only recourse was to undercut their passage of emergency relief. By refusing to sign the bill on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, did he wind up costing 14 million Americans a week’s worth of unemployment benefits? Yup, but so what. Republican leaders weren’t on board with his phony fight about phony “election fraud,” so screw them. And the little people would just have to suffer.
Besides, narcissists are attention junkies – and what better way for Trump to keep the focus on himself than to squat day after day on the Covid relief bill, to keep people guessing. The country wanted to take away his power? Well, he’ll show us who still wields power. Stay tuned! New episode coming soon! This is what happens when the presidency is reduced to a tawdry game show hosted by a grifting carnival barker, with real lives left twisting in the wind.
But in the end, fortunately, he surrendered – because, ultimately, he’s just a coward. He took his pointless sulk as far as he could without triggering a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic, a move that would have further cemented his place in history as the worst excuse for a human being to ever fail his way to the top. Last night, while announcing that he’d done us all a big favor by finally signing the bill, he tried to cover his ass with a litany of false statements not worth repeating here, capped by the declaration that “I will never give up my fight for the American people!” Yeah, whatever. The American people he’d just treated as collateral damage might find that remark to be a tad deceptive.
Even Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post is fed up with Trump’s behavior. Sulking about the lost election is a show that deserves to be canceled. Today, the Post editorialized:
“Mr. President, it’s time to end this dark charade. You have tweeted that, as long as Republicans have ‘courage,’ they can overturn the results and give you four more years in office. In other words, you’re cheering for an undemocratic coup…We understand, Mr. President, that you’re angry that you lost. But to continue down this road is ruinous…If you insist on spending your final days in office threatening to burn it all down, that will be how you are remembered.”
The Post pleaded, “Give it up, Mr. President.” But you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. If only we can keep him leashed for another 23 days.