Eminently quotable writer James Howard Kunstler sized up President Trump’s play in Iran a couple months back by concluding, “The art of the deal is not for sissies.” That line aptly describes Trump’s whole presidency, doesn’t it?
Trump makes moves that scare people. Even his friends and allies require an occasional pause to digest exactly what he may or may not be planning. When he threatened to “end” Iran’s civilization, did the president mean that literally? Or was that his way of maximizing the size of the stick he held in his hands, while Pakistan played peacemaker with a ceasefire carrot? Only time will tell.
It does feel as if more Americans have come to accept that they must take a “wait and see” approach with the most unorthodox president of their lifetimes. One of the few real American journalists writing today, Salena Zito, described Trump astutely back in September 2016 when she observed, “The press takes him literally but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously but not literally.” Her insight — as succinct as it is clever — remains part of our cultural wisdom to this day.
While CNN and MS-NOW-(What’s Its Name?) suggested to their dwindling audiences that Trump was about to drop nuclear bombs on Iran last week (a country about seven times larger than the United Kingdom), most Americans with common sense understood the president to be putting maximum rhetorical pressure on the surviving members of Iran’s Islamic terrorist regime.
On the other hand, sometimes President Trump sends in Delta Force operators to black-bag narco-terrorist dictators in the middle of the night (How badly do you think Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro wishes he could go back and choose wealthy exile over solitary confinement in an American prison?). A good poker player can’t bluff all the time. Sometimes the cards have to back a confident bet.
When it comes to handling adversaries of any kind, Trump enjoys keeping everybody guessing. It makes him unpredictable. His unpredictability leaves opponents unsettled. While they’re looking left and right and turning around frenetically to see whether the president might be coming up from behind, Trump usually surprises them with a blow directly to the face.
That terrifies leaders all over the world who are not used to a street-brawler in the White House. They would much prefer an American president who carefully unclasps his Rolex watch and daintily removes his dinner jacket before making any quick moves. Instead, they get Trump — who comes out swinging, landing haymakers, throwing uppercuts, and knocking out teeth.
Having President Trump in the White House reminds me of a scene in the Winston Churchill biopic, Darkest Hour. Churchill is drinking during a working lunch with King George VI, and he tells the king that he has always been “unwanted” in parliament. “Perhaps it’s because you scare people,” the king replies. “Who?” Churchill asks. “You scare me,” the king insists. “What nonsense,” Churchill retorts, before asking, “What could possibly be scary about me?” King George VI answers directly, “One never knows what’s going to come out of your mouth next. Something that will flatter, something that will wound…”
That movie came out in 2017, in the first year of President Trump’s first term. It probably could not be made today. Firstly, as the United Kingdom turns itself into an Islamic kingdom, rejects its historical achievements, and “cancels” it great historical figures, Winston Churchill has become persona non grata in the nation he singlehandedly saved from becoming a Nazi vassal state. Secondly, a lot of people who watched that movie immediately recognized the similarities between Churchill and Trump.
The former governor of Arkansas and current U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, walked out of the theater in December 2017 and immediately made the comparison in a series of social media posts: “Churchill was hated by his own party, opposition party, and press. Feared by King as reckless, and despised for his bluntness. But unlike Neville Chamberlain, he didn’t retreat. We had a Chamberlain for 8 yrs; in @realDonaldTrump we have a Churchill.” Recommending the movie to Americans, Huckabee complimented both Churchill and Trump by arguing that this is “what real leadership looks like.”
Members of the “elite” corporate press did not like Huckabee’s comparison of former President Barack Obama to former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain — the man whose arrogance, sense of entitlement, and fondness for appeasement betrayed his moral weakness and inability to do tough things. But those “elite” propagandists were absolutely horrified that anyone with a significant number of social media “followers” could link Churchill to Trump. People all over the world rightly remember Churchill as one of the twentieth century’s most consequential world leaders. How could anyone, Hillary-supporters complained on cable news, see that kind of greatness in Donald Trump?
Ordinary moviegoers, on the other hand, understood exactly what Huckabee was saying. Sure, Trump and Churchill have obvious differences. Churchill was a functional alcoholic; Trump has been a teetotaler all his life. Churchill spent most of his adulthood in debt and probably avoided bankruptcy only because of his celebrity; Trump is a billionaire. Churchill was married to his wife, Clemmie, for fifty-seven years; Trump has been married three times. For all their differences, though, these two men share a lot in common.
As was true of Churchill, President Trump has a larger-than-life personality that sucks up the oxygen from every room he enters. Both men changed political affiliations over the course of their lives. Churchill was comfortable insulting political foes, telling uncomfortable truths, and changing his mind whenever necessary. He frequently argued against the prevailing opinions of his time, even when doing so made him unpopular. Although, by title and privilege, Churchill was an Establishment “insider,” his independent nature, sometimes-abrasive personality, and fearless defense of controversial positions made him a consummate “outsider.” It is not difficult to see why so many people went into movie theaters to see Winston Churchill brought back to life in the Darkest Hour and exited with the realization that there was something downright Churchillian about President Trump.
Perhaps the quality that most links these two world historical figures, though, is their willingness to fight while all around them are flailing. Trump’s critics spend a lot of time accusing him of instigating chaos. But there is an undeniable consistency to the policy objectives he pursues. In his first term, he set America on a trajectory to be an energy powerhouse. While Europe commits economic suicide by refusing to develop its own natural resources in its misguided war against the weather, Trump has pursued a relentless “Drill, baby, drill” policy. He’s managed to partner with Venezuela both to enlarge America’s access to hydrocarbon energies and to block China from exploiting resources in the Western Hemisphere. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and energy exports from the Middle East severely crippled, the United States and the Russian Federation are best positioned to navigate the economic consequences.
Will the energy crisis across Europe make the European Commission more or less likely to find a reasonable way to end the Russia-Ukraine War? Will the energy crisis in China provide a new incentive for Xi Jinping to help the United States bring Iran to heel? Will more people begin to realize that President Trump’s dismantling of Iran has as much to do with preparing for war with China as it has to do with establishing a new regional order in the Middle East?
Here’s the simple truth for corporate news mouthpieces too lazy or too fake to understand President Trump’s motivations: The man is always negotiating. While his adversaries scream and shake their heads, Trump is preparing for the next hostile takeover. Kunstler said it best: “The art of the deal is not for sissies.”
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