The Trump of Reason

Trump may be many things to many people, but modesty is never his strong suit, if at all.

After the embarrassing revelations in the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House", he had much say to the media in his defence.

But first and foremost, he described himself as "a very stable genius." He tweeted: "Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart."

Yesterday, I went to Kinokuniya to get my copy of the book by journalist Michael Wolff. As I had reserved a copy the day before, I was lucky to have secured the book because mine was the last copy for sale.

The counter staff told me that they didn't display the book on the shelf because every copy has been reserved in advance by customers, and they have run out of stock.
FYI, I intended to get an extra copy for my brother-in-law.

Too bad then bro.

Now, back to the inimitable Trump.

Today's article about him reads: "Tell-all book may hurt but won't derail Trump."

I think that caption has got a point.

You see, my purpose of buying the buy is because I am an avid reader. So, even if the book were not so heavily hyped, or that the Trump's administration is not going so berserk trying to ban it, I might have bought it anyway - just to broaden my mind.

But tell-all or tell-none, the book will not cause much of a dent in the Trump administration. It will come and go. Trump's staying power is as brilliant as that of Najib's.

What's more, according to some evangelical legend, he is nevertheless still God's elect.

No joke, I went to a Christmas dinner recently and had a what-seems-like-harmless discussion about God and politics until I had to open my big mouth and asked a devout Christian (whom I highly respected) about what she thought about Trump, that is, Is he God's choice?

As my friend was also a very sensible person, modest and morally principled, I'd have thought that her answer would be to reserve her comments. That seemed like a safe port of call when it comes to the unpredictable Trump.

But that was not her answer. She actually told me that he was, that is, God's elect, but quickly caveated it by saying that this only goes to show that God is truly sovereign. Nothing therefore is done without his expressed or implied permission.

Immediately, my thoughts involuntarily went to the Bliblical ass, the Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Pontius Pilate, those who crucified Jesus (aren't they all in God's sovereign plan?), Stalin, Pol Pot, and of course Hitler, not to mention, ISIS.

Alas, it appears, quite incredibly profoundly, that the agent of evil (save for that innocent donkey) is part of a larger plan that God had consciously instituted to bring about the ultimate redemption of mankind to Himself.

For didn't Isaiah 45:7 proclaim this about God's sovereignty? - "I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil: I am the LORD that does all this."

Well, except for Calvary, I guess the still-unfolding plot of God is far, far too complex for a mortal mind like mine to ever comprehend. I therefore will leave the mysteries of God to be kept as the mysteries of God then.

Yet, having said all that, the book had revealed some interesting bits about Trump's idiosyncrasies.

For starters, the list of descriptions about Trump by his closest aides at that time was frighteningly amusing.

His treasury secretary and former White House chief of staff called him an "idiot". His chief economic adviser said that he was "dumb as shit". And his national security advisor called him a "dope".

Wolff writes: "Everyone, in his or her own way, struggled to express the baldly obvious fact that the president did not know enough, did not know what he didn't know, did not particularly care, and to boot, was confident if not serene in his unquestioned certitudes."

Strangely, there seems to be some uncanny parallel with that and some megachurch preachers and their besotted members...mm...

To add to that, here is a rather long observation of this self-styled "very stable genius" named Trump:-

"He didn't process information in any conventional sense. He didn't read. He didn't really even skim. Some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semi-literate. He trusted his own expertise ­- no matter how paltry or irrelevant - more than anyone else's. He was often confident, but he was just as often paralysed, less a savant than a figure of sputtering and dangerous insecurities, whose instinctive response was to lash out and behave as if his gut, however confused, was in fact in some clear and forceful way telling him what to do. It was, said (former deputy chief of staff Katie) Walsh, 'like trying to figure out what a child wants.'"

(To be fair, Walsh later denied that she said that - smart move, no less).

What makes for juicy gossip in the excerpts from the book is Trump's peculiar method of breaking marital relationships.

Whether there is any truth in it or not, this is what Wolff wrote:-

"Trump liked to say that one of the things that made life worth living was getting your friends' wives into bed.

In pursuing a friend's wife, he would try to persuade the wife that her husband was perhaps not what she thought.

Then he'd have his secretary ask the friend into his office; once the friend arrived, Trump would engage in what was, for him, more or less constant sexual banter.

Do you still like having sex with your wife? How often?

You must have had a better f*** than your wife? Tell me about it. I have girls coming in from Los Angeles at three o'clock. We can go upstairs and have a great time. I promise...'

All the while, Trump would have his friend's wife on the speakerphone, listening in.""

Well, I know history has seen worst leaders or commanders-in-chief (in terms of words and deeds), and Dictator Kim, Adi Amin and Colonel Qaddafi immediately come to the mind.

And every leader has their own skeletons in the closet - look at the recent dragnet operation of the oil-rig maker Keppel Offshore and Marine, which was fined US$422 million.

Alas, bearing all that in mind, who is to say who is a "cleaner" leader when what we know about them is only what they have painstakingly chosen to reveal to us?

Politics is a very dark and shady game. Both its entrance and exit are greased with the slick, the lick and the reek.

It is like a morally warped zone whereby you have to exaggerate, deceive and lie to get in, and once inside, and in order to stay inside, you have to again exaggerate, deceive and lie.

Mind you, you have to do all that behind closed doors, and still project a wholesome, unblemished image to all. As such, quite ironically, politics is the playground of people like Trump, and he is a shoo-in for the unpresidented office.

While some leaders are impeachable (like the South Korean president Park) because they are held to the highest standards by the electorate who still consider themselves as the custodian of the people's welfare and interest, other leaders like Trump is still the people's favourite and remains seemingly unimpeachable (at least, to his die-hard fans both here and in the US of A).

Because, the way I see it, once you are God's elect, you are fit to rule under His Sovereign's pleasure and will, regardless of whether you are "a very stable genius" or a donkey.

So, let me end with the twitter-in-chief's own words, or self-exaltation.

He tweets: "I went from VERY successful businessman, to the top TV Star...to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but a genius...and a very stable genius at that!"

Well, if it is said that pride cometh before a fall, this is one fall that is unlikely to happen in the near future. In fact, the self-proclaimed genius seems destined to reign for the next three years, if not for another full term - if God's willing.

God bless America then. Cheerz.