Monthly Archives: June 2017
Bullies are tough at a distance
Those of us who have taught in middle schools know the usual behavior of bullies.
They prefer to do a lot of bullying from a distance, and very often by proxy, getting others to do it for them out of fear they might be the next victims.
I had a student who talked really tough about what he would do to certain people if he had half a chance, but he always seemed to manage to come up with some excuse to avoid any confrontation when he was face to face with his victim.
There were also those bullies who always threatened a fight, but usually checked to see that there was a teacher around to break it up or prevent it so that, while not actually intending to have that fight, they could blame the teacher for preventing it. Reality was, they were afraid to fight, but needed the image of a fighter
I had a neighbor who would react to any real or perceived police harassment of any degree by announcing that he would not let this happen to him, and he would tell the cop off. He as generally very docile, using a lot of “sirs” if a police officer approached him, only to explain his feigned submission was part of his strategy. Just wait until the next time when the officer was off guard.
There are the kids who respond to any past injustices or distant mistreatment of any people by bragging that things would have been different had they been there, but then slink away when any present or close injustice is taking place.
Distance allows them to talk tough.
During his campaign, Trump wowed his supporters with the unfounded tough talk that Mexico would pay for the wall. He kept repeating this without explaining how he was going to make that happen.
Then Trump went to Mexico.
According to Trump, he and the Mexican President had set the issue aside in favor of a conversation on trade, immigration, and security. If he was so strong about the wall and as tough as h talkd, why settle for not dealing with it.
“We did discuss the wall; we didn’t discuss payment of the wall. That will be for a later date.”
He said that during the press conference with President Nieto standing at a podium next to him, not a country away. President Peña Nieto declined to address Trump’s statement from the podium.
His office did release this statement within hours,
“At the start of my conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall. After that, the conversation moved on to other topics and unfolded in a respectful manner.”
Donald did not push back, but wilted
Although Trump’s people did not deny this, they danced around a bit saying the meeting was not a negotiation.
From a distance Trump began his campaign by stating.
“They [Mexicans] are not our friend, believe me.”
He went on to say that Mexico is our enemy and that Mexican immigrants are “rapists” and “the bad ones”. He also stated that their judicial system was corrupt.
But face to face his tune changed. At the face to face Trump cowered,
“It’s been a tremendous honor and I call you a friend,”
Trump said to Peña Nieto after their meeting.
Also during the campaign, perhaps assuming he might not win, but just wanted the publicity that could translate into a reality TV show, or even a whole Trump cable channel, Trump also went after people half a world away.
Trump made his dislike of political correctness a big part of his campaign. According to Trump, President Obama and Hillary Clinton made the country vulnerable to terrorism because they avoided using the magic words “Radical Islam”.
“The current politically correct response cripples our ability to talk and to think and act clearly.”
Trump is not known for his knowledge of history or even current events, so when he went after President Obama, he forgot, or never knew, that when Obama spoke in Cairo, Egypt, Obama condemned Holocaust denial in Muslim countries, people who “threaten Israel with destruction” and “repeat vile stereotypes about Jews”, the oppression of women in Muslim lands, and declared,
“all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.”
This was rather uncomfortable for the Arab leaders present.
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Trump, on the other hand, when face to face with those he had been condemning, Muslims, before he gave a speech to them, said virtually nothing that caused his hosts any discomfort. He avoided anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in Islamic countries. He may have attacked jihadist terrorists for oppressing of women, but he complimented King Salman’s government as a beacon of women’s rights.
“Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030 is an important and encouraging statement of tolerance, respect, empowering women, and economic development.”
The only Middle Eastern country he condemned was Iran, Saudi Arabia’s enemy, and not only did he tell his Saudi audience,
“We are not here to lecture—we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be”,
he never once used the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” that he was so fond of using when they were not near him.
Remember, Saudis attacked the World Trade Center, no other Middle Eastern country did.
During his campaign, Trump claimed that China was manipulating its currency, but when he met China’s president and enjoyed the world’s best chocolate cake, he changed his tune claiming it was not true.
Then we have the pope.
After visiting Mexico and traveling to the US/Mexico border, the pope was asked his opinion on the wall idea, and if, in light of Trump’s statements in support of the wall, he would tell Catholics not to vote for Trump, Pope Francis said,
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that.”
Trump called the pope disgraceful, apparently for defending the teachings of Christ regarding helping the unfortunate and refugees, having been one Himself. And, of course he did it in an odd third person voice.
“If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president because this would not have happened.”
“The pope is being told that Donald Trump isn’t a nice person,” he said. “Okay. Donald Trump is a very nice person — I am a very nice person. And I’m a very good Christian.”
When asked his opinion of the pope after meeting him face to face and having the opportunity to speak to him directly about his dissatisfaction with his earlier comments, trump summed up the pope as
“He is something. He is really great.”
Apparently he is not a disgrace when Trump is close to him.
During his campaign, Trump called Climate Change a Chinese hoax, and claimed that the Paris Accord was bad for business. He was going to undo it.
America would no longer be a part of it.
NATO was obsolete according to Trump’s campaign speeches but when he was face to face with the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, Trump announced that,
“I said it was obsolete; it’s no longer obsolete.”
He lectured the NATO country leaders in Brussels last week, but kept putting off answering their questions about whether or not the United States would stay with the Paris Accords. He could not and would not answer them while they were right there and he had to deal with them face to face.
Now he is back in this country and has said he is still thinking of withdrawing, but will not make his decision known until later.
If he is going to make a tough and unpopular decision, he prefers to make it when the people who will get angry with him will be thousands of miles away.
There are two ways to look at Trump’s consistent behavior.
The first is that he can bully from a distance, but cowers when in the presence of his victims, and secondly, he speaks without knowledge and then changes his mind when he gets information.
The first is just bully behavior.
The second shows that, perhaps, he should stop making comments until he has the info, and his supporters should realize what he does.
They got all fired up about what he said in ignorance, now will they change their thinking as Trump does?