Monday
Pundits are puzzled why respectable people yield to the lure of Donald Trump and join his administration, even though they invariably emerge tainted. I don’t have in mind those grifters like campaign chair Paul Manafort, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price, or EPA’s Scott Pruitt, who were corrupt from the start, but figures like Chief of Staff John Kelly and Attorney General William Barr. To these I can add those formerly respected Republican legislators (Lindsey Graham especially) that have become Trump toadies. In the case of Barr, many considered him an institutionalist and have been horrified by his transformation into Trump’s Roy Cohn. Why is he doing it?
The pundits may be overlooking the seductive lure of Trumpian power. Yesterday a Washington Post headline read, “Trump, White House aides signal a willingness to act with impunity in drive for reelection” and described how the president has convinced those around him that one can do and say anything without accountability.
Why concern yourself with a Homeric-style legacy, which Barr has explicitly rejected, when you can experience the thrill of unbridled power? Think how much fun it is for Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to sneer at the press, for Kellyanne Conway to tell ethics officials to get lost, for Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross to shrug off congressional subpoenas. Only impotent wimps observe proper procedure.
Bill Clinton has provided personal insight into the mindset. When Dan Rather asked him why he had an affair with a White House intern, he replied, “Because I could.” There’s an aphrodisiac high to breaking the rules.
I thought of those Trump’s officials the other day when reading Abraham Verghese’s powerful novel Cutting for Stone. A coup against Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie has been thwarted, and because the narrator’s parents are friends with some of the coup leaders, they come under suspicion. A soldier who has long coveted a motorcycle in their possession takes advantage of their vulnerable position. The following scene involves three children and their caretaker:
The intruder’s eyes were bloodshot, and he looked as if he’d slept in his clothes, but his manner was jocular….
“This,” he said, almost purring as he stroked the motorcycle tank, “belongs to…to the army now.”
Rosina pulled her black shama over her hair, the gesture of a woman entering a church. She stood silent and obedient before him.
“Did you hear me, woman? This belongs to the army.”
“I suppose it is true,” she said, eyes downcast. “Perhaps the army will come and get it.” Her tone was deferential, which was why her words took a few seconds to sink in. I wondered later why she chose to provoke him and put us at risk.
The soldier blinked. Then he exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, “I am the army!”
He grabbed her hand and yanked her to him.
“I am the army!”
In the Trump administration right now, everyone strokes their special privileges and thinks, “I am the power.” Why worry about tomorrow when today feels really, really good?