Destructive Trump

The president of the United States spreads chaos around him in an alarming way.

The resignation of White House Communications Director Mike Dubke, after just three months in office, is another example of the concerning level of disorganization of the most powerful government on the planet. Dubke would have announced his resignation some weeks ago, but decided to delay the announcement so as not to disrupt the president’s trip to the Middle East and Europe, which, on the other hand, had some disastrous results in terms of communication.

Hired in February by Sean Spicer, the press secretary and spokesman for the White House, Dubke had tried to put order in the chaotic image offered almost daily of the president of the United States. This is a task which seems almost impossible with a president who – as Dubke revealed in various interviews – at night, without the knowledge of his staff, uses his personal Twitter account in an irresponsible and frequently aggressive way.

Donald Trump seems not to have understood – and has difficulty understanding now – that this is not a normal use of social networks, and he should not comport himself like something which is known as a “troll,” a rogue profile who polemicizes upon any subject. On this subject, it would not be surprising if, confirming the predictions of the American press, the next person to present his resignation would be Trump’s own White House spokesman.

Trump’s latest target on social networks was German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Yesterday,* the president threw a statement in the German’s face about the trade balance with the U.S. being positive for Berlin, as if it was an affront, and ended his message with a specific threat giving bad marks to Germany’s reputation. “This will change,” he said.** In any case [his behavior was] totally unacceptable in international politics and in relations among allies.

Certainly for Trump, accustomed to denigrating and attacking his opponents personally, it will be difficult to comprehend how Merkel’s principal rival, the Social Democrat Martin Schulz, yesterday supported the chancellor’s position. Shulz described Trump as a “destroyer of all Western values,” a statement that perhaps to the president of the U.S., who is addicted to rude language, may not seem very strong, but is a hard diagnosis of what the resident of the White House is effecting.

These Western values are, without doubt, also American values. It is urgent that the legislators in Washington become aware that both sides of the Atlantic will pay a high and undesirable price if this erratic president, incapable of controlling his impulses, continues to attack alliances which were difficult to construct. They have legal mechanisms to stop this from happening.

* Editor’s note: This article was written immediately after Trump’s remarks about Germany’s trade balance with the United States, but the perspective remains relevant.

** Translator’s note: The author is likely referring to a tweet from Donald Trump in which he said, “We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military. Very bad for U.S. This will change.”