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| The Wall Is a Symbol of Donald Trump’s Neediness | The Wall Is a Symbol of Donald Trump’s Neediness |
| (about 13 hours later) | |
| It’s funny that we’re still talking about the physical features of what President Trump wants or will settle for on our country’s southern border — about whether it will be concrete or steel, solid or slatted, a fancied-up fence or, in Nancy Pelosi’s hilariously acerbic dig, a “beaded curtain.” Because it’s not really a wall that Trump is after, if indeed it ever was. It’s a victory for victory’s sake. It’s a show of his might. It’s proof of his potency. | It’s funny that we’re still talking about the physical features of what President Trump wants or will settle for on our country’s southern border — about whether it will be concrete or steel, solid or slatted, a fancied-up fence or, in Nancy Pelosi’s hilariously acerbic dig, a “beaded curtain.” Because it’s not really a wall that Trump is after, if indeed it ever was. It’s a victory for victory’s sake. It’s a show of his might. It’s proof of his potency. |
| Of course he discussed it in a much different manner on Tuesday night, when, for the first time during his presidency, he formally addressed Americans from the Oval Office in prime time. He spoke of a “crisis of the heart” on the border. He spoke of a “crisis of the soul.” He mentioned drugs, crime, Americans who have lost their lives because of undocumented immigrants and Americans who have lost their jobs to them. It was an epic threat that he painted — and a grossly exaggerated one. Whatever it takes to deliver on a promise that he should never have made. | Of course he discussed it in a much different manner on Tuesday night, when, for the first time during his presidency, he formally addressed Americans from the Oval Office in prime time. He spoke of a “crisis of the heart” on the border. He spoke of a “crisis of the soul.” He mentioned drugs, crime, Americans who have lost their lives because of undocumented immigrants and Americans who have lost their jobs to them. It was an epic threat that he painted — and a grossly exaggerated one. Whatever it takes to deliver on a promise that he should never have made. |
| Whatever it takes to salvage his pride. | Whatever it takes to salvage his pride. |
| The longer his stalemate with Democrats in Congress grinds on, the clearer that becomes. Seldom has a president’s ego been this tender, and seldom has it required so much shoring up. There’s not enough concrete in creation for that job. | The longer his stalemate with Democrats in Congress grinds on, the clearer that becomes. Seldom has a president’s ego been this tender, and seldom has it required so much shoring up. There’s not enough concrete in creation for that job. |
| Network executives had little choice but to grant him access to the airwaves. He had never made such a request before, so it’s not like this particular grandstanding is habitual. | Network executives had little choice but to grant him access to the airwaves. He had never made such a request before, so it’s not like this particular grandstanding is habitual. |
| [Go beyond the headlines and behind the curtain with Frank Bruni’s candid reflections on politics, culture, higher education and more every week. Sign up for his newsletter.] | |
| And had the networks refused him, they would have handed him a cudgel in the culture wars that he would have used the same way that he governs — shamelessly, putting his ludicrous claims of martyrdom above any national interest. Better for the networks to go along, with a plan in place to check his assertions rigorously and call out his lies immediately. | And had the networks refused him, they would have handed him a cudgel in the culture wars that he would have used the same way that he governs — shamelessly, putting his ludicrous claims of martyrdom above any national interest. Better for the networks to go along, with a plan in place to check his assertions rigorously and call out his lies immediately. |
| Even this deep into a presidency of such incompetence and amorality, he deserves a hearing; that’s how the rest of us demonstrate the very respect for traditions and norms that he refuses to show. But he doesn’t deserve an unfiltered one. That’s the road to autocracy. | Even this deep into a presidency of such incompetence and amorality, he deserves a hearing; that’s how the rest of us demonstrate the very respect for traditions and norms that he refuses to show. But he doesn’t deserve an unfiltered one. That’s the road to autocracy. |
| Trump isn’t selling something that the country really needs, and that’s why he and his allies have to lard the pitch with lies. According to The Washington Post Fact Checker, there are more bogus claims and hallucinated menaces when he talks about immigration and the border than when he talks about anything else. | Trump isn’t selling something that the country really needs, and that’s why he and his allies have to lard the pitch with lies. According to The Washington Post Fact Checker, there are more bogus claims and hallucinated menaces when he talks about immigration and the border than when he talks about anything else. |
| He insists that would-be terrorists see a porous southern border as a welcome mat, but that’s bunk: Most try to get into the United States by plane and are apprehended at airports. He wildly inflates the amount of crime committed by undocumented immigrants and just as wildly overstates the effect a border wall might have on the country’s opioid crisis. He did this again on Tuesday night, even though he wasn’t speaking off the cuff, in a revved-up style, at one of his rallies. He read prepared remarks, and still there was fiction aplenty in them. | He insists that would-be terrorists see a porous southern border as a welcome mat, but that’s bunk: Most try to get into the United States by plane and are apprehended at airports. He wildly inflates the amount of crime committed by undocumented immigrants and just as wildly overstates the effect a border wall might have on the country’s opioid crisis. He did this again on Tuesday night, even though he wasn’t speaking off the cuff, in a revved-up style, at one of his rallies. He read prepared remarks, and still there was fiction aplenty in them. |
| Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, who were given time immediately following Trump to present a rebuttal, clearly expected and were ready for that. In ticking off reasons that an expensive and expansive border wall wasn’t needed, Pelosi kept saying, “the fact is,” “the fact is.” It was a mantra meant to humiliate Trump, which is a sport that she is developing an ever greater taste for. | Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, who were given time immediately following Trump to present a rebuttal, clearly expected and were ready for that. In ticking off reasons that an expensive and expansive border wall wasn’t needed, Pelosi kept saying, “the fact is,” “the fact is.” It was a mantra meant to humiliate Trump, which is a sport that she is developing an ever greater taste for. |
| When it comes to the border and the wall, Trump’s willful estrangement from reality is so profound that network executives and newspaper editors spent part of Tuesday in strategy sessions about how to respond to his inevitable barrage of falsehoods. Should there be a crawl of words on the bottom of the television screen to correct him in real time? Could fact checkers work speedily enough to post rebuttals online within minutes of his misrepresentations, before they took root? This is where we find ourselves. Other presidents have been untrustworthy, and others have had to be called out on it. But not like this. This is surreal. | When it comes to the border and the wall, Trump’s willful estrangement from reality is so profound that network executives and newspaper editors spent part of Tuesday in strategy sessions about how to respond to his inevitable barrage of falsehoods. Should there be a crawl of words on the bottom of the television screen to correct him in real time? Could fact checkers work speedily enough to post rebuttals online within minutes of his misrepresentations, before they took root? This is where we find ourselves. Other presidents have been untrustworthy, and others have had to be called out on it. But not like this. This is surreal. |
| It’s a function of, more than anything, his ego, his vanity, to which the television networks, furloughed federal workers — all Americans — are hostage. He’s not remarkable among presidents in having a high opinion of himself and in desperately wanting others to share it. A robust measure of arrogance and some degree of neediness are what make the grind of the campaign trail and the glare of the media bearable. And all presidents want to rack up triumphs that make them look and feel large. But none in my lifetime has spun so many falsehoods in the service of that. None has been so naked in his hunger for that heft. | It’s a function of, more than anything, his ego, his vanity, to which the television networks, furloughed federal workers — all Americans — are hostage. He’s not remarkable among presidents in having a high opinion of himself and in desperately wanting others to share it. A robust measure of arrogance and some degree of neediness are what make the grind of the campaign trail and the glare of the media bearable. And all presidents want to rack up triumphs that make them look and feel large. But none in my lifetime has spun so many falsehoods in the service of that. None has been so naked in his hunger for that heft. |
| To live with his resounding defeat by that “nasty woman” in the popular vote, Trump had to invent the specter of millions of illegally cast ballots. He never did produce any evidence of that. To not feel eclipsed by President Barack Obama, he claimed there was a media conspiracy to undercount his inauguration crowd. But photographs don’t lie. Not the way a president does. | To live with his resounding defeat by that “nasty woman” in the popular vote, Trump had to invent the specter of millions of illegally cast ballots. He never did produce any evidence of that. To not feel eclipsed by President Barack Obama, he claimed there was a media conspiracy to undercount his inauguration crowd. But photographs don’t lie. Not the way a president does. |
| The day after his inauguration, in a visit to the C.I.A. headquarters, against a backdrop of stars that symbolized men and women who had been killed on the job for America, he used his remarks to tally his appearances on the cover of Time magazine. “I think we have the all-time record,” he said, but “we” as usual meant “I.” | The day after his inauguration, in a visit to the C.I.A. headquarters, against a backdrop of stars that symbolized men and women who had been killed on the job for America, he used his remarks to tally his appearances on the cover of Time magazine. “I think we have the all-time record,” he said, but “we” as usual meant “I.” |
| There’s no occasion unsuitable for bragging, no mission more vital than the exaltation of Trump. When, over the recent Christmas holiday, he at last paid a visit to a combat zone and spoke to American troops in Iraq, he seemed less intent on thanking them for their service than in having them thank him. He dwelled on a pay increase that they had received and claimed — erroneously — that they had gone without one for 10 years, until he came along. | There’s no occasion unsuitable for bragging, no mission more vital than the exaltation of Trump. When, over the recent Christmas holiday, he at last paid a visit to a combat zone and spoke to American troops in Iraq, he seemed less intent on thanking them for their service than in having them thank him. He dwelled on a pay increase that they had received and claimed — erroneously — that they had gone without one for 10 years, until he came along. |
| “We got you a big one,” he said. “I got you a big one. I got you a big one.” I. Big. That’s the Trump credo in two words. | “We got you a big one,” he said. “I got you a big one. I got you a big one.” I. Big. That’s the Trump credo in two words. |
| And that, at this point, is the point of the wall. I. Big. “It’s like a manhood thing for him,” Pelosi reportedly told House Democrats in a closed meeting last month. “As if manhood could ever be associated with him.” | And that, at this point, is the point of the wall. I. Big. “It’s like a manhood thing for him,” Pelosi reportedly told House Democrats in a closed meeting last month. “As if manhood could ever be associated with him.” |
| But bigness eluded Trump on Tuesday night. He came across as cramped, frustrated and forced to plead when he’d much rather command. He’s bunched up and boxed in. And the rest of us are yoked to this crazy, self-affirming monument that’s a barrier only to reason and responsible government. | But bigness eluded Trump on Tuesday night. He came across as cramped, frustrated and forced to plead when he’d much rather command. He’s bunched up and boxed in. And the rest of us are yoked to this crazy, self-affirming monument that’s a barrier only to reason and responsible government. |
| I invite you to sign up for my free weekly email newsletter. You can follow me on Twitter (@FrankBruni). | I invite you to sign up for my free weekly email newsletter. You can follow me on Twitter (@FrankBruni). |