Proud Boy

By Tom Lamia

JACKIE COOPER in Peck’s Bad Boy, 1934. Credit: Wikipedia.

Donald Trump is president. He is a proud boy today. The country is at his mercy, for now. He may not fully realize the great and several dimensions and threats, to himself and the country that are before him. Thus far his governing methods are both radical and illegal, as they assert powers that are not his under the Constitution. His people, the MAGA intelligentsia that guide his executive actions say otherwise. They have come to believe that a president can do most anything without the consent of any other branch of government. Their view is radical and wrong. Court decisions will ultimately confirm this and bring the effort to overturn history and constitutional law to a close. The pendulum will be brought back to the center. Then the question will be whether this feisty proud boy will obey.

On a lesser and more immediate scale, the Cabinet and the major federal agencies (State, Treasury, Defense, etc.) are now legally constituted as Senate approval has been given to their leaders. An exception is Elon Musk and “DOGE,” an executive department unauthorized by Congress. Musk is acting as a principal Officer of the United States at DOGE, a capacity that requires Senate approval. The sand is running through the hourglass at a high rate on the legal issues. Many will likely become moot if the courts are not up to the task of guiding us through these issues before time runs out. Allowing time to run out is a choice, but not a good one.

But what of the man at the center of this crisis? It is said that he is impulsive, unpredictable and other qualities that are problematic in a president. What drives him and is it governable? At the center is his stubborn insistence on having his way in all matters, large or small, and not being willing to bend to authority or admit error. He is known to fixate for years on trifles, to hold grudges of extreme depth and to retaliate disproportionately, often in cruel and humiliating ways. This is his history. He denies every plain fact that he dislikes, including being defeated in 2020, of leading an insurrection in 2021 and of being convicted of attempting to rig his 2016 election. Should we, the People, not be concerned about this? Of course we should. Where does it come from? My strong feeling is that it is all a product of his pride. He is a proud boy and it handicaps his ability to perform as president.

The Proud Boys fit him well. Their core of violence appeals to him. They led the charge on the Capitol at his direction in 2021. Other private militia groups and thousands of individuals, some armed, participated in the insurrection. Those whose actions were violent, as documented on video, were indicted, tried and convicted of serious crimes. Those still serving sentences were pardoned within days of the inauguration. These are his palace guard; they stand ready to harass citizen targets identified as “enemies.” These intimidating accusations and their aftermath in threatening phone calls, house visits and “swatting” attacks are regularly reported in the press. When asked about them, the president avoids any criticism, only gives shrugging allusions to the problem not being his doing. He does it because his pride has been injured and because he can. He wants us to believe that these are justifiable responses from patriots taking umbrage at his mistreatment. As president he has the power to exact revenge for all the past wrongs that lie within his memory. Some are petty, some are ancient; they all are hurtful to his self-image. He is seeking to erase the hurt by denigrating the antagonist in the memory. It might be Rosie O’Donnell from 30 years back or Joe Biden, or William Barr, or Mark Milley or John McCain, or any judge, prosecutor or litigation adversary in his portfolio of litigation.

This pattern is unhealthy; it consumes his physical and psychic energy; it cuts against reconciliation; it makes him a slave to retribution. He has brought it to his politics and to his governance of the country.

His history is crowded with former friends, associates, employees and family who lie permanently damaged from his personal attacks following their dismissal from insider status. It is difficult to find a senior member of his first term team who was not cruelly dismissed and personally attacked as the architect of their own fate. Only far right theoreticians Russell Vought and Stephen Miller have returned as close advisers. The cabinet officers, department heads, military chiefs, vice president, Congressional leaders and White House staff from his first term are all missing from this new term. The new crowd is full of pledges of loyalty and assurances that all will be made right and great (again). Their time will come: reverses will occur and this president is incapable of having blame fall on or near him. His pride will not allow it. They will be shown the door and booted on the way out.

As the Bible tells us, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” That wisdom, if followed, would provide some protection from presidential hubris and irrational vanity, but would it be followed? Atomic bomb architect Oppenheimer, musing on the burden of great power, invoked Hindu scripture in the form of the god Vishnu, “Now I have become death the destroyer of worlds.” The Supreme Court’s immunity decision in U.S. v. Trump could be a springboard for reckless action by a self-centered president whose pride is at stake. He may see revenge as right and proper even if violent and destructive. In the immunity case it was suggested that Seal Team Six could be the weapon of choice.