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Truman Burbank

The Trump Doctrine versus the Truman (Jim Carrey) Doctrine Update

September 24, 2020
by Peter Feinman
How will THE DONALD adjust to the real world? https://www.imdb.com

Time to update the situation of the Trump state of mind versus the Truman state of mind.  When last I looked (The Trump Doctrine versus the Truman Doctrine June 14, 2018), Truman was faring better in living in the real world. How are things now?

TRUMAN AND THE REAL WORLD

In case you have forgotten, Truman Burbank was a TV reality star. The difference is that Truman didn’t know he was a celebrity reality star. He thought the world in which he lived was the real world. The suspense and drama were in the moment of truth when the reality show star came face to face with the fact that he was living in a no longer sustainable artificial reality. What would he do then? Could he succeed in banishing the real world and in continuing to live a lie in the fake world or would he seek for better or for worse to live in the world as it actually existed?

We know what happened to Truman.  SPOILER ALERT! Through a series of events, the adult Truman seized the initiative and took control over his life. He set sail onto the open sea that had always frightened him only to bump into the sky and learn that someone had built a wall. He pierced it and entered the real world. In Truman’s case, the truth sets him free. He left the fake world that had governed his entire life, took a chance on real emotions, and went forth to live a better life.

Over two years ago in that blog, I wrote: “Nothing like the Truman Doctrine will occur in the TRUMP FIRST, TRUMP ALONE reality.” Let’s see what happened.

TRUMP AND THE REAL WORLD

What is there to say about America’s greatest president?

Nobel Peace Prize for getting his North Korean lover to denuclearize.

Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace to the Middle East.

The greatest conservation President since Mount Rushmore President Teddy Roosevelt.

Did more for black people than any President since Mount Rushmore President Abraham Lincoln.

Greatest economy in American history.

Victim of more hoaxes than any President in American history.

Victim of the greatest act of political corruption in American history in the rigged 2016 election.

Victim of the new greatest act of political corruption in American history in the rigged 2020 election.

Wouldn’t change anything in his handling of the coronavirus.

Grades himself a 10 in his handling of the coronavirus.

Grades himself an A in his handling of the coronavirus.

Grades himself an A+ in his handling of the coronavirus.

All things considered, he truly is our Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name. We are indeed lucky to share the same space-time continuum. Think how many more Americans from Democratic states would have died without his leadership.

HOCUS-POCUS and FRISBY: Where Are the Martians When You Need Them?

Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 30 Original air date April 13, 1962

The only person who can match the very stable genius is Somerset Frisby. He is a teller of tall tales. He spins his experiences, from his heroism in war despite his bone spurs to his drug cures because of his super-genius uncle to his unsolicited advice via tweets to presidents and captains of industry, all of which he fabricates. His friends gather in the general store to hear him spin his stories, which they find very entertaining, and he never tells the truth except by chance. But he means no harm, is not a horrid, nasty, cutie pie, but no one would vote for him for President.

However, remember this is The Twilight Zone. His reputation transcends the planet Earth and even the solar system. Really illegal aliens have been monitoring human communications especially from Fox. They have heard all his stories. They accept his tales at face value. They have heard him claim eight doctoral degrees despite paying someone to take his SATs. They have heard his being the greatest baseball player in New York City because he doesn’t have a heart. They have observed that he is the smartest person in the room. When he said “person, woman, man, camera, tv,” they practically swooned in ecstasy to have witnessed such a dazzling display of mental brilliance. Naturally, they wanted to take him back to their planet as the outstanding example of the human race.

Faced with this prospect, Frisby has his “Truman” moment. He wants to live in the real world. Frisby pleads that he is simply a shameless liar, but the aliens have no concept of lying. He manages to escape from them before they take him away. When he tries to tell his friends what happened, they enjoy a laugh at what they of course take to be another of Frisby’s tall tales. This is after all, The Twilight Zone.

WILL TRUMP HAVE HIS TRUMAN FRISBY MOMENT?

The Donald is now in the eighth decade of his life. He has been an immature child in the body of an adult with the emotional maturity of a three-year old longer than most people have been alive. The chances of him changing before he dies are between zero and non-existent. He did get to be President as a successful businessman despite squandering $413 million dollars. He did con suckers, losers, deplorable and disgusting people with bozo religious customs to worship him. So give credit where credit is due. He could even win the election fairly.

Nonetheless, there are some moments that might force him to live in the real world for the first time in his life.

1. Leaving the White House January 20

Suppose despite Putin, Biden wins both the popular vote and the Electoral College. Suppose the loser contests the results through the courts. Suppose that process drags on because there are so many disputes and challenges and there is no judicial resolution despite his control of the Supreme Court, then Nancy Pelosi becomes President and he has to leave the White House.

Suppose to forestall that contingency, the Commander in-Chief orders the military to seize ballots so he can steal the election, will the military obey him?

Suppose to forestall that contingency he orders the National Guard to seize ballots so he can steal the election, are there enough of the right states governed by Trumpicans so that would work?

Suppose to forestall that contingency, the Mafia Boss of Bosses unleashes the Attorney General. But he is only one person. Suppose the attorneys he commands rebel and refuse to help him steal the election (or take away health care from their fellow Americans)?

Suppose Trumpican states select alternate electors who will provide the margin of victory if accepted? Who will make the decision if there are two claims of victory? Will Nancy Pelosi become President?

Suppose there is no Electoral College resolution by the time the new Congress is installed and a Contingent Election by the House is required? Trumpicans control 26 state delegations in the House today. What will the number be in January? How many Congressional seats also will be contested? Will Pelosi convene the House to hold a Contingent Election if Biden has won the contested Electoral College?

Suppose despite all of the above, come January 20, 2021, Joe Biden becomes the President of the United States? If that happens, that action will be a moment of truth for the would-be four-term President. There will be no peaceful transition in the government to the new President. There will be no peaceful transition to the new President in the mind of the outgoing President. He will be fighting tooth and nail to the very last moment. How will he respond to then having to leave the White House? Given his disconnect, the abrupt change to the real world will be impossible for him to accept.

2. Investigations

Previously, I asked suppose Hannity write a tell-all book (Will Sean Hannity Be Howard Baker?: Suppose He Wrote a Tell-All Book?) Suppose instead after January 20, Hannity and Fox simply cutoff his oxygen? No more commandeering the talk shows. No more interviews. No more arena rallies – who is going to pay for them? When Truman finally leaves the alternate reality for the real world, the faithful viewers seeing that the show is over simply ask, “What else is on?” Of course, the loser will declare his candidacy for 2024 making all the wannabees who sold their soul very unhappy, but what can they do? Push him off the stage? He will become the new Lost Cause for tens of millions of Trumpicans sucking all the oxygen from the room leaving them trapped in the past as Democrats expand the Supreme Court to counteract the recent appointments.

Being investigated will mark a major change in the life of THE DONALD. It will be hard to keep track of all the House committees, Senate committees, federal attorney generals, state civil and criminal courts that want a piece of him. No immunity. Restricted to home. Ankle monitor. Rikers. Welcome to the real world.

No wonder America’s greatest President who wants a four-term presidency and who deserves to be on Mount Rushmore will do everything he can to preserve the alternate reality he has lived in all his life. He has nothing to look forward to after the presidency except a painful reality; no wonder he stop at nothing to remain in the White House.

The Trump Doctrine versus the Truman Doctrine

June 14, 2018
by Peter Feinman
How will THE DONALD adjust to the real world? https://www.imdb.com

Periodically during the course of American history, individual Presidents are remembered for a doctrine or mantra they have enunciated. The words are not necessarily legally binding in any way. Instead they provide insight into the thinking of the President as to how he (so far) views the world and chooses to guide himself. This vision or guideline may apply during his term and may be considered advice to future Presidents and the American people as well.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

The first such words were issued by our first President. George Washington recommended a policy of no entangling alliances. He offered these words based on a lifetime of experience being caught in the world of British and French interactions along with lesser actions by Spain and the Netherlands. Given the current situation after the French Revolution, it was difficult for him to imagine a Europe that was not consumed by wars. Even the ancient experience of the Thirty Years War would have confirmed that war in Europe is what European countries do so try not to get involved.

Our current President naturally is unaware of Washington’s words. A person who didn’t know Lincoln was a Republican, Frederick Douglas was dead, and the British burned Washington, D.C., cannot be expected to be knowledgeable about American history. Still he seems to share Washington’s aversion to alliances.

In so doing, he is not drawing on any personal experience in war and diplomacy. The serial draft avoider confines his physical competition to the scripted world of the professional wrestling arena and reality shows that aren’t real. What then is the source of his antipathy to alliances?

Once again, here is where it becomes necessary to recognize that we are dealing with an immature child and not an adult. Alliance is an adult term like separation of powers or oaths to the Constitution. These concepts have no meaning to him. It is not that he rejects them but that the seventh-grade smart-aleck/dumb-aleck does not have the mental necessities to grasp such adult concepts. Of course, he can say the word and use it in a sentence but he simply is unable understand its meaning.

Consider the recent words of Cheon Seong-whun, an analyst at the Asian Institute in Seoul:

He sees everything in terms in money but there are values other than money in an alliance (NYT 6/13/18).

Yes, there are values other than money in an alliance, but the immature child really is genuinely not capable of understanding that. The narcissistic seventh-grade smart-aleck/dumb-aleck operates on the basis of TRUMP FIRST, TRUMP ALONE. Relationships are measured in terms of loyalties by subordinates and money for customers/rivals/others. How much does South Korea pay for retaining the services of the United States to protect it? If it is not paying its fair share, then the deal is abrogated. There is no alliance. There is no friendship. There is no shared values or traditions. There simply are deals, transactions between two and only two parties; and if the transaction is costing him, meaning the United States, money, then America is out of there. Nothing else matters. If you were surprised by his unilateral actions in Singapore then you are admitting that you still seek to understand him as an adult instead of the immature child that he is. It is not fair to judge him by adult standards since he isn’t one: TRUMP FIRST, TRUMP ALONE.

If you have doubts, consider his comments about North Korea. Look at all the beautiful beachfront property! Can’t you see opportunity all over the place? Now is the time for the country between China and South Korea to take advantage of the possibilities to build resort communities. And in case you have doubts about who should develop those properties, have I got a real estate developer for you! Think how different the rescue efforts in Puerto Rico could have been had he had a resort there.

In case you still resist the idea of analyzing his actions as those of immature child, I call your attention to my description last August of the seventh grader and another 13 year-old, Tom Hanks in Big. Now consider the words of Roland Paris, a former foreign affairs advisor to the now rotting in a special place in hell Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau (didn’t Madeleine Albright use the same words to condemn (black) woman who didn’t support a female candidate for the Democratic nomination?):

Big tough guy once he’s back on his airplane. Can’t do it in person and knows it, which makes him feel weak. So he projects these feelings onto Trudeau and then lashes out at him. You don’t need to be Freud. He’s a pathetic little man-child (NYT 6/11/18).

Still not convinced he really is an immature child? Now consider NYT reporter Peter Baker’s words later in the same article almost paraphrasing my comments about forcing him to act adult in my Tom Hanks post:

Mr. Trump never really wanted to attend the Group of 7 meeting but aides [meaning adults!] pressed him to go even as they feared it would be a disaster because he was being forced to do something he did not want to do [know any parents who dread taking an immature child out in public?]. He rebelled by showing up late and leaving early….He arrived 18 minutes late for a Saturday session…and did not bother putting his headphones on for the translation [have you ever seen an immature child act out in public when forced to do something he doesn’t want to do?].

For Washington, no entangling alliances meant don’t enter into any so as to maintain peace in our country. TRUMP FIRST, TRUMP ALONE means there are no alliances, only transactional deals that are financially beneficially.

TEDDY ROOSEVELT

Roosevelt like Washington, led a vigorous life. Just as Washington drew on his own personal experiences before recommending no entangling alliance, so Roosevelt drew on his own life when he suggested Presidents should speak softly and carry a big stick. It is hard to imagine any words less appropriate to the whiner-in-chief. Not only is he a constant whining baby thanks to technology not available in Roosevelt’s time, We the People have the good fortune to be able to read every stream-of-conscious whine by the immature child.  We are all trapped in airline with a crying baby with nowhere to go and way to shut him up. I thought the Constitution forbade cruel and unusual punishment.

THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE

Perhaps the most relevant doctrine to understanding our current President is the Truman Doctrine. Truman Burbank was a reality star. And unlike the current celebrity reality-star in chief, Truman’s ratings were boffo at the box office. The difference is that Truman didn’t know he was a celebrity reality star. He did think the artificial reality in which he lived was the real world just as the celebrity reality-star in chief thinks his alternate universe is the real world. The suspense and drama are in the moment of truth, the moment when the reality show star comes face to face with the fact that he is living in a no longer sustainable artificial reality and has to deal with the real world. What will he do then? Can he succeed in banishing the real world and in continuing to live a lie or will he have to adjust for better or for worse to the world as it really exists?

We know what happened to Truman.  SPOLIER ALERT! Through a series of events, the adult Truman seizes the initiative and takes control over his life. He sets sail into the open sea that has always frightened him only to bump into the sky and learn that someone has built a wall. He pierces it and enters the real world. In Truman’s case, the truth sets him free. He leaves the artificial reality that has governed his entire life, takes a chance on real emotions, and goes forth to live a better life.

Nothing like the Truman Doctrine will occur in the TRUMP FIRST, TRUMP ALONE reality. He will never take the initiative to leave the alternate universe for the real world where Russia violated the United States in the 2016 election, 5 million people didn’t vote illegally, and his parade was smaller. Why shouldn’t he remain in the alternate reality, look how far he’s gone?

Whereas Truman left his reality world for the real world, Trump seeks to extend the artificial reality to the world at large. He is likely to fail. But when and how?  Not everyone watches the Bull Trump Network. The seismic shock recorded from North Korea after the Singapore meeting was from the laughter of people who recognize that John Kelly and Rex Tillerson are right: the American President is a stupid ignorant moron. You can get something for nothing. Now the whole world has seen the deal maker in action. Now the whole world has seen the negotiator in action. Now that Iran has seen him at work, is it any wonder it is eager to negotiate a new nuclear arms treaty on the same terms offered North Korea? After all, Iran has beachfront property too. How many resorts do you want to build here?

At this point America’s allies know that no alliance has any meaning in the TRUMP FIRST, TRUMP ALONE universe.

At this point America’s foes know that they have nothing to fear in the TRUMP FIRST, TRUMP ALONE universe as long as they have something to offer him, like a Nobel prize and real estate development opportunities.

At this point America is learning about his fraudulent foundation to match his fraudulent university. Everything in his life is tainted. The world has seen the truth. The only mystery is when will We the People catch on.