Letting Trump Be Trump in Action

Every now and again, someone makes the funny/sad recommendation that everyone should just "Let Trump be Trump". It's part tarnished lining, part resignation. On one hand, something about Trump being himself must have worked thus far for him to be where he is. On the other hand, no really, try and stop him. Correct him--see what happens. Tell him he's wrong or not to do something. My bet is, this tactic is so useless that people are trying to tell themselves they've given up strategically.

I mean--take today as your example of Trump just being Trump. He went to Puerto Rico because, you know, they had the Category Five Hurricane that no one has ever seen before (except of course, they have). They, according to him, haven't had a real catastrophe, like Katrina, because they luckily only had 16 people die (a toll revised upward to officially 34, but with the difficulties in reporting and the scope of the accumulated problems of failed communications, power, and health care access, this figure will doubtless rise as the raw ability to even assess the extent of fatalities goes up).

His performance was appallingly tone-deaf in staggering ways.   He made the privations of other people about how he was so great to come along and fake-alleviate them. With things like flashlights, that they might still need, even while he pretends they don't really.  He goofed up who was representing the Coast Guard (nope, he was Air Force). He touted the invisible F-35, which is very expensive, kind of like Puerto Rico's recovery, haha, right? And invisible. Like the help Trump was being, haha, right?

It was almost bad enough to make everyone forget that he just beforehand suggested that what happened in Las Vegas was "a miracle".  Not me, of course. But he could have made people forget that! He was even gonna not waive the food stamp rule that they can't be used for prepared food (like fast foods) until people starting giving him that look--you know, the these people don't have houses and kitchens and power to even do cooking with, what are you, nuts? look.

This is Trump. When he is him, it is kind of really bad, and he tells people who lost everything to "have a good time."  (No, this is not the first time he did that one. ) He's, and I'm trying to be delicate, here, kind of fucked in the head about needing cookies and pats on the head for showing the barest kind of human warmth and also kind of failing at it.

This is who he is. This is the guy who will be selecting the best people and making the best deals (hasn't and won't, respectively) according to his campaign boasts.  I already had a miserable opinion of him, but I lose respect for anyone who saw anything good in him a little every day.