By Robert Reich
To Donald Trump, the
world is made up of only two sorts of people, or nations: strong winners whom
others respect and fear, and weak losers whom others exploit and laugh at. There is no other alternative.
“At what point does
America get demeaned? At what point do they start laughing at us, as a
country?” Trump asked during his major announcement from the White
House Rose Garden that the US would be withdrawing from the Paris climate
agreement.
“We don’t want other
leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won’t be. They
won’t be.“
For Trump, there is no
such thing as collaboration for mutual gain. Cooperation is a sham.
Similarly, social
insurance is a con.
Billionaires can be trusted because they’ve already made their money – presumably by out-exploiting others.
Billionaires can be trusted because they’ve already made their money – presumably by out-exploiting others.
Dictators are
admirable because they’re respected and feared.
But
democratically-elected prime ministers and presidents need to be shown who’s
boss – their hands grabbed in white-knuckled contests of dominance, their
bodies shoved aside if they get out in front.
And treaties and compacts need to
be renegotiated so America wins.
It’s the same at home:
Political opponents must be humiliated, White House staffers demeaned (even the
Vice President shown his place), the press degraded, recalcitrant judges
debased, others intimidated.
Everything is a giant
zero-sum game in which either you win and they lose, or they win and you lose.
And if they dare put up a fight, you get even.
This is the
personality of a sociopath.
Trump is now the
single most powerful person on the planet, with the ability to order the
destruction of the world in just over four minutes. It is necessary to get him
out of the White House, peacefully and legally, as quickly as possible.
ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at
the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center
for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton
administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective
cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fourteen books, including
the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and "Beyond
Outrage," and, his most recent, "Saving Capitalism." He is also
a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause,
a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the
award-winning documentary, INEQUALITY FOR ALL.