Love, Fear and Flattery
We are now into the third year of Donald Trump as US President, but he still presents us with interesting questions. I’m not talking about his character. On that we have had ample insights, most recently with the testimony by Michael Cohen, his former fixer. On Wednesday 27 February of this year, at a hearing of the House Oversight Committee, Cohen described his former boss as “a racist,” “a cheat,” and “a con man”. Well, at least that was clear. Why hold yourself back, Michael, you could have added “a self-confessed sexist, pussy-grabbing pig”!
No, what was more thought-provoking was how Trump continues to have everyone do his bidding. Republicans resolutely avoided asking Cohen questions about Trump at the hearing, but they never stopped trying to discredit Cohen’s statements. Alright, not all of them, not all of the time: Michigan’s Justin Amash, asked Cohen if he could illustrate the way in which Trump could issue his directions indirectly. “Sure,” Cohen replied. “It would be no different than if I said, ‘That’s the nicest-looking tie I’ve ever seen. Isn’t it?’ What are you going to do? Are you going to fight with him? The answer is no. So you say, ‘Yeah, it’s the nicest-looking tie I’ve ever seen.’ That’s how he speaks. He doesn’t give you questions, he doesn’t give you orders. He speaks in code. And I understand the code because I’ve been around him for decades.” [i]
Later, towards the end of the session, Cohen indicated many others around Trump behaved in the same way. “Everybody’s job at the Trump Org was to protect Mr. Trump,” he said. “Every day, most of us knew we were coming in and we were going to lie for him on something. And that’s exactly what’s happening right now in this country. It’s exactly what’s happening here in government.”. It was a nice dig at the Republicans on the committee. [ii] Cohen finished his testimony bluntly: ‘My loyalty to Mr. Trump has cost me everything – my family’s happiness, friendships, my law license, my company, my livelihood, my honour, my reputation, and, soon, my freedom. I pray the country doesn’t make the same mistakes I have made.” [iii]
It was this that had led me to ask the obvious question: why do people like Michael Cohen and Republican members of Congress behave in the way they do? How does Donald Trump have so many apparently intelligent people doing what he wants? Oops, time for a disclaimer: I admit saying they all appear to be intelligent may be stretching things: some clearly aren’t!
More than a little puzzled, I turned to one of my favourite writers on leadership, Machiavelli. He had an interesting perspective on how leaders ensure loyalty:
From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved more than feared, or feared more than loved. The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting. For it may be said of men in general that they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours; they offer you their blood, their goods, their life, and their children, as I have before said, when the necessity is remote; but when it approaches, they revolt. And the prince who has relied solely on their words, without making other preparations, is ruined; for the friendship which is gained by purchase and not through grandeur and nobility of spirit is bought but not secured, and at a pinch is not to be expended in your service. And men have less scruple in offending one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared; for love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails. [iv]
Machiavelli knew a thing or two about princes, and about men as a whole, and I do keep going back to that quote: “they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours; … [but] the friendship which is gained by purchase and not through grandeur and nobility of spirit is bought but not secured, and at a pinch is not to be expended in your service.” It looks as though Michael Cohen, at a pinch and about to go to prison, was certainly no longer interested in supporting/lying for his former boss.
Fine, but had Cohen’s relationship with Trump been based on love? I don’t think so. Rather I am quite certain it had much more to do with that business about men being ‘covetous of gain’. Cohen was being paid. As businessmen, I suspect both he and Trump saw the relationship in instrumental terms: in Trump’s mind it was ‘I pay and give you directions, you act; fail me, you lose your job’.
Apart from those who were dependent employees, however, I find aspects of the relationship between Donald Trump and others around him less easy to understand. If you look back to those extraordinary months before the Presidential election on 8 November 2016, there was little love or fear of Trump by senior Republicans. Many disparaged him and his approach, up to and even after the National Republican Convention in July.
Ted Cruz, Senator for Texas, and an aspirant to run for the presidency, was pretty clear about his views on Trump back in 2016: “I think in terms of a commander in chief, we ought to have someone who isn’t springing out of bed to tweet in a frantic response to the latest polls. I think the American people is looking for a commander in chief who is stable and steady and a calm hand to keep this country safe.” Okay, that was a bit weak. How about “Trump is a “narcissist” and “serial philanderer” and “morality doesn’t exist” for him.” That’s more like it. One more: “This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies — practically every word that comes out of his mouth.”[v] Go, Ted, tell us what you really think!
And yet, after the election, many critics changed. Some of the behaviour that followed was simply amazing. On 20 December 2017 at a televised cabinet meeting, Vice-President Mike Pence managed to praise Trump on fourteen separate occasions in less than three minutes. This feat (deserving of an entry in the Guinness Book of Records, I would have thought) was littered with panegyrics like these: “You’ve restored American credibility on the world stage.” “You’ve signed more bills rolling back federal red tape than any president in American history.” “You’ve unleashed American energy.” And, “You’ve spurred an optimism in this country that’s setting records.” Not surprisingly, this marathon effort ended with Pence adding, “I’m deeply humbled, as your vice president, to be able to be here” (would he have been there for any other reason?).
He wasn’t the only one. At the same session, 83-year-old Utah senator Orrin Hatch tried to surpass Pence: “You’re a heck of a leader. And we’re all benefiting from it. This president hasn’t even been in office for a year and look at all the things that he’s been able to get done — by sheer will, in many ways … I came from very humble roots. And I have to say that this is one of the great privileges of my life to stand here on the White House lawn with the president of the United States who I love and appreciate so much … We’re going to make this the greatest presidency that we’ve seen, not only in generations, but maybe ever.” [vi] And so it went on.
The thing is, sycophancy like that on show at the cabinet meeting had nothing to do with love. Trump was being praised by yes-men and yes-women, and only someone as narcissistic as him would have ignored the veiled cynicism of some of the comments made that day. How about Paul Ryan praising Trump’s “exquisite leadership” (nice word) and Mitch McConnell declaring Trump’s entire first year in office to be an “extraordinary accomplishment” (he got that right!). You have to hand it to Paul and Mitch, they know how to stoke a sensitive ego with faint praise!
By this time, Senator Cruz had switched over: “He’s the president. I work with the president in delivering on our promises,” he said on ABC News’s “This Week.” “What I told the president the week after the election, I said, ‘Mr. President, I want to do everything humanly possible to roll up my sleeves and lead the fight in the Senate to deliver on our promises.’” [vii] I wonder how he managed to swallow all the things he said earlier, especially as he must have known they were true then, and still were. Trump hadn’t stopped being a pathological liar.
Gotta say, that televised cabinet meeting sounded like one great big love-in. What had they been smoking? To remind you, Machiavelli suggested that “love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose”. Seems he got that right, as following the time of love-ins, many people have broken away with nasty things to say.
Not everyone was swept up in adulation anyway. Despite trying to restrain making comments, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “Trump is “pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read and repeatedly attempted to do illegal things.” He didn’t admit he had called Trump a ‘moron’, “but he didn’t exactly suggest that Trump was a scholar — or even just a steady leader”.[viii]
Or how about the views of the man who used drive with his dog on top of his car. Mitt Romney, on entering the US Senate in 2019, had quite a lot to say, and said it with style: “It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination. After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion … on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office … A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect … And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.” [ix]
Of course, Romney was talking about Trump two years after he was elected. However, he had much the same view back in early 2016: “Here’s what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the members of the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat … He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president …” [x] I don’t have much of an opinion of Romney, but his comments on Trump seem pretty accurate. You have to admit, once the senior Republicans decide to dump on Trump, they do it with style.
If it wasn’t love of Trump, was it fear? Fear of what? Fear of an inflated child as President? Yes, fear, but that might not be the right word. Now we are getting closer to the truth. Trump is a bully. A typical bully, physically large and mentally small. A person who can only make people do things by dominating them, making them believe he will crush them, threatening that his supporters will not to re-elect those he no longer supports. Like all bullies, he kicks when a person is down (remember his attacks on John McCain?). Like all bullies, he falters when the person he tries to bully stands up to him, especially when it’s a woman, as Senator Nancy Pelosi demonstrated a few weeks ago. A bully threatening the re-election of Congress Republicans.
Surely some people respect him because of his business achievements? He’s been a huge success in business, hasn’t he? A billionaire, many times over. No way. The view Trump has managed to create of himself, self-made super-rich and a great negotiator, is a long way from his track record. After a few early high-profile real estate wins largely funded by his dad, there has been a string of failures: Trump Steak; Trump Airlines; Trump Vodka; Trump Mortgage; Trump Magazine; Trump University. If you read about each one, you’ll find they always turned into a fiasco, with disappointed and often angry customers, suppliers going unpaid, law suits being settled out of court, and no evidence of strategic business thinking or sound planning.
How does he keep up the pretense? This commentator has it right: “Trump is one of the world’s foremost practitioners of hype. Hype is all about using any means necessary to generate an intense emotional reaction from a large number of people to get a specific outcome. Regardless of your politics, there is no denying that Donald Trump has uncommon ability in this area … When he ran for president, Donald Trump made the case that he would run the country like the uber-successful CEO that he was. His voters never bothered to investigate his claims. In their minds, they didn’t need to. His publicly crafted image told them all they needed to know.” [xi]
Trump isn’t a leader. He’s a self-promoting master of hype, a bully with the gift of the gab, seduced by his own monstrous claims. But he’s also easily led, as Fox News, Putin and Kim Jong-Un all understand. Trump follows the path set out by his flatterers, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson lighting the way. Forty years a snake oil salesman, all surface glitz and glitter, nothing underneath. Why can’t people see it? He crushes criticism. If the guest complains, pay him off. If the hooker wants to tell all, pay her off. Nothing to see, everything swept away.
While he continues on his thoughtless way, unchecked he is ripping apart the very structure of democracy in America: everything is, after all, all about him. What did Michael Cohen say? “I can only warn people the more people that follow Mr. Trump, as I did blindly, are going to suffer the same consequences that I’m suffering.” And so is the country as a whole.
[i] https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/michael-cohens-damning-portrayal-of-trump-as-a-lying-racist-crook
[ii] Ibid
[iii] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/politics/michael-cohen-trump.html
[iv] Machiavelli, The Prince, 1513, Section 17, Of Cruelty and Clemency and Whether it is Better to be Loved or Feared, translated 1910 by Ninian Hill Thomson
[v] https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-cruz-feud-history-worst-attacks-2016-9
[vi] http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/12/all-the-sycophantic-compliments-republicans-gave-trump-today.html
[vii] https://www.texastribune.org/2018/10/21/donald-trump-stumps-ted-cruz-texas-former-enemies-are-now-allies/
[viii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/12/07/rex-tillerson-trump-undisciplined-doesnt-like-read-tries-do-illegal-things
[ix] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-president-shapes-the-public-character-of-the-nation-trumps-character-falls-short/2019/01/01/
[x] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/us/politics/mitt-romney-speech.html
[xi] https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelschein/2018/08/16/trump-fails-at-everything-so-why-does-he-always-end-up-on-top/
