Clowns and Whores

A comment I saw in the wake of Trump's 90 day pause in tariffs made me raise an eyebrow. A similar comment a day later quirked that eyebrow again, and got me thinking about something that many take for granted.

That "something" is the notion of political credibility, in particular when it comes to Presidents and other heads of state. I don't mean credibility in terms of doing what you said you would. I refer to others’ respect and esteem. As in, the world would respect America more if only X Y and Z.

Two thoughts come to mind about that.

Among the many lessons I've learned in this "arguing politics" hobby of mine is that other people don't deserve my energy or emotional investment until they've given me reason to grant it. Some ninny with a cockamamie opinion or some random jackass lobbing insults is, as Harlan Ellison put it, bibble-babble. A fart in a wind tunnel. If the opinion is informed and has merit, then I will grant it some brain time. If a person builds a good history of informed and tempered opinions, I will be more likely to give the next one heed. If someone simply bombs me with empty insults, I shed them like water off a duck's back.

Never give someone else power over your emotions.

Another lesson of life is that basing your self-esteem on other people's approval or validation is the road to emotional and intellectual serfdom. Not only do you abandon your own moral center in favor of others', you elevate them above you by default. Even when they don't deserve it. Which is often the case.

All this was pithily and succinctly telegraphed by former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who in responding to a report that Richard Nixon had called him an asshole, quipped,

How much you value someone's else's esteem should be based on your opinion of him or her.

So, when I read comments that Trump's - or any President’s - actions are costing us credibility with other nations’ leaders, I remembered that many of those other nations are led by clowns and whores, and their public views and tut-tuts re American credibility are either disingenuous or irrelevant.

America's military might has shielded Europe, and much of the rest of the globe for decades. American innovation has helped the entire world prosper. All this should have bought us barrels full of good will. Instead, we get endless bleats for more of the same, coupled with endless put-downs and snobbery, especially from Old Europe. Funny, that, given the dysfunction, scandals, and mismanagement Old Europe's leaders are known for. It took the very credible threat of losing the American military security blanket for Old Europe to finally say "we need to be responsible for our citizens' defense," and regular readers know that I blame German leadership's cozying up to Putin for the Ukraine invasion. Gee whiz, we really should bend the knee to those mean girls over on the other side of the Pond, so that they like us.

Geopolitics is transactional, and "credibility" is only as important as the next event. Good will is meaningless, politicians will act in their own self interests or in pursuit of whatever policies they think benefit their nations, and the attitude will always be "what will you do for me next?" when it comes to relations with America.

I've heard some argue that if we disengage from Pax Americana, Europe will turn to Russia or China for alliance. If they are foolish enough to do that - and remember, the "credibility" argument they advance is just petulance if it isn't extended to all players - they deserve what happens next. It's not America's duty to save other nations from their own stupidity.

I strongly disagree with Trump's inclinations toward economic nativism. I've been willing to wait and see if his end game is tariff-free international trade, but the signals are strong otherwise. I do, however, agree with the notion that America should look after her citizens' interests rather than impoverishing them to benefit the citizens of other nations. That's my rejection of Pax, of militarism, of the vague and mythical "global leadership" that has produced disastrous results for the past three-plus decades.

Rather than us worrying about how other nations think of ours, we should expect other nations to cozy up to us. We are the big fish, the economic and military powerhouse, and despite constant government efforts to the contrary, a bastion of individual rights. They should worry about what we think of them. Getting flustered that other nations might not like us any more because Trump suggests the low self-esteem that has driven the Left to reflexively hate all things America.

When JD Vance scolded the Europeans over their abandonment of free speech, many were shocked and outraged by his temerity. I, on the other hand, was heartened. Why would we show people who'd jail a citizen for sharing a meme any deference?

As for Trump himself? He serves the American people, not the clown show that is European leadership. Rest assured, no matter their public sniffs at his words and deeds, when he does something they like or offers something they want, they will all come a-running, all past sins dismissed.

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I feel compelled to apologize to actual clowns and whores, for the sin of comparing them to politicians.