The Trump Doctrine in a Word: Covfefe

We know the White House Communications Director was, ostensibly, fired for saying there was no Trump doctrine. And rightfully so; had he stated that there was no easily detectable Trump doctrine he, at least, would have been accurate. If we take a lesson from Chaos Theory (and this would seem the time to do just that) and accept random as just another pattern then the Donald’s policy and diplomatic maneuvers could add up to a doctrine – in the abstract.

Admittedly, a mere two-hundred-four days of post-election observation is not a large enough sample to imply a generalization, but may be enough to suggest direction. Let’s see, what do we know of the Trump doctrine? Not much, but here’s a half-dozen quick points, just off the top of my head.

1. It strictly adheres to campaign promises, except when it doesn’t. Immigration, wall, Muslim ban – gotta do it, we promised. Get tough with China, protect Medicaid, disclose taxes – no one’s interested in that stuff, the election’s over, move on.

2. It requires absolute loyalty to the Donald. A willingness to be thrown under the bus is mandatory. Trump consumes underlings like Satin consumes souls.

3. It’s built upon a contrarian foreign policy philosophy, where we’re rude to our allies, while spooning Putin and arming the Saudis.

4. It’s built upon a contrarian domestic policy philosophy, where we’re rude to our citizens, while sleeping around with the energy companies.

5. Both administrative deconstruction and administrative bias are embraced.

6. It’s all about making money for the Donald.

So, while this short list seems a random, a handful of unrelated points – if we take a step back and look at the whole, perhaps, a pattern will emerge.

…

After considerable review, I find that points one through five are secondary, subordinate to, point six. If I listed a million other observations and facts about the Trump doctrine, they too, would be secondary and subordinate. Very much like the Donald himself, the Trump doctrine is very simple: make money for the Donald.

The republic appreciates simplicity, but the cost of the Donald’s doctrine seems high given that the only interesting things we get in return are nonsense words like covfefe.

In Peace and Justice,
osv