He Do It Himself

“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news–it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year of record!” (@realDonaldTrump, Jan 2, 2018) 

Among the most important and challenging experiences of raising children are when they insist on “doing it myself.” Whether it’s tying shoes, writing their names, or climbing a ladder on a slide, a parent can be pleased, frustrated, annoyed, and/or terminally impatient when his or her child insists, “I do it myself.”

You want your children to do so many things themselves, of course; but sometimes you don’t want them to do them–or to try to learn to do them–at this particular time.

There are times and places for taking care of things on our own, and times and places when we need others and need to acknowledge that we need others. Part of growing up is learning to tell the difference, and to make appropriate choices based on that difference.

President Trump seems to have a insatiable need to “do it myself.” We knew this when he insisted during the campaign (and after it) that only he could make America great again. He maintains an endless drum-beat of self-recognition and self-congratulation, turning every bit of good news back to himself and every bit of bad news toward someone else.

That is why the tweet at the start of this post is so instructive. It gives revealing insight into the psyche of the man who sits in the Oval Office, at least to those who will see.

Instead of congratulating the governmental agencies and the airlines’ leadership for a job well done over the course of many years and under different administrations (the last fatal crash of a U.S. airliner was in 2009), he begins by drawing attention to himself, and ends without mention of anyone else.

It’s as if Mr. Trump was sitting in control towers throughout 2017 monitoring the blips and guiding them to safe landings. Before that, chaos and death. I doubt his tweet did little to improve the morale of those who work so hard to keep flying as safe as it is.

The chaos swirling around the White House threatens to engulf us all, and at the heart of it is a man who has no sense of his own place or of his responsibilities to others. If he conducted his business affairs the way he is running the country it’s a wonder his ventures didn’t go bankrupt more often than they did.

But he’s not making deals for glitzy casinos any more; the stakes are far bigger than he realizes because he doesn’t really acknowledge anyone but himself or any interests beyond his own. And I do not believe he is capable making that crucial move into real maturity.

Perched in the tallest control tower on the planet, Donald Trump do it all himself. And all of us are in deep do-do.