Trump trapped in state of 'arrested development' — and it's starting to cost him: analyst
An analyst described how President Donald Trump's recent attacks on NATO allies and reversed requests for assistance to reopen the vital oil channel, the Strait of Hormuz, have revealed how the president views war.
MS NOW host Nicolle Wallace was talking to Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic, about why Trump's comments have isolated the United States from its European allies in his war against Iran.
"There's such an erratic nature to his comments about what he wants and needs, both from our allies and in terms of the Strait of Hormuz," Wallace said.
"You know, in a way, he's not erratic. He's very constant," Nichols said. "He's like an angry little boy. You know when people say they're not coming to his birthday party, he says, 'Well, I didn't want you there anyway.'"
"It's childlike," Nichols added. "He kind of approaches the world as sort of a resentful, arrested development small child. Because, for one thing, he doesn't understand that other countries have agency. They are not simply wholly owned subsidiaries of the United States. They are not part of Trump enterprises. You know, Keir Starmer is not the executive vice president for, you know, British relations in the Trump organization. These people answer to their voters, their countries have interests. And the tragedy is for decades they have identified their interests with ours and we with theirs. "
The reality is different from what Trump thinks, Nichols explained.
"And now Donald Trump says, 'Look, an alliance means that you do what's good for me when I tell you to do it, and when I snap my fingers, and then the rest of the time I insult you and I talk you down, because of course, I'm the most powerful and we have the best, and we don't need anyone,'" Nichols said. "And then he's shocked when all the other kids won't come to his party. Well, you know, that's international diplomacy. People don't like to jump into a war that they didn't have any part in starting. This could have been avoided with just a modicum of competent diplomacy, of just talking to some of these governments ahead of time, not just to make the case, but to say, 'Look, we understand you might have heartburn about this. We're going to do what we can to keep you in the loop.'"
But since Trump didn't take the diplomatic approach, he doesn't have the diplomatic results.
"And instead, every single day, Trump vacillates between, 'We don't need you and you're stupid and weak. And how come you stupid, weak people that we don't need aren't showing up and putting your sons and daughters on the line and putting them in harm's way?'" Nichols said. "He's not capable of grasping the paradox in that, because the whole world is about Donald Trump, and everyone else is just, you know, a prop or a bit player."