"Trying to pin down the real Donald Trump is a mug's game. Doubtless, some will have persuaded themselves that the real Trump was the one we saw in Windsor a week ago, fawning over the royals, treating Keir Starmer with respect, and claiming that Britain and the United States were two notes in the same chord. Well, maybe. Perhaps the more plausible version was actually the one who went to the United Nations this week."
"This Trump went not to fawn but to boast and trash, whingeing about everything from the UN's supposed failure to back his claims to have ended seven un-endable wars, to its refusal to award him a renovation building contract I said at the time that I would do it for $500m, rebuilding everything, it would be beautiful for its New York headquarters complex."
"There is probably no single version of the US president's huge personality that makes complete sense of all the competing others. To be fair, Trump is not alone in this. Centuries ago, Michel de Montaigne wrote that none of us is ever one person alone; every sort of contradiction can be found in me, the French sage concluded. Never a truer word was written, especially as far as Trump is concerned."
Attempts to identify a single, consistent Donald Trump fail because multiple, often contradictory personas appear. One persona behaved affably in Windsor, fawning over royals, treating Keir Starmer with respect, and portraying Britain and the United States as harmonized allies. Another persona at the United Nations boasted and attacked the UN, complained about its refusal to validate his claims of ending seven wars, and sought a renovation contract for its New York complex while offering to rebuild it for $500m. Historical parallels emerge with Otto von Bismarck, who combined charm and brutality, calculation and rage, and who left a consequential yet unstable legacy.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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