Trump versus The Great War (1914-18)

Donald Trump has conveyed a great respect for military men, except John McCain, and stressed the importance of a strong military to maintaining American hegemony. He speaks proudly of a bigger button and America’s unfathomed ability to strike our enemies.

Trump attended New York Military Academy and graduated in 1964.  His record with the draft board is well documented:

While in college from 1964 to 1968, Trump obtained four student deferments from serving in the military…. In October 1968, he was given a medical deferment which he later attributed to spurs in both heels and classified as 1-Y, "unqualified for duty except in the case of a national emergency."

Trump seemed inspired by the thought of surrounding himself with generals—savored the nickname “Mad Dog” applied to Marine General James  Mattis and made him Secretary of Defense.

Trump made John Kelly, another retired Marine general, the White House Chief of Staff. Kelly, reportedly, has reached the end of the line. Soon he will move through the spinning revolving door for cabinet members. Kelly seems rock-ribbed and stone jawed and had some success in reining in the President. 

Maybe military generals are not so much fun when you have to work with them in real life. 

Piers Morgan appeared on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s daybreak television program on MSNBC. Piers was a winner on Celebrity Apprentice and claimed to spend upwards of 100 hours around the conference table with Donald Trump. Piers observed that demonstrating respect for “Mr. Trump” was essential to succeeding as a contestant on the show. Trump looked favorably on those who accorded him a measure of success. That need may have been intensified by Trump’s reputation as hustler as much as a businessman. Respect matters more to the insecure more than anything else.

The question remains why did Trump falter in Europe at the Centennial celebration for the ending of World War, fought between 1914-1918. Emmanuel Macron represented France honorably at the dais. Angela Merkel joined them, though German soldiers fought against the Allies from the other side of No Man’s Land. Vladimir Putin represented Russia and Canada’s Justin Trudeau made the important gathering.

One pundit suggested Trump didn’t like going where he is not liked—Macron, Merkel and Trudeau have also suffered the slings and arrows of the mighty Donald.

But Donald Trump looked to be in a daze. Maybe the military gravesite and rainy conditions did not suit his preferences. The decision to no-go the ceremony caused shockwaves. The image of innocent lives cut short, infantrymen ordered to head out of the trenches through the razor wire and directly into enemy fire has been burned in our psyches. Mustard gas maimed and killed in a manner we seem unable to exorcize. Like now, technology leapfrogged ahead of man’s consciousness. We were unable to control the demons we had created from steel and chemicals, hot flying lead bringing down good men and ending lives before their human potential could barely be tapped.

Trump has been criticized for a lack of intellectual curiosity. He took a misstep this time—underestimating the world’s fascination for a war mainly recalled for the unusual outbreak with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and its terrible toll. Just the name, World War I, evokes thoughts of cannon fodder and human folly. By acknowledging this past, even 100 years later, we acknowledge the existence of our sins. In this battle The Great War (1914-1918) defeated Donald Trump’s political and public relations talents.

Piers Morgan made another observation on Morning Joe,commenting on Emmanuel Macron’s relative success in dealing with Donald Trump. Macron, said Morgan, shows respect for the office of President of the United States but does not hesitate to criticize policy. Macron stated that nationalism was the opposite of patriotism during the ceremonies, drawing Trump’s ire no doubt. But Macron gave Trump credit and that is always a smart policy, with friends and foes alike. 

Electron Don: Trump taps out the obituary of print media (part 2)

March 1969-- Playboy interview with Marshall McLuhan

McLUHAN: The Gutenberg galaxy is being replaced by the constellation of Marconi.

PLAYBOY: You've discussed the constellation in general terms, but what precisely are the electric media that you contend have supplanted the mechanical technology?

McLUHAN: The electric media are the telegraph, radio, films, telephone, computer and television, all of which have not only extended a single sense of function as the old mechanical media did-- i.e. the wheel as an extension of the foot, clothing a an extension of the skin, the phonetic alphabet as an extension of the eye-- but have enhanced and externalized out entire central nervous systems, thus transforming all aspects of our social and psychic existences. The use of the electronic media constitutes a break boundary between fragmented Gutenberg man and integral man, just as phonetic literacy was a break between oral-tribal man and visual man.

Donald Trump's disinterest in print-era structures, including the Constitution, a print document at the heart of the American Republic, makes him an iconoclast and president at the same time. But for how long? He passes up the hallowed document for the latest breaking news from Breitbart or Fox News. Donald's media-dominated worldview announces it's a new world out there baby-- and only the fast survive. Reality changes, new cycles shrink by the day. Today's story disappears before tomorrow, evaporates faster than a Snapchat posting. Somehow we cannot see this world. The electronic world is all around us. We cannot perceive the electronic world, McLuhan states, much like a fish cannot detect the water all around.

Trump as an integral, electronic man-- confident in his own judgement, has shown little respect for the state apparatus-- the bureaucracies with initials like CIA, FBI, NSA-- that are carryovers from the print era. Trump has soundly rejected the expertise of the experts. Those geniuses got us into a mess in Iraq. I don't need no friggin alphabets to tell me what to think... said Trump. He declared war on his opponents-- Low Energy Jeb, Lyin' Ted, Little Marco and Crooked Hillary-- and won. Nobody came up with a single nickname for Donald Trump. Maybe we should call him Electron Don--

Guglielmo Marconi invented the telegraph around 1890 and started us down the electronic path. McLuhan explains, "The age of print, which held sway from approximately 1500 to 1900, had its obituary tapped out by the telegraph, the first of  the new electric media."

Donald Trump tapping out his tweets is very reminiscent of Marconi tapping on his telegraph. Trump may be the best marketer, the best brander and the best Madison Ave marketing man to come down the chute. His mastery of the universe of instantaneous, global communication separates him from the competitors but creates a great sense of anxiety. His name is on everybody's lips. Trump is so ubiquitous that he has become the medium, more important than any message. His mere existence dwarfs the policies, malleable beliefs, and ever-changing, tweeted-out opinions.

Trump has Mafia Don tendencies. He placed Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner around the table with Angela Merkel, like his kids like were equals to a world leader. Family above everything. La Cosa Nostra...Angela Merkel, sitting on those White House stuffed chairs for a photo op, asked him, "Should we shake hands?" Donald ignored her question. Kind of boorish to ignore a lady. The photographers kept firing away with their cameras. Maybe he was right? Maybe the two leaders shaking hands would make for an awkward pose...

Donald Trump is the master of imagery. He, more than all the rest, understands that politics is no longer policy, but political imagery.  The electronic world is a fast-moving game; brings us all closer together while pushing us into our separate tribal communities-- creating "a crisis of identity," the likes we have not seen since Gutenberg in 1450.

Hang on to your hats, and your cellphones.