Eugene Robinson's op-ed in the Washington Post this morning examines the apparent key motivation to everything malicious narcissist and mentally unstable Donald "The Chosen One" Trump does domestically and internationally: destroy President Obama's legacy. Lately, it's driven Trump's misadventures with Iran:
"President Trump’s Ahab-like obsession with erasing the legacy of Barack Obama almost set the Middle East on fire this week. It might still.
There is no better explanation for Trump’s rash decision to assassinate Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, especially in light of the president’s weird, self-congratulatory, self-contradictory speech Wednesday purporting to declare an end to the crisis he created. The whole thing seems as much about Trump’s Obama fixation as anything else.
The tell was Trump’s false and slanderous claim that “the missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.” (our emphasis)Tensions with Iran have grown dramatically since Trump pulled out of the multi-national Iran nuclear agreement, one of Obama's signature and successful foreign policy achievements. Iran had been complying with the agreement, but after pulling out, Trump also imposed new sanctions on them.
His deep envy and sense of inferiority to Obama has led Trump to make reckless decisions (health care, the environment, etc.) that adversely affect the public. If Obama's name is attached to it, Trump has to eliminate it. Consider Trump's entry into politics as a sign:
"You’ll recall that the vehicle Trump used to transform himself from a harmless New York character into a malevolent political force was birtherism — the absurd, fictional and racist claim that the nation’s first African American president was not actually born in the United States. I have met Trump supporters who still believe in this thoroughly debunked fairy tale.
Obama’s election and reelection made a powerful statement about the nation and its growing diversity. Trump, however, portrayed that statement as a threat. Whether he genuinely felt a sense of racial panic or just pretended to do so is irrelevant. That’s how he played it, and he rode Obama-hatred to the White House." (our emphasis)We're currently living with the consequences of Trump's bitter obsession with a man he can never come anywhere close to equalling on any level. But after 2020, there's an opportunity to restore what Trump has attempted to destroy.
