Donald Trump: The Unmagnanimous President
“He is not apt to bear grudges; for it is not the mark of a magnanimous man to remember evils.”
— Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, IV.3, 1125a
I’m not even going to quote President Trump’s disgusting comments about the late Rob Reiner, murdered over the weekend, along with Mrs. Reiner, allegedly by their son. But the comments are the latest sign Trump is unraveling. Philosopher Ed Feser has detailed on X how Trump has a long history of praising, and seeking, revenge. But this time Trump has gone so far the comments will damage his political career, and the country.
It's also odd because Trump understands media and celebrity. Although not as well known as Trump, obviously, Reiner was fairly well known not only as a director of movies, some quite good, in the classic Hollywood style that unfortunately has faded, but from his public presence. For Boomers, he was the clueless liberal “Meathead” character on “All in the Family” and the interviewer in the “This Is Spinal Tap” spoof, which he also directed.
And of course he was known for his political leftism. I wrote editorials against his 50-cent tax increase on cigarettes in California n 1998, which funnels money into the First 5 California program for children from birth to 5 years. His buddy Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger later appointed Reiner the head of the program. Reiner even briefly had ambitions to be governor and even president, seriously, until a scandal erupted in 2006 involving misused funds.
Some Trump defenders have pointed out Reiner on X posted many scathing attacks on Trump. True. But Reiner isn’t president, and is dead. What’s Trump’s point except to be nasty?
Reiner’s “The American President” from 1995, scripted by the prolific coke-addled Aaron Sorkin, provided an idealized liberal Democratic chief executive. I assure you it is watched frequently by every Democrat in Washington, and most Republicans. Michael Douglas plays a widowed version of Bill Clinton – no Hillary – with a young daughter who gives him dating advice. Naturally President Andrew Shepherd – note the name, he’s shepherding America – romances liberal Democratic environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (old WASP family name), played by the incredibly beautiful Annette Bening.
The political tension comes from Sydney trying to get Shepherd to support a tough environmental bill, while Shepherd needs votes for a crime bill (gun control, a favorite Reiner policy), which the president needs for re-election. Two scenes stand out showing Henry Kissinger’s statement, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
At a dinner for the president of France, Shepherd shepherds Sydney down the stairs, and she is utterly charmed by his power. At the dinner, Sydney charms Shepherd in return by showing off her boarding-school French.
In the second scene, Shepherd is showing Sydney the “dish room,” which she corrects him is the “China room.” They’re interrupted by a Secret Service agent. Shepherd leaves her alone because Libya has attacked the U.S. missile defense system called C-STAD, for Capricorn Surface-to-Air Defense, stationed in Israel. It’s an absurd premise because in 1995 Libya had no ability to send missiles, planes or boats to Israel, 1,300 miles away. But this was an echo of Reagan’s attack on Libya in 1985, about which which he explained, “On April 5th in West Berlin a terrorist bomb exploded in a nightclub frequented by American servicemen. Sergeant Kenneth Ford and a young Turkish woman were killed and 230 others were wounded, among them some 50 American military personnel. This monstrous brutality is but the latest act in Colonel Qadhafi’s reign of terror.”
It's long been known women are impressed by killers. Humans still are hunters and gatherers. The hunters kill the wild boar and, sometimes, the neighboring tribe. The Baby Boom happened here after GI Joe, having killed millions of Germans and Japanese, came marching home, married Rosie the Riveter, and she spent a lot of time in the maternity ward.
Naturally, this not being the Frank Capra 1940s, Shepherd and Sydney don’t tie the knot before hopping in the sack – in the White House, of course. I’ll leave the rest to you if you want to watch it. Reiner wraps it all up well in the old-fashioned Hollywood way. Rob had a real talent.
That will not be the ending of the unraveling Trump administration. His social media posts no longer are funny, just nasty. His economy is underperforming. His MAGA base is deserting over the “regime change wars” he promised to avoid and the Epstein Files he promised to release, but hasn’t. And let’s face it, he’s finally aging. The abilities that got him through the past decade of three presidential campaigns, of the Russiagate Hoax, of the absurd lawsuits and prosecutions against him and his followers and of the assassination attempts, have deserted him.
Now we have three more years to go, with the Democrats certain to win Congress next year and begin new impeachments, the wars continuing, China inexorably replacing us as the new Economic Colossus and conditions for average Americans continuing to deteriorate.
I’ll close with one more quote from the Stagirite:
“Magnanimity seems to be a sort of crown of the virtues; for it makes them greater, and it is not found without them.”
— IV.3, 1124a
John Seiler blogs at: johnseiler.substack.com
