White House Memo: Trump Once Said Power Was About Instilling Fear. In That Case, He Should Be Worrie

[Judi Lynn]

New York Times:

White House Memo: Trump Once Said Power Was About Instilling Fear. In That Case, He Should Be Worried.
MICHAEL TACKETT and MAGGIE HABERMAN 3 hrs ago

WASHINGTON — Richard M. Nixon once said, “People react to fear, not love; they don’t teach that in Sunday school, but it’s true.”

No president since has deployed fear quite like Donald J. Trump. Whether it is the prospect of a crime wave at the border with Mexico or nuclear war with North Korea, President Trump has persuaded his supporters that there is plenty to fear beyond fear itself.

In an interview as a presidential candidate in 2016 with the author Bob Woodward, Mr. Trump said, “Real power is — I don’t even want to use the word — fear.”

As president, he initially tried to intimidate some of the nation’s strongest allies, including Canada, Mexico, Britain, France and Germany, in trade talks. He demanded political loyalty from Republicans in Congress and drove several who bucked him from office, notably Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake. But as his presidency enters its third year, a less convenient truth is emerging: Few outside the Republican Party are afraid of him, and they may be less intimidated after the disastrous government shutdown.

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-memo-trump-once-said-power-was-about-instilling-fear-in-that-case-he-should-be-worried/ar-BBTb4tR?li=BBnb7Kz

[greymattermom]

1. He's a bully.

And there are plenty of Democratic women who know what to do. Bring it on. They will show everyone that they aren't scared, and that pasty old Republican white men have no functioning gonads.

[PJMcK]

2. A key quote about Trump's negotiating arsenal

“It’s almost as if he only has one tool in his toolbox,” Mr. Beschloss said.

Anyone who looks at Trump with any degree of objectivity will see that he is a fraud and a phony.

Why are so many Americans fooled by Trump?

[FiveGoodMen]

3. GOP's been up to this longer than the Trump era

By PAUL KRUGMAN MARCH 7, 2003

''Why does our president condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials? Has 'oderint dum metuant' really become our motto?'' So reads the resignation letter of John Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat who recently left the Foreign Service in protest against Bush administration policy.

''Oderint dum metuant'' translates, roughly, as ''let them hate as long as they fear.'' It was a favorite saying of the emperor Caligula, and may seem over the top as a description of current U.S. policy. But this week's crisis in U.S.-Mexican relations -- a crisis that has been almost ignored north of the border -- suggests that it is a perfect description of George Bush's attitude toward the world.

Mexico is an enormously important ally, not just because of our common border, but also because of its special role as a showcase for American ideals. For a century and a half Mexico has -- often with good reason -- seen its powerful neighbor as an exploiter, if not an outright enemy. Since the first Bush administration, however, the United States has made great efforts to treat Mexico as a partner, and Mexico's recent track record of economic stability and democracy is, and should be, a source of pride on both sides of the border.

But Mexico's seat on the U.N. Security Council gives it a vote on the question of Iraq -- and the threats the Bush administration has made to get that vote are quickly destroying any semblance of good will.

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/07/opinion/let-them-hate-as-long-as-they-fear.html