Moiz Akhtar Sabir<\/p>\n
For foreign observers, watching the Republican and Democratic nominating conventions over the past two weeks, disbelief or dyspepsia must have been among the reactions. In Cleveland, Ohio, none of the Republican grandees appeared including ex-presidents, ex-vice presidents and ex-nominees for president. Nor did Republican Governor John Kasich, an unsuccessful rival for the nomination make an appearance in his home state.
\nTo complete the perfect storm, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, in a zero sum bet on his political future, refused to endorse the nominee pleading with his colleagues to \u201cvote your conscience.\u201d And then of course the nominee Donald J Trump delivered a 70-minute plus rambling valedictory that was part-yelling fire in a crowded theatre over the dangers to the nation, and a highly narcissistic tirade of why \u201cI alone\u201d can save the country.
\nWhile the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia last week got off to a bad start with Senator Bernie Sanders\u2019 supporters threatening a revolt, that convention took the form of a Hollywood directed spectacle replete with ex and current presidents, celebrities galore and a bevy of retired admirals and generals headed by a four star marine praising Hillary Clinton, and touting her as the only candidate worthy of becoming commander-in-chief.
\nGiven that Clinton has been in the public\u2019s eye for a quarter of a century and as a politician, Trump is relatively a rookie, Clinton\u2019s performance was predictable. Whether that will affect voters remains to be seen. However, what about Trump and his idiosyncratic personality?
\nDuring the run-up to the second Gulf War in 2003, a well-known Washington, D.C. psychiatrist who did personality evaluations for the CIA faced losing his licence for his analysis of Saddam Hussein\u2019s mental state. The association of psychiatrists or whatever it was called claimed it was malpractice to diagnosis someone without a physical examination. Fortunately, that nonsense
\nwas short-lived.
\nNot being a psychiatrist, however, offers one the opportunity to comment freely on what may or may not motivate people and their personalities without fear of debarment. Indeed, perhaps the American who has spent more time on \u201cthe couch\u201d as it were psychoanalysed by his fellow countryman is Trump. And every passing day, more and more people are wondering just what causes Trump to get away with the outrageous things he says.
\nThe most current brouhaha is the firestorm over whether Trump\u2019s plea for Russia to uncover Clinton\u2019s missing 30,000 e-mails is incitement to commit treason and encourage espionage by Vladimir Putin, aka the thug in charge in Moscow. Actually, Americans need to calm down. Either Trump was positioning himself to take over Saturday Night Live or Bill Maher\u2019s Real Time after he loses the election as a full-time comedian. Or, what he meant to say was not coupled with what he did say.
\nOne would hope that Trump was making a bad joke. However, in today\u2019s politically correct environment, no matter what one says on virtually anything, it is easy to take offence. The other so-called e-mail scandal threatening Clinton\u2019s march to the presidency \u2014 the hacking and release of material from the Democratic National Committee\u2019s servers \u2014 was overblown. The allegation that the unbiased DNC was covertly supporting Clinton over Sanders was as shocking as gambling at Rick\u2019s bar in Casablanca.
\nOf course, the DNC had to favour Clinton. Sanders\u2019 nomination almost certainly would have given the White House to Trump. Even on his best day, who would want a 70-something Democratic Socialist as president? About 25 percent of the electorate \u2014 and that is not enough to
\nelect Superman.
\nThere is a sounder explanation for the reason Trump makes such bizarre and often weird unsolicited comments aside from a narcissistic personality disorder. Recall that during his 75-minute rambling acceptance speech in Cleveland, referring to the crisis facing America, the host of The Apprentice claimed \u201cI alone\u201d could fix these problems. What he no doubt meant was that he was the only choice in the competition with Clinton. But he did not say that.
\nMy unanalytical appraisal is that Trump is a bit unhinged in that what he thinks upstairs in his brain is not easily translated a few inches to his tongue in what he says. Further evidence is that Trump almost makes George W Bush seem like a polished linguist in using English. Trump rambles in disjointed and incomplete sentences possibly because he has become so addicted to using twitter and 140 characters he now speaks in Twitterese and not proper English.
\nIf you give Trump the benefit of the doubt, which is a colossally huge assumption, and parse carefully what he might have meant, some of his more delusional comments could be made to seem more rational. Take Russia and Putin.
\nProbably since Stalin ended the misguided myth of the workers\u2019 paradise envisaged in the Soviet Union decades ago, Americans have turned their wrath against Russia as seemingly rejected suitors left standing at the altar. The Soviet Union was the enemy, period. From Truman to Reagan, presidents promised to deter and contain the number one threat to democracy \u2014 and did. When the Soviet Union exploded and the Russians elected Boris Yeltsin, American expectations rose. Russia would be a little America. But the boorish, drunken clown was a bad joke. And democracy, American-style never had and never will or should flourish in Russia. Similarly, over the course of a decade plus, the US managed to rile Putin, beginning with unilaterally abrogating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001 to invading Iraq in 2003, and expanding NATO without considering how Russia would ultimately react.
\nNone of this history should be taken to excuse Putin\u2019s actions in Ukraine or elsewhere. But to dismiss Russia and not encourage a more serious dialogue is madness on our part. We did so during the Cold War when the Soviet Union could have turned America into a radioactive wasteland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moiz Akhtar Sabir For foreign observers, watching the Republican and Democratic nominating conventions over the past two weeks, disbelief or dyspepsia must have been among the reactions. In Cleveland, Ohio, none of the Republican grandees appeared including ex-presidents, ex-vice presidents and ex-nominees for president. Nor did Republican Governor John Kasich, an unsuccessful rival for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-article"],"yoast_head":"\n