Maybe it’s an exaggeration to say Donald Trump is approaching his "Ceaușescu moment," but for a president untroubled by doubt or caution, there has been a definite vibe shift. That’s because when Trump used extreme or crazy rhetoric in the past it was always from a position of strength. The next two years will be different.
With Republican midterm defeats looming and the prospect of a limping, if not lame, duck presidency plus a GOP inevitably casting its eyes over the horizon at the post-Trump universe, his style of language risks making him look impotent. It’s inevitable that the link will be made between ever-escalating rage and ever-decreasing agency. This week Trump labeled neighbor and ally Canada "one of the worst countries in the entire world." Of course, there’s little novel about his wild semantic choices.
We’ve all heard this sort of thing before and that’s the problem as the off-ramp approaches. Mark Carney now looks at Trump like a schoolgirl who has "moved on" from her immature first boyfriend. "They take advantage of us," said Trump.
"Canada is going to come in and say, 'Sir, we are very sorry’." You can probably see the Canadian prime minister’s side-eye from space. And that mixtape Trump was making is in the trash. Carney knows the end isn’t that far off and so cozies up to the European Union and China while Trump rants and raves in frustration that world leaders are not bowing and scraping to his tariff threats.
Ceaușescu-esque you might say. The moment the end becomes imaginable everything changes. That is true of all politicians, in democracies or dictatorships.
For those too young to remember, Nicolae Ceaușescu was the communist tyrant of Romania, whose sudden downfall was recorded in one of the most extraordinary bits of political film ever captured. Standing on the balcony above Bucharest’s Palace Square on December 21, 1989, the man whose every terrifying whim had been doted on for 24 years realized the crowd was no longer listening to him. It’s the look on his face that is unforgettable: the impossibility of not having power.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
