Which Trump today?

Richard Fulton

Well, which is he? Is he Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? Is he Rally Trump or Teleprompter Trump? It seems he is trying to be both.

But how do we deal with Trump being both: for to be one is to worry his country and the world and to be the other is to appear superficial and manipulated by his staff.

This week has demonstrated both sides to President Trump. At his Phoenix campaign-style rally he did away with any script and ad-libbed for over an hour. Here he demonstrated his “off the top of his head” sense of reality: Rally/Hyde Trump.

During the rally he praised the president of North Korea. Then he made the “wall” so important that if he didn’t get money added to congress’ must-pass debt limit bill he was willing to let the government close down. Government or wall, take your choice. My priority or no government.

He mocked the two senators from Arizona, both members of his own party. One, Sen. McCain, is fighting for his life with a brain tumor. Nice time to vilify him before the country.

This came after news that he and the majority leader of the senate, Mitch McConnell, had a shouting match over the telephone. Republicans have a majority of the Senate, for goodness sake, and are needed to pass whatever legislation Trump wants passed. Even Dr. Jekyll should recognize this.

While in mid-negotiations with Canada and Mexico over NAFTA, Trump said he “probably would end up terminating NAFTA.” Insulting both nations who, incidentally, are major trade partners regardless of NAFTA.

It is the “media” who Trump sees as evil. “They are really, really dishonest.” They are “bad people.” All of them? If they do not cow-tow to Trump he simply dismisses them. Their main sin? They show Trump, in his own words, when he lies or, as he did in Phoenix, distorting the truth by leaving out the major reason a great deal of America and the world challenged his moral equivalency of Nazis, KKK, and right wing thugs with anti-demonstrators.

They showed what he said in full, including that part of his rambling remarks made in New York attacking “both sides” as equals. Even a UN human rights panel criticized him.

Dr. Jekyll feeds the hate and divisions within our nation and gives the U.S. a black eye in front of the world.

Then comes Wednesday and out pops Mr. Hyde, or more specifically, Teleprompter Trump. His speech before the American Legion, written by his staff and read whole, no ad libs, was super supportive of our military and those who maintain America and its values. And: “It’s time to heal the wounds that divide us and to seek a new unity based on the common values that unite us.”

“We are defined by our shared humanity—by our citizenship in this magnificent nation, and by the love that fills our hearts.”

What happened to Jekyll/Rally Trump? I thought the anti-fascist, anti-KKK folks were “trying to take away our culture… and our history” by taking down statues (has he heard of history books?). They have bad people and there are good Nazi and KKK demonstrators. Both sides are equal morally.

What happened to the really, really bad and dishonest press—bad people? What about those “weak, weak” political leaders, Republican leaders especially?

Clearly, the Hyde/Teleprompter Trump is the alter-ego of his aides who write his scripts. When left on his own, when he dumps the script, President Trump turns into Dr. Jekyll the Rally Trump. One suspects that this must be the real Donald Trump, author of his own words.

Richard Fulton is an emeritus professor of political science.