Americans

Image by PineForest & AI

If one were to use just one word to describe Americans, it would be talent. 

That ineffable ability to astonish, entrance, enchant, entertain, excite, and amuse audiences globally and God knows where else.

Americans, having evolved from what is arguably the world’s largest human laboratory, have shown us what humans are capable of: not only in the creation of stories and myths across print, film, digital, and live formats, but in the advancement of technologies that allow us to actively participate in those stories rather than merely spectate. And we are still only at the beginning of this unfolding.

Yet, among a nation so rich in talent, how did they end up being ruled by the least talented of them?

Or is he?

One simplistic way to look at it is this: there is no universal yardstick for talent. It is notoriously hard to define, and it is often said that everyone is talented in some way.

Donald Trump has audacity and ambition, fuelled by an unrelenting will and determination to win. That, in itself, is a form of talent. Is it not?

Hard work often masquerades as talent.

Besides, who wakes up one morning, decides he wants to be President of the United States, and then becomes one - not once, but twice? Like the frog who dreamt he’d be king and then became one. It happens. Or so it seems.

But let us ask a simpler question: is Donald J. Trump really happy, healthy, and enjoying every moment of his life? Maybe. Maybe not. Based on observation alone, he neither looks nor sounds particularly happy or healthy, nor as though he is enjoying himself at all. How could anyone be, whose daily mission appears to be hurling insults and making enemies of virtually everyone?

So what is he getting out of this - apart from money?

How much money is worth the daily physical, mental, and emotional assault on one’s senses—and on ours?

What gets him out of bed every morning and back into it every night?

How does he cope with the pressures of the job while simultaneously being a husband, a father, a man, a human being and a deeply polarising figure? How does his mind operate? What compels a sitting president to effectively tell the member nations of the UN General Assembly to go to hell?

Power.

He believes the United States is the most powerful nation on Earth; and he lacks the vocabulary, or perhaps the inclination, to say it in softer terms. The kind the left, and much of the rest of the world, have grown accustomed to.

“Nice words are not truthful. Truthful words are not nice.”

~ Tao Te Ching

At least this lesser-talented American is upfront about his excesses, his transgressions, and his appetites for power. American politicians have acted with impunity for decades. The difference now is that this reality is visible to more people around the world.

The best actors are among the most talented people on Earth. They can continue performing convincingly, protected by how persuasive their acting is. Donald J. Trump, however, seems to be cracking on openly - creating headlines, enemies, and spectacles in equal measure. Perhaps he is talented after all. Perhaps he is simply a different kind of actor.

Best or worst, it is still acting to a familiar script; one handed down from previous presidents, played out like well-worn Hollywood blockbuster sequels that refuse to die.

America is no danger to the world.

But the world may yet become a danger to America if this man persists in pursuing a personal, divisive agenda that confuses power with purpose and spectacle with leadership.