Rocket Man
I LIKE it! I really do! Although I am usually a bit wary of President Trump’s Twitter feed, I have to admit that I like this one. Many times I find Trump’s missives on Twitter to be sophomoric and unnecessary, but this time, I’m “on board” with it.
We are ALL aware of Mr. Trump’s penchant for schoolyard put downs. It may be, however, that instead of being merely MISSIVES, they are MISSILES as well. There was “lyin’ Ted”, “little Marco” and, of course, “crooked Hillary.” Sophomoric, yes, but quite possibly EFFECTIVE too. Notice, that none of the Twitter targets listed above occupies the White House today. Although the reasons for this are undoubtably multifactorial, it must be acknowledged that the public perception of each of these individuals was shaped, in part, by Mr. Trump’s descriptors. Ted Cruise was perceived, by significant numbers of Americans, to be dishonest. Hillary was, likewise, felt by MOST Americans to be corrupt. And Mr. Rubio’s stature was diminished significantly by Trump’s use of the diminutive. It may be true that “sticks and stones may break my bones”, but “names CAN harm my polling.”
So, we see that political name calling can be an effective tool in the cauldron of 21st century American politics. But put downs and slights have been used in the international arena as well. Thinking back to just a few examples, I’m reminded of Ronald Reagan’s phrase “evil empire” to describe the USSR. Or George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” to describe North Korea and Iraq (funny how the same two rogue regime’s CONTINUE to be the world’s trouble makers a dozen years later).
Then there have been more subtle slights. I think back to George H.W. Bush’s overt and repeated MISPRONUNCIATION of Saddam Hussein’s NAME. Instead of “Sa DAHM”, for Mr. Bush it was “SAD um”. He couldn’t be BOTHERED to even pronounce it properly. How cool was that? And then there was John F. Kennedy’s overt and repeated MISPRONUNCIATION of an ENTIRE country’s NAME. When he said the word “Cuba”, instead of “CUE ba”, for Jack Kennedy, it was “CUE BER”! He couldn’t be BOTHERED to pronounce the rogue regime’s name properly. Awsome!
So, back to North Korea. “Rocket Man” is a put down with “teeth”, if you will. While it may be impossible to fully understand the motivations of a rogue president who is, by most accounts, a certifiable lunatic, it does seem that something of a “Napoleonic Complex” is in play.
As a “shortish man” (5’7″ WITH his hair UP) bereft of any international stature, and plagued with a poor and starving populace, one suspects, that he might, from time to time, feel the gnawing demons of inferiority. His murderous reign in Pyongyang may serve mainly to quench his thirst for power. His saber rattling with nuclear weapons and long range missiles may, in the end, be NOTHING more than a sad ploy to SCARE the US and the nations of the world, providing an instant antidote for his insecurities. And, every time the world reacts to one of his initiatives with outrage and sanctions and United Nations declarations and alarmist articles in the news, he LIKES IT. And he’s then spurred on to more launches, more overflights and more and bigger thermonuclear explosions. So much better for him to feel strong. And powerful. And SUPERIOR. How ELSE to explain it??? And, paradoxically, it’s possible, that in his twisted mind, even provoking his own self inflicted destruction (by retaliatory action on our part in response to a DPRK thermonuclear attack on Guam, for example), would still serve to show just how IMPORTANT he is, which, in the last analysis, may be ALL that he really wants.
So, the “Rocket Man” put down does a pretty good job of encapsulating all of this meme in two short words. At the very least, it might make it clear that we’ve got Kim Jong-un’s “number.” As I said above: “I LIKE it!”