DOESN'T HAVE A POINT OF VIEW, KNOWS NOT WHERE HE'S GOING TO

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Donald Trump has no firm political convictions.  His history of party-switching makes that clear.  In case you’ve misplaced your notes, here’s a list of Trump’s party affiliations for the past twenty years.  In 1987, Trump registered as a Republican.  In 1999, he switched to independent.  In 2001, he registered as a Democrat.  In 2009, he registered as a Republican.  In December, 2011, he declared that he was an independent.  That lasted four months, at which point, in April, 2012, he returned to the Republican Party.

Since 2001, that’s the record of a reflexive contrarian.  When Bush 43 was elected, Trump became a Democrat.  When Barack Obama was elected, Trump became a Republican.  My guess is that he likes being an outsider.  The power he enjoys the most, the power he exercises most often, is simply the power to criticize the decisions of others.  Trump likes to let other people act, and then kibitz.

That, I think, is the key to understanding his Twitter compulsion.  He has tweeted so long and so often that there’s a cottage industry devoted to finding old Trump tweets criticizing others back in the day for things he’s just done himself.  And they always find something.  The golfing-est president in American history used to criticize President Obama for playing too much golf.  When Obama visited hurricane or flood victims, Trump tweeted, “Obama will be seen today standing in water and rain like he is a real President --- don't fall for it.” 

There’s an old Trump tweet for every new Trump occasion.  It’s uncanny, really.  Someone with the Twitter handle #TimeTravelTrump theorizes that those earlier tweets were actually from a time traveler, trying to warn today’s Donald Trump about the mistakes he’s going to make in the future.

On some level, I think Trump understood, too late, that he’d taken the game too far and gotten in over his head.  Take a look at the photos that accompany this post.  They’re screen caps from election night TV coverage, at the moment that ABC declared Trump the winner.  Don Jr. is fist-pumping, and everyone is happy.  Except for Donald Trump.  The man who lives for cheering crowds looks like his dog just died.  The wide shot makes that particularly clear.

Trump’s old tweets, coupled with his behavior as president, have persuaded me that I need to expand my oft-stated belief that Trump’s main drivers are self-promotion and self-enrichment.  On a personal level, I think that remains true.  But yesterday, when a friend mentioned that she didn’t understand Trump’s hostility to DACA, I realized that there’s at least one additional bee in Trump’s bonnet. 

Simply put, Donald Trump hates Barack Obama.  He’s devoting his presidency to undoing as much of Obama’s eight year legacy as possible.  DACA is part of that legacy, and as far as Trump is concerned, that’s the only thing about DACA that matters. 

After announcing his decision, he even tweeted a semi-conciliatory message.  In paraphrase, he basically said:  Hey, dreamers, nothing personal.  It’s an Obama thing.  I hope Congress fixes this sometime in the next six months.  If they don’t, maybe I’ll revisit the matter.  If I’m still president six months from now. 

I made up the last sentence, but otherwise I think the paraphrase is accurate. 

Trump left the announcement of his DACA decision to Jeff Sessions, who lives to make life miserable for minorities.  Sessions framed the DACA announcement one way, and Trump framed it another way.  Six months is a long time in the Trump Era.  A lot can happen between now and next March. 

The DACA decision is evil, of course, whether you see the glass as half empty of poison or half full of poison.  But I’d be surprised if Congress didn’t find some sort of solution that allows at least the current cohort of DACA folks to remain in the country.  

That may be cold comfort, but these days I’ll take my comfort at any temperature I can find it.