The reader can be excused for wondering at the title of this article. Donald Trump and Xi-Jinping weak men? But that is what they are. Let me explain.
Certainly to watch their actions one sees men projecting great strength and power. Trump has gone from a laughed-at outsider not given a chance of winning the Republican nomination, let alone the presidency, to being a commander of this country as few presidents have been before him. His will is the law. Others shake in their shoes in fear of his wrath and do his bidding, if not fawn on him. He has set this country on a perilous course that it will take years if not decades to right.
Then there is Xi-Jinping, the man who has gathered more power unto himself than any Chinese communist leader since Mao. I don’t know much about the inner workings of the Chinese communist party or the government, but it is said that to the extent that anyone can call the shots in that huge, sprawling, diverse country, Xi is calling the shots.
Both men want a trade deal; they do not want a trade war that weakens them and their country. And yet both men cannot make a deal because they dare not lose face. They feel that their power is dependent on the continued support of their respective bases.
They have each let a monster out of its cage and there is no containing it. And that monster is nationalism/nativism. Every time they appear to stray from the hard line path and move to strike a deal, their right wing raises its head in fury and the leader backs down. And so the trade war continues to escalate. Each blow must be dealt with by striking back. There is no other way for a weak leader. There is no space for compromise.
I can’t speak about Xi in other contexts since I am not familiar with Chinese politics, but I can speak about Trump. The same pattern happens every time Trump makes an effort to compromise, to reach out to the other side, perhaps even go where he truly would want to go. The right wing pundits and activists rise up and badger him into backing off his move towards moderation. Whether it was his early support for an immigration deal with the Democrats or whether it’s his recent back and forth on the issue of improved background checks for gun purchases or a host of other issues, Trump has always backed down after being cowed by the vehemence of his right wing supporters.
These are not the actions or reactions of strong leaders. These are the actions of men who have built a facade of being strong and imperious, and yet they are so insecure that they cannot proceed with any plan that angers their base of support and threatens their position of power.
They are both poster children for the psychological truth that the stronger the display of ego, the more insecure the person is. They both have a Napoleonic complex, although their inferiority obviously does not derive from their being short. Instead, it derives from some trauma in their childhood. And given the size of their egos, the trauma must have been very great indeed. They weren’t born the way they are, they developed that way because of their life experiences.
One can thus have compassion for their inner suffering, for suffer they inescapably do. But they both must be dethroned so that the world can return to some semblance of sanity. As leaders of the two greatest countries, their power to destroy our well-being is very real.
