Presidential characters
That’s presidential characters, not character.
It occurs to me that one of the things people really like about Trump is that he is a character—flamboyant, unpredictable, colorful, one of a kind. We haven’t had too many of them in the White House (at least in recent years). And although that’s probably a good thing, it gets boring.
In my lifetime, the president Trump reminds me of the most in those particular respects—flamboyant, unpredictable, colorful, one of a kind— was LBJ. Not the public LBJ that we knew from his speeches, but the real LBJ, the private LBJ we only came to know much later. That LBJ was a tremendously eccentric and larger-than-life character. But that was hidden from America while he was president, just as JFK’s sexual escapades and the extent of FDR’s physical handicaps were.
When LBJ was president, he seemed a big drawling yawn of a guy (“Mah fellow Amerrrrcans”) but he was anything but. For example, he was a man who had a habit of—well, of this:
President Johnson did not mess around. He was constantly on the telephone, making dozens of calls every day, and was known for using more than one phone at a time. Apparently he wanted to get some serious talking done, because nowhere was off limits for conversation. Rather than put a conversation on hold, he would have reporters and aides follow him into the bathroom where the dialogue was supposed to continue. Needless to say this often inspired discomfort.
Johnson is reported to have had conversations while exposing his genitals, urinating in the sink, and sitting on the toilet, but as far as the observers could tell, it never caused him any embarrassment. Some presume that his actions stemmed from a desire to show his power and to put others in an awkward position so that he could better control the conversation. Possibly he simply didn’t want to stop talking.
But surely the President wouldn’t behave this way in front of women or influential people . . . right? Wrong. Presidential historian and former White House aide Doris Kearns Goodwin remembers not only regularly accompanying him to the restroom, but also his criticism of his National Security Advisor’s response when asked to accompany him in a similar manner. Apparently extremely uncomfortable with the situation, McGeorge Bundy stood in the farthest corner of the bathroom with his back toward Johnson. The president, dissatisfied with the speaking arrangements, said, “Come closer, come closer.” Bundy complied, and Johnson later remarked, “I thought he was going to sit on my lap! Hasn’t that guy ever been in the Army?”
Now, I’m not suggesting that Trump does anything of the sort, or ever would. But I am suggesting that both LBJ and Trump are sui generis, bold, and unafraid of considerations of taste and decorum that might give other people in their positions pause. This is why we both hate them and like them—there is something transgressive about them.
Trump is also, or at least has been in the past, a womanizer. LBJ shared that particular trait, in abundance:
Johnson had “an unfillable hole in his ego,” Moyers says. Feelings of emptiness spurred him to eat, drink, and smoke to excess. Sexual conquests also helped to fill the void. He was a competitive womanizer. When people mentioned Kennedy’s many affairs, Johnson would bang the table and declare that he had more women by accident than Kennedy ever had on purpose.
A while back I compared Trump to Ross Perot. I still think there’s something to that, including the fact that Perot himself was another character.
LBJ also led us into a quagmire in Vietnam; and quite likely as a result of egregious lies.
I don’t want characters in the WH. If I get bored, I will find my own amusements, thank you. Just give me a quiet, and competent leader; someone who believes in America, the Constitution and limited government. There are several to choose from; none are named Clinton or Biden either.
I lived in Texas in the 1950s and LBJ was jokingly referred to as landslide Lyndon. He had barely defeated his opponent for the 1948 Senate race and it was widely attributed to ballot box stuffing and such. This was later admitted.
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/11/us/how-johnson-won-election-he-d-lost.html
Oldflyer:
On the topic of “egregious lies” of LBJ, please see this on the Gulf of Tonkin:
Have you read the Pentagon Papers themselves, or are you relying on what the Times said they show?
I had to do a search to confirm it but remember when LBJ picked his beagle up by the ears and created what was then a political scandal. How times have changed!
kaba:
The beagle thing was huge, and the appendicitis scar was huge.
Your link on the Gulf of Tonkin just goes to the WSJ opinion page, and I was looking forward to reading the whole thing.
Wooly Bully:
It’s an old link from an old post of mine. Let me take a moment and see if I can find the article and create a better link.
Wooly Bully:
Here’s the article.
Also, there’s more here of great interest and relevance.
Thanks!
That linked City Journal article, though, doesn’t mention the classified documents and tapes released by the NSA in 2005 and 2006, which, according to this article in Naval History Magazine, “reveal what historians could not prove: There was not a second attack on U.S. Navy ships in the Tonkin Gulf in early August 1964. Furthermore, the evidence suggests a disturbing and deliberate attempt by Secretary of Defense McNamara to distort the evidence and mislead Congress.”
It’s a long, detailed piece worth a read.
The lies in Vietnam had more to do with journalists, Leftists, and anti Nixon coup de tat forces than the Gulf of Tonkin. Since after all Johnson had plenty of time to create deceptions after the incident.
LBJ ordering some pants:
His bunghole needs room!
I blame the voters and the donors ….
Burp!
There seems to be a Trump/Cruze combo developing.
Cruz could provide some kind of control!
G6loq:
Cruise control?
It seems to me from what I have read that Trump is actually the opposite of LBJ.
Trump is flamboyant in his public/marketing persona but more personal and authentic in his private life. I’m not sure I believe it, but it does make some sense because he did build a big real estate empire, which takes some thoughtful planning and employee handling.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/17/ronald-kessler-real-donald-trump/
A political operative in Minnesota told me once that Ventura was actually a better governor (in one sense) than he was given credit for. He knew he didn’t know anything about government, so hired the best people he could find to run the various departments – and then gave them reasonable direction.
Ventura’s public statements and general beliefs are a different matter of course.
Maybe Trump would be most like Ventura?
Trump is flamboyant in his public/marketing persona but more personal and authentic in his private life. I’m not sure I believe it, but it does make some sense because he did build a big real estate empire, which takes some thoughtful planning and employee handling.
Ah, ah, ah! How do you make a small fortune?
Start with a big one!
The guy obviously has executive abilities, his style notwithstanding!
Remember discussions about Obama’s temperament [superb] and … intellect [first class]?
Not to mention the crease of his pants!
Ah, ah, ah!
G6loq @ 8:58 PM – –
Yep. How do you become a billionaire? First, start by getting a million dollars ….
In case folks don’t know, Caro’s books on Moses and LBJ are required reading and the sort folks on this site would love.
The character Trump most reminds me of is Bill Clinton.
The spate of “here’s what he is really like” stories sound very similar (and true).
Rush was gloating today about Trump, a very unappealing tone and attitude, and very uncharacteristic (from what I have ever heard).
I think many people are being unwise. The die are cast and we will see the number.
From my POV Walker has the personality I want in a president. Calm, steadfast, midwest sensibility, and a record of real, on the ground, results. However, Fiorina and Cruz are presidential caliber IMO. Trump for national blowhard. The rest of the field, including Rubio, are distractions.
OT, I know, but I am like a kid in a candy store.
Cruz does not know he is being surprise “debated” by Ellen Page, and in five minutes she gets her comeuppance (in a polite way) .
I especially like the moral equivalence point Cruz makes, and the way he confronts her (very nicely buy firmly) with her rank double standards, hypocrisy and phoniness.
I also had to laugh at her defeated little rhetorical trick at the end where she thinks her awesome intellect will scold Cruz into submission.
http://www.examiner.com/article/actress-ellen-page-gets-grilled-lgbt-debate-with-ted-cruz-at-iowa-state-fair
Leftists – – they really are not nearly as smart of they think they are. Self-knowledge is a good thing to combat shallowness, but Page hasn’t gotten started yet.
Tonawanda Says:
August 22nd, 2015 at 12:08 am
G6loq @ 8:58 PM — –
Yep. How do you become a billionaire? First, start by getting a million dollars ….
Yes.
Also, my point was he was given an inheritance and made it grow. That in itself is unusual … most of the time a big fortune becomes much smaller.
Trump stumps.
Beyond all imagining: establishment has a problem, 27,000 in audience bothered to schlep to a stadium somewhere because …. antiestablishmentarianism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPWERFt-gf8
the book stuff is genius … so is the talk about aptitude. Soon Cruz enters?
Romney of years pasts comes to mind: and associated ‘elites’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtg5jOg362w
Tonawanda Says:
August 22nd, 2015 at 8:38 am
I especially like the moral equivalence point Cruz makes, and the way he confronts her (very nicely buy firmly) with her rank double standards, hypocrisy and phoniness.
… and brings us ISIS while eating pork!
He has my vote!
Neo,
I am relying on reports of Naval Aviators who were in the air at the time of the “Tonkin Gulf Incident” as well as the reports from the ship.
The CO of Maddox reported within 24 hours that he was no longer confident that he had been attacked, and that atmospheric anomalies affecting his radar created confusion. (I became intimately aware of those kinds of anomalies–which are common in the Mediterranean area–while serving as Combat Information Center Officer in USS John F. Kennedy. They can create havoc with radar.). Nevertheless, the incident was used as a pretext for bombing the NVN Naval base at Vinh and other targets.
The rest, as the saying goes, is history. I do not know what the discussions were within the Administration; only the ultimate actions. I have not read the Pentagon papers.
Parker, we agree. Walker has the cool demeanor, fronting an inner toughness, that I want.
Johnson had “an unfillable hole in his ego,” Moyers says.
And I or anyone should believe anything Moyers says why?