There’s been a lot of talk in the past few days about “presidential temperament,” and where that quality is concerned, The New Republic’s Brian Beutler firmly believes that President Obama has the right stuff. In a Friday piece, Beutler lauded Obama’s performance at CNN’s military-themed presidential town hall Wednesday at Fort Lee in Virginia.
“The U.S. military is disproportionately conservative compared to the civilian population, and it stands to reason that in the midst of a presidential election in which Donald Trump continually denigrates Obama’s stewardship of the military, skepticism of his presidency within military ranks is high,” wrote Beutler, who noted that the “audience’s questions, while appropriately respectful of the president, were pointed, aggressive, and at times heart-wrenching.” Nonetheless, “Obama is nothing if not unflappable…After eight years as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he displayed a mastery of defense policy and an ability to convey empathy and appreciation without pandering.”
By contrast, Beutler opined, “Trump lost his composure about 15 minutes into the first presidential debate…There are many obvious differences between a town hall and a debate. But it’s worth watching the CNN forum beginning to end, and then imagining Trump facing hostile or skeptical questioning for an hour from any disaffected constituency. It is impossible. And the fact that it is impossible explains to a significant degree why [foreign] political actors who stand to benefit from American instability are happy to help Trump win this election.”
And if Hillary Clinton can so easily throw Trump off his game, Beutler suggested, then who knows what, say, Vladimir Putin might accomplish?
Trump’s volatility is so predictable, it can be summoned at will by third parties. Clinton…set a trap for him near the end of the debate by surfacing the case of Alicia Machado…Clinton lured Trump into spending several days re-litigating all the sexist, racist tropes he’d directed at the Latina beauty pageant winner. Trump is never wrong, always right, and when confronted with any suggestion otherwise, he will sooner self-destruct than admit error.
You may not have to be as composed and error-free as Obama to be president, but you can’t be what Trump is: a useful idiot to anyone trying to sow American instability.
