Within the last several months I have offered critiques of Trump's policies, tactics and actions in the realms of domestic and foreign policy, but these critiques have often lacked the bigger picture. In looking at and understanding the actions of the current Presidency, things do not make much sense until they are put into a different perspective, that being the game that the current President likes to play. As a President, Trump is vastly different than those before him in that instead of trying to secure his agenda through leadership, he attempts to secure power through division and distraction.
Trump's frequent twitter posts and his attacks against people considered "enemies" (including the mainstream media, democratic politicians and other celebrity figures) is his most immediate line of division and distraction. By tweeting out scandalous and usually falsified statements, Trump is able to shift the discussion towards whatever his tweet has expressed. For example, in the recent Parkland shooting Trump has tweeted several times that he would be looking into augmenting the capabilities of teachers by arming them with firearms. This may very well be a fruitless point, however this tweet has subtly shifted the discussion in the mainstream media and large-scale news outlets about gun control from banning assault weapons to the issue of arming teachers and the costs and benefits of that approach. These tactics are effective in completely changing the agenda of what is being discussed towards something that is pointless and obviously inefficient, however it allows those in power to focus on other things by means of distraction.
Additionally, Trump turns to outlandish behavior in his foreign policy as well as his domestic policy to further distract and divide the general populace. By engaging in very questionable acts, he is able to keep an aura of unpredictable foolish behavior that forces everyone to question the next move he makes while also blowing a lot of smoke and dust in the face of his true agenda. One big example of this was at the NATO summit earlier in which the leaders of all countries party to NATO collaborated together for several days. It is customary to affirm article 51 of the treaty, which stipulates that any nation will come to the aid of the others if need be. However, Trump explicitly chose not to, despite the recommendations of his advisers. This action led to the world leaders and the rest of the American citizenry questioning his rationale and motive, however he did this so that he could quietly and more effectively lay out and act upon his "America first" isolationist policy.
These are but a few examples of Trump's "game" in which he tries to solidify power without leadership. While watching or reading the news, by applying this perspective, Trump's actions start to make much more sense. He starts to look less like a mad man and more like a calculative strategist trying to further an agenda the rest of the American people despise. However, this "game" is also dangerous for Trump because as more and more people realize the purpose of his actions and as others see him more like a mad man who is irrational, then the trust and support of the people decreases significantly. History has made good examples of those leaders who have lost the support of the people.
