Raj Persaud is a psychiatrist and author of The Mental Vaccine for COVID-19.
Following the latest Oval Office Ambush, in which Donald Trump lobbed video and print-outs, onto the heads of a startled South African delegation, perhaps there can now be no more terrifying words in the English language than, ‘Is Natalie here?’
For these were the code words for declaration of war, and so Donald Trump unleashed yet another unexpected bombardment on a guest delegation.
But then again, we have been here before, indeed the world’s press has now described the South African President as having been ‘Zelenskyed’.
No matter how much the world struggles to re-adjust to the latest Trump shock, to adapt to the new norm of disbelief, the US President keeps revealing ever-more astonishing ways to go against all previous protocol of how diplomacy is normally conducted.
And so, the key question keeps coming back, is there some method to his madness?
What is he trying to achieve? If not something diplomatically, or an advantage in a subsequent trade negotiation, perhaps there’s some inner psychological performance being played out here?
Or is he out of control in some clinical sense?
Trump supporters love the fact that the kind of diplomatic dispute normally hidden from view, gets exposed, warts and all; plus, the deployment of the unexpected means world leaders can’t rely on carefully rehearsed public relations scripts, and are inevitably thrown back on their own personal resources to respond.
There is a sense in which dealing with Donald has become a kind of clinical psychological test, and it doesn’t look as though many world leaders are able to actually pass it.
Whatever you may feel about the Donald, he puts his adversaries to a much tougher personal examination than normal protocol allows. We get to see more of the real Macron, Zelensky, Starmer, Carney and Ramaphosa, than we would ever have, if Trump wasn’t running the show.
And you do always feel at these events a palpable sense of rage bubbling beneath the surface, just waiting for the right trigger to erupt, meaning we get to see the sheer terror of how everyone else feels having to visit the boss’s office for a dressing down.
Given we have all experienced this kind of humiliation, perhaps at some deep emotional level, we love it when those at the top take a similar hiding.
And there is something about foreigners who don’t look or speak American that just really annoys the Oval Office.
But in this particular case, it was a correspondent’s question about what it would take for the US President to be convinced there was no white genocide in South Africa, that finally unleashed the beast.
Trump didn’t speak for a moment, which world leaders should now have been briefed by their psychological advisers, is not ever a good sign.
It could be he is not just furious at the temerity of the question, but also frustrated with himself for not having a quick devastating reply.
He really doesn’t like it when his balls stumble into the rough, given in his own eyes, he is a genius.
But, oh no, Cyril Ramaphosa decided to pick that moment to wade in, and declare that he was going to answer for the President. All Psychologists and Psychiatrists watching at home at this moment, dived behind the sofa for cover.
Sure enough, Ramaphosa even brought up the golfers in his posse, his balms to calm the beast, by indicating they wouldn’t be here if what Donald Trump was saying about a white genocide, was true.
But this swing merely further irritated the US President even more, because he just doesn’t deal well with direct contradiction.
Yet, why all these carefully planned ambushes? The key thing to understand about the psychology of the surprise attack is that they take pre-planning, more so than just open-pitched battle.
Behind the scenes, much mental effort has gone into thinking about how to orchestrate these theatrical events.
Or at least Natalie had to think about it.
Are these surprise attacks then really revealing that Donald Trump is in some sense psychologically addicted to the drama?
Also, he has been accused of narcissism, but there is a sub-type of narcissism referred to as ‘vulnerable’ narcissism, which refers to those who show off to cover up deeper insecurity about their own actual subconscious sense of inferiority.
The army with superior forces prefers and seeks an open battle, so it is those who know they have inferior fighting resources, who choose guerilla warfare, characterised by ‘hit and run’ unexpected ambushes. This is the strategy of rebel forces, not the main army.
Does the frequency, indeed now the predictability of these surprise traps, really reveal that Donald Trump doesn’t actually fancy his chances in a straight stand-up fight?
Even his supporters have struggled to locate solid back up for his claims of a systematic white genocide in South Africa, despite the extended period after the press conference.
It is of perhaps more political significance given most of the rest of the world believes there is an actual genocide occurring in Gaza, that Trump chose to put Ramaphosa on the back foot with accusations of genocide in Cyril’s own backyard. Perhaps even more opposite is the fact South Africa has been prominent in attempting to bring Israel to justice via international courts.
Was Trump trying to take political and psychological revenge by turning the Genocide Gun back on the accusers?
So this may be a sign of a deliberative manipulative genius, who understands it’s now the theatrical way you spring the snare, that gains more attention, than what you actually trap.
In a sense Cyril Ramaphosa declared defeat when he somewhat gamely said at the end that he wished he had a plane to give the President, suggesting if he had, as opposed to his actual gift of a book on golf destinations, he might have prevented the mauling.
Nothing could signal a struggling economy more than the gift of a book, as opposed to a plane. If all you can bring to the table is a book, on what basis can you really do a deal on trade?
Notice how everyone, but everyone, tries now to give him something, signalling their fear of the office, so might not a future better strategy be to just turn up empty-handed?
Or with a screw- top bottle of wine from your local corner shop?
And petrol station flowers?
Donald Trump built his TV career on ‘The Apprentice’ series, and in particular on an ominous catch phrase, signalling the triumphant end of each episode, and which he clearly revelled in.
Over many years, this became his psychological signature.
But he’s not allowed to deliver that message directly to world leaders, so are these ambushes really his way of declaring, ‘you’re fired’?
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