Donald Trump stumbled badly by asking Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration as president, only to have the despot turn him down.
This invitation should have been issued, if at all, through back channels and kept private. But the narcissist Trump cannot imagine being rejected and was publicly belittled.
The once and future president has a well-documented admiration for tyrants, and recently referred to Xi as a "brilliant guy" who "controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist." Similarly, he described Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine as "brilliant," and added that the Russian strongman was "at the top of his game."
Both summations, of course, are ridiculous and unworthy of an American president.
Trump should look beyond the panoply that often adorns and disguises authoritarian rule and apply a more objective analysis. The reality is not pleasant.
Putin, for example, not only has ignited a senseless and devastating war with his southern neighbor, killing or wounding hundreds of thousands, but has impoverished and isolated his own countrymen. He may not be as bad as Stalin, but he certainly is as bad as Khrushchev or Brezhnev.
With apologies to Paul McCartney, this is back in the USSR.
Essentially without exception, dictators ultimately fail. Consider Juan Peron, the exiled strongman of Argentina, who returned to power at age 78 in 1973 only to ruin the Argentine economy yet again.
Peron soon died in office and was succeeded by his third wife, the woefully incompetent Isabel Peron, who lacked even the charisma of her predecessor, the infamous Evita Peron. Isabel lasted only two years before being overthrown by the military.
Cry for Argentina, not for the Perons.
Then there was Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who was the "Caudillo" of Spain for 36 years. But to the rest of the world, Franco was a pariah and a laughingstock.
Nearly 50 years after his death, Franco is still dead.
Finally, there was Adolf Hitler, for whom, according to several reputable sources, Trump has a certain attraction. Never mind that the "Fuhrer" was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions.
Erwin Rommel, the legendary German field marshal who eventually broke with the Nazis, wrote in his diary that Hitler "reacted emotionally against what his intelligence must have told him was right." In other words, the Fuhrer was out of his mind.
Not without cause was Hitler referred to as "der Teppichfresser," or "carpet eater." Often during a long harangue, screaming at the top of his lungs, Hitler would suddenly hurl himself to the floor and sink his molars into the rug.
A joke that circulated in Germany had Hitler buying a carpet at a furniture store. Asked the salesman: "Shall I wrap it or will you eat it here?"
Thankfully, Hitler ended up killing himself.
So, if it is authoritarian rule that Donald Trump admires, he should be careful for what he wishes.
Joseph Tipler
Centralia
