Weekend Herald editorial: A wise President does not respond to tales of former aides

Reaction to fly-on-the-wall expose another example of President's poor judgment. Photo / AP

Editorial

Donald Trump has begun the year much as performed last year, with a stupid, childish tweet about his nuclear "button" in response to an equally silly remark by the ruler of North Korea. A year ago, waiting for Trump to take office, it would have been unthinkable to equate the utterances of a President of the United States with the nonsense the world has come to expect from North Korea but after nearly a year of Trump, the similarity is no longer surprising.

Serious leaders in the world are probably taking more interest in the beginning of talks between South Korea and the North with a view to the North's participation in the Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea next month. The Government in Seoul has done well to initiate that connection and it offers some hope that tension can be scaled down.

Meanwhile, Trump has been distracted by a book about to be published which offers insights into his White House and contains some frank assessments of the President by those who have been close to him, notably Steve Bannon, the foremost theorist of the "America First" doctrine that did so much damage to America's leadership and respect in the world last year.

He and Trump remain committed to that doctrine if no longer to each other. Bannon, dismissed as a presidential adviser in August, reportedly has given author Michael Wolff some candid observations on the President, in the book due for release on Tuesday. Trump responded by threatening to sue him and his lawyers are trying to stop publication on the book. This is one more mark of Trump's poor judgment.

US Presidents have to live with books that purport to be insider accounts of their White House often written, or at least informed, by disappointed or disgruntled former aides. The criticisms they make are usually credible and their unflattering observations on the character and attitudes of the President and those around the President are part of the picture the public ought to receive.

Wise presidents do not respond verbally. They accept the criticism, possibly take some of it to heart, and get on with their highly publicised job. They are in the privileged position of being able to impress the world with everything they say and do if they do their job wisely. They shouldn't be distracted by a book with probably a short shelf life.

But Trump's response shows how stung he has been by the remarks attributed to those close to him, in the past and present, and he will have done wonders for sales of the book.

Among descriptions of him attributed to Cabinet members and staff are "idiot", "dope", "dumb", which he often shows himself to be with his tweets such as the latest. More importantly, Bannon is said to have called the meeting between Trump's son Donald and Russians during the election campaign as "treacherous" and "unpatriotic".

But Bannon has such an obvious axe to grind against family members who opposed him in battles for the President's ear that his view of the Russian dealing will probably not count for much.

The real insight the book provides is on the dissension and back-biting in this presidency so early in its term, and the erratic, easily distracted leadership of the man who boasts of the big button at his command.