Whacksing and Whining

He who relies most heavily on Twitter becomes Chief Twit.

Criticizing and complaining is no way to run a country, and praising dictators shows a likelihood that the praiser will do the same.

   After hearing regular, if not daily, comments in praise of Vladimir Putin's leadership style in Russia, plus calls for strong, tough leadership and verbal attacks on opponents as weak, dishonest, corrupt or liars, one wonders what this behavior says about the candidate's future performance.
   When news media report a candidate's failings, half-truths, legal problems, misleading allegations and flat-out lies, the candidate retaliates by calling news media weak, failing, unfair, dishonest, or whatever other insulting adjective comes to mind at the moment. This shows a pattern of attacking anyone who disagrees with anything he says, ever, regardless of fact or history.
   Truth, to this candidate, seems to be whatever happens to be in his head at that moment. And when challenged, he intensifies and expands his accusations.
   Is this the kind of person wanted or needed to be chief executive of a major democracy?

   One prime example of Donald Trump's trouble-talk is his insistence that on 9/11, thousands of people gathered on the streets of Jersey City, NJ, and celebrated as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center came tumbling down.
  It didn't happen, despite his claim that "I saw it. I was watching on television." There was indeed video of people dancing in the streets on that day, but it was on the streets of Gaza in the Middle East. Not in New Jersey.
   Nonetheless, that's part of a pattern of never admitting an error or acknowledging a mistake, or even being wrong, about anything, any time, ever.
   And despite nine (count 'em, nine) Congressional and FBI investigations of the Benghazi episode, all led by Republican officials, none of the probes found any culpability on the part of Hillary Clinton, secretary of state at the time, and now the Democratic nominee for the Presidency.
   Nonetheless, even as Trump blames Clinton for not protecting the Benghazi offices of the State Department, noting that military assistance was too far away to help and should have been closer, Trump now vows that his future policy would bring American troops back to the U.S., rather than remain at their posts in other parts of the world.
   In addition, he promises to think twice before sending troops to help NATO  allies under attack, if any such country does not pay its "fair share" of defense costs. This despite the NATO contract that calls for mutual aid if any member is attacked.
   So much for promises.
   But that's no surprise, since the Republican presidential nominee has a history of not paying contractors who complete work at his casinos or other projects., thus driving them into bankruptcy.
   Not to mention bilking those who signed up for expensive real estate training courses at the now defunct Trump University, which is facing trial on multiple charges of fraud.
   But all of that is history, one might say, and his defenders may claim it won't happen in the future.
   Behavior patterns, however, seldom change among the ethically challenged. Past performance often does indeed predict future behavior.